University of Twente Student Theses

Login

The impact of social media and online customer reviews on product choice and customer retention

Schwichtenberg, S. (2015) The impact of social media and online customer reviews on product choice and customer retention.

[img] PDF
832kB
Abstract:The digitalisation continues to proceed and consumers increasingly make use of social media and online customer reviews. However it is sometimes difficult for companies to recognize the importance and opportunities of these factors. On the other side stand the consumers who are overwhelmed by the possibilities social media presents and struggle to find objective information towards their product or company. With the help of already existing literature that is relevant to the topic a review will be conducted to find answers regarding this problem. Furthermore a survey will be used to specifically address questions to a sample. Within these two processes it will be examined what the impact social media and online customer reviews have when choosing a product or considering becoming a loyal customer. The results of the literature review show that there is an impact from online customer reviews on product choice, however it does not provide enough information to draw a clear conclusion regarding the problem. The survey on the other hand clearly links online customer reviews with product choice as well as customer retention. It also gives also insights on how social media is involved, since it mainly is a function that indirectly influences product choice and customer retention. It was found that although only indirect connection could be drawn the impact is still relevant. Therefore the problem addressed at the beginning, namely how companies can recognise and use social media and online customer reviews, is represented in the impact. For consumers the outcome of the study helps to identify information sources as well as to decrease the bias that might occur from reviews or personal opinions when for example choosing a product.
Item Type:Essay (Bachelor)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:70 social sciences in general, 85 business administration, organizational science
Programme:International Business Administration BSc (50952)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/68523
Export this item as:BibTeX
EndNote
HTML Citation
Reference Manager

 

Repository Staff Only: item control page