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Chapter 7

MANAGING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCED

7.2 WHAT IS CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE?

‘Customer experience (CX) is the cognitive and affective outcome of the
customer’s exposure to, or interaction with, a company’s people, processes,
technologies, products, services and other outputs.’

Companies’ efforts to manage CX have their origins in the convergence of

service marketing and total quality management (TQM).

1. Service marketing

Services management experts have identified a number of special

attributes that characterize services. Services are performances or acts
that are:

 Intangible-dominant. Services cannot be seen, tasted or sensed in

other ways before consumption.

 Inseparable. Unlike goods that can be manufactured in one time

and location and consumed at a later time in another location,
services are produced at the same time and place they are
consumed.
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 Heterogeneous. Unlike goods that can be robotically reproduced to

exact specifications and tolerances, services cannot. This is
particularly true of services produced by people, because people do
not always behave as scripted or trained.

 Perishable. Services, unlike goods, cannot be held in inventory for

sale at a later time.

2. Total quality management

TQM is a structured approach to business management that aims to

improve the quality of products and processes by learning from the
objective and systematic feedback of important stake - holders, including
customers. TQM promoted the objective of ‘zero defects’ in
manufacturing, where it proved successful in reducing costs and
improving quality.

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7.3 CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE CONCEPTS

Core concepts:

 Touchpoints are found wherever your customer comes into virtual or

concrete contact with your company’s products, services,
communications, places, people, processes or technologies.
Touchpoints include websites, Facebook and other social media,
service centers, warehouses, call and contact centers, events,
exhibitions, trade shows, seminars, webinars, direct mail, email,
advertising, sales calls and retail stores

 Moment of truth (MOT) are the moments when customers form

evaluative judgements, positive or negative, about their experience.

 Consumer engagement tend to have a higher intensity of participation

in and connection to a brand or organization. They feel a strong sense
of identification, based on their experiences of the firm’s offerings,
activities and reputation. Engaged customers are more committed to
the brand or firm than customers who are just satisfied.

 Cognitive: Does the customer know our brand values? Does the
customer know about our sustainability awards? Does the customer
know the name of our local sales rep?

 Emotional: Does the customer like the experience offered by our firm?
Does the customer prefer our offerings to our major competitors’? Is the
customer excited about our new product launch?

 Behavioral: How often does the customer visit our website? How long
does the customer dwell on the website? Does the customer click
through to our newsletter?

 Social: Has the customer used our Recommend-a-Friend program?

Does the customer ‘like’ our Facebook page? Does the customer join
our Twitter conversation?

Customers who are engaged might express a sense of confidence, integrity,

pride, delight or passion in the brand.

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