What factors makes young online customer satisfied - Essay Example

? Factors that Make Young Online Satisfied Introduction The young generation has come to have plenty of expectations concerning the products that they acquire online and it has come to take quite an effort by various companies to ensure that these customers are satisfied. The level of satisfaction that these young customers require is often that of the best standard and since there are a diverse number of choices for them to select from; companies have to ensure that their products remain competitive in the market. As a consequence, a large amount of money has not only been put in marketing the products that companies have to offer but also in their improvement to make them more attractive to young customers. The marketing of products for young online consumers should not only be done at a local level, but the marketing campaigns of Reel Tributes, for example, are also be done at a regional, national, and international level. This is the best way to ensure that the products reach a wider audience than they would normally have if marketing were done at only the local level. While online marketing targeting young customers can be considered an important tool that can be used by companies, such as Reel Tributes, to gain an understanding of their customers who buy their products, it is not necessarily the only one. This process has to be augmented by this company ensuring that there are open lines of communication available between them and their young customers throughout that ensure that there is an understanding, which helps in the determination of a good and effective relationship (Yung and Li, 2009 p.1067). When conducting online marketing, the company’s management must ensure that each customer is given a perspective of the product that is thoughtful and careful so that the customer can make an accurate assessment of it. In order for an online marketing strategy for a product to be successful, the company must display a willingness to conduct a type of marketing that is both constructive and objective (Bailey 2012, p.24). In addition, Reel Tributes must ensure that it creates a situation where its customers display a willingness to take positively all the suggestions that are made to them, and to be able to work with the company to ensure that the products they receive are enhanced to their satisfaction. The professionalism of the marketing staff should enable the various companies making the product to compete effectively against other companies attempting to market similar products and in fact, it gives these companies an edge over others. An organization should always aim at being the best in the marketing of its products, especially those meant for young customers, so that the ranking of its competitors in the marketing business should show the top quality of work that is done within it. The marketing of products for online customers should be done using all the media available, both visual and print, to ensure that a much wider audience is reached than anticipated. This will guarantee the success of the product within the market for a long time since the marketing strategy adopted would be one, which retains the attention of its audience. One of the best means through which the product can be marketed is online since there are billions of users of the internet who would be a ready audience. Most of those who use the internet today are young people and these are more likely than not to choose to make purchases online as well as be audiences for the online marketing strategies that various companies may choose to use. Because the internet is a leading tool in marketing, this is where most companies and other institutions go to when they need to acquire products for the use of their clients, marketing online ensures that clients stay up to date with the current product so that they are able to get the best out of it. The marketing of products aimed at young online consumers has become wide as a concept and has developed into a set of practices under the aims and objectives of various companies. This has led them to determine the activities of the human resources department and the business policies of the company to ensure that the latter is successful in reaching this growing number of consumers. Customer satisfaction is a term that was previously used to describe the process through which companies worked towards the achievement of the satisfaction of their customers hence increasing their sales. This is currently not the case in many companies as this term has come to hold a completely new meaning. It has now become the description of a diverse number of activities that are carried out by a large number of companies to assess how their products are performing. Moreover, make recommendations on where they can make improvements, and finally, it has become a process through which a general assessment of how further sales of products to young online customers can be made. Research Objectives The purpose of this research is to investigate the factors that keep young online customers satisfied, and based on the current issues on the satisfaction of young online customers; the main research objectives will include the following: Analyse the recent development in the efforts of Reel Tribute and Launch in their attempts to satisfy their online customers Analyse the how the attitudes of customers concerning satisfaction has evolved, especially among the younger generation Identify the benefits that these companies accrue when they keep their young customers satisfied Make an analysis of the impact of the various activities that these companies undertake to ensure that their young online customers are satisfied Research Questions Based on the research objectives, the main research questions will be: Which factors may explain the satisfaction of young online customers? Are there any organizations that are involved in ensuring that customers as satisfied? What main areas of customer satisfaction should be covered and why? Does customer satisfaction have an effect on the rate of product sales? What are the long-term implications for companies if their online customers are satisfied? Literature Review In many organizations, the marketing of products for their young customers online is one of the activities that have to be conducted. However, in many cases, the strategies, which tend to be adopted