Transactional marketing or relationship marketing - what works better?

Transactional marketing bets on as many single sales as possible, relationship marketing on repeat purchases by the same customer. Which works better depends on what you sell, how much it costs to win a new customer and whether your product gives the buyer any reason to return. In practice most companies combine both approaches in different proportions instead of choosing one for ever.

Before you decide which approach, transactional or relational, suits your company, it is worth answering three questions: what exactly you sell, who your ideal customer is and what kind of relationship you want with them after the sale. The answers show which strategy is worth developing as the main one.

What is transactional marketing?

Transactional marketing concentrates on the number of recorded sales transactions, not on whether the customer comes back. What counts is the profit from a single purchase and the cost of acquiring it. The goal is to maximise the number of sales by continually attracting new customers, not by encouraging them to return.

A classic example is teleshopping: presenters do not spend time building a relationship with the viewer, but use discounts and slogans such as “the clock is ticking” or “today only” to generate as many sales as possible in a short time. A similar mechanism works in selling airline tickets, tickets to one-off events or in shopping centres: the customer buys once, with no expectation of further contact with the brand.

Transactional marketing is not inherently worse than relationship marketing; it is simply sometimes better suited to a specific business model. A company selling tickets to a one-off concert has no real chance of building a long-term relationship with every audience member, so focusing on maximising the number of tickets sold is a rational choice, not a strategic mistake.

Transactional marketing and relationship marketing

Relationship marketing (also called partnership marketing) focuses on what its name says: the relationship with the customer. The aim is to create a bond that keeps the customer and brings repeat purchases. Achieving this, as with any relationship, takes longer than a one-off sale. In practice it means focusing the company's activities on the customer and putting marketing effort into the promise of long-term sales, not a single transaction.

An example of acting in the spirit of relationship marketing is an ordinary phone call to a customer after a purchase, not to sell anything extra but to check their level of satisfaction. Such a conversation builds a relationship and provides information that can be used to serve the customer better next time.

The Benefits and Pitfalls of Transactional Marketing and Affiliate Marketing

As with any marketing strategy, both sides have their pros and cons. Transactional marketing means little emotional attachment among customers: most of them are simply looking for a low price, which means they rarely become long-term customers. If the company does not keep a competitive price or start building relationships, customers will leave for wherever it is cheaper. Focusing solely on price takes attention away from the value of the product or the quality of service and may lead to price wars in which customers switch to a competitor as soon as it cuts its price.

One point in favour of transactional marketing is fast stock rotation. Storing and managing inventory generates high costs, and transactional marketing makes it possible to reduce them quickly. It works well for clearing seasonal goods or products that do not sell fast enough. Getting rid of discounted stock makes room for more sought-after products and generates current revenue.

Transactional marketing tells the customer “we have something you want”. Relationship marketing answers “we are here for you”. Audiences today are used to being sold to at every turn, so they are becoming increasingly resistant to traditional advertising. A more emotional and personal approach can be an effective alternative where price alone no longer works as an argument.

Relationship marketing and the CRM system

Relationship marketing is hard to run from memory. It requires knowing what a given customer bought earlier, when they were last contacted and what preferences they have. That is why companies that take relationship building seriously use a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system, a tool that gathers the history of contacts with each customer in one place.

Without such a system, relationship marketing quickly loses quality as the number of customers grows: what can be kept in mind with ten customers becomes impossible with a thousand. A CRM also makes it possible to spot warning signs, for example a customer who has stopped buying regularly, before they actually leave for a competitor.

It is worth remembering that simply buying a CRM licence changes nothing. Value arises only when the sales and customer service teams really record every contact in it (a complaint, a question, a promise made) and return to those notes at the next conversation with the same customer.

Transactional marketing in e-commerce: where it works

In online shops, transactional marketing is most visible in seasonal sales, flash sales (short, heavily promoted price cuts) and “last items” campaigns. These mechanisms work well for clearing the warehouse of seasonal goods or for a one-off boost in sales in a weaker month.

The problem appears when a shop builds its whole strategy on this mechanism. Customers learn to wait for the next sale instead of buying at the regular price, and the margin falls with every subsequent promotion. The solution is sometimes to separate the roles: transactional promotions are used to win a new customer, while a loyalty programme or a newsletter with recommendations keeps them without the need for another discount.

A good test is the question: what will happen to the customer when the current promotion ends? If the answer is “nothing, they will simply stop buying”, that is a sign the shop operates purely transactionally and it is worth adding a relationship element before the cost of acquiring further customers starts to grow faster than revenue.

How do you choose a strategy for your company?

