1. Review literature about customer loyalty, the concept of eCRM and how to handle the same over online channels like web 2.0 and social media.
Method
2. Practical study of a 5-star hotel chain in Asia with reference to customer loyalty and the concept of eCRM and how to handle the same over online channels like web 2.0 and social media. However, the name of the 5-star hotel chain cannot be revealed due to privacy issues although the findings of this study are applicable to all 5-star hotels.
Method
The first aim was too theoretical investigate and gain deeper knowledge and better understanding of 1) the concept of customer loyalty, 2) the concept of eCRM, and 3) how to handle the same over online channels like web 2.0 and social media.
In order to review the literature for this dissertation this was an ongoing process throughout the writing as well as a more focused research study of 2 months.
Searching and using many books in the field of customer relationship management, customer retention, customer loyalty, crm, ecrm, social media, globalization, branding, e-marketing, organizational approaches, web 2.0 and interactive web strategies.
Comparing literature with firsthand experience in the hospitality industry and knowledge observed to check what is emphasized of what is important to discuss and analyze.
To be able to give a structure to the brainstorm sessions they used a SOSTAC approach as base and then when more input and/or decision … discussions under a specific topic could take place freely.
The brainstorm meeting or group discussion consisted of representatives from the same company but from different departments representing their interests. The number of participants in these groups was around 10 people each time depending on workload and travel patterns.
Data was gathered from all organization using informal unstructured interviews and by company documentation.
The tools that has been used is analysis of secondary data from existing hotels, as well as primary data from the implemented live environment at the head office in the global head office in Thailand, along with the observations and systems from the local resort offices.
As this aim was purely theoretical the data analysis was not a part of the process
The second aim is of a more practical and industry related nature focusing on how 5-star hotels can create, maintain, and develop successful long-term customer relationships through an eCRM approach using interactive online channels like web 2.0
To make this into a more realistic approach (not only theoretical) the second aim also includes highlighting the potential benefits, as well as the challenges and implications that can occur in the increasing competition and rapidly escalating and ongoing globalization.
The brainstorm meeting or group discussion consisted of representatives from the same company but from different departments representing their interests. The number of participants in these groups was around 10 people each time depending on workload and travel patterns.
During the whole period of 12 months the following channels were also monitored and tracked in order to collect data;
The tools that has been used is a combination of observations, analysis of secondary data from existing hotels, as well as primary and empirical data from observations of the implemented environment at the global head office, along with the observations and systems from the local resort offices. In order to measure customer loyalty, -engagement and participation the following channels were monitored:
As the practical research was carried out in a live environment this was an ongoing process over a 12-month period together with the collection of supportive data over the following 3-month period.
As the study was a study of customer response to the outgoing company communication no actual questions where posted and the participants automatically participated as they chose to take part by leaving comments, pressing the like button in Facebook or viewed the message sent out. The potential population consisted of everyone with internet access and the actual sample measured people with access to the internet that visited any of the Asian hotel chains’ online spaces such as webpage, Facebook page or campaign micro-sites during a 12-month period from February 2011 to February 2012.
The sample technique used was random as anyone could participate, from anywhere and at any time. In the case that a question was posted to facilitate or force customer interaction self-selection sampling was used as the decision of participation was fully under the control of the participant.
All data collection took place over the internet and through standardized software depending on what channel that was monitored e.g., Google Analytics for the web pages, Facebook Insights for Facebook and the email marketing software for email statistics. Then later consolidated for analysis in MS Excel.
The detailed online study and implementation was carried out from Asia and consisted of all resorts and global group accounts on Facebook. Among the resorts 4 of them where classified 4-star and the rest of the resorts were classified 5-star resorts), all situated in Asia. These properties were chosen on the basis of the brand/chain association, as well as due to the fact of full access to the information regarding the same.
The data collected was interpreted using MS Excel for descriptive analysis while factor analysis will be utilized for qualitative data interpretation.
The data analysis is going to be both statistical and qualitative.
The practical research part has been carried out in three steps where the first step is built on the findings from the theoretical study in order to plan and replicate this in a live environment. This resulted in a plan to launch a live environment using Facebook as main channel, as well as by analyzing other online channels like the company E-Newsletters and micro-sites gain further understanding. The analysis was done using analytic tools like Google analytics and Facebook Insights as main instruments.
The second step was to implement the plan in a full-scale live environment on a global and local scale (primarily for the main brand, sub-brands and secondary for the 16 local resort pages) as main social media surface and the company’s global customers and markets.
