Interactive IMC: The relational-transactional continuum and the synergistic use of customer data

In a business-to-business context in the auto insurance industry, the synergistic value of the continuum of relational-transactional data in developing interactive Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) relationships was assessed. While all types of data were found to be important, relationship-oriented factors contributed more to perceived quality of the relationship than did mixed or transaction variables. The study also investigated the ability to segment business customers employing a combination using the relational, mixed, and transactional data. The customer segments differed in their evaluations of the firm's performance on the various relational, mixed, and transactional factors, but not on their overall evaluation of the relationship. This finding provides support for the notion that different customer segments are interested in different types of relationships. In addition, the segments were significantly different in terms of the amount of insurance written with the company, underscoring the financial importance of segmenting customers on these variables.