1. Sprawdź koszt pozyskania klienta. Jeśli pozyskanie nowego klienta jest drogie, a produkt nadaje się do ponownego zakupu, marketing relacyjny zwykle bardziej się opłaca.
2. Oceń, czy produkt daje szansę na powrót klienta. Bilet na jednorazowe wydarzenie to inna sytuacja niż abonament czy usługa cykliczna.
3. Policz wartość klienta w czasie (CLV). Firmy, które znają tę liczbę, łatwiej decydują, ile mogą wydać na utrzymanie jednego klienta, zanim inwestycja przestanie się opłacać.
4. Zdecyduj, gdzie na osi transakcyjność–relacyjność leży Twoja branża. B2B i usługi abonamentowe zwykle ciążą ku relacyjności, handel impulsowy – ku transakcyjności.
5. Zaplanuj hybrydę zamiast wyboru skrajnego. Wiele firm stosuje promocje transakcyjne do pozyskania nowych klientów i program lojalnościowy do ich utrzymania.

Customer loyalty: how to build it step by step

Customer loyalty does not arise after one successful transaction; it is built through repeated, positive experiences. The steps below help you move from a single sale to a lasting relationship.

1. Dotrzymuj obietnic złożonych przed zakupem. Rozczarowanie jakością albo terminem dostawy niweczy każdy wysiłek relacyjny, zanim się zacznie.
2. Skróć czas reakcji na problem. Klient, który szybko dostaje pomoc przy reklamacji, często ocenia firmę lepiej niż ten, który nigdy nie miał problemu.
3. Personalizuj kontakt na podstawie historii zakupów. Rekomendacja dopasowana do wcześniejszych wyborów klienta działa lepiej niż masowa wysyłka tej samej oferty do wszystkich.
4. Nagradzaj powroty, nie tylko pierwszy zakup. Program lojalnościowy, który daje korzyść dopiero przy drugim czy trzecim zamówieniu, uczy klienta wracać.
5. Pytaj o opinię i faktycznie z niej korzystaj. Ankieta satysfakcji bez żadnych zmian w firmie po jej wynikach szybko przestaje być traktowana poważnie przez klientów.

The most common mistakes when choosing a strategy

• Konkurowanie tylko ceną bez planu na dłuższą metę. Klient przyzwyczajony do rabatów przestaje kupować, gdy tylko konkurent zaoferuje niższą cenę.
• Budowanie „relacji” bez realnej wartości dla klienta. Sam newsletter z okazjonalnym „jak się masz” nie zastąpi faktycznej troski o doświadczenie po zakupie.
• Brak segmentacji klientów. Nie każdy klient jest wart tego samego poziomu inwestycji w relację – część i tak kupuje jednorazowo, niezależnie od starań firmy.
• Zmiana strategii bez zmiany całej komunikacji. Przejście z transakcyjnej na relacyjną wymaga też innego tonu w e-mailach, obsłudze klienta i mediach społecznościowych – nie samej deklaracji.
• Traktowanie CRM jako bazy adresów do wysyłki. System CRM ma wartość tylko wtedy, gdy zespół faktycznie zapisuje w nim historię kontaktu i z niej korzysta – sama lista e-maili niczego nie zmienia.
• Porównywanie wyników bez punktu odniesienia. Wzrost sprzedaży w tym samym miesiącu co nowa kampania relacyjna może wynikać z sezonu, a nie z samej kampanii – bez okresu bazowego trudno to rozdzielić.

How do you measure the effectiveness of both approaches?

Transactional marketing is easiest to assess by the number of sales and the cost of acquiring a customer in a given period. Relationship marketing requires a longer perspective: what counts is the returning-customer rate, customer lifetime value (CLV) and whether customers recommend the brand to others. It is worth comparing results with the period before the changes were introduced or with a group of customers not covered by the activity. An improvement in results at the same time as a campaign does not prove that the campaign caused it.

Transactional and relationship marketing: how Commplace helps

Wybór między marketingiem transakcyjnym a relacyjnym rzadko jest decyzją na zawsze – to raczej pytanie o proporcje w konkretnym momencie rozwoju firmy. Jeśli potrzebujesz pomocy w ułożeniu marketing strategy, która łączy pozyskiwanie nowych klientów z budowaniem lojalności obecnych, zobacz, jak pracujemy z klientami z różnych branż.

Wskaźniki, które pokazują, czy działania faktycznie budują powracających klientów – nie tylko jednorazową sprzedaż – zbieramy w jednym miejscu w kokpicie Commwork®AI, Next to the team's tasks and deadlines.

It is also worth reading: marketing relacji a dylemat niskiego CLV, relacje z klientami – jak wycenić ich wartość dla firmy and czy strategie konkurowania mogą być uniwersalne.

Sources: work of the Commplace blog editorial team.