Approaches to customer loyalty management: “3D” perspective

Abstract

This paper aims to rethink the main approaches to loyalty management and highlight the criteria that allow companies to choose the most relevant one. The paper provides an analytical review of the main literature sources on the existing approaches to define the concept of customer loyalty and loyalty management as well as the antecedents and consequences of their diversity. Analysis of approaches to customer loyalty concept and loyalty management allowed us to present a three-dimensional matrix that classifies existing approaches from the three perspectives: Dimensions (Which dimensions of customer loyalty are taken into account?), Differentiation (Are customer differentiated by the degree of loyalty, and are managerial efforts adapted to it?) and Decision journey (Is the dynamics of loyalty formation at different stages of the customer decision journey taken into account?). One of the main limitations is the need for an empirical verification of the efficiency of described approaches to loyalty management on a representative sample of companies. Among the factors that can influence the choice of an approach to loyalty management are the following: special features of consumer behavior, the economic feasibility and the possibility of obtaining a synergistic effect from a combination of approaches. The paper suggests considering factors that influence the development of consumer loyalty in the context of the integration of digital technologies and social platforms in a daily interaction of the company with its consumers. It also suggests approaching the loyalty management as an evolving process in the company’s strategic perspective.