Research Question

The use of customer references to facilitate marketing and sales in business markets has received growing interest among academics and practitioners. The importance of references has been emphasized in various areas of business marketing such as customer relationship management, customer value management, sales and marketing communications. However, knowledge about the effective application of customer references remains scant and the existing studies have not addressed in-depth what constitutes customer reference marketing or studied its link to business performance. In this study, we 1) conceptualize customer reference marketing (CReMa) and its dimensions based on an extensive qualitative field-study grounded on 38 interviews, 2) build a CReMa scale employing expert-interviews based on a validation sample, and 3) demonstrate the relevance of customer reference marketing for firms’ sales performance in business markets based on main a sample.

Method and Data

The study employs a mixed-method approach and combines qualitative field-study data with survey data with the purpose of developing an operational definition of the customer reference marketing construct, building a measurement scale for the construct and establishing an link to sales performance.

First, we carried out a qualitative field-study for the conceptualization of customer reference marketing and for specifying the activities that make up the CReMa. We employ theoretical sampling including four B2B companies from industries recognized to be particularly relevant fields for customer reference marketing. We paid special attention to identifying the relevant key stakeholders in firms for making sure that the interviews cover the whole domain of reference marketing. In total, 38 in-depth interviews were conducted with senior and middle level managers representing sales, marketing, business development and corporate strategy functions in the firms.

Second, based on literature and insights from the field study we developed the CReMa measure by following the established guidelines for measurement development. For validating the developed measure we collected data with a convenience sample from managers who were known to be involved with customer reference marketing. More specifically, the initial scale validation was done based on survey data collected from managers being members in “international customer reference knowledge sharing networks” group in business-oriented social networking site LinkedIn.  

Third, we collected an additional main sample based on the list of 300 largest firms in Finland targeted to senior sales directors in the firms. The findings provide further support for the validity and reliability of the developed scale. The main sample data establishes also the basis for studying initially the relationship between firms’ CReMa practices and sales performance by applying PLS-modeling.

Summary of Findings and Key Contributions

The findings of this study suggest that CReMa the construct is best conceptualized as first-order reflective, second order formative construct. More specifically, customer reference marketing comprises of three dimensions: building a portfolio of customer references, leveraging customer references externally as well as using customer references internally.  The building dimension emphasizes the recruitment of a balanced set of customer reference as well as documenting and updating the reference information. External usage includes communicating customer references to potential customers through demonstrating the delivered customer value through references. Internal usage involves leveraging references for deliberate learning and business development as well as more informal experiential learning. Building on these findings, we define customer reference marketing as company’s activities focusing on building a portfolio of customer references and using them externally and internally.

Our resulting conceptualization contributes to the business marketing literature by adding new in-depth knowledge concerning customer reference marketing and highlighting the multidimensional nature of the construct. In addition, findings from out main sample lend to support to customer reference marketing as an effective approach to facilitate sales performance in B2B markets. From the managerial point of view, the developed conceptualization provides a systematic framework for managers for developing and benchmarking their CReMa activities.

The findings highlight the significance of activities related to building a balanced set of customer references as well as their external and internal usage in marketing. The study opens up opportunities for future research concerning the effective application of customer references in marketing and sales. The proposed construct and measure provide ground for future research focusing on the relationship between CReMa activities and marketing performance. We call for studies examining the relationship between the CReMa construct and marketing performance and research examining the various firm internal and external conditions that specify the effectiveness of customer reference marketing efforts.