You are on page 1of 23

See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/358269360

Making the customer experience journey more hedonic in a traditionally


utilitarian service context: a case study

Article in Journal of Service Management · March 2023


DOI: 10.1108/JOSM-03-2021-0096

CITATIONS READS

11 1,066

1 author:

Frédéric Ponsignon
Kedge Business School, Bordeaux
44 PUBLICATIONS 671 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Frédéric Ponsignon on 03 February 2022.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.


The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/1757-5818.htm

Making the customer experience Making the


customer
journey more hedonic in a experience
more hedonic
traditionally utilitarian service
context: a case study
Frederic Ponsignon Received 24 March 2021
Revised 9 November 2021
Operations Management, Kedge Business School Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France 6 January 2022
11 January 2022
15 January 2022
Abstract Accepted 17 January 2022
Purpose – This article aims to provide an understanding of how utilitarian services can make the customer
experience more hedonic.
Design/methodology/approach – The author performs an in-depth case study of a leading wealth
management firm that is reinventing its business model to incorporate a hedonic perspective into experience
design.
Findings – The findings reveal how a traditionally utilitarian firm integrates hedonic elements into the
customer experience. The findings describe and expose how four experience design characteristics are
interactively linked to form a customer journey model, from eliciting emotional engagement to trigger rapid
enrolment through to individualising the experience to drive purchase.
Research limitations/implications – This research takes the perspective of the firm to explore the research
question. No customer data are collected.
Practical implications – The article provides evidence-based recommendations that can serve as a platform
to develop an action plan for designing and deploying hedonic elements in the customer experience in
utilitarian contexts.
Originality/value – This study challenges the dichotomy between utilitarian and hedonic services. It derives
an empirically grounded understanding of an intended experience that combines design characteristics
associated with both the utilitarian and hedonic model at different stages of the customer journey. The
emergent conceptual framework describes and links these design characteristics to enact the customer journey.
Together, these empirical insights extend and enrich existing knowledge and provide actionable
recommendations for managers.
Keywords Customer experience, Experience design, Customer journey, Utilitarian, Hedonic
Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction
Until recently, the customer experience was almost the exclusive domain of organisations
operating in experiential or recreational contexts, broadly referred to as hedonic services,
such as in the tourism, leisure and entertainment industries. In these contexts, the service
design task aims to support the creation of compelling consumption experiences that elicit
strong affective responses and live long in the customer’s memory (Zomerdijk and Voss,
2010). In contrast, standard, every day or mundane services, broadly referred to as utilitarian
services (e.g. financial services, telecommunications, healthcare, transportation, repairs and
utilities), typically aim to satisfy well-defined customer needs and emphasise the functional
benefits following from the consumption of products and services purchased. An area of
increasing strategic priority for utilitarian services has been to propose experiences that are
perceived as more hedonic by customers to drive competitive advantage (Beltagui et al., 2016).
For instance, Siebert et al. (2020) suggest that a quick coffeehouse chain could surprise its

