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Abstract

I have been active as a marketing researcher since 1964, or much of what Wilkie and Moore (2003) call Eras III and IV of scholarly research. The field of management sci-ence in marketing has grown in both scope and impact dur-ing this time. My work has been centered on new product development, with models from assessor to information acceleration. Most recently, I have been working on issues of trust, advice for consumers, and the discovery of new product opportunities by "listening in" to the online dia-logue between a trusted advisor and a customer (Urban and Hauser 2004). Because I have done this recent work on the Internet, I sensed a sea change in the underlying consumer behavior. Something had shifted, and it took me a while to discover that customers had gained new power in buying decisions. Since 1950, marketing has been based on a push/ pull model in which the manufacturer designs a product to fill a need and then convinces the consumer to buy with aggressive advertising, promotion, and distribution tactics. The increase in customer power changes the equation, and I believe that this shift in the power relationship will define the dividing line between Eras IV and V of marketing. I call this new era "customer advocacy" because it is based on the firm representing the customers' interest by providing them complete and unbiased information, advice on which prod-uct is best for them (including fair comparisons with com-petitors), joint design of products, and a partnership that breeds long-term loyalty. In other words, advocate for your customers and they will advocate for you! In this article, I do not concentrate on my previous work nor on prior changes in the field (others in this special sec-tion have done a good job of this), but rather I emphasize the future. I examine the customer power shift and its implica-tions for a new paradigm of marketing, outline the new strategic choices for companies, indicate some implications for scholarly research and societal marketing, and close with some personal forecasts on the emerging customer advocacy era of marketing. Growth of Customer Power Customers now have access to information about a company and its products from a multitude of sources. From Con-sumerReports.org for third-party information, to Amazon.com for customer reviews, and to eBay for seller ratings, consumers now have much greater access to inde-pendent information about a company's products and ser-vices. The use of the Internet was predicted, but the follow-ing recent data show how fundamental the impact actually has become. For example, more than 64% of car buyers now use the Internet to research car models, features, and prices 1 J.D. Power (2002) reports 64%, Jupiter Research (2003) reports 77%, and Cospirit Research (2002) reports 83% of U.K. car shoppers use the Internet as a shopping aid. 2 See the graph in Yankelovich Partners (2004).
Vol. 24 (1) Spring 2005, 155–159 Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 155
Customer Advocacy: A New Era in Marketing?
Glen L. Urban
Glen L. Urban is a professor, MIT Sloan School of Management
(e-mail: glurban@MIT.EDU).
Ihave been active as a marketing researcher since 1964, or
much of what Wilkie and Moore (2003) call Eras III and
IV of scholarly research. The field of management sci-
ence in marketing has grown in both scope and impact dur-
ing this time. My work has been centered on new product
development, with models from assessor to information
acceleration. Most recently, I have been working on issues
of trust, advice for consumers, and the discovery of new
product opportunities by “listening in” to the online dia-
logue between a trusted advisor and a customer (Urban and
Hauser 2004). Because I have done this recent work on the
Internet, I sensed a sea change in the underlying consumer
behavior. Something had shifted, and it took me a while to
discover that customers had gained new power in buying
decisions. Since 1950, marketing has been based on a push/
pull model in which the manufacturer designs a product to
fill a need and then convinces the consumer to buy with
aggressive advertising, promotion, and distribution tactics.
The increase in customer power changes the equation, and I
believe that this shift in the power relationship will define
the dividing line between Eras IV and V of marketing. I call
this new era “customer advocacy” because it is based on the
firm representing the customers’ interest by providing them
complete and unbiased information, advice on which prod-
uct is best for them (including fair comparisons with com-
petitors), joint design of products, and a partnership that
breeds long-term loyalty. In other words, advocate for your
customers and they will advocate for you!
In this article, I do not concentrate on my previous work
nor on prior changes in the field (others in this special sec-
tion have done a good job of this), but rather I emphasize the
future. I examine the customer power shift and its implica-
tions for a new paradigm of marketing, outline the new
strategic choices for companies, indicate some implications
for scholarly research and societal marketing, and close with
some personal forecasts on the emerging customer advocacy
era of marketing.
Growth of Customer Power
Customers now have access to information about a company
and its products from a multitude of sources. From Con-
sumerReports.org for third-party information, to
Amazon.com for customer reviews, and to eBay for seller
ratings, consumers now have much greater access to inde-
pendent information about a company’s products and ser-
vices. The use of the Internet was predicted, but the follow-
ing recent data show how fundamental the impact actually
has become. For example, more than 64% of car buyers now
use the Internet to research car models, features, and prices
1J.D. Power (2002) reports 64%, Jupiter Research (2003) reports 77%,
and Cospirit Research (2002) reports 83% of U.K. car shoppers use the
Internet as a shopping aid.
2See the graph in Yankelovich Partners (2004).
(J.D. Power 2002).1In addition, 68% of new car buyers rate
third-party sites as very or extremely important sources of
information, and they visit an average of seven different
sites, such as Kelley Blue Book, Autobytel, and Edmunds
(J.D. Power 2002). Many prospective buyers begin their
online research months before they set foot on a dealer’s lot,
and 6% save an average of $450 per vehicle by using an
Internet buying service (Morton, Zettelmeyer, and Risso
2001). The implication is that old-style marketing is less
effective when customers have independent means to
research a company’s claims and obtain cost information.
