The antecedents of customer loyalty

Abstract

Without a loyal customer base, a business has a significantly less probability of achieving in today's competitive environment. Being aware of the cold fact, businesses try to foster sustainable relationships with their customers and turn them into a loyal clientele. They heavily invest in loyalty programs to retain their customers. Those companies hoping to create customer loyalty in today's global market need to be aware that there are antecedents to customer loyalty. Customers do not suddenly become loyal to a company. Several critical factors need to be in place before committing themselves whole-heartedly to one product, service, brand or company. Research has revealed that perceived value, self-congruity, customer participation, customer brand identification, emotional commitment, customer satisfaction and brand trust must all be present to some degree for the customer's response to be loyal to that brand. Research also shows that companies that take this process seriously have a greater chance of generating a loyal customer base.