Author Archive

What Drives Customers to Stores?

Customer service may be one of the most important forces that drives customer TO YOUR STORE. Some proof can be found in the results of this survey.

October 12th, 2011 - By Bill Bleuel, PhD, Professor of Decision Sciences


Ethics and Loyalty: There May be a Sea Change on the Horizon

In order for ethical programs to have an impact on customers, they must work and be seen to work.

August 24th, 2011 - By Bill Bleuel, PhD, Professor of Decision Sciences


A Different Measure for Loyalty

Statistics on Customer Effort Score (CES) strongly suggest it has the ability to detect loyalty at the operational level.

August 17th, 2011 - By Bill Bleuel, PhD, Professor of Decision Sciences


Rational and Emotional Trust

Dr. Bill Bleuel calls trust “the holy grail of relationship management,” explaining the difference between rational and emotional trust.

July 19th, 2011 - By Bill Bleuel, PhD, Professor of Decision Sciences


More About Trust

Trust appears to be gaining in importance as a way of building customer relationships that transcend the multi-channel media.

July 7th, 2011 - By Bill Bleuel, PhD, Professor of Decision Sciences


Customer Satisfaction Impact on Purchase Intent

Statistics continue to demonstrate that companies that pay attention to customer satisfaction increase their sales more than other companies.

June 9th, 2011 - By Bill Bleuel, PhD, Professor of Decision Sciences


Retaining Customers Part IV: Parting Comments

This is the last of a series of four blogs devoted to the topic of customer retention. Read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. The key to competing for retention is to quantify and understand the connections between loyalty and profits. How to use measurements as tools to ensure integrity, accountability and decision-making relative [...]

June 17th, 2008 - By Bill Bleuel, PhD, Professor of Decision Sciences


Retaining Customers Part III: Invest to Prevent Customer Defections

This is the third of a series of four blogs devoted to the topic of customer retention. Read Part 1 and Part 2. Every customer that you keep represents at least three that you don’t have to attract. Numerous research studies indicate that the cost of acquiring a new customer usually runs from two to [...]

June 9th, 2008 - By Bill Bleuel, PhD, Professor of Decision Sciences


Retaining Customers Part II: The Flight of the “Service Zombies”

This is the second of a series of four blogs devoted to the topic of customer retention. To read Part 1, click here. Employees get excited when management demonstrates a serious commitment to listening to customers and staff’s suggestions for serving them. Building customer loyalty is everyone’s responsibility and everyone’s input is critical. Sharing information [...]

June 3rd, 2008 - By Bill Bleuel, PhD, Professor of Decision Sciences


Retaining Customers (Part 1 of 4)

This is the first of a four-piece series devoted to the topic of customer retention. Here, I will talk about retention, what it is, and why it drives successful business operations. The three subsequent blogs will present a conceptual framework for issues, rationale, cost models, and examples for use in developing and maintaining a loyal [...]

May 26th, 2008 - By Bill Bleuel, PhD, Professor of Decision Sciences