The Influence of Relationship Marketing on Customer Loyalty in the Banking Industry.

Abstract

Relationship marketing comprises all the activities that are designed to establish, develop and maintain successful relationship with customers. Therefore relationship marketing has become more and more important since the last decade of 20th century in the banking industry, geared towards gaining a competitive edge in a highly competitive environment. This study sought to establish the influence of relationship marketing on customer loyalty in five Kenyan banks, precisely focusing on five dimensions of relationship marketing namely trust, empathy, conflict handling, switching costs and value perception. A descriptive cross sectional survey of 175 customers from five Kenyan banks was conducted using structured self administered questionnaires as data collection instruments. Data was analyzed by use of a computer software package SPSS and results reported in tables, charts and coefficient of correlation and regression interpretations. The findings were that while switching costs and trust positively and significantly influenced customer loyalty among the banks that were studied, perceived value, empathy and conflict handling did not have a significant influence on the loyalty of customers. Further, the results showed that gender and bank type did not significantly influence customer loyalty.