The impact of direct marketing on customer relationship management

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the impact of direct marketing on customer relationships and to analyse the attitude of local companies and customers' point of view towards customer relationships, loyalty and promotion. A primary research was carried out through an interview with a business organisation and a questionnaire was used as a research tool with consumers. The results show a lack of effort from part of the companies to make customers loyal. In fact, customers tend to be loyal until they find better offers. Promotional materials are not targeted to the relevant audience and according to the information collected about the customers. Direct marketing is not considered important to create relationships and customers tend to get annoyed when they receive promotions. The findings are a first attempt in creating a foundation for future research in the area of direct marketing and relationship marketing in Malta. It is essential to continue to develop these propositions by taking into consideration other factors which have an impact on customer relationships and which would make direct marketing more effective. Companies need to focus more on their customers. Promotion from companies has to stand out to attract customers' attention. Adverts need to be targeted to the right audience and include offers and products and services that have direct relevance to the customers' needs and wants. This dissertation gives a boost to realise about the importance of direct marketing and its effectiveness in creating customer relationships and how much these relationships are important for business strategies. Even though customer relationships has become part of the definition of marketing, very few companies embrace it as part of their business strategy and direct marketing is not seen as a tool to develop these relationships but rather as a tool to sell and inform customers about their products.