James L. Heskett

Beyond customer loyalty

Research suggests that while customer satisfaction and loyalty provide a foundation for high levels of customer lifetime value, they support a range of customer behaviors with widely varying values, characterized by mere loyalty (repeat purchase), commitment (willingness to refer others to a product or service), apostle‐like behavior (willingness to convince others to use a product or service), and ownership (willingness to recommend product or service improvements). As a result of these findings, it is of increasing importance that the small number of apostles and owners in a customer portfolio that can drive all of the profits should be identified and cultivated.

Notes from the search for deep indicators in services

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a retrospective look at the search for deep indicators that explain service performance as well as an illustrative example of this kind of work. Design/methodology/approach – The work described involved constructing a complex model, using it to predict performance, and then exploring data that helped disclose even deeper indicators. Data were collected in operating units of a single organization to ensure comparability. Findings – The primary challenges in this type of work are the availability of data and data comparability, not the availability of hypotheses or analytic techniques. Also, trust was found to be a deep indicator of performance not often identified in service management research. Research limitations/implications – The example study described requires replication within the organization studied, more sophisticated analysis, and application across service businesses. It contains numerous hypotheses requiring further validation. Originality/va...