The author is indebted to the reviewers of this manuscript. The author extends sincere appreciation to Journal of Service Management
the two anonymous JoSM reviewers for their challenging and insightful evaluation of previous versions © Emerald Publishing Limited
1757-5818
of this paper, which helped the author to rethink and improve the paper significantly. DOI 10.1108/JOSM-03-2021-0096
JOSM loyal utilitarian-minded customers with a varied food offering or reward them with a free food
option. Similarly, Voss et al. (2008) report that the role of customer-contact employees at
Southwest Airlines includes creating the “distinctive fun experience of flying with
Southwest” (p. 251).
This shift is predicated on the notion that hedonic experiences are associated with
greater benefits for the firm in terms of purchasing and positive word of mouth behaviour
and ultimately sustainable business success (Pine and Gilmore, 1999). To illustrate, the
Ritz-Carlton hotel significantly invested in developing their ability to engage guests
emotionally because such customers generate more revenues than loyal guests (Robison,
2006). This view resonates with Siebert et al. (2020) who argue that utilitarian-oriented
experiences risk losing customer attention in competitive markets. Candi et al. (2013) show
that experiential augmentation, a form of innovation centred on an experiential core,
contributes to profitability, new customer attraction and employee attractiveness. More
significantly, a recent meta-analytic study provides strong support for the existence of an
“experiential advantage” (Weingarten and Goodman, 2021), confirming that experiences
provide a greater source of positive customer outcomes than the purchase of products or
services.
Understanding how utilitarian services revisit their experience design approach to
incorporate experiential factors presents a fascinating challenge. Previous research on
experience design in utilitarian and experiential contexts has offered a range of intellectual
contributions (see Table 1). As highlighted by Siebert et al. (2020), these contributions
either concentrate on how utilitarian services can make the customer experience as easy,
consistent, effortless and convenient as possible, or on how hedonic firms can offer an
exciting, fun and challenging experience. These authors call on scholars to explore how
firms can use insights from the hedonic experience model to incorporate into the design of
utilitarian experiences. This suggests that the question of how utilitarian services can
make the customer experience more hedonic is timely, fuelling the need for academic
research on this phenomenon (Beltagui et al., 2016). In addition, scholars have argued for
the need to explore the customer experience from a dynamic perspective (Kranzb€ uhler
et al., 2018), providing impetus to develop knowledge on experience journey design
(Jaakkola and Terho, 2021; Lemon and Verhoef, 2016). Thus, this article explores the
question of how utilitarian services can design a more hedonic customer experience
journey.
We draw on a case study of a leading wealth management firm, a traditionally utilitarian
service, which develops and implements a new hedonic-oriented customer experience. Our
findings are derived from an extensive pool of qualitative data collected from the case
organisation. We contribute to the experience design literature by developing a conceptual
framework articulating how firms operating in a utilitarian context can propose a more
hedonic customer experience to engage customers in the early stage of the journey and
sustain it over time. Previous customer experience design research (e.g. Voss et al., 2008;
Beltagui et al., 2016) addressing this problem is scarce and provides little consideration of the
intended customer journey. Responding to a recent call by Siebert et al. (2020), we provide
empirical insights into experience design from a customer journey perspective, from eliciting
emotional engagement to trigger rapid enrolment through to individualising the experience
to drive purchase. Specifically, this article documents four interrelated components of the
customer experience journey, the mechanisms explaining how these components are
operationalised and the rationale for including each component within the overall experience
design. Collectively, these insights enrich and extend existing experience design knowledge
by identifying where and how utilitarian firms can draw on the hedonic model to design the
customer experience.
Focal Experience design Experience design Author Making the
Research objective context Research method goals principles (Year) customer
To determine Hedonic Survey of guests To evoke basic and Focus on evoking Pullman experience
design elements in VIP tent VIP emotions basic emotions and Gross more hedonic
that elicit emotions through interpersonal (2004)
and loyalty interactions between
behaviours customers and
employees
To explore the Hedonic Multiple case To evoke emotional Reframe strategy Voss et al.
operations strategy study responses and engage choices in the areas of (2008)
of experience- customers stageware (bricks and
centric services mortars), orgware
(management
systems),
customerware
(touchpoints) and
linkware (systems
integration)
To examine the Hedonic Multiple case To engage customers Design from the Zomerdijk
design study and enable them to perspective of the and Voss
characteristics of (experience- connect with the customer journey; (2010)
experience-centric centric services) service in a personal, conduct sensory
services memorable way design; require front-
line employees to
engage with
customers; pay
attention to the
dramatic structure of
events; manage the
presence of fellow
customers; couple
backstage employees
and frontstage
experiences
To investigate the Hedonic Participant To elicit feelings of Consider sequence Dixon et al.
design of « peak » survey surprise and effects in the journey; (2017)
events in a service (experimental anticipation in Position a “peak”
sequence design) customer journey event (salient
experiences interaction) or a
surprise “peak” at the
end of the experience
To articulate Hedonic Single case study To educate and Increase customer Ponsignon
experience design (experiential entertain visitors autonomy, balance et al. (2017)
principles wine museum) cognitive and
emotional
engagement and
solicit active
(physical) and passive
(mind) participation
To develop and test Hedonic Survey of To create an Ensure the experience Beltagui
a model of service customers of four instrumental evokes emotional and Candi
quality experience- (functional) or responses and (2018)
centric services expressive (emotional) expected outcomes
experience are received
To understand how Hedonic Single case study To make the Rely on integrative Stuart et al.
to design and (theatrical experience memorable mechanisms, Strive (2002)
produce the right production) and a source of delight for authenticity/ Table 1.
performance integrity; facilitate Previous experience
elements role immersion design research in
utilitarian and hedonic
(continued ) contexts
JOSM Focal Experience design Experience design Author
Research objective context Research method goals principles (Year)

To develop a Hedonic Participant To make the Introduce endless Siebert et al.


