Alisha Horky

#IHateYourBrand: adaptive service recovery strategies on Twitter

Purpose Social networks offer consumers the ability to voice their opinions of brands in a real-time, public setting. This represents a unique challenge for firms as brand managers must develop new strategies for properly communicating with consumers, especially in the event of a service failure. The purpose of this research is to explore the impact of various adaptive service recovery strategies via social media, specifically Twitter. Design/methodology/approach Through a series of experimental manipulations, four service recovery strategies are tested alongside two variations of consumer complaint tweets. The service recovery responses vary in their degree of adaptiveness, which have differential impacts on numerous consumer outcome variables. Findings The findings indicate that highly adaptive recoveries responses positively impact consumers’ evaluations of service recovery satisfaction, leading to greater consumer behavioral intentions. Additionally, the type of tweet the consumer sends may further reveal their expectations for adequate service recovery responses. Originality/value This study is the first to empirically test the use of social media platforms in the service failure and recovery context. Although social media is commonly used for such purposes by practitioners, academic research up to this point has predominately focused on social media for generating word-of-mouth. Further, this study seeks to examine how service adaptability is perceived from the customer perspective, as opposed to the more traditional employee viewpoint.

Exploring the Facebook Like: a product and service perspective

Purpose – The purpose of this exploratory study is to expand the knowledge of the current literature stream and to attempt to more fully understand the simple but singularly unique aspect of social networking communication that is the Facebook “Like”. To this end, motivations behind liking a brand are explored, as well as the interactions that occur between the company and consumer as a result of this Facebook interaction. Next, we look at differing levels of interaction for liked product and service brands on Facebook. Specifically exploring if there are differences with how Facebook users engage with liked product and service brands. Design/methodology/approach – The authors first engage in an exploratory, qualitative-based research to look at the motivations and consequences associated with liking product and service brands, using a sample of 160 Facebook users. Next, an ANOVA analysis is performed using an online sample of 264 respondents recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk. Findings – The qualitative analysis reveals differing motivations for liking brands on Facebook and suggests that generating Facebook Likes can indeed have positive, if unacknowledged, outcomes for the firm. Further, while there is no significant difference in perceptions of brand knowledge between product- and service-based brands, there is a significant difference in perceptions of brand connectedness between brand types, with consumers reporting a greater sense of connection to the service brands and higher levels of brand attitude and purchase intention for product-based brands. It is also shown that consumers have a greater intention of reading and liking posts from product-based brands. Originality/value – This paper explores and attempts to move toward clarification of the gap that exists between “quality” versus “quantity” valuations of a Facebook Like.

Bonus gift card programs: a methodology to measure the impact on revenue and profit

ABSTRACT Many retailers are now offering bonus gift cards to entice customers to buy more regular gift cards. The most common offers are a

Ties That Bind: Exploring Existing Brand and Cause Relationships in Cause-Related Marketing Campaigns: An Abstract

5 bonus card with

Exploring Showrooming Experiences at Small Retailers

25 worth of gift card purchases or a

#IHATEYOURBRAND: Social Media Service Recovery Strategies via Twitter

10 bonus card with

Why the little things matter: Exploring situational influences on customers' self-service technology decisions

50 worth of purchases. Unlike regular gift cards, bonus gift cards are not paid for by other customers. Bonus cards provide

Understanding the differences of public and private self-service technology

5 or

A framework and model to evaluate promotions: A restaurant cross-promotion in-market study

10 of free credit to a customer at the firm’s expense. Most retailers do not understand the potential for cannibalization of revenue and profit when gift card redeemers use a bonus card for a purchase they would have made without it. Nor do they know what proportion of redeemers represent these cannibalized sales versus the proportion of redeemers that represent incremental purchases. We use an in-market study with a large national restaurant chain to demonstrate a methodology and model to properly evaluate the effect of bonus gift card programs on revenue and profit. We found that although bonus gift cards provide incremental revenue, they can significantly reduce profit particularly in certain retail segments. For those who wish to implement a bonus card program, we provide suggestions to maximize the potential for success.

Gift card program incrementality and cannibalization: The effect on revenue and profit

Over the last several decades, cause-related marketing (CRM) has become an important piece in building the relationship between for-profit corporations and non-for-profit organizations (Elliot, 2009). Under the umbrella of “doing well by doing good,” firms have been able to attract consumers that are socially and environmentally conscious through CRM initiatives. These individuals seek out products and services than go above and beyond simply meeting their wants and needs but that extends assistance or charity to their local communities, natural environment, or starving populations around the world. In light of the growing consumer interest in cause-related products and services, this study aims to better understand the relative influence that various factors, including pre-existing connections to the cause and brand, can have on individual emotions and an individual’s intent to purchase products from firms associated with a cause.