The royalty of loyalty: CRM, quality and retention

Purpose – The purpose of the study is to examine and develop a better understanding of triangle relationship between quality, customer relationship management (CRM) and customer loyalty (CL) which might lead to companies' competitiveness (CC). Design/methodology/approach – A research model (5Qs) was designed to measure satisfaction and loyalty. This model is based on two conditions: the customer database and CRM strategy are well structured; and that management control systems have the capacity to produce required data for the analysis. Findings – Changing in quality over time within various segments or related to specific products or categories of products/services can be used as an indicator the level of loyalty. By linking infrastructure, interaction and atmosphere indicators to the quality of object and processes, researchers and managers can document which changes in CRM strategy improve the overall satisfaction and loyalty, hence the ultimate outcomes. Practical implications – Key ways to build a strong competitive position are through customer relationship management (CRM) and product/service quality. A company has to create customer relationships that deliver value beyond the provided by the core products. This involves added tangible and intangible elements to the core products thus creating and enhancing the “product surrounding”. One necessary expecting result of the creation of value added is customer loyalty. This is an important function to ensure the fulfilment of given customer requirements and companies profits, survival and competitive positioning. Originality/value – In this study a new technical‐functional 5 qualities model (5Qs) is created and utilized to measure the quality and loyalty. The paper suggests how to incorporate the infrastructure, interaction and atmosphere indicators into the quality of object and processes to identify changes and improvement in CRM strategies.