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Results
Results garnered support for an emotional component within customer relationship development in relationship marketing. Investing in a customer’s emotional-relational “bank account” may indeed pay off in profits (Covey, 1992). The investigation of how key variables change showed that significant changes exist between stages: trust, prosocial and reptilian emotions, satisfaction, and purchases follow an upward U-curve toward greater positive outcomes.
The results also revealed how the customer moves through these stages. The customer relationship development model illuminated paths that progressed from awareness to prosocial emotion to growth to trust to commitment to purchases. Surprisingly, the exploration stage did not progress to the growth stage and was related to individualistic emotions. Importantly, emotions appeared to act as the mechanism for stage change. Finally, the commitment stage’s positive relationship to total dollars spent with the marketer (purchases) supports claims by relationship marketing theory.
Customer Comments: What Customers Really Want
The “Customer Comments” (see Appendix B) survey responses say that customers are fed up with marketers lying, being unfriendly, and telling customers that they are wrong. Customers want sellers to be honest and friendly and to convey the attitude that “the customer is always right.” Customers ask that sellers be trustworthy and accountable before and after the sale.