4.2 Developing Rapport
Rapport is a relationship or connection you build with others. In everyday life, two people have a rapport when they get along well and are friends. Building rapport is essential in marketing.
Relationship Marketing in the Digital Age
Watch the video below, in which Lena Steinhoff discusses her research on how companies can manage their relationships with online customers more effectively. Five key elements that are unique to online customer-company relationships are identified.
Video: “Relationship Marketing in the Digital Age” by Latest Thinking [9:00] is licensed under the Standard Youtube License. Captions and transcripts are available on YouTube.
Steinhoff’s research has found that reciprocity and trust are important aspects of e-commerce relationships, electronic word-of-mouth via the social web can have a positive and negative effect on company sales, privacy concerns and data breaches can have a negative effect on company performance, and service robots can be off-putting to customers.
Key Takeaways
- Online relationships are seamless – Customers can access the company anytime or anywhere.
- Online relationships are networked – Companies need to be aware of the effect of social media since one customer can positively and negatively affect their sales with other customers.
- Online relationships are omni-channel – Customers not only use different types of devices to access the company, but they access it in different ways, such as through Facebook and Instagram.
- Online relationships are more personalized – Companies can customize their offerings on a one-to-one basis using customer profiles.
- Online relationships are getting anthropomorphized – Customers may talk to a chatbot or a machine when they contact the company.
Definition of Rapport is from”Establishing Rapport” from Fundamentals of Public Speaking by Lumen Learning, which is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
“Relationship Marketing in the Digital Age” from CUST105: Customer Service by Saylor Academy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.
