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    An analysis of the factors affecting customer commitment in a New Zealand financial institution : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Applied Statistics at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2003) Blayney, Helen
    This thesis presents the results of the analysis of data collected in a postal and email survey of personal customers of the financial institution. The objective of the research is to identify various variables, which are significant in predicting commitment of a customer to their principal financial institution and to ascertain if the life stage variables contribute to the level of commitment. Two surveys to groups of personal customers a year apart provided data for analysis. The results indicate that the variables that contribute most to predicting commitment include the life stage variables. The results also point to the existence of quite different affective response rates for those customers who received an email questionnaire. No significant difference in commitment level was identified for customers common to both surveys. Although these results represent a somewhat preliminary analysis of the influence of life stage on commitment level, they do indicate that there is much to be learned about this relationship.
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    Can alternative metrics provide new insights from Net-Promoter data? : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Studies in Marketing at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2016) Mecredy, Philip
    Marketers regularly use loyalty measures to better understand consumers’ purchase behaviour. In commercial market research the loyalty metric, Net Promoter Score (NPS), is commonly used due to its simplicity, and because there are claims that increases in NPS relate to increases in company revenue. However, the connection between NPS and revenue growth rates is widely criticised by scholars, casting doubt on the wisdom of implementing strategies that focus on increasing the numbers of highly loyal customers. This research considers whether alternative metrics, derived from Net-Promoter data, can provide new insights into customer loyalty. It examines whether the NPS, likelihood mean, and Polarization Index measure different aspects of loyalty in the real estate (n=1,818) and agricultural (n=2,785) sectors. It then evaluates the ability of the three measures to predict changes in same customer spend and company revenue using data from the agricultural sector. The findings show that the NPS and likelihood mean measure similar aspects of loyalty and that the Polarization Index measures a different aspect of loyalty when applied to 11-point Net-Promoter data. Longitudinal comparisons suggests that the NPS and likelihood mean are poor predictors of the current (t) and future (t+1) spend by the same customers, compared with the Polarization Index which provides a more accurate prediction. In contrast, the NPS and likelihood mean are found to have a strong relationship with current (t) and future (t+1) company revenue, while negative relationships were observed for the Polarization Index. These findings suggest that loyal customers increase their spending less than disloyal customers, as they have likely reached saturation point with the company’s products. However, loyal customers still contribute to company revenue growth by attracting new customers, presumably through Word-of-mouth (WOM). Therefore growth comes through penetration and increasing the amount spent by the least loyal customers, rather than through increasing spend by loyal customers.
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    Are radio markets Dirichlet? A study into the NBD/Dirichlet, its empirical generalisations and their extension to radio listening patterns : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Marketing at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2009) Lees, Gavin
    The well recognised and parsimonious Dirichlet model of buyer behaviour (Goodhardt, Ehrenberg and Chatfield 1984) has summarised a number of empirical generalisations about market structures and buyer behaviour. These generalisations have been described by Sharp, Wright and Goodhardt (2002) as: Differences in market share can be attributed largely to differences in market penetration A double jeopardy pattern emerges, with smaller brands having a lower average purchase frequency, share of category requirements, and proportion of sole buyers A brand’s customers buy from other brands more frequently Sole buyers tend to be very rare, and are also very light buyers Heavy buyers buy more brands and are very unlikely to be sole buyers Brands share their customers in proportion to their market share (Duplication of Purchase Law). Of these empirical generalisations, double jeopardy, polygamous loyalty and the duplication of purchase law are amongst the better known. They have been observed across an increasing number of product categories, countries and differing market conditions. This thesis considers whether the Dirichlet and its accompanying empirical generalisations also hold true for radio markets. Whilst Goodhardt, Ehrenberg and Collins (1975) and Barwise and Ehrenberg (1988) have considered television and its audiences there has been very little study into radio audience patterns. Perhaps this is because many researchers consider radio to be more like television than any other media. However, Lees (2003, 2006) has started to address the issues of radio market structures and radio audience patterns. This thesis adopts an empirical generalist approach showing the Dirichlet model of consumer behaviour and its associated empirical generalizations appear to apply to radio markets in that they: Show a high correlation between market share and the brand performance measures of: cumulative audience, average time spent listening, share of category requirements and exclusive audience Reflect the double jeopardy pattern with those stations