The digital age has brought many new technologies that are disrupting the way that companies interact with customers. Automated technologies are one aspect of technological development in recent days, and it has changed how regular business operations are performed. Chatbots, for instance, has changed the way that customers interact with companies. Facilitating interaction and being available around the clock to serve customers who have questions. This study investigated how automated technologies are used in CRM-activities of companies and how the implementation of such technologies can lead to customer engagement. CRM, Customer Relationship Management, is a core business strategy that aims to strengthen customer relationships through co-creating value with the use of supporting technologies. Customer engagement is a measurement of a customer's involvement with a firm over time, with the end goal of customers becoming “fans” that advocate and generate word-of-mouth for the firm. This study investigates how companies utilize automated technologies in CRM-activities and if these technologies can help lead to customer engagement. The study aims to answer the following research question: How are automated technologies, more specifically chatbots, used in existing CRM strategies to further create customer engagement? The study conducted investigates these technologies within five companies that utilize chatbot-technologies from chatbot-providers. The chatbot-providers are also part of the study to get a more comprehensive view of the functionalities and purpose of these technologies. The contrasting view of companies and chatbot-providers is used to answer the sub-purposes of the thesis regarding how companies implement automated technologies. A qualitative study with interviews was conducted, along with secondary data from written documentary sources. The data were analyzed in a theoretical thematic analysis in which themes were developed from the theoretical framework. The findings of the study show that despite the potential of automated technologies, the most prominent use is for customer service operations. The potential for automated technologies in CRM is greater than what was found in the interviewed companies. The findings also demonstrate that automated technologies facilitate connection, interaction, and increases customer satisfaction, which can lead to customer engagement. The findings also show that there is a discrepancy in the views of companies who use chatbots in their business processes and the chatbot-providers that help implement them.

Background:  Social media is a constantly growing medium for communication that enables companies to interact with current and potential customers. It is of utmost importance that companies learn how to use social media in order to engage their customers, which will lead to greater customer loyalty. There is a large amount of literature on social media and customer loyalty separately, but not on how these subjects relate and interact. Therefore, the case study performed involving Mormor Magdas Därproducerade Glass will put focus on the activities that engage customers, which can lead to loyal customers.  Purpose:  The purpose of this thesis is to develop a better understanding of how small firms increase customer engagement through social media, leading to the creation of greater customer loyalty. Method:                           A qualitative approach to the research has been chosen which consists of a single case study that will allow for a deeper analysis of the subject. Data collection was performed through two interviews with the owners of the case study company and several observations of the company’s social media uses. Conclusion:                         By following the model provided in this thesis, more effective uses of social media for a small business are demonstrated, which will engage customers and enhance the company’s image, leading to greater customer loyalty. This model will also give a business a simplified picture of social media uses and how to use them properly. The case study shows a business the types of posts that are effective in engaging customers: frequent updates, prompt responses to all queries, and a focus on the specific social media platforms that are the most fruitful for each particular business’s needs.

Social commerce has raised with increased interactions between businesses and consumers on social media. Social commerce is the new phenomena which is a subset of e-commerce and lets customers engage in marketing activities led by businesses. Businesses have started to use social media to interact with new and potential customers and customer engagement is a key factor to success in social commerce. Social media lets the companies promote new products and sales campaigns which benefits them as social media creates exposure to many consumers. To get a better understanding on the subject, this study has examined what drives customers to engage in social commerce and which type of content on Facebook creates customer engagement. The research has been conducted by focus group discussions and content analysis on Facebook brand pages. Companies within the home interior branch has been studied in the content analysis. The results showed that customers engage in social commerce to get information, stay updated on news and offers, but also engage themselves with the content on social media by sharing brand content to their friends on the platform. Other findings showed that a higher level of customer engagement was created in posts that contained information infused with entertainment. Contests on Facebook brand pages also created a high level of customer engagement.

