Abstract:

By defining METALOYALTY a contribution to the clarification of a diversity of loyalty definitions and concepts has been outlined.This cuticle is divided into two parts: First we will focus on the process leading to the definition of metaloyalty and discuss some of the loyalty measurement problems and possibilities. Secondly we shall combine the definition with a model designed for the use of marketing managers in ranking their organisation in a dialogue marketing perspective. We shall support our theory building and findings with results from three years of case study research in five Scandinavian companies which learned that the challenge to the supplier is to be able to build loyalty to individuals in an ever changing market. Our findings were: By reorganizing the marketing function, redesigning and reorganizing the communication and the market systems, the companies achieved a lift in response rates from 5-7% to 70 - 80%. A core challenge to marketing management is to understand, plan and operationalize a concept of relationary loyalty-building by using integrated marketing methods.