The effects of personalisation on e- loyalty in the post-purchase stage of the customer journey

Resulting from recent developments, such as the growth of the internet and the increasing competition between online and in-store retailing, online loyalty is becoming increasingly important for establishing and sustaining the profitability of online retailers. Research has studied online loyalty from the perspective of several stages in the customer journey, however, little to no research investigated the development of online loyalty when consumers receive their ordered products at home. This research paper aimed to investigate the effects of personalisation included in tertiary packaging on e-tail brand experience (the consumer’s experiences towards the brand of the online store) and development of e-brand loyalty (loyalty towards the online store) in the post-purchase stage of the customer journey. The experiment (N = 301), was a 2 (type of communication: personalised message vs. personalised recommendation) X 2 (writing style: handwritten vs. printed) + 1 (control condition) between-subjects design. The study was employed by a survey and reported differences in e-tail brand experience and e-brand loyalty towards a fictional store. The results showed that a handwritten or a printed personalised communication led to a better e-tail brand experience compared to including no communication at all. Handwritten communications resulted in the most positive e-tail brand experiences. Furthermore, a positive relationship was found between e-tail brand experience and e-brand loyalty towards the online retailer. The findings provide new insights that can be used by online retailers to improve the loyalty of consumers in the future by personalising the packaging they send to their consumers.

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