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October 2001 (Revised October 2017)
Case

Pilgrim Bank (A): Customer Profitability

By: Frances X. Frei and Dennis Campbell

Provides a context in which students can explore managerial decision making that is critically informed by data analysis. The setting is a retail bank and the decision making relates to the bank's policy toward online banking. The management team is evaluating whether... View Details

Keywords: Banks and Banking; Customers; Profit; Banking Industry

Article

Are Self-service Customers Satisfied or Stuck?

By: Ryan W. Buell, Dennis Campbell and Frances X. Frei

This paper investigates the impact of self-service technology (SST) usage on customer satisfaction and retention. Specifically, we disentangle the distinct effects of satisfaction and switching costs as drivers of retention among self-service customers. Our empirical... View Details

Keywords: Service Delivery; Information Technology; Customer Satisfaction; Competition; Cost; Banks and Banking; Behavior; Market Transactions; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques

Find at Harvard

20 Dec 2022
Op-Ed

Employee Feedback: The Key to Retention During the Great Resignation

well-being of our customers and the people we serve first”—and requires senior teams at every level to foster repeated honest conversations with lower levels about whether their unit is practicing that credo. According to recently retired... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Beer

June 2020
Background Note

Customer Management Dynamics and Cohort Analysis

By: Elie Ofek, Barak Libai and Eitan Muller

The digital revolution has allowed companies to amass considerable amounts of data on their customers. Using this information to generate actionable insights is fast becoming a critical skill that firms must master if they wish to effectively compete and win in today’s... View Details

Keywords: Cohort Analysis; Customers; Analytics and Data Science; Segmentation; Analysis; Customer Value and Value Chain

Research Summary

Overview

By: Ryan W. Buell

From creating flight itineraries online, to interacting with tellers to complete complex banking transactions, to engaging with the government to address civic problems, customers are playing an increasingly vital role in the performance of operations in a broadening... View Details

14 Jul 2003
Research & Ideas

Keeping Your Balance With Customers

strength of its partnership by striving for sole-source relationships. At all of these companies, customer retention strategies were based on providing superior service, listening to View Details

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan & David P. Norton

July 2010
Supplement

Marketing Analysis Toolkit: Customer Lifetime Value Analysis (CW)

By: Thomas J. Steenburgh and Jill Avery

Customers are increasingly being viewed as assets that bring value to the firm. Customer lifetime value is a metric which allows managers to understand the overall value of their customer base and relate it to three customer strategies firms employ: asset acquisition -... View Details

Keywords: Competency and Skills; Customer Relationship Management; Customer Value and Value Chain; Decisions; Framework; Management Practices and Processes; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Strategic Planning; Mathematical Methods; Value

May 2024
Background Note

Net Revenue Retention: Unpacking the Dynamics of Customer Monetization

By: Elie Ofek, Barak Libai and Eitan Muller

Firms and investors alike are beginning to recognize the importance of tracking how revenues from existing customers are evolving over time and to appreciate the value in understanding what might explain changes in these revenues. Consequently, in addition to looking... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Revenue; Measurement and Metrics; Customer Value and Value Chain

June 2016
Teaching Note

HubSpot: Lower Churn through Greater CHI

By: Jill Avery, Asis Martinez Jerez and Thomas Steenburgh

HubSpot, a web marketing startup selling inbound marketing software to small- and medium-sized businesses, is under pressure from its venture capital partners to rapidly acquire new customers and to maintain a low level of customer churn. The B2B SaaS company is in the... View Details

Keywords: CRM; Customer Acquisition; Customer Retention; Churn Management; SaaS Business Models; Customer Lifetime Value; Venture Capital; Startup; Software; Monitoring And Control; Marketing; Customer Relationship Management; Marketing Strategy; Accounting; Technology Industry; United States

2011
Other Unpublished Work

Popularity Profiles: How Customers' Use of a Long-Tail Assortment Relates to their Service Retention

By: Anita Elberse and David A. Schweidel

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management

01 Mar 2004
What Do You Think?

Are Customer Loyalty Initiatives Worth the Investment?

Summing Up This month's column presented two views of the importance of customer loyalty management, one challenging its feasibility and long-term impact (Michael Treacy, Double Digit Growth) and one concluding that it is one of the most... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

06 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

The Right Way to Manage Customer Churn for Maximum Profit

Focusing on retaining higher-spending customers, even if they aren’t as likely to leave, can increase the total profit a company can reap. As their research evolved, Gupta and Lemmens expanded this idea with another factor: which View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Retail; Service; Financial Services

January 2017 (Revised October 2021)
Case

Delivering the Goods at Shippo

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Jeffrey F. Rayport and Olivia Hull

Laura Behrens Wu, CEO of software start-up Shippo, prepares her pitch for a Series A funding round following a successful seed round. Customer adoption of Shippo’s e-commerce dashboard application, which allows small and medium retailers to compare delivery rates... View Details

11 Nov 2013
Research & Ideas

A Smarter Way to Reduce Customer Defections

Managing Churn to Maximize Profits with Aurélie Lemmens, an associate professor at the Tilburg School of Economics and Management. They propose a new method to target customers that potentially boosts a company's profits in a big way—by... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Retail; Service

Web

Managing Customers for Growth - Course Catalog

personas and growth strategies. Topics include: Acquisition vs. retention trade-offs, engagement-driven business models, customer segmentation, and monetization strategies. Module 3: Managing View Details

30 Mar 2003
Research & Ideas

How Your Employees and Customers Drive a New Value Profit Chain

recognition, and involvement of top management in the hiring and retention decisions regarding large numbers of managers. Many organizations don't know the profitability of their existing customers. Many treat all View Details

Keywords: by Manda Mahoney

01 Mar 2023
News

Elevator Pitch: Spread the Wealth

Illustration by Drue Wagner Illustration by Drue Wagner Sabine Tejerina (MBA 2009) Cofounder and COO, Upstreet Concept: Launched in 2020, Upstreet makes it easier and more economical for companies to reward employees and customers with... View Details

Keywords: entrepreneurship; stock ownership; customer rewards; employee retention; financial literacy; Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Finance

March 17, 2021
Other Article

Beyond Pajamas: Sizing Up the Pandemic Shopper

By: Ayelet Israeli, Eva Ascarza and Laura Castrillo

A first look at how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted e-commerce apparel shopping in the US and the UK. Extensive analysis and interactive graphics utilizing millions of transactions.
While the pandemic is still playing out, our preliminary investigations... View Details