Cette thèse traite de la compréhension de l’engagement client dans un contexte multicanal. Le flot de littérature sur le marketing multicanal présente plusieurs lacunes théoriques et managériales, telles que les impacts dynamiques de l’adoption multicanal sur la valeur client, la quantification de la rentabilité des campagnes marketing, le comportement multicanal à travers les marques, etc. (Neslin et al. 2014; Neslin and Shankar 2009). Cette thèse a pour but d’éclairer les impacts dynamiques de l’engagement client sur la valeur client et les revenus de l’entreprise dans un contexte multicanal. Le Chapitre 1 aborde les « Impacts dynamiques du canal d’acquisition et de l’adoption multicanal sur la valeur vie client ». Au Chapitre 2, « antécédents et conséquences de l’utilisation des codes promotionnels », nous étudions le processus d’utilisation des codes promotionnels et la rentabilité de telles campagnes. Au Chapitre 3, « Modéliser les impacts de l’achat multicanal sur le choix de marque », nous étudions la question du comportement en termes de choix d’une marque dans un environnement multicanal. Dans l’ensemble, cette thèse étudie divers engagements client et leurs effets sur la valeur client et les revenus de l’entreprise. Du point de vue théorique, c’est une contribution aux publications sur le marketing dans les domaines du marketing multicanal, de la valeur vie client, des promotions et des choix de marques. Elle propose une approche exhaustive de l’engagement client et de la valeur client dans un contexte multicanal. Dans une optique de gestion, cette étude propose aux entreprises des méthodologies novatrices pour gérer leur clientèle au niveau individuel, ainsi que de nouveaux modèles pour évaluer les activités de marketing multicanal / This dissertation aims to investigate the dynamic impacts of customer engagement on customer value and firm revenues in a multichannel context. I address this research question in three chapters. In chapter 1, we propose a hidden Markov model to understand the dynamic effects of acquisition channel and multichannel adoption on the customer-firm relationship and to estimate the customer lifetime value. The results show that multichannel customers acquired from offline channels exhibit higher short-term value than multichannel customers acquired from online channels. In contrast, multichannel customers acquired from online channels are more likely to stay in a higher value state in the long run. In the long run, multichannel customers acquired from offline channels are more valuable than other customers. Chapter 2 focuses on promo code redemption behaviors. We conduct the research using a field experiment. We identify the determinants of opening, clicking the email and the final redemption behavior using a simultaneous multiple equation probit model. In our setting, we find that 11% of the profitability of the promo code campaign stems from eligible purchases without redemption. By targeting those customer segments that are more likely to make eligible purchases without redemption, the average profitability increases. In Chapter 3, we investigate how multichannel behavior impacts brand choice in a grocery setting. Our research develops a hierarchal Bayesian brand choice decision model to understand how multichannel adoption impacts brand choice decision, brand size-of-wallet, and brand share-of-wallet. Our results show that brand choice probability increases in general after consumers become multichannel. We also find that consumers increase both the size-of-wallet and share-of-wallet for the brand which they first purchase online, yet do not necessarily decrease the share-of-wallet for other brands.

The study examines how independent bookstores differentiated themselves from other bookstore retailers, to satisfy their customer needs and then to achieve customer engagement. The research proposes two questions as following: How do independent bookstores in Uppsala differentiate themselves in the book retailing industry? How do customers engage with independent bookstores? In order to answer these questions, qualitative research method was employed in this study. This research took all of the seven independent bookstores in Uppsala as a sample, interviewed owner/managers of each of them, and collected 85 questionnaires from their customers on the basis of the servicescape theory. The researchers employed the approach of qualitative data analysis. The analysis of the findings was based on Raffaelli’s 3C’s model, servicescape theory, and customer engagement theory. The conclusion of this study illustrates the actions of independent bookstores of differentiating themselves in the six dimensions of servicescape theory and indicates that both independent bookstore and their customers lay emphasis on the differentiation of functionality and employees. Furthermore, the customer engagement could be enhanced through the differentiation.

Developing effective social media marketing (SMM) strategies to engage customers is a challenge for business leaders. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the SMM strategies used by small business retailers to engage customers. The conceptual framework for this study was Rogers's diffusion of innovations theory. Participants included 5 small business retailers who had been in business for at least 5 years, used effective SMM strategies to engage customers, and were located in the southwest region of the United States. Data were collected through semistructured, face-to-face interviews. Data analysis resulted in 3 emergent themes: (a) marketing strategies and platforms, (b) social media content, and (c) customer engagement and retention. Small business retailers might benefit from the findings of this study by understanding what other small business retailers consider the most beneficial social media platforms and strategies, what customers desire in social media content, and effective customer engagement and retention processes to create SMM strategies. The implications for positive social change could include providing small business retailers with SMM best practices and strategies to improve company sustainability and growth, generate employment, reduce local poverty, and enhance employees' standards of living.

