This study examined about how evaluation about CRM influence on relation immersion with hospital and customer's loyalty by evaluating about CRM by 3 categories such as differentiation of information contents, appropriateness of information offer, and repetition of information. The study classified relation immersion as emotional immersion, continuous immersion, and normative immersion and also invested about which influence relation immersion affects on customer's loyalty.
This study executed individual interview directly from October 30, to November 4, 2006 with 215 outpatients in from 4 general hospitals which has over 700 sick beds and average 1000 outpatients a day in Seoul(K. Hospital, E. Hospital) and Gyeonggi(D. Hospital, S. Hospital) Province.
First, if see difference of estimation about hospital CRM by general characteristic, there was difference in sex, marital status, jobs, income level, period of medical treatment, number of extraneous medical treatment, and number of hospitalization.
If see the difference of relation immersion by general characteristic, there was no difference in characteristic of demography or of using hospital and was recognized generally similarly.
Third, if see the difference of customer's loyalty by general characteristic, there was difference in age, martial status, number of extraneous medical treatment, and number of hospitalization.
Finally, the first hypothesis chose3 evaluation categories about hospital CRM such as differentiation of information contents, appropriateness of information offer, and repetition of information as independent variable, and emotional immersion, continuous immersion, and normative immersion as dependent variable and that there was influence in all of variables except repetition of information through regression analysis sequence.
The second hypothesis chose 3 evaluation categories about hospital CRM such as differentiation of information contents, appropriateness of information offer, and repetition of information as independent variable and customer's loyalty as dependent variable. After analyzing and verifying about hypothesis2, there was right influence in all of variables except repetition of information.
In the third hypothesis, 3 relation immersions such as emotional immersion, continuous immersion, and normative immersion was analyzed by customer's loyalty of dependent variable. There was right influence in all of variables except normative immersion.
Through the result of analyzing about the relationship among evaluation about hospital CRM, relation immersion, and customer's loyalty, it was examined that the customer could do immersion about hospital with gratitude and tried to keep and develop the relationship with the hospital, in the case of the hospital provided for differentiated information often to customer. If showed strong emotional immersion, and continuous immersion, customer's loyalty also was strong. If showed same information over and over, the customer felt unpleasant feeling and it had reverse effect on customer's loyalty.
Therefore, the results from this study are same as followings.
First, if the customer got the differentiated information often from the hospital, the customer became to have inclination and loyalty to hospital. Through this result, we could know that the hospital needs to provide the differentiated information often to the customer and should not pass same information over and over through other medium.
Second, providing differentiated information and heightening frequency of supplying to the customer is much better than giving same information to the customer over and over to keep long-term relationship with customer and to secure about loyal customer.
Third, it was examined that the customer did normative immersion when they kept receiving the differentiated information but normative immersion did not influence on loyalty. Therefore, hospital needs to provide a lot of benefit (recommendation, exemption)to the customer when they use the hospital, so that the customer would feel that they are the important customer in this hospital.
Fourth, it was examined that customer's loyalty would be changed when the customer received the differentiated information from the hospital. Therefore, hospital needs to develop the strategy for accessing customer by collecting and managing individual data about customer systematically.
Fifth, if number of extraneous medical treatment and number of hospitalization was high, there was influence on customer's loyalty. Therefore, hospital needs to develop differentiation strategy about existing loyal customers and existing non-loyal customers, so that it would attract new customer by oral transmission of existing loyal customers and existing non-loyal customers. Also, hospitals needs to execute classifying customers by loyal customers and separated customers, so that should develop marketing focusing on customers that can bring high profitability.
This study executed about outpatients of only 4 general hospitals in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, so that there might be some limitation to be generalized. Therefore, it should enforce to all hospital that is practicing CRM to heighten validity of study. This study proposed five articles about customer's loyalty, but it is not enough to analyze and estimate about customer's loyalty generally, so that there should be more studying about it from now on.