by the various management teams conducting the marketing, tend not to be attractive enough to warrant the attention of the targeted customers (Royo-Vela and Casamassima 2011 p.521). This is mainly because of the fact that many of these companies often fail to understand what their customers want and because they have not consulted their customers, their products fail to sell. Most of the companies involved in the manufacturing of products with the aim of selling them to young consumers often fail to realize that current trends change very quickly and that they have to keep up with these trends (Bansal, McDougall, Dikolli and Sedatole, 2004 p.296). Since most of the information gathered by the company on what young customers want tends to be outdated once it is put into action, it is often difficult to create a true picture of the products that young customers may want to buy. Many of the young online customers often end up feeling that a certain product has become outdated because of the fact that no new innovative components have been added to the product. It is therefore a fact that the marketing of a product to the satisfaction of online customers is subject to many complications some of which include inaccuracy of the information concerning the product itself (Geissler, 2001, p.490). This is because of the fact that many of the decisions made by the company is often outdated by perhaps a year or two and it fails to put into account the performance of individual products in recent months, as well as the current opinion of customers. This creates a situation where it is difficult for a company to gauge what the young online consumers of its products want and the only way to remedy this seems to be ensuring that market research is conducted and implemented faster than the normal pace (Hsin and Hsin-Wei 2011, p.334). In the current competitive business world, it is understood that companies can only compete with their rivals by innovating, and among the strategies, which these companies have come to adopt, has been the proper management of their employees (Hong-Youl and Janda, 2008 p.400). The human resource department of a company can become more effective by having a legitimate system where employees are encouraged to be innovative so that they can adjust products that may be attractive to young customers. Moreover, a chance to be seen and to demonstrate skills and abilities, and an opportunity to get to interact with others in the company, this way, products, which are attractive to young consumers online, will be produced and in the process, the latter end up being satisfied (Yang and Peterson 2004 p.800). Enormous energy has been spent by companies in the search for new and improved formats to use in ensuring that the young online consumers are satisfied with the products that are sold to them. This has been in the hope that it would help companies live up to the expectations of their online customers in their products, ensuring that these customers are not only satisfied, but also that the sales of these companies increase (O'Cass and Ngo 2011, p.491). Recently, attention has also been paid to the online consumer satisfaction in addition to the processes, which companies have put in place to ensure that they manufacture only the premium products for these customers, online customer satisfaction can be described as a social and communication process where the ratter is considered the key actor. Companies have come to ensure that the channels of communication between them and their young online customers remain open, this is the only way through which these companies can be able to get direct feedback on their products from these customers and in the process gauge whether they are satisfied with them or not (Sabiote, Frias and Castaneda, 2012 p.159). One concern that arises from this direct communication is that it may be difficult for the consumer to justify or defend a particular rating, unless this consumer has absolute product information to add to the assessment that he or she is conducting. While this may be the case, the fact that online consumers are able to provide feedback on the product makes it possible for the company manufacturing it to swiftly make adjustments to products which these consumers have not found satisfactory, modifying them to suite the latter’s specifications (Rose, Clark, Samouel and Hair 2012 p.309). Therefore, because satisfaction of the customer has been placed before any other consideration has ensured that the quality of products has also increased. Moreover, the efficiency of companies in generating positive effects on their customer’s motivation and buying behaviour has come to depend largely on the presence of an effective and fair product management system. Such a situation is most likely to exacerbate the potentially negative effect of customer satisfaction on the latter’s morale to purchase products from certain companies, creating many losses for the companies involved (Yu-Hui, Chao-Min and Wang 2011, p.480). In contrast, when online customers feel satisfied with the criteria, standards, and procedures applied to the products they would like to purchase, they are less likely to experience negative attitudes in relation to the said products, and this will shift their attention toward making more purchases instead of criticizing and rejecting it. For this reason, the positive effect of online customer satisfaction depends on the meticulousness expected from the companies whose products they are purchasing in ensuring that these products are not only of the best quality, but also of satisfactory standards for their customers (Jin, Jin and Kim, 2008 p.326). Research Methodology Overview There has developed a large body of research and studies based on the strategies that are used by companies to satisfy their young online customers. While the literature, on the various ways that this could be done, was previously dominated by psychologists, whose focus was the psychological characteristics of consumer satisfaction. This was specifically the means through which products could be marketed to consumers; recent psychological literature has put more emphasis on customer reaction to company online marketing strategies and the context within which these strategies occur. Studies have been conducted to investigate the relationships between online marketing strategies, as well as the manufacture of products on the one hand, and