Stay in touch! New insights into end-user attitudes towards engagement platforms

Because engagement platforms are becoming an emerging service research context, the purpose of this paper is to understand how consumers may be segmented with respect to attitude towards the mobile instant messaging (MIM) apps used as channels for customer service. Design/methodology/approach – Consumers are segmented on the basis of perception of MIM apps by means of data from 478 consumers. A two-step cluster analysis was used to individuate groups according to the similarity of their attitudinal variables and their chat experience with organizations using MIM, while the discriminant function analysis was used to assess the stability of the cluster solution. Findings – Three segments were identified – benevolent, proactive and hesitant – along with significant descriptive variables, such as interaction with organization, opinion regarding effort expectancy, perception of usefulness and perceived ease of technology use. The most engaged, the proactive (30%), are most open to interaction with the organization by means of MIM, while the benevolent (51%) look favourably on the use of instant messaging to communicate with organizations, even if this cluster has never used it with an organization. Practical implications – Understanding how potential customers receive the opportunities offered by MIM as a new channel for improving, extending or completing the service helps to guide the efforts of marketing investments towards a better relationship with customers. Originality/value – This study explores the use of MIM apps on the part of the customer/organization as engagement platforms from the customer point-of-view. The study highlights how MIM apps can be valuable channels for weaving together relations with customers.