Marketing automation innovation practices and customer retention performance: evidence from the Nigerian manufacturing SMEs

The emergence and dramatic changes in the today's digital consumer markets and industrial competitiveness have metamorphosed into a tremendous technological innovation boom with diverse innovative products and services been deployed as a competitive tool in the market place. The Nigerian manufacturing SMEs have in recent times placed much importance on innovative marketing practices to manage customer relationships, customer asset and customer equity. The study examined the relationship between customer's retention performance and marketing automation innovation among the Nigerian manufacturing SMEs. Results from least square multiple regressions showed that sales force automation has more influence on the firm's customer retention performance. The study recommends that the choice of marketing automation technologies, investment level and firm size are crucial in determining the customer retention performance of the industry and thereby suggest improved investment and management of SMEs' customer relationship for profitability, thus contributing largely to sustainability of industrial development and competitiveness.