conceptual model of observation, experience variation along the (2020)
sticky customer in-depth unpredictable, customer journey via
experience journeys interviews, exciting and sticky an expansive set of
archival records service system
elements; frequent
additions,
subtractions and
changes; and unique
configurations of
those elements at each
service encounter
To develop a model Utilitarian Multiple case To improve on the Introduce an 8-stage Johnston
for improving study (bank, existing experience by improvement and Kong
customer utility, courier understanding “what roadmap (2011)
experience design and parcel, the customers sees
hospital) and does”
To determine the Utilitarian Survey of online To focus on the Ensure high levels of Ding et al.
design financial services customer’s cognitive interpersonal service, (2010)
characteristics that users state by making the process quality and
provide satisfying experience product variety
experience controllable,
responsive and
absorbing
To identify best Utilitarian Multiple case To make the Define the journey as Ponsignon
practices for study (financial experience satisfying an infinite loop; rectify et al. (2015)
experience design services and avoid negative pain points; engage
and improvement industry) customer outcomes customers in learning;
apply sensory design
on peripheral service
elements
To develop and Utilitarian Consumer survey To make the customer Ensure the experience Kuehnl et al.
validate the concept (cross-industry journey effective and is designed in a (2019)
of effective sample) increase brand loyalty thematically cohesive,
customer journey consistent and
context-sensitive way
across the entire
journey
To understand how Utilitarian Conceptual To elicit positive and Improving the design McColl-
to design and research reduce negative of the physical Kennedy
manage patient prevention-oriented environment; et al. (2017)
experiences that and emotions designing service
enhance well-being throughout the processes to provide
journey emotionally
supportive actions;
re-imagining
employees’ roles in
order to create a
supportive culture
To develop and Utilitarian Consumer survey To increase functional Design the journey Jaakkola
validate the service (financial service quality and experience to be and Terho
journey quality services) customer loyalty perceived as seamless, (2021)
concept personalised and
coherent throughout
To identify design Utilitarian Multiple case To reduce customer Design for invisibility/ Beltagui
strategies used to and study (various variability through visibility; et al. (2016)
services with hedonic online and accommodation or relationship/
experience traditional empowerment community building;
services) design for personas/
Table 1. typical customers
The remainder of this article is structured as follows. Section 2 reviews the relevant Making the
literature. Section 3 describes and explains the research methodology. Section 4 reports the customer
key empirical findings. Section 5 discusses these findings in the context of the existing
literature and concludes the article.
experience
more hedonic
2. Theoretical background
2.1 Utilitarian and hedonic contexts
Given the significant diversity that exists within the service domain, Voss et al. (2016) stress the
importance of carefully defining the focal context within which organisations operate and
interact with customers. Regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1998) provides a useful perspective to
characterise service contexts, one that is traditionally invoked to describe and distinguish
hedonic and utilitarian products. From this perspective, Chitturi et al. (2008) highlight that
consumers purchase products for markedly different reasons and that product consumption
evokes distinct kinds of emotions for different consumers. Specifically, promotion-oriented
consumption goals motivate customers towards achieving rewards and are associated with
notions of advancement, achievement and aspiration (Okada, 2005). Promotion emotions, such
as cheerfulness and arousal, are elicited as a result of a product experience in which promotion
goals are fulfilled, such as when a pleasure-oriented consumer buys a car with a powerful sound
system or smart ambient lighting. In contrast, prevention goals specifically focus on preventing
or minimising the harmful impact of a painful product experience occurring. Prevention
emotions such as trust, security and assurance are elicited when the product satisfies the
consumer’s prevention goals, such as when a safety-minded consumer buys a car with accident
avoidance systems and telematics (Chitturi et al., 2008).
This logic from product-based marketing provides a useful conceptual frame for delineating
hedonic and utilitarian service contexts. Hedonic contexts are defined as settings in which
customers seek to derive intrinsic enjoyment and pleasure from their experience (Beltagui and
Candi, 2018). What customers feel during the journey they go through is the core of the offering
(Zomerdijk and Voss, 2010), which aims to fulfil consumption goals associated with emotions
such as cheerfulness and excitement. As noted by Siebert et al. (2020, p. 45), customer journeys in
such hedonic settings “intentionally feature inconsistency and unpredictability” to elicit strong
and positive emotional reactions, what Arnould and Price (1993, p. 25) refer to as “intense,
positive, intrinsically enjoyable experiences”. Emotions, feelings and more generally affective
responses (e.g. customer delight) are highly relevant customer responses and outcomes in
hedonic contexts (Beltagui and Candi, 2018). To illustrate, consumers typically go to nightclubs,
theme parks and tourist attractions to have a fun and exciting experience.
In contrast, utilitarian contexts are settings in which customers strive to derive functional
and practical benefits from the experience and avoid the occurrence of any possible negative
emotional outcomes (Blinda et al., 2019; Wirtz and Lwin, 2009). Utilitarian services are goal-
oriented, functional and helpful, experienced to accomplish a predefined task or solve a
problem (Dhar and Wertenbroch, 2000). A utilitarian experience generates customer
satisfaction merely by meeting basic needs and requirements (Loureiro et al., 2014). The
concept of customer satisfaction, involving a cognitive appraisal of the experience and
operational performance indicators such as waiting time and reliability are suitable to
evaluate utilitarian experience quality (Beltagui and Candi, 2018). The customer experience is
chosen and governed by rational decisions and serve consumption needs that are necessary
but not always desired (Albers-Miller and Royne Stafford, 1999), typically to get a job done
(Siebert et al., 2020). For instance, in hospitals, retail banks and postal services, the customer
experience involves obtaining information, products and services out of necessity rather than
personal desire (Loureiro et al., 2014). In addition, Wirtz and Lwin (2009) argue that utilitarian
JOSM customers adopt prevention-focused behaviours, such as protecting their privacy, in order to
avoid the occurrence of negative outcomes from the experience.
In sum, services can be classified as utilitarian or hedonic, depending on customer
motivations and consumption goals. Thus, from the perspective of the firm, any service
experience can be designed to evoke reactions pertaining to a utilitarian or hedonic
orientation. The next section reviews the previous literature contributing to experience
design in utilitarian and hedonic services.