Customers can find competing products more easily.
Search engines, comparison sites, and online reviews all
enable customers to find the best products at the lowest
price. For example, travelers now enjoy a range of Web sites
(e.g., Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity ) that help them find the
lowest fares on flights. More than 63% of leisure travelers
and 69% of business travelers use the Internet for research.2
Internet sales grew 37% in 2002 to $28 billion even as total
travel services fell 5%. Indeed, 35 million people bought
tickets online in 2003 (Sileo and Friedman 2003). Increas-
ingly, leisure and business travelers refuse to pay high fares,
causing much financial difficulty for airlines. The Internet
has also affected the real estate market by making a broader
range of rich information available to homebuyers. Online
real estate buying services (e.g., eReality, ZipReality) rebate
up to 1% of the purchase price, thereby lowering commis-
sions and saving customers thousands of dollars on the pur-
chase of a house.
Customers can buy from anywhere, regardless of physical
location. The Internet simplifies transactions for both con-
sumers and industrial customers. Customers can connect
directly with providers to buy goods and services. Electronic
airline tickets eliminate the need to obtain paper tickets, thus
reducing people’s dependency on local travel agents. Sim-
plified transactions also enable switching—that is, the Inter-
net gives customers the power to find and buy from a wider
array of potential providers.
Prospective customers can find out if a company has mis-
treated former customers. The Internet enables consultation
and collaboration between consumers. In 2002, 110 million
people in the United States used the Internet for health care
information. In addition, 48 million consumers went online
in Japan, 31 million consumers went online in Germany,
and 14 million consumers went online in France for health
care information (Health Care News 2002). Active online
communities exist for virtually every disease. Patients
exchange information about the effectiveness of products
and provide advice to one other about how to gain control of
156 Customer Advocacy
3The word “distrust” means to “distrust completely” and to “distrust
somewhat” (Intelliseek 2003).
their medical treatments. When a customer requests a spe-
cific prescription, 84% of the time that request is honored
by the doctor (Manhattan Research 2002). Sites such as
epinions.com or planetfeedback.com make it easy for cus-
tomers to submit their opinion of a company or product and
for other potential customers to view these ratings.
Increasing communication between customers amplifies
and accelerates word-of-mouth marketing. In the past, dis-
reputable companies lost customers one at a time. At worst,
the occasional exasperated ex-customer might convince a
few friends to stop buying from the company. Now, the
Internet provides global reach for the disgruntled. Web sites
such as thecomplaintstation.com, rating services, and dis-
cussion forums accelerate the process of weeding out bad
products, poor service, and disreputable companies. On
eBay, customers give positive and negative comments to
sellers, and even a few negative comments can immobilize
the seller’s auction by reducing the number of bidders. Vis-
ible star ratings summarize the seller’s reputation in terms of
the quality and quantity of comments.
Customers can avoid a company’s marketing efforts.
Consumers have more control over the flow of marketing
messages into their homes and lives. Consumers’ distaste
for junk mail, telemarketing calls, spam, and pop-up adver-
tisements means that these pushy messages are more likely
to earn the ire of consumers than to earn profits. Technology
empowers consumers by enabling them to mute or “zap”
television commercials, screen telephone calls, block pop-
up advertisements, stop telemarketing, and send spam
straight to the trash can. For example, 94% of people “dis-
trust” pop-up advertisements,3more than 20 million people
have installed pop-up blockers (Neff 2003), and more than
50 million people have signed up for “no call” protection.
In summary, customers are becoming more powerful.
They are tired of corporate hype and corporate scandal.
More than two-thirds (69%) of people in the United States
agree with the statement, “I don’t know whom to trust any-
more,” according to a February 2002 Golin/Harris Poll
(Trust 2002). Companies have tarnished their images
through accounting scandals and product recalls, and chief
executive officers have lost credibility with fat salaries
while everyday workers lost 401k retirement savings in a
market downturn. According to a 2004 Gallup International
and World Economic Forum study, there is a dramatic lack
of trust in global and large national companies, and trust is
even low when it comes to nongovernmental organizations,
trade unions, and media organizations around the world.
Global companies and large domestic companies are not
trusted to operate in the best interest of society: 48% of the
36,000 respondents across 47 countries had little or no trust
in global companies, and 52% had little or no trust in large
national companies (World Economic Forum 2004); 52%
was the largest value for the little or no-trust responses
across all the international institutions. In 2003, two-thirds
of people in the United States believed that “if the opportu-
nity arises, most businesses will take advantage of the pub-
lic if they feel they are unlikely to be found out” (Wood
2003, p. 8). Furthermore, customers are resentful of current
marketing tactics: 64% of consumers are “furious” about
pop-up advertisements on their screens (96% were “angry”
or “furious”), and the same percentage are furious over
spam (Neff 2003). In addition, 90% of customers claim that
“they think less of brands featured in pop ups” (Blackshaw
2003, p. 1). These resentments make consumers fight back
and exercise the increasing power that Internet technology
grants them.
