Relationship management is becoming more important in direct marketing, since the emphasis in marketing is moving from a transaction focus to a relationship focus (e.g. Barlow, 1992; Cannon & Sheth, 1994;Webster, 1992). However, problems arise when measuring the strength of relationships between a company and its customers. Whereas relationship strength could be used as a segmentation variable. In measuring relationship strength, some studies concentrate on one indicator at a time, e.g. the length of the relationship. Other studies use a combination of indicators, like the R/F/Mformula in the direct marketing world (e.g. Baier, 1985). These indicators however, measure customer quality instead of relationship quality (which is used as a synonym of strength here) (Hoekstra, 1993;Wilson, 1990). The present study intended to measure relationship strength, of different consumer groups (i.c. current, former and potential members of a marketing club) with the same producer, through a relationship audit (Wilson, 1989). This audit depends on customer attitudes towards the relationships. These attitudes can not be derived from a database in which mainly behavioral data are kept. The results of the audit are related to behavioral data from the same study (that could be registrated in a database). Similarities between the two standards imply that the audit could be substituted by data from a (direct marketing) database. The relationship audit as well as the behavioral data show striking differences between different consumer groups. So these groups can be approached by an appropriate (direct marketing) strategy, based on differences in relationship strength. ABSTRACTRelationship management is becoming more important, also in direct marketing. Measuring the strength of relationships is relevant, since relationship strength can be used as a segmentation variable. However, in measuring relationship strength, mostly one or more behavioral indicators are used (e.g. the R/F/M-formula). So, these indicators measure customer quality instead of relationship quality, which is mainly determined by customer perceptions. This paper shows some preliminary results of a relationship audit, which depends on customer attitudes towards the relationship.
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