2.2 Experience design


Extant research has overwhelmingly focused on understanding the customer experience
from the customer’s perspective (Kranzb€ uhler et al., 2018; De Keyser et al., 2020). This
emphasis is not surprising, since the onus is on the customer to derive benefits and value
outcomes through their actions and interactions with the firm and the wider environment
(Alves et al., 2016). The realised customer experience encompasses a range of responses to
various interactions that occur over the course of a relationship with a service provider (De
Keyser et al., 2020). As documented above, previous research supports the notion that the
realised experience is markedly different in utilitarian and experiential contexts. Thus,
hedonic and utilitarian contexts afford distinct kinds of customer experiences and require
different design characteristics (Rychalski and Hudson, 2017).
From the perspective of the firm, the experience design task involves articulating a bundle
of tangible and intangible elements that it intends to offer to targeted customers (Roth and
Menor, 2003). The concept of intended experience plays a key role in informing design
decisions that are actionable in practice (Voss et al., 2008). It provides a mental frame for firms
to capture the structural components of the experience they would like customers to have and
the arrangement of operational resources and processes that support its realisation (Johnston
et al., 2012). Thus, experience design not only informs the structural components of the
intended experience (the “what”) but also specifies the mechanisms for implementing it from
an operational standpoint (the “how”). This conceptual perspective is aligned with the related
service design literature (e.g. Andreassen et al., 2016). Specifically, Zomerdijk and Voss (2010)
contend that organisations cannot directly deliver experiences to customers and need to
“stage the prerequisites that enable customers to have the desired experiences” (p. 68). Such
prerequisites come in the form of a design plan that encompasses both the structural
components of the experience and its associated delivery mechanisms.
Table 1 provides an overview of previous studies on experience design in utilitarian and
hedonic contexts. It reveals that existing knowledge is derived from studies addressing
utilitarian and hedonic contexts separately. On the one hand, research has explored the
question of how utilitarian services can make the customer experience as easy, consistent,
effortless, predictable and convenient as possible. This approach describes how firms seek to
lock customers “into a loyalty loop of predictable experiences” (Siebert et al., 2020, p. 2). On the
other hand, studies have investigated how hedonic services offer emotionally engaging,
exciting and fun experiences. Both literature streams have generated substantial evidence
regarding the design characteristics that are effective in supporting the realisation of both
hedonic and utilitarian experiences.
We envisage a third research area to examine how utilitarian services seek to make the
customer experience more hedonic. Previous research (Rychalski and Hudson, 2017; Voss et al.,
2008) observe that some utilitarian services (e.g. withdrawing money at an ATM or phoning a
call centre to solve a technical problem) may not gain much advantage in intending the
experience to be fun, exciting, or surprising and to elicit strong affective reactions. Yet, Voss et al.
(2008) highlight that many utilitarian services recognise the importance of making the customer
experience more hedonic to differentiate from competitors. They suggest that firms transitioning
toward the “services as a destination” model increasingly rely on experiential elements as core Making the
components of their customer experience. Using a multiple case study approach, Beltagui et al. customer
(2016) identify several design strategies applied by organisations offering functional services to
provide a more emotional experience. These strategies include designing for typical customers
experience
or for personas, for visibility or invisibility and for community building or relationship building. more hedonic
Whilst these strategies are interesting and informative, these authors provide limited evidence
about their ability to elicit emotionally engaging customer responses. Siebert et al. (2020) propose
several tactics for combining utilitarian and hedonic orientations for firms to sustain the
customer relationship over time. In light of the scarce empirical evidence available, they call for
empirical studies to enrich our understanding of how firms can use insights from the hedonic
model to design the customer experience in a utilitarian context. In addition, scholars have
recently advocated about taking a dynamic perspective to understand the evolution of customer
experience and guide managers in experience design and implementation (Jaakkola and Terho,
2021; Kuehnl et al., 2019). This perspective adopts the notion that customer experiences should
be conceptualised as a journey composed of multiple phases or stages (Kranzb€ uehler et al., 2018;
Lemon and Verhoef, 2016). The notion of an intended experience journey blending utilitarian and
hedonic orientations has been overlooked by previous empirical studies (e.g. Beltagui et al., 2016),
fuelling the need for this research.

3. Research methods
3.1 Justification for a single case study design
This study aims to explore how utilitarian services can be made more hedonic. The scale of
the task (i.e. the breadth and depth of analysis required to describe and analyse the intended
experience journey) calls for an enquiry that compiles rich evidence from a firm’s perspective.
The methodology also needs to be well suited to proving insights into both the key
components of a phenomenon and how they relate to each other. In addition, there is the need
to support exploratory research for the purpose of developing new ideas and insights into a
phenomenon that is not well understood. Therefore, we adopt a single case study research
design (Yin, 2003; Siggelkow, 2007).

3.2 Case selection


Two criteria justify the selection of the case organisation. First, we sought a utilitarian firm
focused on shaping an emotionally engaging and compelling customer experience. At the time of
the study, the case organisation was in the process of radically changing its business model to a
business-to-customer focus incorporating an experience-centric approach. Financial services
(FS) firms are archetypically representative of utilitarian services (Rychalski and Hudson, 2017),
providing a suitable context for our study. Second, according to the information-oriented
selection criterion (Flyvbjerg, 2006), the organisation had to be willing to openly share corporate
information about the firm’s strategy and resulting intended experience. After several meetings
in which we presented the objectives, deliverables, expected benefits and outcomes of the
research project to the head of strategy, the company agreed to give full access to relevant,
available information. This provided a rare opportunity to collect rich data of a strategic nature.

3.3 Case description


The organisation is part of a leading global FS group active in over 50 countries. In 2020, the
group turnover exceeded V100,000 million, employing over 150,000 people. The wealth
management unit, active in the UK, is the case under study. The new experiential offering
consists of a self-directed and on-demand investment platform that offers a range of financial
products. The platform includes trading, content and social media features, as well as the
JOSM possibility to seek online financial advice from a professional. This intended experience is the
unit of analysis of our case study.

