A Fuzzy Classification Model for Online Customers

Building and maintaining customer loyalty are important issues in electronic business. By providing customer services, sharing cost benefits with online customers, and rewarding the most valued customers, customer loyalty and customer equity can be improved. With conventional marketing programs, groups or segments of customers are typically constituted according to a small number of attributes. Although corresponding data values may be similar for two customers, they may fall into different classes and be treated differently. With the proposed fuzzy classification model, however, customers with similar behavior and qualifying attributes have similar membership functions and therefore similar customer values. The paper illustrates how webshops can be extended by a fuzzy classification model. This allows webshop administrators to improve customer equity, launch loyalty programs, automate mass customization and personalization issues, and refine marketing campaigns to maximize the real value of the customers. Povzetek: Razvit je model za določanje lojalnosti internetnih kupcev.