Improving repurchase behaviour based on relationship marketing: evidence from the message framing of airline in China

Short Message Service (SMS) marketing, as one of mobile marketing, has been a prominent marketing approach in the service business, particularly in airlines. However, for member groups with a social identity, how to send SMS to promote repurchase behaviour of members? This question is what current research tries to explore. A large field experiment involving 200,000 active members of an airlines was conducted to validate the message framing proposed in this study. Specifically, based on the message framing, we applied 2 promotional SMS (With identity vs. Without identity) x 2 Purchase intention (High vs. Low) and 2 promotional SMS (Feasibility vs. Desirability) x 2 Purchase intention (High vs. Low) between-subjects experimental design and a control group with general reminder messages in a ‘Member Day’ promotion. By analyzing 188,627 respondent’s actual repurchase data, the result shows that the framing effect between with-identity or feasibility messages and high purchase intention significantly positively impacts members repurchase behaviour. In contrast, the effect between without-identity or desirability messages and low purchase intention has no influence. Furthermore, the moderation effect of members’ features on the framing effect has also been discussed. This study has theoretical and practical guidance for the research on relationship marketing, membership management, and loyalty programmes.