3.4 Data collection


Data collection was supported by a case study protocol describing the main research issues
and salient research questions (see the Appendix). We initially developed the protocol from
the customer experience literature. It was then enriched and validated by the head of strategic
development and a junior analyst who acted as the main points of contact with the research
team. Overall, the objectives were to identify areas where the current business-to-business
(B2B) model was exposed to disruption and to understand and articulate the future
experience-centric business model. More specifically, our data collection aimed to generate a
detailed understanding of the firm’s business environment, strategic context, value
proposition and the characteristics of the new experience design, as described in the
protocol. We collected the data from informants across the strategy, marketing, IT and
operations functions to derive a comprehensive and well-balanced understanding of the
intended experience and the wider business and strategic context of the firm. The final
dataset consists of 19 face-to-face semi-structured interviews, field notes taken during six
two-hour workshops run by the strategy team and relevant documentary evidence supplied
by the strategy and marketing functions (see Table A1 in the Appendix). Interviews lasted
between 45 and 90 min. Table 2 provides background information on the informants and the
specific themes explored in each interview.

3.5 Data analysis


We analysed the data in several stages. First, we transcribed all interviews verbatim and
created individual reports, which we submitted to each informant for review and validation.
We then reduced the voluminous case study data by reviewing and coding the documentary
evidence and interview reports (Miles and Huberman, 1994). Two researchers independently
coded the entire dataset and allocated individual pieces of code to two broad predefined
categories: existing experience design and new experience design. A piece of code refers to an
individual experience design dimension found in the data (sentence or paragraph). We then
compared the decisions and resolved minor inconsistencies through discussion. In total, we
generated 485 unique pieces of code that we agreed upon and organised into these two
categories. Following this, we undertook a finer-grain analysis to sort the data relating to the
new experience design into themes and sub-themes. We reviewed and sorted the evidence
consisting of 329 coding items into four themes representing the components and eleven sub-
themes describing the implementation mechanisms. Here, we followed an inductive logic to
create and develop the identifiers and definitions of these themes. Specifically, we applied the
cutting and sorting technique (Ryan and Bernard, 2003), which entails identifying quotes or
expressions that share similarities or exhibit differences and then sorting and arranging them
into coherent categories. We constructed a comprehensive data structure, illustrated in
Figure 1, which provides a chain of evidence between findings and data (Gioia et al., 2013). We
extensively discussed these emergent findings, which we triangulated from multiple sources
of evidence for convergent validity and to protect against bias and subjectivity (Goffin et al.,
2019). We then compared and contrasted the characteristics of the new customer experience
to ensure sufficient distinctiveness and exclusivity. Through this process, the relationships or
interactions between these characteristics started to emerge more clearly, forming a natural
customer journey model (Figure 2). Moreover, a series of meetings between two researchers
and the project champions took place to present, discuss and fine-tune the findings. Obtaining
detailed feedback from the case organisation was useful to safeguard against possible
multiple interpretations of reality and ensure congruency between the information obtained
Participant background (entity*, Interview Making the
ID job title, function) Themes addressed duration customer
1 Case, head of department, digital Vision of long-term digital strategy and transformation; impact 1 h 30 min experience
strategy of digital practices on business model; descriptions of planned more hedonic
business models, value propositions and customer experience
2 Case, manager, digital customer End consumer digital practices; current and future digital 50 min
experience customer experience, digital capabilities required for the
business
3 Case, manager, marketing Opportunities and challenges for the industry and the business; 50 min
future customer propositions and what they are driven by;
current and future brand and positioning
4 Case, manager, consumer-centric Challenges and opportunities in the industry; the role of 1 h 10 min
transformation project financial advisers in the next 10/15 years; role and
responsibilities of the company in the future
5 Case, manager, consumer-centric Key organisational issues and challenges; types of capabilities, 45 min
transformation project competences, mindset and leadership required to be successful
6 Case, manager, customer Customer propositions; digital capabilities required; consumer 1 h 10 min
propositions digital practices; use of technology for communication and
service delivery
7 Case, manager, information Customer propositions and experiences; digital capabilities 55 min
technology required; consumer digital practices; use of technology for
communication and service delivery
8 Case, manager, business-to- Challenges and opportunities in the industry; the role of 55 min
business operations financial advisers in the next 10/15 years; role and
responsibilities of the company in the future
9 Case, head, strategic development New business models; internal and external opportunities and 1 h 15 min
challenges
10 Case, manager, communications Current and future strategies, practices, methodologies, 1h
techniques and tools for managing the customer experience
11 Case, manager, customer Current and future strategies, practices, methodologies, 1 h 30 min
experience techniques and tools for managing the customer experience
12 Case, manager, customer Current and future strategies, practices, methodologies, 1 h 15 min
experience techniques and tools for managing the customer experience
13 Case, manager, customer insights Customer segmentation; how to understand and target the 45 min
customer; future customer needs and behaviours
14 Group, chief business architect, Consumer digital practices; current and future digital 55 min
information technology capabilities needed; how digital transformations can shape
future business models
15 Group, head of department, Digital capabilities within the organisation; digital business 1h
information technology models
16 Group, director, health business Challenges of getting customers to engage with complex 55 min
unit financial products in a digital world; costs and returns of digital
transformation
17 Group, analyst, strategy Societal changes, communities, new value propositions 45 min
18 Group, analyst, strategy Future trends and how they could affect the business model; 55 min
broad organisational issues; current thinking around digital
transformation
19 Group, head of department, Future value propositions and partnerships (ecosystems); new 1 h 05 min Table 2.
partnerships business models outside wealth nanagement; competitive Background
landscape; digital capabilities and big data opportunities information on key
Note(s): *Case: the informant works for the case organisation; Group: the informant works for the wider group informants

and our interpretation of the phenomenon (Voss et al., 2002). Finally, the iterations between
the empirical observations and previous research allowed us to derive the main theoretical
implications and frame the contributions of our study.