that have a higher market share also having a higher penetration or cumulative audience and a higher average weekly time spent listening. Conversely those stations with a low market share having a lower cumulative audience and a lower average weekly time spent listening Show audience duplication between radio stations that varies according to each stations’ market cumulative audience, in accordance with the Duplication of Purchase Law Have the percentage of listeners loyal to one radio station reflecting the Dirichlet’s expectation of low exclusive audience. These exclusive listeners also reflect a double jeopardy pattern with the bigger stations having more exclusive listeners than the smaller stations. The most compelling result of this thesis is the apparent ability of the Dirichlet to describe a radio market place. Thus has managerial implications – especially to what extent a manager should take the patterns as ‘normal’ or seek to ‘buck the trend’. The conclusion is that radio station managers need to carefully manage their station working with the market rather than trying to ‘buck the trend’. This is likely to involve station managers actively promoting their stations to ensure that their station remains salient to its current listeners while also trying to increase its awareness amongst non listeners. This thesis has also made several contributions to knowledge about the Dirichlet. First, it has extended knowledge about the model to a new area – that of radio listening. Second, it has shown that while some radio listening seemingly violates some of the assumptions behind the model it is still robust enough to account for variations in multivariate count data in a manner that is parsimonious. Third, it has confirmed the known boundary condition that the Dirichlet does under-predict sole loyal purchase frequency. This thesis also calls for further research into both the Dirichlet model with further extensions to differentiated product categories; and into the question of radio audience measurement. It calls for the New Zealand Radio Broadcasters Association to commission a report into the effect of introducing portable people meters as a form of audience measurement.
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    Understanding guest retention : an examination of New Zealand accommodation establishments : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Management, Massey University
    (Massey University, 2007) Barnett, Shirley Jean
    Abstract The importance of customer retention has become a major theme in the literature since the 1990s when empirical studies showed that retaining 5% of customers could lead to an increase in profits ranging from 25% to 85%. However, customer retention does not appear to have moved from the theoretical into the practical world. Specifically, there were few empirical studies which focused on customer retention and none were identified in the New Zealand accommodation sector. The travel and tourism industry contributes approximately 9% to New Zealand’s GDP, and 10% of all spending by travellers and tourists is in the accommodation sector. Impacts, such as seasonality, characterise the accommodation sector and many establishments have occupancy rates which can fluctuate from 90% to 30% in the off-season. With average annual occupancy rates for New Zealand hotels and motels hovering around 55%, retention is a strategy that owners and managers could implement in order to increase occupancy and profits. In this study the research question was based on a review of the literature and the a priori knowledge and experience of the researcher. To ensure the research question framing this study was answered in the most exhaustive and comprehensive manner a seven step research process based on work by Bourgeois (1979) was followed. Data was gathered using both deductive and inductive methods in order to nullify the two main research problems raised by Bourgeois (1979). First, that theories are cast at a high level which is removed from reality and second that empirical studies often result in just a description of the data. In the deductive phase of this study a survey was mailed to New Zealand accommodation establishments that provided accommodation and meals, and had a liquor licence. The main focus of this survey was to learn what owners and managers understood about guest retention and to answer the first research objective. It was discovered that New Zealand accommodation managers: actively work to retain their guests; know the value of guest retention; understand the links between guest satisfaction, loyalty and retention; understand the specific reasons behind guest defections; understand the importance service recovery; and understand how loyalty schemes lead to guest retention. The second phase was a case study involving three accommodation establishments. These findings added depth to the study and allowed for new knowledge to be extrapolated from the findings. It was discovered that in two establishments the focus was guest satisfaction and building relationships with customers. Whilst the resort hotel did have a strategy to encourage lapsed business to return this wasn’t measured or monitored. Thus the second research objective was answered. In the penultimate chapter an amended profit chain has been proposed which included ‘Building Customer Relationships’ as the link between satisfaction and profitability. This is based on the finding that the case establishments saw retention as a proxy for satisfaction and, therefore, focused on satisfying guests and building personal relationships as methods of guest retention. The research question framing this study can be answered by saying that the strategies used by owners and managers in New Zealand accommodation establishments to manage guest retention tend to be related to guest satisfaction and building personal relationships. However, this is not because they do not understand guest retention but see it as part of the bigger picture involving the building of relationships with guests.