Company Strategic Responses
Faced with increasing customer power, a company can
choose among three possible strategies: (1) amplify the tra-
ditional push/pull model of marketing, (2) strengthen rela-
tionships with customers, or (3) embrace true customer
advocacy.
Push/Pull Harder
A company can respond to customers’ new power with old-
fashioned marketing push and pull. An increased pull by
media advertising; aggressive push with price promotions
(perhaps with higher initial prices or hidden fees to maintain
profits); and potentially misleading, one-sided communica-
tions might get the job done. After all, these time-tested tac-
tics have been the core of marketing for the past 50 years.
However, modern-day consumers are wiser and more elu-
sive than their more gullible predecessors. Even as con-
sumers have embraced a greater influx of information, the
media channels by which a company might push informa-
tion to consumers have become less effective. Media frag-
mentation, consumer skepticism, and the time pressures of a
modern lifestyle mean that pushing information and prod-
ucts on unsuspecting customers is an uphill battle.
In the halcyon days of mass media, people read their local
newspaper and watched one of the three nationally broad-
casted television channels. In the past, a company could
reach a large mass of consumers through any of these mass-
media outlets, but now daily newspaper readers are in the
minority, national broadcasts have lost market share to a
dizzying array of cable channels, and the Internet has
diverted peoples’ attention to a fragmented web of online
sites. The national broadcast networks’ market share of
prime-time audiences has declined 50% since 1970. When
today’s figures are compared with the 1960s, the decline is
even worse. The hundreds of channels available on cable or
by satellite fragment television’s power, making it more dif-
ficult for marketers to push their messages to the millions of
viewers. It is surprising that advertising costs have not
fallen; indeed, they are way up! Network prime-time televi-
sion cost per thousand exposures rose 18% from 2000 to
2003 (Media Dynamics 2003).
Even if prospective customers are exposed to a television
advertisement, only one-third of them actually watch it;
most viewers mute the advertisement, switch channels, or
leave the room (Tandemar Corporation 2000). In a 2004
study, the market research company Yankelovich found that
79% of viewers flip channels during commercials compared
with 51% in 1986, and 53% turn down the volume com-
Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 157
pared with 25% in 1986 (Smith, Clurman, and Wood 2005).
Advertisements lose out in the competition with the refrig-
erator, the bathroom, family members, other television
channels, electronic games, and the Internet. The average
use of the Internet is almost the same as television viewing
time (15 hours per week), and 36% of people claim that they
are watching less television (Jupiter Research 2002). Some
people under 21 years of age never watch television and
rather use the Internet and mobile devices as the dominant
media. Even on the Internet, with its deftly targeted pop-up
and banner advertisements, click-through rates have fallen
dramatically between 1998 and 2005. Internet service
providers and software vendors now tout their ability to
block pop-ups and spam. Junk mail gets tossed, and tele-
phone calls are screened by Caller ID, answering machines,
and no-call registries. The effectiveness per dollar of push/
pull marketing has dropped dramatically.
Admittedly, a company may continue to thrive using a
push strategy in this brave new world of fragmented media
and attention-deficient, addled customers. Clever, funny, or
engaging advertisements can draw customers. Shrewd
selection of highly specific media with refined targeting can
help a company reach its intended niche audience. However,
aggressive push can be a false victory—winning the sale but
losing the customer—if excessive hype or questionable (but
not illegal) pricing tactics leave buyers embittered and
resentful when they find out the facts, and in today’s world,
the customers will find out the facts.
Strengthen Relationships
In the attempt to appease a more powerful customer base, a
company might pursue a strategy of relationship marketing.
In recent years, many leading companies have refocused on
their customers by emphasizing customer satisfaction met-
rics, creating consistency in customer interfaces, building
better products through total quality management, and
emphasizing more personalized service. Customer relation-
ship management (CRM) software often backs such efforts
by giving a company the data and functionality necessary
for one-to-one marketing and for the creation of a consistent
one-face-to-the-customer interface. In addition, CRM helps
a company understand each customer and then deliver a
consistent message or service to that customer. By putting
the “custom” back in customers, these companies can target
their customers more effectively and deliver persuasive
information and promotions more efficiently.
Customers may like this new emphasis on one-to-one
connections, but the company must be careful about how it
uses the data. The ideal is for a close, positive relationship
with customers, but the reality is often more invasive mar-
keting. Too many CRM programs are based on building a
huge data warehouse, mining the data, and then hitting the
identified segments with aggressive e-mail, telephone, or
Internet promotions, with or without customer permission.
For most companies, CRM is merely a more efficient means
of push/pull marketing, targeting customers in the sense of
drawing accurate crosshairs on their chests. Impertinence
and aggressive cross-selling can make customers treat a
company as if it were a cheeky acquaintance, making the
customer cross the street to avoid contact with you. It is no
wonder that 55% of CRMs have not succeeded (Freeland
2003).