4. Findings
The findings reveal the main characteristics of the experience intended to support customers
in realising the financial planning and management experience. The emergent conceptual
JOSM

Figure 1.
Data structure

framework (Figure 2) shows how a traditionally utilitarian firm can design a more hedonic
experience from a customer journey perspective. The individual characteristics of the
framework, and their relationships, are discussed below.

4.1 Understand and connect with the customer’s emotional life journey
The experiential design intends to connect with the customer’s emotional life journey to
trigger registration with and rapid use of the online self-investment platform. The core idea
behind this design element is that the service proposed is consistent with and contributes to
the current and future life projects of the customer. Emotional engagement is elicited through
brand positioning, product design and interpersonal interactions. First, our respondents
stressed the need for the brand message to be conveyed in a meaningful and relevant way to
customers in order to elicit affective responses and encourage subscription. The organisation
sought to reposition its brand and orientate it towards its customers’ behaviours and
lifestyles. It also aimed to change customers’ perception from a compensation service to a
service that makes an actual difference to their lives. For instance, a marketing manager (ID 3)
advocated the creation of a compelling brand story that emphasises the organisation’s
mission to protect customers and their family’s current and future wealth and health:
We played a mood reel which was about family connection, life events, protecting your loves ones.
We tested them and asked customers what we stood for afterwards, and it was much more “you
understand my needs, you understand what’s important to me”. It was suddenly warm and emotive.
The head of strategic development (ID 9) similarly observed the need to focus on creating a
brand story that matters to the consumer to build an emotional connection and become
embedded in the life of customers and their family:
You need to stand for something different. We need to have a core story that is about protection,
taking care, a trust partner. Then you build an emotional connection and become integrated into real
life because they trust you to look after things that matter to them.
Second, our respondents highlighted the importance of breaking free from a mindset that
emphasises the attributes and functionalities of investment and savings products. Instead,
the organisation concentrates on identifying key emotionally laden events in the customers’
life to develop products that are able to meet the needs directly related to these core life
touchpoints. Focussing on the emotional journey that consumers go through in their daily
Making the
customer
experience
more hedonic

Figure 2.
Conceptual framework
for designing hedonic
experiences in a
utilitarian context
JOSM lives enables embedding financial management products within their personal context. This
can be done, for instance, by linking products to actual lifestyle objectives customers have set
for themselves, such as buying a house or sending their children to a reputable university.
The manager of customer insights (ID 13) illustrated this point:
That is the shift we need to make because do people really care about the features and benefits of a
product? No, but do they care about the safety of their kids? Probably. We start with the customer,
their future, and their world. Working it back that way, you get much more of an emotional
proposition.
A strategy analyst working for the wider Group (ID 18) further elaborated:
Whilst we perceive that as a very financial product, for the people who are buying it, it is a very
emotional experience. Buying a house, getting married, getting children going to university, those
are some of the largest, biggest impact emotional experiences in anyone’s life, so we must recognise
and appreciate that this is a big thing for people.
Third, there was broad consensus across respondents that human actors are better placed
than automated systems and machines to engage emotionally with customers.
Interviewees emphasised the importance of retaining a human touch to deal with
customers in key life moments. The head of partnerships for the Group (ID 19) illustrated
this issue:
If you’re looking to say that something fundamental has changed in my life, let’s say your child dies.
Something very emotional. It would potentially change what you’re saving for. Can you put that into
an algorithm? I don’t think you can because what an algorithm can’t assess is emotion. Life changing
emotional events need an emotional response and opinion, and they need to be assessed. And you
need people for that.

4.2 Increase customer competence and readiness


Increasing customer competence involves educating and guiding the customer over the
course of the consumption journey. The aim is to motivate customers to increase their
knowledge of financial products and services, and build confidence in their ability to make
financial management decisions and engage with the community. This is achieved through
the development of intuitive, simple investment products that are easy to understand, as well
as a range of training mechanisms and educational content to assist customers in
understanding and in selecting products. Specifically, respondents discussed integrating an
investor’s academy into the platform to teach and test customers about the industry, market,
products, compliance issues, etc. and subsequently deliver a range of badges or certificates. In
sum, the learning experience is intended to be cognitively engaging, challenging and
rewarding. A marketing manager responsible for digital customer experience (ID 2) asserted:
They need guidance and support and help from a new type of proposition – one that demystifies
investments to the point that advice is actually an irrelevance because it’s engaging from a customer
perspective [. . .] You can provide an educational platform for learning for consumers who don’t have
enough confidence in that space. You move them on to “I do understand the risk. I do understand
what an asset class is and how I should combine them together [. . .] I know how to review a fund fact
sheet”. Education is don’t like force feeding them information for them to read, it’s engaging
with them.

