Bachelorarbeiten 2012 - Themenbeschreibungen

• Gamification: Just a Game or an Effective Customer Experience Management Tool?

In recent years companies have recognized that just offering a product or service is not anymore enough to create loyal customers. Thus, companies have started to create extra value for their customers by not only selling products or services but by also delivering experiences to their customers. A new customer experience strategy, which is said to enhance customer engagement, is gamification. “Gamification” is the use of game design elements in non-game contexts. This thesis should investigate the nature/concept of gamification as well its effectiveness and its potential impact on company success.

• The Impact of Customer-Involvement on Customer Delight

Customer delight is the new buzz word in customer loyalty management. Therefore, nowadays, more and more companies do not only want to satisfy their customers but are keen to delight them. This thesis should investigate whether the degree of customer involvement has an influence on the delighting strategy or not. Are different delighting strategies advantageous for different involvement levels and does the effect of customer delight depend on the involvement level of the customer?

• Value of Industrial Services

In essence, the creation and communication of value to the customer is the core element of each marketing concept. In the context of industrial services, there is a gap between the value perceived by the customer and the objective value which a company communicates. The aim of the thesis therefore, is to elaborate upon the topic “Value of Industrial Services” and to investigate the different perspectives of value.

• Value Communication to Customers – The Importance of Key Performance Indicators

“Perceived value is a combination of what customers get in terms of benefits such as quality and what they give away in terms of money, time, and effort” (Lapierre et al., 1999, p. 237). In a relationship between customers and providers in a B2B-context it is of major importance to communicate the right key performance indicators (KPIs) in order make the customer buy the service. Therefore, the aim of the thesis is to elaborate upon the importance of KPIs and to identify the most important KPIs in the context of industrial services.

• Antecedents and Consequences of Service Employee Costumer Orientation

In today’s business world it has become crucial for service companies that customer contact employees exhibit high levels of costumer orientation. This thesis should point out the factors that decisively determine customer orientation of service employees. Additionally it should be shown how high levels of costumer orientation contribute to the success of service companies.

• Consumer Pride

Especially in some high involvement B2C industries it can commonly be observed that consumers experience pride evoked by purchasing, owning, or using a certain product or service. Thereby, pride emotions can be based on different aspects of the consumption, like the social status of a brand, superior performance of a product or service, or a good bargain. This thesis should develop a basic framework for the hardly explored concept of consumer pride.

• Word of Mouth 2.0

In the age of Web 2.0 consumers have the possibility to immediately share their opinions about products and services with millions of other (possible) users. This thesis should investigate what motivates consumers to post comments on their consumption experiences on the internet. Also, it should be examined how these comments and ratings of users, published through Web 2.0 applications and comparable services, influence the behaviour of other consumers.

• Gamification as a Means to Praise

Description will be provided shortly.

• Service Design as an Enabler for Customer Delight

Description will be provided shortly.

• Client Delight in a Consultancy Context

Description will be provided shortly.