The Power of Structure : Designing a Service Design Blueprint for Digital Marketing Agencies to Increase Customer Retention
Cozma, Andreea-Ioana (2021)
Cozma, Andreea-Ioana
2021
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2021122790549
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2021122790549
Tiivistelmä
Due to the global competition and the fast-paced changing digital marketing environment, small digital marketing agencies need to nurture and retain customers rather than acquire new ones. Many small marketing startups do not have the capabilities and resources to have many customers and end up neglecting the ones they have. In addition, an evident lack of structure and strategy which affects customer satisfaction and retention has been noticed.
This study was done for a small digital marketing agency, and the development process was to design a Service Design Blueprint to improve customers satisfaction and retention. This Master Thesis research aims at identifying customers’ gains and pains of this Case Company while revealing unknown customers’ needs.
The literature review is based on understanding the B2B Digital Marketing environment, exploring customer satisfaction and retention theories, and diving into the service-dominant logic value creation for mapping service quality. Service Design methods and tools constitute the foundation for the development work. This study collected data through qualitative research mainly by using semi-structured interviews, persona interviews, and stakeholders’ workshops.
The empirical findings showed that unknown customers’ needs are strongly related to the company case business strategy and unstructured processes. By employing the results, the business strategy of the case company has been stirred in the right direction. The development outcome directly addressed the customers’ pains and needs through the service design blueprint to improve the offering and customer retention.
The theoretical and empirical outcomes showcase the importance of structure and business strategy for small digital marketing agencies, even at early design. In addition, the results have demonstrated the positive impact of customer satisfaction and customer-centric service offering when retaining customers. The author believes that more small marketing agencies or startups could benefit from these thesis results; however, further research on how service design processes could be applied in a highly entrepreneurial environment is needed.
This study was done for a small digital marketing agency, and the development process was to design a Service Design Blueprint to improve customers satisfaction and retention. This Master Thesis research aims at identifying customers’ gains and pains of this Case Company while revealing unknown customers’ needs.
The literature review is based on understanding the B2B Digital Marketing environment, exploring customer satisfaction and retention theories, and diving into the service-dominant logic value creation for mapping service quality. Service Design methods and tools constitute the foundation for the development work. This study collected data through qualitative research mainly by using semi-structured interviews, persona interviews, and stakeholders’ workshops.
The empirical findings showed that unknown customers’ needs are strongly related to the company case business strategy and unstructured processes. By employing the results, the business strategy of the case company has been stirred in the right direction. The development outcome directly addressed the customers’ pains and needs through the service design blueprint to improve the offering and customer retention.
The theoretical and empirical outcomes showcase the importance of structure and business strategy for small digital marketing agencies, even at early design. In addition, the results have demonstrated the positive impact of customer satisfaction and customer-centric service offering when retaining customers. The author believes that more small marketing agencies or startups could benefit from these thesis results; however, further research on how service design processes could be applied in a highly entrepreneurial environment is needed.