the level of interest and satisfaction displayed by young online customers. The findings have shown that inspirational issues play an imperative role for the effectiveness of marketing strategies as well as the satisfaction of online customers in the product. In addition, the approval of online customers on the products of various companies has also come to catch the attention of many researchers on the current market trends (Grace, Lin and Chia-Chi, 2009 p.459). The proposed research will mainly involve qualitative methods and these shall include the study of companies, that is, Reel Tributes and Launch, which are headed by young entrepreneurs whose main mode of marketing is based online. However, quantitative data on these companies will also be included, especially in relation with how online customer satisfaction has a direct influence on the sales of their products. For instance, data will be collected concerning the services offered by Reel Tributes, which include providing help to those who wish make their own documentaries, as well as Launch, whose main product is providing branding services to companies that have been started by young people. The specific areas, concerning these companies, which are to be handled, include details dealing with how they conduct their marketing, how they treat their young online customers, and finally, how they deal with any dissatisfaction that may arise from such dealings (Gounaris, Dimitriadis and Stathakopoulos, 2010 p.144). The decision to adopt this approach when carrying out the research was made mainly because it is the best option through which to explore online customer satisfaction and how it comes to affect how companies approach it. This way, the research will be able to obtain the most relevant information that could be used to develop qualitative studies on the subject matter. The findings of the case study will be complimented by a survey of a range of related literature on the effect of online customer satisfaction and how companies respond to achieve it. A preference will be given to the most recent literature in order to align the substance of the study to the prevailing challenges within the online market industry as understood together with the objectives of the study, the information will be organized according to the themes that relate to the specific objectives of the subject. Collection of primary data In addition to the data collected from literature review, it is intended that interviews will be conducted especially on companies whose products attract young online customers. These interviews will be conducted on the management and employees of Reel Tributes as well as Launch so that a clear perspective of how they work towards satisfying their young online customers can be deciphered. The interviews conducted will be on individual basis with marketing policy makers of a diverse number of companies, the conduct of interviews would allow one to confront points of view and use of different methodologies and vocabulary. Collection of secondary data There will be the use of secondary data and these will be done at different levels: - Academic literature: several academic journals can provide useful data about this subject. - Companies: websites of business firms involved in the sale of online products will also be analysed and these include the websites of the companies that will mainly be discussed in this paper, that is, Reel Tributes and Launch. It will be necessary to be cautious with the data provided, as they have no interest in making public failures and errors. Conclusion It has been stated that in order to design effective programs to satisfy young online customers, the company must have proper information concerning the specific product that they would like to sell. In addition, the company should also conduct surveys to find out whether their customers find their products satisfactory or not, and it is the latter, then they are obliged to ensure that they make improvements on it before putting it on the market. An example of such course of action is to ensure that their products are made to be safe in every way and to achieve this, the administration of this company must be aware of the dangers that can be found in their production procedures. If those who make decisions within the company are not aware of a particular problem in the product, it will be impossible for them to come up with reasonable solutions. One would further state that among the most important characteristics that a company’s administration has make to make a decision on the authenticity of any product that they put on the online market is whether the company is accountable if the product fails to satisfy the customers who purchase it. If the administration and the concerned stakeholders decide that there is a cause and effect link between the company’s activities and the dissatisfaction of a particular group of online customers, then it is suggested that it is almost universally accepted that companies are expected to look for answers. In this case, companies must either stop creating and selling the unsatisfactory products or, if that is not possible, the dissatisfied customers must be offered compensation. An important condition, which is suggested for a company when initiating a product into the online market is the fact that this product has to be satisfactory at all levels to its consumers. TIME SCALE May – June: - Literature review on the intended research shall be written - Initial contact with the two companies proposed for the research. July – August: - Conduct of interviews - Analysis of collected data - First draft of the structure of the Project - Writing of the literature review section of the Project September – October: - Finalize the analysis of collected data - Writing of the Project References Bailey, J. 2012, "Informal screencasting: results of a customer-satisfaction survey with a convenience sample", New Library World, vol. 113, no. 1, pp. 7-26. Bansal, H.S., McDougall, G.H.G., Dikolli, S.S. & Sedatole, K.L. 2004, "Relating e-satisfaction to behavioral outcomes: an empirical study", The Journal of Services Marketing, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 290-302. Geissler, G.L. 2001, "Building customer relationships online: The Web site designers' perspective", The Journal of Consumer Marketing, vol. 18, no. 6, pp. 488-500. 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