4.3 Encourage sustained experiential involvement


The experience encourages voluntary customer involvement in the experience. We identified
two main mechanisms. First, the development of an online peer-to-peer community where
like-minded investors meet and interact is seen as central to raising customer interest, Making the
eliciting excitement and making the experience rewarding. This community is intended as a customer
virtual place where consumers can share and obtain advice from and with fellow investors. In
essence, the experience is focused on enabling a social financial planning experience that is
experience
both enjoyable and goal-oriented. For instance, customers can be guided by information from more hedonic
other users who act as resident experts, providing free wealth planning guidance to fellow
customers via a bulletin board or forum. An excerpt from an internal strategy document
illustrates this point:
Sharing is a core community element – information, adviser experiences, investment selection,
“investors like you”, watch lists, buying and selling trends. Customers can choose to share their
personal portfolios, their goals and progress towards them with their social network. Customers can
rate their adviser experiences for other customers to see. Customers can publish their own model
portfolios, follow others or be followed.
Crucially, a strong focus was on finding fun, challenging and rewarding ways to involve
customers in building the community (e.g. fantasy portfolio management competitions, guest
resident advisers, league table of discretionary fund managers, peer-to-peer data summary,
financial adviser community . . .). Elaborating on the importance of this tactic, the head of
digital strategy (ID 1) articulated how the social investing experience takes shape:
Peer-to-peer data summary is one of the core needs that clients have: “Am I saving too much or not
enough? Am I behind or ahead of the game? How do I compare with my peer group?” If you’ve got a
world where people want to talk about savings, they want to talk about their investments, they want
to talk about what’s working, what’s not working and experiences, then that’s a way of making it
more real, more engaging.
So gamification, so that’s about offering a fantasy fund manager or a fantasy portfolio management
service that behaved as it would in reality, then people can have some fun with that. And you can do
some core stuff around best portfolio performance in six months, twelve months and do leagues
and stuff.
Moreover, customers are encouraged to “do it themselves” by assembling and modelling their
financial portfolio on the self-service investment platform. The focus is on making the digital
investment experience convenient and straightforward, so customers are able to handle their
own transactions through a self-directed and on-demand experience.

4.4 Drive purchase through individualisation


The design is intended to support purchase decision through the individualisation of the
customer experience. Individualisation has two main dimensions: product customisation and
customer journey personalisation. On the product level, respondents emphasised the importance
of developing a financial planning solution that is holistic, customer-specific and dynamic.
Holistic one-stop-shop solutions comprise wealth, health and general insurance products. These
products are accessed through a dedicated digital portal for consumers to see, purchase and
manage. A manager with extensive industry experience (ID 8) illustrated this vision:
People are living longer and it is critical that they stay healthy to avoid massive long-term care costs,
hence health and wealth become inextricably linked. We [wealth managers] have the capability to
support people throughout their lives. Health is more supporting people during their working life
[. . .]. We should have one single service with one portal that’s got all of your wealth, [. . .], health
insurance, home insurance, car insurance, it’s all there. That for me is when you start talking about
holistic financial planning.
Moreover, the experience is tailored to the individual’s requirements, circumstances, goals,
aspirations and lifestyle. The organisation seeks to become the customer’s “partner for life”
JOSM by helping the transition between, and relevance to, specific life stages. The availability of a
wide range of external and internal data allows the organisation to gain a deep and detailed
understanding of a person’s lifestyle and to make the financial planning experience more
personal and relevant. Modern analytics afford the development of adaptable products and
services through predicting the likelihood of people’s aspirations or goals actually occurring.
As a strategy analyst (ID 17) stated:
Vast volumes of data become the key asset to enable tailored financial products. We’ve got millions
of customers and we have enough data about them to completely profile them, segment them all, and
understand where our business opportunities are. The data that’s available on that client tells us all
about their lifestyle, family circumstances, life goals, current holdings, and their interests [. . .] a total
picture of them as an individual. We are now predicting what people will need, like special care and
things like that, and we suggest and offer tailored products in a much more proactive way. We
manipulate that data to deliver more relevant and personalised solutions, services, and experiences
that customers increasingly demand.
Adding to the debate, the head of strategic development (ID 9) described the development of
dynamic and pro-active investment products to enable an individualised customer
experience:
We use human telematics to create dynamically drawdown portfolios where investment risk and
income levels are all managed based on the individual’s ongoing health. In simple terms, if we have a
better understanding of how long someone is going to live and how much of this is going to be in
good health, then we can help them manage the transition to retirement, the level of income in
retirement better – to make sure that the level of income received matches the opportunity to spend it.
The second individualisation dimension relates to the customer journey. There was broad
consensus among respondents that the customer should be given total control over the
financial planning journey. Customers are free to decide between handling their own
transactions on the self-service platform and taking financial advice from an advisor or peer.
The rationale behind this is that while customers generally want to manage their day-to-day
finances themselves (e.g. on a self-serve platform), there may face complicated situations due
to evolving life events, for instance, where they require interpersonal advice. This approach
supports a transactional relationship between customers and advisors who are responsible
for providing specialist advice in a piecemeal fashion. This flexible model lets customers take
more control over when and how they interact with their adviser and allows them to “pull” in
advice whenever needed. It also allows customers to choose the most appropriate mode of
engagement, as the head of digital strategy (ID 1) described:
Many clients would still be very keen to sit in front of a financial adviser at big moments in their life.
If they’ve had an inheritance and they’re sitting with £200,000, they would be happy to pay for an
advisor to come and set something up for them [. . .]. The opportunity is creating that hybrid solution
that facilitates big adviser inputs at big moments in life but then allows a really impressive self-
service capability when the client wants to takes over in terms of their portfolio.

