Building brand loyalty through customer engagement practices : A case study on Djerf Avenue’s online brand community
Engström, Isabel (2023-05-05)
05.05.2023
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2023050541210
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2023050541210
Tiivistelmä
As a result of resent technological advancements and the launch and significance of new social media platforms companies’ online customer engagement has become increasingly important. The emergence of online brand communities pose a significant asset for companies if utilized successfully. Brand loyal customers are important to a company in terms of long-term profitability, positive word-of-mouth and value co-creation. It is therefore in the interest of brands to understand how to engage with their customers to nurture a loyal and interactive relationship with their customers.
The purpose of this study is to examine how customer engagement practices can be used to build brand loyalty in a virtual brand community. The study is a qualitative research, and it is done as a case study from the point of view of the online community of Djerf Avenue. The literature review of the study defines the main themes of brand loyalty, customer engagement and online brand communities. A typology created by Hollebeek et al. (2017) identifies eight virtual brand community engagement practices, which are greeting, regulating, assisting, appreciating, empathizing, mingling, celebrating and ranking. The theoretical framework for the study is built based on the eight virtual brand community practices and their impact on brand loyalty. The empirical data for this study is collected through a combination of observations in the case community over a four-month period and thematic interviews on ten community members. The themes for the thematic interviews were based on the theoretical framework and the observations in the community.
The observations in the case community identified five virtual brand community engagement practices, which were assisting, appreciating, empathizing, mingling and celebrating. These five engagement practices were analyzed from the point of view of behavioral and attitudinal brand loyalty. In correlation to the engagement practices both attitudinal loyalty and behavioral loyalty could clearly be identified in the findings because as a result of the engagement practices the community members felt more connected to the brand and were more likely to purchase their products even at a premium price. Thus, the findings indicate that in the case community these five engagement practices made the most significant difference in terms of creating true brand loyalty towards the brand and the other community members. Similarly, it was found that the benefits characterized in the theoretical framework relating to brand loyal online brand community members were identified in connection to the five engagement practices. These were a sense of belonging, a stronger relationship with the company, a stronger relationship with other customers and insight into brand related information. It was therefore found that the systematic use of engagement practices that felt authentic to the community and added value for the members made the community members more loyal to the brand in terms of both behavioral and attitudinal loyalty.
The purpose of this study is to examine how customer engagement practices can be used to build brand loyalty in a virtual brand community. The study is a qualitative research, and it is done as a case study from the point of view of the online community of Djerf Avenue. The literature review of the study defines the main themes of brand loyalty, customer engagement and online brand communities. A typology created by Hollebeek et al. (2017) identifies eight virtual brand community engagement practices, which are greeting, regulating, assisting, appreciating, empathizing, mingling, celebrating and ranking. The theoretical framework for the study is built based on the eight virtual brand community practices and their impact on brand loyalty. The empirical data for this study is collected through a combination of observations in the case community over a four-month period and thematic interviews on ten community members. The themes for the thematic interviews were based on the theoretical framework and the observations in the community.
The observations in the case community identified five virtual brand community engagement practices, which were assisting, appreciating, empathizing, mingling and celebrating. These five engagement practices were analyzed from the point of view of behavioral and attitudinal brand loyalty. In correlation to the engagement practices both attitudinal loyalty and behavioral loyalty could clearly be identified in the findings because as a result of the engagement practices the community members felt more connected to the brand and were more likely to purchase their products even at a premium price. Thus, the findings indicate that in the case community these five engagement practices made the most significant difference in terms of creating true brand loyalty towards the brand and the other community members. Similarly, it was found that the benefits characterized in the theoretical framework relating to brand loyal online brand community members were identified in connection to the five engagement practices. These were a sense of belonging, a stronger relationship with the company, a stronger relationship with other customers and insight into brand related information. It was therefore found that the systematic use of engagement practices that felt authentic to the community and added value for the members made the community members more loyal to the brand in terms of both behavioral and attitudinal loyalty.