Assignments

1. Assignments • Plagiarism • Rubric • Educated, thoughtful response (should include your own thoughts but can bring in some outside material in addition to own thoughts if properly cited; examples are great) • Related to content in chapter (need to discuss how the discussion question or case relates to the chapter contents) • Topic-focused and Readability • Thoughtful responses (need to respond to questions on your own comments; in your responses to other threads, bring something new to the conversation—e.g., examples)

2. Creating Advantage Customer Value Leadership (Ch 6)

3. Customer Value • Performance value is having the best product or service offering • Price value is having the lowest price over the life cycle of the product • Relational value is being able to offer a customized offering or solution

4. Customer Value • To achieve customer value leadership, companies should strive to excel at one type of value (performance, price, or relational) and at parity for the other two • Companies should not try to be all things to all customers, and instead should focus on a clear and specific value proposition. The business model, or how the firm creates and captures value from the target segment, should be aligned to meet this value proposition.

5. Application • Compare brands of selected industry on price, performance, relational value

6. Chapter 7 Building & Managing Customer Relationships

8. Customer Decision Journey • Complex, nonlinear process that customers go through as they are: • Triggered to make a purchase • Gather information • Form a consideration set • Develop preferences • Make a purchase • Evaluate their choice post-purchase • Cognitive Dissonance or Shopper’s Remorse (Buyer’s Regret)

10. Discussion • What is the decision journey for going out to dinner? • What are the steps post-purchase? • How can a restaurant owner manage these?

11. Customer Experience • Experience with all aspects of a firm • Overpromise, underdeliver • Underpromise, overdeliver • Customers prefer experiences that improve over time vs. plateauing or getting worse over time even if sum of satisfaction is same • Peak-end bias—overall satisfaction is affected most by peak (good or bad) • The Power of Moments (Chip Heath & Dan Heath)

12. Customer Loyalty • Behavioral Loyalty • How frequently customer purchases when the need arises • Not out of attachment • Habit, family, lack of convenient alternative • Attitudinal Loyalty • Reflects deeper trust or commitment to company and offerings • What tactics do companies use to build loyalty?

13. Chapter 8 Creating Valuable Customers

14. Creating Valuable Customers • Customers are valuable assets that should be actively managed to enhance profitability • Customer equity—sum of the value of firm’s customers over time (LVC) • Star customers both bring high value to and derive high value from the firm • Free-riders derive high value but bring low value to firm • Vulnerable customers bring high value but derive low value • Want to get the right quantity of high-quality customers and keep them engaged • Fire customers?

16. The Purchase Funnel • A tool to help managers sort customers into different stages in the purchase process and monitor their success at moving customers through that process • This approach helps firms to see when in the process they are losing customers, which can be used to improve customer progress

17. Common Problems • Poor quality leads • Not enough leads • Sales & marketing not working together

18. CLV (Customer Lifetime Value) • Most companies don’t know • So…don’t know how much to spend to attract or retain customer • Firms should be willing to spend more to acquire and retain customers with a higher CLV

19. Chapter 9 Building & Managing Brand Equity

20. Discussion • What are the strongest brands you can think of? • What makes them strong?

21. Building & Managing Brand Equity • Brand equity—set of assets & liabilities linked to a brand • 3 types of brand assets: brand awareness, brand loyalty, brand associations

22. Brand Awareness • Provides a sense of familiarity, credibility, and relevance • Customers are more likely to consider brands that are top-of-mind (TOMA) • Name dominance: Kleenex, Clorox, Band-Aid, Jell-O, Crayola, Facebook, A-1, Viagra • Study on blenders found that more than 20 years after GE stopped making blenders---still the 2nd most preferred brand! • Recognition vs. Unaided Recall—which is better?

23. Brand Loyalty • Research Article • Resistance to switching based on simple habit, preference, switching costs • A loyal customer base: • Reduces the cost of marketing • Provides an entry barrier to competitors • Supports a positive image • Provides time to respond to competitor moves

24. Brand Associations • Directly or indirectly linked to memory • Brand associations can and should go beyond attributes and benefits to include dimensions such as brand personality, organizational intangibles, product category associations, etc. • Brand personality research

25. Brand Identity • Brand identity = aspirational associations • The most important of these associations, the core identity, should be supported by proof points and/or strategic imperatives and should be the driver of strategic programs including product development • In contrast, while the brand identity represents long-term aspirational associations and is multi-dimensional, the brand position represents the short-term communication objectives and is more focused