Customer Advocacy
A company might choose to embrace advocacy by becom-
ing a faithful representative of customers’ interests. Under
this approach, a firm provides customers and prospects with
open, honest, and complete information. The firm gives cus-
tomers advice so that they can find the best products, even
if those products are not the company’s products. Far from
being foolish, the honesty of advocacy reflects the reality
that customers will learn the truth anyway. If a company is
distorting the truth, customers will detect the falsehoods and
act accordingly.
If a company embraces honesty, it must have good, if not
the best, products. With transparency, this is the only way to
earn the customer’s purchase. A firm will invest more in
product design and quality and less in pushy promotion and
advertising.
Advocacy is not a way for a company to speak at cus-
tomers. Rather, it is a mutual dialogue and a partnership that
assumes that if the company advocates for its customers,
those customers will reciprocate with trust, purchases, and
enduring loyalty. It is a partnership between a firm and its
customers to the mutual benefit of both. A company advo-
cates for customers’ interests, and customers advocate for
the company by buying its products and helping it design
better products. Most important, the customers tell others
about the firm and its products. Advocacy has duality: The
partnership created by advocacy is mutual and reciprocal. If
customers tell others about the positive partnership, cus-
tomer acquisition costs decline, and customer preference for
the product grows. Companies that advocate for customers
enjoy more opportunities to sell a broader range of products
to more people. This can lead to growth in sales because
customers and their friends choose the company’s products.
It also leads to greater profit margins because customers
come to realize that the company offers an extra value that
is reflected in an honest price that is worth paying.
Advocacy is a major step forward in the evolving rela-
tionship between a firm and its customers. Push/pull mar-
keting is driven by the economics of mass production—that
is, efficient processes that create many low-cost goods.
Relationship marketing is impelled by the saturation of push
marketing and intense rivalries, particularly around quality
and price. Advocacy will be the next imperative because of
the accelerating growth of customer power.
Customer advocacy can be viewed as the top of a pyra-
mid. Total quality management and customer satisfaction
are at the base of the pyramid. They are necessary condi-
tions for trust and advocacy. If a company is to recommend
its own products honestly, it must have products that are
good enough to recommend. The advocacy pyramid is sup-
ported in the middle by relationship marketing because
CRM provides the necessary tools for a company to under-
stand each customer and personalize its advocacy relation-
ship with each customer. The pinnacle is advocacy. In many
markets, advocacy will become the preferred strategy as
firms respond to the new reality that customers are in con-
trol, not manufacturers and distributors.
158 Customer Advocacy
Researcher Response
The growth in customer power and the new marketing
strategies of firms require that scholars examine their
research strategies. The philosophy of marketing is differ-
ent. Traditional marketing will be based on understanding
customers’ needs and then convincing them to buy the
firm’s products, but advocacy is based on maximizing the
customers’ interests and partnering with customers. This
goes beyond customer focus to representing actively the
customers’ interests as a good friend would for them. This
philosophy is based on the realization that customers are in
control and that the path to success is to help them make the
best decisions possible in the complex world of buying. It is
a mutuality of interest. If the firm helps the customer, it
learns what products and services customers really want and
then can provide the products that honest advice would rec-
ommend. The customer advocates for the manufacturer by
telling others about the firm and developing a long-term
trust with and loyalty for the firm. The research necessary to
support this philosophy must be new and innovative.
The new consumer behavior will be based on trans-
parency and trusted advice. Less money would be spent on
advertising and promotion and more on product design and
new Internet community communication methods. Many
research topics are apparent, but I highlight three areas to
provide some new detail on the required research.
Building Trust
Advocacy depends on trust, and marketers must learn about
the determinants of trust and the dynamics of building
enduring trust. Some analytical work has been done, but
much more is necessary (for a summary of such work, see
Shankar, Sultan, and Urban 2002). Behavioral science can
contribute much here. What is the role of transparency in
building trust? What happens when trust is broken by an
error in quality or service? How can trust be rebuilt? How is
trust built in a marketing world that has not been trustwor-
thy in the past. For example, Dan Ariely at Massachusetts
Institute of Technology put $50 bills on a table in the lobby
of the main MIT building with a sign that read “Free Cash.”
Fewer than 20% of those who stopped to read the sign took
the cash, presumably because they believed that there was a
“catch.” How does a company convince customers that it
really is a partner and friend?
Trusted Advisors
The complexity and number of options in most product cat-
egories is high. For example, a bank may offer 25 different
mortgages, a computer manufacturer may sell eight models
and 100 configurations of computers, and an auto producer
may sell four brands and 25 models for each brand. Cus-
tomers need honest and complete help in picking the best
product for themselves, not the product that maximizes the
manufacturer’s profit contribution. The product should be
that which a trusted friend would recommend. For the cus-
tomer to have confidence, belief, and willingness to accept
advice, there must be trust based on a carefully constructed
advisor, whether through the Web or in person. A transpar-
ent and intelligent advisor is genuinely in the corner of the
customer and represents advocacy for the customer across
the firm’s product offerings. Customers want to trust an
advisor to save time and make a better decision. Research is
necessary to determine how to build such a trusted advisor.
It is useful to give advice across a firm’s product offer-
ings, but true advocacy demands that the firm provides
information and advice across all offerings in the market.
