Do electronic loyalty programs still drive customer choice and repeat purchase behaviour

Retaining loyal customers and changing inactive ones to be active are major challenges that service organisations currently face. One serious question to which mobile phone service providers need to find a suitable answer is how to drive loyal customers' behaviours to become involved in different electronic loyalty schemes to promote repeat buying and extend customer-supplier relationships. To answer such questions, four electronic loyalty programs have been tested, namely electronic points, prepaid card discounts, free additional credit and free additional minutes and/or messages within the mobile phone service purchase setting. A quantitative approach employing a self-administered questionnaire has been used to collect the study data. Data was collected from 478 customers who participated in one of the mobile phone loyalty programs mentioned earlier. Structural equation modelling (SEM) statistical modelling was employed to test both the study model and the developed hypotheses. Generally, the study found that e-loyalty programs drive loyal customers' choices and repeat buying. Substantial information about testing the sub-hypotheses is explained in more detail in this article.