Unlocking (re)purchase potential through corporate responsiveness on social networks: The role of perceived customer orientation

Social media marketing offers companies a new opportunity to connect with consumers through customer interactions. However, resource constraints may prevent companies from responding to every consumer comment. In light of this, the “reply to random comments strategy” emerges as an innovative approach where companies choose to respond to a mix of positive and negative comments. Yet, there is a lack of research and no standard practice for this strategy. This research used a mixed-method approach and signaling theory as a theoretical framework to provide extensive insights into how consumers react to various corporate response rates to random comments on social networks. Qualitative insights were gained through focus group discussions, while an empirical investigation was conducted using least squares modeling. The findings highlight the advantages of a high corporate response rate and the importance of signaling a strong customer orientation to enhance (re)purchase intentions of commenting and observing social network users. They also reveal the crucial mediating role of perceived customer orientation as a novel variable in this context. This research provides social media managers with guidelines on enhancing social network users' (re)purchase intentions by implementing a customer-oriented response strategy. The insights help practitioners build and maintain customer relationships, contributing to a company’s long-term success.