The firm should compare itself with competitors even if it is
not the best, because customers are doing it anyway. The
firm must go beyond transparency and be proactive in rep-
resenting customers’ best interests. If the firm does not
come out on top in the honest comparison and advice, it
must redesign its products so that they are the best. This may
sound counterintuitive, but it is like stopping the production
line if even one quality defect occurs. It is a severe reaction,
but it will not happen often, and quality will improve when
everyone knows that the firm is serious about having the
best products. Research is necessary on how to create effec-
tive advice systems and to decide when comparing products
to competition is the best advocacy strategy.
Optimize Marketing Resource Allocations
Advertising’s reach and effectiveness is going down, and
prices are going up (cost per thousand viewers); the cost–
benefit ratio is decreasing, and thus a company should prob-
ably spend less in any case. Even more important in this
context is that for customer advocacy, a firm should be con-
centrating on two-sided and unbiased information and
advice. More money should go to Internet advisors and to
providing comparative product trials and building peer com-
munities that comprise customers and the company. Promo-
tion is a heavy-handed attempt to buy sales. Advocacy dic-
tates that a firm should aspire to having superior products
and should convey them on the basis of their value, not just
their price-off deal. A firm should allocate old advertising
budgets to product improvement, to communicating new
products, and to building new trustful communication chan-
nels. Research is necessary to build optimal allocation mod-
els. This is complex because such models must include the
effects of other firms that are competing in the world of trust
and the long-term paybacks to loyalty and cross-selling.
Advocacy is consistent with economic theory when long-
term profits are defined to include partnering, loyalty, word-
of-mouth diffusion, and multiproduct effects rather than just
short-term maximization of profits by direct, single-product
response.
These are just a few examples of the behavioral, eco-
nomic, and management science opportunities for research
in the world of advocacy. A rich new field for research will
develop as advocacy is adopted as the new paradigm.
Societal Marketing
Customer advocacy should generate gains for society. With
trust, transaction costs should decrease. Resources should be
allocated to the creation of improved products to meet real
customer needs, and fewer resources should be used to cre-
ate minor points of differentiation in the pursuit of victory in
a short-term competitive game. Customer advocacy is the
right way to do marketing; it is honest, open, and ethical.
Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 159
Committing to customer advocacy is an easy long-term eth-
ical decision for a firm to make, because long-term profits
will increase as the firm partners with the customer and they
mutually help each other achieve their goals. Customers get
innovative products they need, and firms find low customer
acquisition costs, acceptance of prices based on the new cus-
tomer utility that is generated, and sales growth as cus-
tomers transfer their trust and loyalty to other products the
firm offers and tell other buyers of their positive relation-
ship. In the short run, the firm’s profits may decline as hon-
esty reveals the need for the firm to improve its products and
as new expenditures for the development of advice-based
communication methods become necessary. This is a diffi-
cult ethical decision because doing the right thing may result
in short-term losses. However, pioneers will find an endur-
ing advantage because after they earn customers’ trust, other
firms will find it difficult to convince customers to take the
risk and switch to a new partner. All these societal implica-
tions must be modeled and tested, but I believe that cus-
tomer advocacy will improve society.
The Future
Will customer advocacy become a new paradigm for
marketing, or will it be relegated to a concept that applies
only to small segments of the market (e.g., college-educated
people) and complex products (e.g., cars, computers)? The
future will reveal the answers to such questions, but my
experience across a broad range of industries and segments
indicates that the growth of power is fundamental. Pioneer-
ing firms are already demonstrating advantages (e.g., eBay,
Orbitz, Travelocity, Expedia, credit unions), and many sig-
nificant experiments are underway (e.g., General Motors,
Intel, British Telecom, Suruga Bank) (for detail descriptions
of these programs, see Urban 2005). I believe that over the
next ten years, there will be an emergence of customer advo-
cacy as the dominant marketing strategy that will revolu-
tionize the practice of marketing and shift the nature of
scholarly research.
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... Customer advocacy represents a strategic evolution within the loyalty framework, which has traditionally included customer satisfaction, loyalty, and relationship-building. Positioned at the peak of loyalty pyramid, advocacy goes beyond transactional loyalty, emphasizing trust, partnership, and long-term relationships over short-term gains (Urban, 2005). This aligns with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) approaches that prioritize transparency and personalized interactions, transforming loyal customers into trusted brand partners and building sustainable brand-consumer relationships (Lawer & Knox, 2006). ...
... Advocacy marketing promotes brands as trusted partners that prioritize transparency and loyalty, aiming to foster sustained engagement and advocacy (Lawer & Knox, 2006). Analytical CRM's role in mapping the customer journey enables companies to identify and nurture advocates, encouraging them to promote the brand's best interests within their networks (Urban, 2005). Online Brand Advocacy (OBA) is a powerful aspect of this strategy, where customers voluntarily promote and defend a brand in digital spaces without incentives (Wilk et al., 2019). ...
