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Impact Of Perceived Service Quality On Customer Satisfaction And Brand Loyalty
[A CASE STUDY OF HONEYWELL FLOUR MILLS PLC]
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Brand loyalty is linked to customer satisfaction. If a producer readily
produces goods or services that are safe, dependable, economical and
affordable, the consumer is most unlikely to waver in purchases or seek
to alternatives. This is why Liswood (2003) said that customer retention
is the key to competitiveness and to driving profits, that the best
measure of quality and value is customer retention.
Brand loyalty or
customer retention is important for very many reasons. Firstly, if a
customer keeps coming back and gives a producer all of his or her
business, then that producer has met the customers' standards and
expectations. Secondly, it is more economical to manage a loyal customer
than to build a new one. Thirdly, a loss of a key customer could be
very grievous because a new customer may not immediately equal the
revenue made from the old and lost customer. Fourthly, loyal/ retained
customers are great apostles for your brands. Fifthly, customer research
has found out that loyal customers are often willing to pay up to 20%
more for a brand or service whereas new customers will be unwilling to
pay that.
Loyalty is so much more robust than satisfaction. It is what people do,
not what they say. What they say i.e. lip service, may be in the region
of satisfaction. What they do i.e. repeat purchase, complaints,
suggestions on improvements, advocacy - are in the sphere of loyalty.
Loyalty is similar to royalty. It is dependable, predictable,
respectable and profitable in the long run. That is why, for winning
companies, building loyalty in customers, is not the end of the service
quality chain, but the beginning and core of the total business
operation.
Kotler (2002) posited that it is the best policy for a
company to keep profitable and highly satisfied customers for life by
using various skills and creating various programs to keep them very
satisfied and dissuade them from switching. This is an important fact of
marketing because a loss of a major customer can mean a loss of huge
revenue, which may not be compensated for by a new customer. Kotler
suggested that companies could make their customers pass through the
following: First time customer Repeat customer
Client Advocate Member Partner Part owner.
Being
part owner is perhaps the highest position a loyal customer can occupy.
A company can achieve this level of loyalty with its customers, without
necessarily making the customers own shares in the organization. If on
the other hand, opportunity exists for the individual, or the
organization that is a customer, to purchase part or all the company in
order to continue to buy or promote its products or services, so be it.
Sportsmen or women, these days buy into their clubs for these reasons
just as famous musicians or popular singers buy into the recording
companies that promote their works (Kotler, 2002).
In the view of
many marketers, usage status, usage rate and loyalty are the most
important outcomes of all purchasing processes. Usage status refers to
the experience of the customer relative to the product or brand. Usage
rate is the frequency with which customers use and purchase a product.
Often the Pareto 80/20 rule applies here, that is, 20 percent of users
account for 80 percent of usage. Loyalty determines whether the customer
is committed to the brand. Loyalty permits criticism or compliant. What
is meant here is that a loyal customer will consider it a duty or
obligation to criticize a company or brand he/she holds very dear if
he/she notices something unpleasant occurring. Such criticism may be
private or public but the focus and goal will be a call for improvement.
Similarly, the company should welcome such criticism with openness of
heart and see it as an opportunity to strengthen the faith or confidence
of its loyalists.
Loyalty is not a happen chance event. It is a result of painstaking service quality and visionary leadership from the company. It is founded on a culture of excellence and a climate of respect for the individual customer in his/her feelings, tastes, emotions and all that promote self-esteem.
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]ABSTRACT This research is used to explore the impact of perceived service quality on customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. The main objective of this study was to identify the service quality offerings of Honeywell Flour Mills Nig. Plc and Lister Flour Mills Ltd to their customers, to ascertain the level of customer’s satisfaction and to determine the relationship between customer service and brand loyalty. Questionnaires were used in collating respondent’s opinion. The f ... Continue reading---
APPENDIX A - [ Total Page(s): 3 ]APPENDIX IQUESTIONAIRESTUDY QUESTIONNAIREDEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATIONFACULTY MANAGEMENT SCIENCESUNIVERSITY OF ILORINKWARA STATE.Dear sir/ MadamThis questionnaire is designed to study your perception of service quality rendered by Honeywell Flour Mill Plc (HFMP) and Lister Flour Mill Ltd. (LFML) and how they influence your satisfaction and loyalty to the companies' product(s). Your sincere response will be treated as confidential as this exercise is purely academic although it may lead t ... Continue reading---
APPENDIX B - [ Total Page(s): 8 ]APPENDIX IISPSS OUTPUT ... Continue reading---
TABLE OF CONTENTS - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]TABLE OF CONTENTSTitle Page Certification Dedication Acknowledgement Abstract Table of Contents CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION1.1 Background of the Study 1.2 Statement of the Problem 1.3 Research Questions 1.4 Objectives of the Study 1.5 Significance of the Study 1.6 Scope of the Study 1.7 Limitations of the Study 1.8 Study Plan 1.9 Definitions of Key Terms CHAPTER T ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER TWO - [ Total Page(s): 11 ]A company can learn a great deal by analyzing the degrees of brand
loyalty; by studying its hard-core loyal, the company can identify its
products' strength. By studying its split loyal, the company can
pinpoint which brands are most competitive with its own. By looking at
customers who are shifting away from its brands, the company can learn
about its marketing weakness and attempt to correct them. One caution:
what appear to be brand-loyal purchase patterns may reflects, habit,
i ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER THREE - [ Total Page(s): 5 ]CHAPTER THREEMETHODOLOGY3.0 This examined the authenticity of the research hypothesis and the choice of method used in analyzing the data collected3.1 Historical Profile of Honeywell Flour Mills Plc and Lister Flour Mills LimitedThere are about 22 Mills around the country as shown below; ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER FOUR - [ Total Page(s): 11 ]Table 4.8 displays that 11 respondent’s rated Honey well order taking and processing as excellent and 18 people for Lister. 36 respondents perceived Honeywell to be good and 51 for Lister. 28 respondents rated Honeywell as fair and 5 did the same for Lister while 5 respondents perceived Honeywell to be poor and Lister had 6.Table 4.9 shows that 12 of our respondents rated Honeywell as excellent and 14 for Lister. 42 rated Honeywell services as good and 54 for Lister. 23 respondents rated ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER FIVE - [ Total Page(s): 4 ]Today, what sets great
organizations apart is their commitment to drive customer-valued action
throughout the organisation. These organisations have leaders with a
vision of creating exceptional value for customers and shareholders. The
leaders make resources available to deliver superior value. They have
also designed environment where performances are evaluated based on what
customer's value. Thus any organization that is committed to a strategy
of delivering what customers value ... Continue reading---
REFRENCES - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]REFERENCESAbramovitch, E.: "Go surfing" in; Casino World. Issue 23 Nov/Dec 1997, Pg. 32.Alfred A. Chandler Jr.: Strategy and Structure (Cambridge Mass) The M.LI. Press (1962) P.13.Cardoso R.M.: Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. Second Edition,McGraw Hill, USA. 1965, Pg. 107-124.Cardoso R.M.: An Experimental Study of Consumer Effort, Expectation and Satisfaction. Journal of Marketing Research. 2 (August 1968). Pp 244-249.Baker M.J.: Marketing; An Introductory Text. Fourth edition, Macmi ... Continue reading---