Social media has provided both companies and customer with new opportunities. Customers are increasingly integrating social media into their daily lives and companies has noticed these new traditional medias and started to take advantage of them through brand communities. The new behavior occurring on brand communities is what research call customer engagement behavior and goes beyond transactional behavior. However, customer engagement has not been fully researched on different social media platforms. The most researched platform to date is Facebook. And with the rapid growth of social media and the constant development of new platforms it is of importance to understand customer engagement behavior on different social media platforms to further being able to adapt to each unique platform. Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the frequency of customer engagement behavior and its affect on perceived relationship benefits and ultimately, relationship outcomes. This based on three different social media platforms where one company were present with brand communities and then compare the outcome of each platform with each other. Hypothesis: 𝐻1 = The frequency of customer engagement behavior leads to perceived relationship benefits of engaging in a brand community. 𝐻2 = Customer perceived relationship benefits have a positive effect on relationship outcomes. Methodology: Cross-sectional online questionnaires distributed on three different social media platforms – Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. Analysed using linear regressions. Findings: The findings indicates that the frequency on which a customer engage in engagement behaviors showed no statistical significance on Facebook, however, the frequency of reading messages, visiting the brand community, and purchasing products did show statistical significance on Instagram. Furthermore, the perceived relationship benefits that showed significance for both Facebook and Instagram was practical and economic benefits. While on Facebook social enhancement was considered an important indicator for relationship outcome and entertainment

Given that companies such as Proctor & Gamble are saying that they expect to get more than half of their ideas from outside the organization, there is a surprising lack of published research on how to encourage more of those ideas to reach organizations. Within the service climate, a focus on customer orientation and customer engagement has been linked to helping organizations remain competitive. Encompassing all of the non-transactional customer behaviours that can affect an organization, discussions of customer engagement often include things such as word of mouth, advocacy, and co-creation, yet they often do not mention customer feedback. Word of mouth can only extend an organization’s promotional budget, whereas customer feedback, another piece of the customer engagement puzzle, has the power to impact innovation and improvements within an organization. As such, this study contributes to the understanding of the antecedents of customer feedback. A model is put forth combining the technology acceptance model, knowledge management, customer complaint behaviour, and the theory of planned behaviour, showing that the intention to provide feedback is affected by customer characteristics (attitude towards feedback, subjective norms), perceptions of the feedback process (perceived ease of feedback process, perceived usefulness of feedback), and organization perceptions (customer orientation and affective commitment). Altruism, gender, and perceived rewards associated with the feedback process did not affect the intention to provide feedback. / 2013-07

The dissertation is focused on customer engagement which is defined as a certain activity when a company creates convenient possibilities and opportunities actively in order to involve customers who will be willing to express themselves to chosen companies' matters. It is obvious that it depends on the customers, whether they will participate or not. Both the company and the customer must be able to identify certain value that they obtain for them through their activity. The main goal of the thesis was creating a proposal in the form of a methodology, how to implement the chosen way of customer engagement with regard to the marketing management of retail companies. For purposes of the dissertation, the chosen way of customer engagement was obtaining customer feedback. During research interviews with entrepreneurs and managers, it was found out that it is just customer feedback that is one of the important topics in retail. In order to fulfil the main goal, the basis was a transposition of both theoretical pieces of knowledge and newly gained findings from own empirical research, concerning customer engagement within entrepreneurial subject's management. There were three partial goals that present a sequence of steps how to fulfil the mentioned main goal: (A) to identify particular ways of customer engagement in retail, (B) to find out how the chosen way of customer engagement is used in business practice in retail, and (C) to determine links between marketing management and the chosen way of customer engagement. There were used data from entrepreneurial subjects in retail and from customers as well. The result of fulfilling the main goal is the created methodology, how to work with customer feedback. It has three main sections: obtaining, processing and using of customer feedback. It is possible to consider the created methodology as a set of recommended directions for use how to develop and deepen relationships with customers. It is also an answer to the behaviour of contemporary customers who are not only passive receivers but they are active creators and influencers of actions around them.

As a highly commercialized sport, tennis is growing rapidly in the Chinese market. With robust economic growth and various supports from the government, China is becoming more and more valuable in the eyes of professional tennis tournament organizers. Nevertheless, those tournaments do not receive the same amount of popularity as they do in other countries like US and Japan. The purpose of this paper is finding effective ways to improve the popularity of professional tennis tournaments in China from the aspect of customer engagement. Comments from people who are closely involved in the events will be the most relevant empirical material for this study, because they are the group engaged in, or most likely to be engaged in the event. The comments collected will be coded and compared with theories in the field of customer engagement. A conceptual model and practical suggestions will be provided as the result of study.