... Table 1 provides a summary of each component, including definitions, common aliases, and key references, to highlight the core concepts of expression, engagement, and expenditure. Liu et al., 2019;Mathur, 2019;Phan et al., 2020;Sashi et al., 2019;Sussman et al., 2023;Terho et al., 2022;Urban, 2005;Van Doorn et al., 2010;Wirtz et al., 2013 Product Sharing refers to customers sharing product details from an e-marketplace to social networks. Review Sharing is when customers share other customers' reviews from an emarketplace to social media. ...
Article
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The rise of digital technology has shifted marketing power from companies to customers, enabling them to express opinions, share experiences, and support brands on online platforms. This phenomenon, known as online brand advocacy, represents a powerful form of customer influence; however, the specific characteristics of advocacy behavior remain unclear, posing challenges for marketers aiming to identify and engage brand advocates effectively. This research seeks to establish a framework for recognizing measurable traits of online brand advocates, based on a systematic literature review identifying three key domains: expression, engagement, and expenditure. Expression reflects customer satisfaction through ratings and reviews; engagement is shown by actions such as sharing reviews and contributing to the online community; and expenditure highlights purchasing patterns, including purchase frequency and average order value. An expert panel validated this framework using the Content Validity Index (CVI) and Cronbach’s alpha, confirming both its relevance and reliability. This framework provides a valuable tool for businesses, enabling them to analyze customer data, segment brand advocates, and leverage their support in the data-driven marketing landscape.
... Search engines, comparison sites, and online ratings all assist buyers in making informed decisions. Ratings, commentaries, and recommendations are among the most trusted sources of information (Urban, 2005). ...
... Companies with a strategy based on customer advocacy can reduce marketing costs and focus more on investing in quality and product design, which is often co-created with their customers. Indeed, to adopt such a strategy, companies need to have first-rate products and be willing to improve and innovate continuously (Urban, 2005). ...
Conference Paper
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In recent decades, businesses worldwide have shifted their mindset towards a more customer-centric approach, as customers are essential to business existence. In the publishing sector, where there are diverse types of customers, authors are crucial not only for the business's continuity but also for product creation and development. They become business partners for publishing houses, accompanying them at each step of the publishing process. Ensuring authors' satisfaction leads to long-term business relationships that foster mutual growth. Such partnerships result in gains and benefits for both parties, for instance, trust, reliability, consistency, shared resources, brand development, specific knowledge and expertise, personalization, and customization, among others. This paper assesses Romanian authors' perceptions regarding their business relationship with publishers. The study aims to determine how satisfied the authors are with the partnership and what future improvements they would like to see. Various aspects linked to customer satisfaction are investigated, including financial matters, loyalty, communication, selling and distribution, marketing, end-product quality, and overall satisfaction with the experience. To measure customer satisfaction, the survey uses the Net Promoter Score (NPS) model along with open-ended questions to gain insights. This research can be helpful for authors who wish to publish their works with local publishing houses. They can gain valuable insights into the publishing process by analyzing the perspective of experienced authors. It can also benefit publishing houses by identifying their strengths and areas that need improvement in building business relationships with authors. Ultimately, it aims to enhance the academic understanding of this topic, contributing to the growth and modernization of the Romanian publishing sector.
... What consumers and SNSs users talk about on their accounts has been a matter of research since the beginnings of communication on these platforms. According to Urban (2005), thanks to the development of the internet and SNSs, consumers are able to look for information to support their decision-making process. ...
... Customer/brand advocacy could be described as extreme favourable form of positive WOM communication. In practical terms therefore, while positive WOM will see consumers who are customers of organisations merely talking about a particular product and or service, a brand advocate tends to actively recommend a particular brand to family and friends and generally say positive things about a brand in general (Fullerton, 2010;Urban, 2004Urban, , 2005. Some scholars argue that advocacyis part of loyalty while some contend that advocacy is the best indicator for loyalty. ...
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The study examined the effect of hotel brand attributes (perceived service quality and brand personality) on guest satisfaction in the hospitality industry in a university community in the garden city of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. The descriptive survey research gathered data from 150 guests who patronised the five hotels selected for the study. A well-structured questionnaire containing 23 items, with five demographic items was used to generate primary data from the respondents. To validate the hypotheses, inferential statistics was conducted with the help of SPSS. The result of the inferential statistical analysis showed that,the two brand attributes individually had direct positive significant effect on brand loyalty, while brand loyalty also had direct positive effect on brand advocacy. To enhance positive behavioural intentions by guests towards hotels through guest satisfaction, hotel owners/managers are expected to develop capabilities in quality service delivery and customer experience management in terms of humanising some aspects of their offerings.
... Specifically, Love and Deepspace takes great importance in building and running the game's online communities, especially Little Red Book and Weibo, which are where the game's most dedicated fans communicate and provide feedback to the game producer. In an era of customer advocacy and equal online expression, a well-managed gaming community is crucial for game promotion, as an active atmosphere is a major source of players' advertising, and their positive reviews enhance the credibility of such advertising, which is often more persuasive than advertisements issued by the game itself [9][10]. Besides, Love and Deepspace's single-player combating system and no-chatting friend system shift the enthusiasm of players' discussion from within the game to mainstream social media, increasing discussion and visibility of the game's relative topics. ...
