Influence of Electronic Marketing on Customer Retention at Safaricom Limited

Abstract

The study sought to determine the influence of electronic marketing on customer retention at Safaricom limited. The objective of the study was to find out the electronic marketing practices adopted by Safaricom and whether these practices contribute to customer retention. The study used a case study research design. Primary data were collected by interviewing three Heads of Department in Marketing at Safaricom due to the fact that they were highly involved in implementation of marketing strategies. The interview was guided by an interview schedule prepared by the researcher. The interviewees were namely Head of department Consumer Sales, Head of department Mass Market and Head of department Enterprise Sales. A face to face interview was conducted with the three heads of marketing privately in different set ups. Inductive Content analysis was used to relate the findings of the study which involved a three step process analytical methodology namely; preparation stage, organizational and finally reporting stage. The findings revealed that the most commonly used electronic marketing practices by Safaricom Limited were as follows: social media marketing; audience participation, viral campaigns, customer feedback, offline communication; direct email, online partnership; widget marketing, affiliate marketing, online public relation; publisher outreach, brand protection, search engine optimization and paid search. One of the major limitations of this study is that the managers had a busy schedule and therefore the researcher had to interview them hurriedly therefore some answers were not in-depth. A similar study may be carried out but in a different context for example in the banking sector. This study will be important because it will give a comparison on the effectiveness of electronic marketing on customer retention. These findings will be used as a guide on areas of improvement to effectively realize the benefits of electronic marketing and its contribution to customer retention.