Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Customer Retention Strategies at STABEX International Limited

Abstract

Customer retention is the maintenance of continuous trading relationships with customers over the long term. Fuel business in Uganda operate in a competition and thus the customers have options. It is notable that a lot of fuel companies spend a lot of resources’ acquiring customers’ whom they do not retain. The study specifically sought to evaluate the effectiveness of the customer retention strategies at STABEX International Limited. The study adopted a cross sectional research design. The sample size consisted of 127 staff from the 20 stations selected using simple random method. Data was collected using a structured questionnaires which employed a five-point Likert scale in rating various responses. Data was analyzed using statistical package for the social sciences, (SPSS). The descriptive analysis was done to show the mean, frequency distribution and percentage of responses. Findings revealed, that four strategies namely customer service center, complaint management, communication and total quality management practices are implemented by STABEX international limited. Communication and complaint management, are the most effective because they have enabled the company to keep customer contact and shares meaningful and timely with customer. From the study findings, the appropriate strategies for improving on the competitive strategies used by STABEX international limited include personalized customer treatment, training staff to acquire customer retention skills, store customers information and use it for feedback, building customers trust so as to bond with customers and resolve customers complaints immediately.