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Otome games, story-based romance video games targeting women, originated in Japan in the late 1990s and have since gained popularity all around the world. This paper investigates the rise of Chinese domestic otome games, focusing on Love and Deepspace, a burgeoning and competitive title. The study analyzes its marketing strategy using the 4P model and examines the game's reflection on consumer behavior. The findings show that Love and Deepspace has innovated marketing approaches within the otome game industry, leveraging 3D modeling as the core of its product and price strategies and employing consumer-centric promotion strategies globally. As a conclusion, the paper states that understanding target consumers preferences is vital for future market planning. The research uses Love and Deepspaces success as an example to highlight the significant business value of domestic otome games and provide insights for companies to refine their strategies in this growing market.
... When customers become advocates, they are essentially endorsing the company to their networks (Urban, 2005). Lawer and Knox(2006) stated that this advocacy stems from exceptional experiences, high satisfaction levels, and a strong belief in the value provided by the company's products or services. ...
Article
This study aims to examine the relationships between customer relationships management (CRM) dimensions, key workers performance (FEP) and customer loyalty (CL). Moreover, the mediating role of FEP on link between CRM dimensions and CL was also tested. Survey data was collected from 329 customers residing in western zone of Uttar Pradesh, India and data was analyzed using PLS algorithm along with bootstrapping method. CRM dimensions (CK, CO, CA and CE) significantly affect FEP. Additionally, FEP has a significant effect of CL. Moreover, FEP has a mediation role on link between CRM dimensions and CL. The contribution of this study is justified by the originality of the concept analyzed and the lack of any previous work dealing the interaction of CRM dimensions with FEP and mediating role of FEP in relationship between CRM dimensions and CL in Banking sector.
... A key strategy is transparency across processes and even recommending competitor products if they meet customer needs better. This type of customer advocacy builds loyalty and trust in the company (Urban, 2005), further leading customers to recommend the company to their peers (Roy, 2013). Due to advanced technologies and complex demands, organisations have had to adopt a customer-centric strategy to maintain a competitive edge and achieve a good quality output that can meet and exceed customer expectations (Risch Rodie and Martin, 2001;Yasin et al., 2004). ...
Article
Purpose Quality management (QM) plays a pivotal role in driving organisational efforts to enhance operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. This study aims to explore the most important themes in QM over the past three decades, identifying and analysing the top ten key themes that have shaped the field during this period. This study, involving leading academics and industry practitioners, lays the groundwork for a three-to-four-year exploration of the most influential QM themes worldwide. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted a comprehensive review of QM literature over the last three decades from top specialist journals on QM. This is followed by conducting a global pilot survey with leading academics and practitioners to pinpoint the top ten dominant themes of QM for organisations to leverage in gaining and maintaining a competitive edge. Findings The top ten themes of QM, as identified by authors through input from academics and practitioners worldwide, offer valuable insights for companies of all sizes and sectors. These themes serve as a guide for the successful and sustainable implementation of QM practices and continuous improvement strategies. Research limitations/implications Despite a limited sample size, the initial findings provide a glimpse into critical themes. Over the next three years, as the study progresses, we anticipate potential changes in the results. Notably, the comparison of themes between manufacturing and services as well as large and small enterprises, remains unexplored in the current investigation. Originality/value The authors of this study assert that their research will pave the way for future themes in the digitalization era. Moreover, this research stands out as one of the most exhaustive examinations from both academic and practitioner viewpoints, offering a unique perspective not commonly found in existing literature.
... Marketing is really about making things simple. It is the simplicity of the marketing message that drives consumerism (Pan, Vorvoreanu and Zhou, 2014;Urban, 2005). Thus, when a marketing message is simple, easy to understand, and evident, it works really well. ...
Article
Purpose Social media platforms facilitate brand-consumer interactions by leveraging principles from nudging, value co-creation and social identity theories. This study aims to investigate how these interactions mask harmful practices and accelerate market access, perpetuating extreme consumerism. Specifically, the authors explore how value flow on social media, across distinct stakeholders, leads to value co-washing, revealing their collective unsustainable behaviours and related effects. Design/methodology/approach The authors use a mixed-methods approach, conducting content and sentiment analysis on nine TikTok videos featuring products from a leading Chinese company and analysing 19,816 user comments. Findings The value co-washing framework is developed across three building blocks: brands, creators and users. Findings uncover a paradigm shift in stakeholders’ dynamics, highlighting how social media collaborative engagements foster value co-washing. User involvement is categorized into three distinct clusters – brand lovers, saga creators and boycotters. The analysis identifies nine thematic patterns, including value co-creation, brand promotion, audience retention and calls for responsibility. Sentiment analysis reveals a dominance of neutral sentiments, reflecting a widespread unawareness and social adherence to value co-washing. Originality/value The proposed framework innovatively maps how distinct stakeholders contribute to extreme consumerism through value co-washing, providing foundational insights into the underlying mechanisms of consumer behaviour.
