CUSTOMERS' PERCEPTION OF VALUE FROM ECRM FEATURES ON AIRLINE E-TICKETING WEBSITES

Abstract

Companies can observe increase in profit, if the customers are in stronger relationship with them due to the very well-known fact that cost of getting a customer is five to eight times of maintaining an existing customer. Traditional marketers have been using Customer Relationship Management techniques to address these issues. To address this issue in an online environment the latest technique which the companies are using is Electronic Customer Relationship Management (eCRM). It is emphasized by researchers that every organization should educate themselves about eCRM. All the eCRM features are not important to be presented on the websites for customer satisfaction and profitability of the company due to the fact that implementation of these features may be very costly for the company. Therefore successful implementation of eCRM applications (web-based applications) is important and beneficial for both customers and companies. Problem discussion derives the need of determining customer value online from different features of eCRM. For our research travel industry was chosen due to its attractiveness in the online business environment. The number of customers who buy online airline tickets is increasing day by day making it one of the strongest performing sectors of e-Commerce. Major challenge for online travel firms is to retain customers by building effective relation- ship strategies. Due to the competitive nature of the online travel industry and for the successful implementation of eCRM applications it was necessary to know the customers’ value perceptions about the different features of eCRM. Findings of the study shows that all the features were not important for customer satisfaction, at the same time, websites were not providing all the features discussed by theory whereas customers’ showed their willingness to use those features if provided. It is also discovered that after sale services through internet, can cause customer retention.