Interplay of 7Ps of Marketing Mix in Customer Acquisition: An Empirical Study of Retail Banking

Abstract

Customer acquisition is being rated as one of the most testing issues of the industry, especially in service sector, due to the worth anticipated from performing the task of customer acquisition process in the businesses.  Customer acquisition is being treated as a significant industry technique because it aims to acquire the most important possession of all organizations, i.e. the customer. The recent transformations in the customer's psychology, the escalating expectations from the service sector and the ever increasing supremacy of financially and technologically superior foreign banks at large, make it essential that the banks innovate their existing product & service mix. This makes it imperative that banks provide best mix of products and service to ensure building of brand image and thus ensuring high rate of Customer Acquisition.

Customer Acquisition needs to be attended to, at the initial stage of the customer life cycle, but unfortunately it is being felt that the management is not predominantly expert in supervision and management of acquisition process. The study shall try to find out the role played and effectiveness of the 7Ps of Marketing Mix in projecting the brand image of the banks and attracting customers to avail a particular product or service offered. The study is carried out with an aim to assess and rate the marketing strategies employed for acquisition of customer in private sector banks. The proposed study will also analyze the role played by 7Ps with reference to the expectations of the customer and the power to affect the customer mind frame.

The results of the study carried out on a sample size of 150 customers of 3 prominent private banks; show that the top rated 4 factors (Place, Product, Process and Pricing) significantly impact the customer acquisition process, thus proving the supremacy of traditional 4Ps over the service specific 3Ps in Customer Acquisition.  It is hoped that the empirical findings of the study will assist private and public sector banks, both, in development of the bank's customer acquisition process and related further researches. The study shall contribute in establishing the importance and requirement for incorporation of the acquisition process as a significant milestone in helping the organizations sustain competitive advantage within the international global business environment.