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Müşteriler, markaya yönelik olumlu deneyimlerini ve memnuniyetlerini marka savunuculuğu aracılığıyla yansıtmaktadır. Marka savunuculuğu, marka ile ilgili olumlu ağızdan ağıza iletişim pratiği ve müşteri desteğinin somutlaşması olup markayla ilgili deneyim ve memnuniyetin çevrim dışı / içi bir şekilde başkalarına aktarılmasını kapsamaktadır. Bu çerçevede markanın, müşteri tarafından yoğun bir biçimde içselleştirilmesi ve müşterinin markaya güven duyması marka savunuculuğunu şekillendirmektedir. Öte yandan her müşteri birbirinden farklı kişilik özelliklerine sahiptir. Söz konusu kişilik özelliklerini marka savunuculuğu kapsamında değerlendirmek önem taşımaktadır. Dolayısıyla bu çalışmada, online marka savunuculuğu ve beş büyük kişilik özelliği arasındaki ilişki ile online marka savunuculuğunun ve beş büyük kişilik özelliğinin demografik değişkenler açısından farklılaşıp farklılaşmadığı incelenmiştir. Araştırma sonucunda online marka savunuculuğu ve beş büyük kişilik özelliği arasında anlamlı bir ilişkinin olmadığı tespit edilmiştir. Diğer yandan online marka savunuculuğu ile beş büyük kişilik özelliğinin alt boyutlarından biri olan “sorumluluk” arasında pozitif yönde ve düşük düzeyde anlamlı bir ilişkinin olduğu belirlenmiştir. Bunların yanı sıra online marka savunuculuğunun cinsiyet ve eğitim durumu değişkenlerine göre anlamlı bir farklılık gösterdiği ancak yaş ve gelir durumu değişkenlerine göre anlamlı bir farklılık göstermediği sonucuna ulaşılmıştır. Beş büyük kişilik özelliğinin ise demografik değişkenler açısından anlamlı bir farklılık göstermediği ortaya konulmuştur.
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By "listening in" to ongoing dialogues between customers and Web-based virtual advisers (e.g., Kelley Blue Book's Auto Choice Advisor), the authors identify new product opportunities based on new combinations of customer needs. The data are available at little incremental cost and provide the scale necessary for complex products (e.g., 148 trucks and 129 customer needs in the authors' application). The authors describe and evaluate the methodologies with formal analysis, Monte Carlo simulation (calibrated on real data), and a "proof-of-concept" application in the pickup-truck category (more than 1000 Web-based respondents). The application identified opportunities for new truck platforms worth approximately 2.4billion2.4 billion-3.2 billion and 1billion1 billion-2 billion, respectively.
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Today's body of marketing thought is expanding geometrically, pushing frontiers in numerous domains - quantitatively, behaviorally, strategically - with much enhanced technology and on an increasingly globalized basis. As this pushes forward on many fronts, however, it is also worthwhile to ask what is in danger of being left behind. What is the benefit, if any, of discerning the roots of this field? On the basis of an extended look across the last century of marketing thought, this article paints a wide-ranging portrait of (1) the general course that has been taken by the body of marketing thought over its "4 Eras" and (2) how the treatment of societal dimensions of marketing has fared during each period. On the basis of these findings, the authors pose several key issues for further consideration by interested thinkers concerned with the progress of marketing scholarship.
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Online trust is important in both business-to-business and business-to-consumer e-business. Consumers and businesses, feeling the pressure of economic downturn and terrorism, increasingly look to buy from and do business with organizations with the most trusted Web sites and electronic networks. Companies' perception of online trust has steadily evolved from being a construct involving security and privacy issues on the Internet to a multidimensional, complex construct that includes reliability/credibility, emotional comfort and quality for multiple stakeholders such as employees, suppliers, distributors and regulators, in addition to customers. Further, trust online spans the end-to-end aspects of e-business rather than being just based on the electronic storefront. Based on a review of selected studies, we propose a stakeholder theory of trust, articulate a broad conceptual framework of online trust including its underlying elements, antecedents, and consequences, and propose some promising future research avenues in online trust. This paper will help information systems professionals better understand the online trust perspectives of multiple stakeholders, the antecedents and consequences, thereby enabling them to build more trustworthy Web sites.
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We investigate the effect of Internet car referral services on dealer pricing of automobiles in California. Customers of an online service pay on average 2% less for their car ($450 for the average car). 25% of the savings come from purchasing at low-price dealerships affiliated with the online service. The remaining 75% stem from information provision by the online service, bargaining by the service on behalf of consumers, and cost efficiencies. A consumer receiving the mean online price does better than 65% of offline consumers, conditional on the car being purchased. Copyright 2001 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Pull the Plug on Pop-Up?
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The Ultimate CRM Handbook
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Marketing and Branding Forecast: Online Advertising and E-mail Marketing Through
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American Business Faces a Crisis of Trust. Chicago: Golin/Harris International Four Nation Survey Shows Widespread but Different Levels of Internet Use for Health Purposes
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Spam Research Reveals Disgust with Pop-Up Ads
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Neff, Jack (2003), " Spam Research Reveals Disgust with Pop-Up Ads, " Advertising Age, 74 (August), 1–2.
Cybercitzen Health-The Integration of Information Technology and Consumer Healthcare
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