The third step was the planning was implementation of performance monitoring, reporting and observation. This information was then analyzed and the empirical research resulted in reports over a 12-month period
These measurements and metrics then served to produce trends, increase/decrease, averages, and internal/external benchmarks. Later to be used for comparison and benchmarking both internal and external towards the comp set.
Findings were processed using MS Excel, the online analytical tool Google Analytics and the social media analytics tool Facebook Insight.
For this dissertation the case study approach was chosen as according to Yin (2003) a case study design should be considered when: (a) the focus of the study is to answer “how” and “why” questions; (b) you cannot manipulate the behavior of those involved in the study; (c) you want to cover contextual conditions because you believe they are relevant to the phenomenon under study; or (d) the boundaries are not clear between the phenomenon and context.
As this dissertation involves research questions of both “how”-type and “why”-type this approach seemed natural. Furthermore, as this study was conducted both theoretical and practical in a live environment, as well as on the internet with random participants from all over the world without any inside control. This was also supporting the case study approach.
Further, in order to reach the second and more practical aim of facilitating, supporting, and assisting 5-star hotels that aim and aspire to actively seeking and engaging into a long-term eCRM strategy, as well as deepen their customers’ engagement in their business processes and enhance the customers’ role as co-designers, co-producers and co-marketers in their business processes.
The study was divided into two parts. The first part used a theoretical research approach of the main concepts in order to gain a better understanding and deeper knowledge of the surrounding challenges and implications.
The research strategy for the primary aim of this dissertation was to first theoretical define the concepts, the relevant models and to identify the related topics that controls or have impact on the same;
For the 1) and 2) this research was performed by acquiring and reading relevant academic articles, books, industry specific literature, research papers and online sources relevant to respective topics, as well as follow relevant newsletters and social media channels.
The theoretical study then formed the base in order to follow the historical experiences leading up to these concepts, ongoing and development of the concepts, as well as create a solid understanding. Later to compare and discuss the different approaches, past experiences and to find out what the main benefits, challenges, and implication where that had to be further researched to form a more detailed and better approach.
For the third part of the primary aim the research strategy aimed to look at best practices, cases, and implementations in the hospitality industry, especially 5-star hotels.
In order to deal with validity multiple case studies and types of research is preferred, as it is more likely that the findings are valid if they are from multiple sources. (Yin, 2009) As the topic for this dissertation bordering on the boundaries of the hospitality industry and the IT industry an attempt of balancing the views, ideas and concepts of both industries especially when looking at the research from a traditional and historical perspective across the time line towards the future trends where the IT industry usually are working on the forefront.
To try to strengthen this further the choice of literature has been balanced as much as possible within the relevant topics to contain business related and more academic articles, book, and articles, as well as experiences from both Asia and European countries.
When it comes to data collection the reliability has been increased due to the amount of data, together with the time period of the study (done over a 12 –month period). This makes it easier to spot and compare and seek out abnormalities across the numbers. Nevertheless, it would have been even better if a 2-year study or more had been carried out as adding yearly trends would add further value. Especially, as monthly values could be compared previous making numbers even less sensitive to external circumstances outside control.
For the website the population was all people with one or more internet connections according to Internet world stats 2,267,233,742. (World internet usage statistics, 2011) The response rate (unique visitors to the website) varied between slightly above 140,000 visitors as the lowest month and a little more than 196,000 at the peak month.
For the Email newsletter the population varied from the lowest of 74,000 to the highest at 98,000 emails sent out generating a response rate varying from 10,7% at the lowest and 19,7% at the highest.
For the micro-site the population was all people with one or more internet connections receiving one of the respective newsletters linking to the respective micro site. The population varied from the lowest of 74,000 to the highest at 98,000 emails sent out generating a response rate varying from 595 people at the lowest and 4,458 people at the most.
For the Online channels like Facebook the population was all the people with a Facebook account according to AnsonAlex.com (2012) 845 million users. The response rate varied with each post, each account, and the specific campaigns throughout the test period of 12 months.
As the research was carried out in only one chain some consideration also must be considered when it comes to external validity and making sure the result is as generalizable as possible. This affects the potential to use this in other studies and weather this research can be applied to other research settings or not. (Saunders, 2009)
In order to balance this to the at least some extent the Facebook study that was performed across three different brands spread across 16 local resorts pages and one global brand page. Even though focus was on the global brand numbers could always be compared and put in relation to the other brands, resorts and key metrics originating from the same platform.
Looking back at the methods used and the individual descriptions in the methodology several things can be done to further improve the results.
However, in order to try to get as valid results as possible and overcome the limitations.
