Customer Perceived Value

Attracting and retaining customers by any company, seller, or service provider can be a daunting task. It is one of the major reasons any company which is determined to stay in business must necessarily have a marketing department. Not only that, the marketing unit must be taken with utmost level of seriousness.
            Some people have the proclivity to treat marketers with contempt. I pity their ignorance! In a subsequent blog post, this issue will be addressed. Our focus in this post is the concept of customer perceived value.
Customer perceived value can simply be described as the customer's evaluation of the difference between all the benefits and all the costs of a marketing offer relative to those of competing offers.
           One of the major reasons it is difficult to attract and retain customers is the high number of products and services which customers can choose from. Customers are spoilt for choice! In the Nigerian banking sector, for instance, customers have the choice of Guaranty Trust Bank, Zenith Bank, Access Bank, Polaris Bank, etc to choose from.In the GSM sector, customers have the choice of networks from GLO Mobile, MTN, ZAIN, etc.
         Typically, a customer buys from, or patronises a firm/company that offers the highest customer perceived value.

           Interestingly, customers can be highly subjective or inaccurate in their evaluation of a product's values and costs. They act on perceived value. For example, if Bank X and Bank Y promise quality services to customers, what determines who enjoy a higher patronage is the customers' perceived values of the two banks.
         Without doubt, customer perceived value is one of the complexities and intricacies of marketing that the marketing unit of every firm has to deal with.