4.5 Exploring the linkages between experience design characteristics


The design characteristics are interactively linked and collectively form a customer journey,
as presented in our conceptual framework (Figure 2). The framework describes an integrated
approach consisting of four interactive stages to design a more hedonic experience
throughout the customer journey. First, organisations need to understand the life journey
customers go through in order to build an emotional connection with customers. Aligning the
intended experience with the customer’s actual life events and goals is essential to elicit
strong emotional reactions and responses. Intense emotional engagement is central to trigger
customers to decide to engage with the brand and enrol on the investment platform. Next, the Making the
role of organisations is to develop customer competence and readiness and encourage customer
experiential involvement. On the one hand, customers must be equipped with the right level
of skills and knowledge so that they feel confident and empowered to take part in the self-
experience
service experience and engage with the community of fellow customers. On the other hand, more hedonic
the proposed activities need to be sufficiently fun, challenging and rewarding to motivate and
sustain voluntary customer involvement over time. Sustained involvement is essential to
individualise the experience and drive customers to make the decision to purchase a financial
solution. It is through their active participation in the experience that customers generate
data that the organisation can use to develop customised solutions and to let customers create
their own financial planning journey, deciding between when to self-serve and when to
interact with a financial adviser. Crucially, customer experience insights generated at this
stage help to adapt and refine the life journey analysis and the insertion of emotionally laden
interactions to encourage customers to sustain the journey over time.

5. Discussion
5.1 Theoretical contributions
Drawing on regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1998), previous experience design research has
traditionally examined utilitarian and hedonic services independently, as two distinct kinds
of environments that afford markedly different types of customer experiences (Siebert et al.,
2020). The hedonic experience model describes how hedonic firms can offer an exciting, fun
and challenging experience, whilst utilitarian experiences are generally designed to be as
consistent, effortless and convenient as possible (Dixon et al., 2017; Kuehnl et al., 2019). Our
study challenges this dichotomy by showing how a traditionally utilitarian service can be
designed in a way that supports both a hedonic and a utilitarian experience at different stages
of the customer journey. It contributes to the literature by identifying design characteristics
traditionally associated with hedonic services and showing how they can be applied in a
utilitarian context to offer an enhanced experience. Focussing on the customer journey thus
permits a more specific, fine-grained application of regulatory focus theory, one that
recognises a dual hedonic and utilitarian orientation in the design of the customer experience.
First, the focus is on identifying and understanding key customer life moments and goals
to create a feeling of meaningfulness and personal relevance and trigger rapid enrolment in
the initial phase of the relationship. This design characteristic involves shifting brand
perceptions from a functional to an emotional level by linking the intended experience to the
customer’s life (Brakus et al., 2009). The notion of connecting with the customer’s emotional
life journey resonates with the literature on hedonic experiences, which highlights the
importance of the customer’s emotional engagement (Beltagui and Candi, 2018; Zomerdijk
and Voss, 2010). This finding also provides a point of departure from the utilitarian literature
that emphasises the need for rational approaches and the avoidance of negative emotions to
attract customers (Ladhari et al., 2017; Siebert et al., 2020).
After enrolment, the experience is intended to elicit cognitive engagement by providing
various resources that challenge and stimulate customers to educate and empower
themselves. This focus on cognitive mechanisms is key in a utilitarian context, as it
provides customers with the ability and confidence to achieve their consumption goals
(Damali et al., 2016; Karpen et al., 2015). Ponsignon et al. (2015) showed that the perceived
complexity of financial products and procedures inhibits customers from actively
co-producing the experience. Increasing customer competence is an increasingly accepted
design requirement in utilitarian services, yet it has been challenging to deploy (Bell et al.,
2017). We extend this literature by suggesting that hedonic design mechanisms such as
employing gamification techniques and encouraging social interactions between fellow
JOSM customers help to augment the learning experience in a utilitarian context (Zomerdijk and
Voss, 2010). This design characteristic is akin to the principle of edutainment, as commonly
used in the tourism sector (Ponsignon et al., 2017).
These design mechanisms are effective in fostering sustained, voluntary customer
participation because they make the customer experience stimulating, fun and enjoyable.
This is consistent with the notion that such elements motivate customers to participate in a
hedonic experience (Blinda et al., 2019). We thus suggest that the concepts of voluntary
customer participation (Dong and Sivakumar, 2017) and experiential involvement (Siebert
et al., 2020), often associated with hedonic services, are transferrable to utilitarian services.
This finding also challenges existing literature suggesting that because utilitarian
experiences occur out of necessity customers may be reluctant to participate in the
experience. Consequently, firms are often advised to “reduce the amount of time and effort
customers must invest in living through a customer journey” (Kuehnl et al., 2019, p. 556). We
argue that voluntary experiential involvement is not a compulsory requirement for the
utilitarian experience to take place but may be essential in sustaining it over time.
Finally, experience individualisation, the final component of the customer journey, is enabled
by the analysis and interpretation of customer participation data collected on the self-investment
platform (e.g. transaction and interaction data). The idea of driving purchase through
individualisation is consistent with previous findings on the personalisation of relationships in
hedonic services (Zomerdijk and Voss, 2010) and on the customisation of products and services
in utilitarian contexts (Beltagui et al., 2016). We extend existing knowledge by suggesting that
individualisation can be approached from a dynamic journey-oriented perspective to continually
adapt the experience to the customer’s life context and trigger purchase decisions (Kranzb€ uhler
et al., 2018). Collectively, these four experience design characteristics, and their interactions,
enrich and extend existing knowledge by specifying where and how utilitarian firms can draw
on the hedonic model to design the customer experience.

5.2 Implications for managers


The development and implementation of a superior experience is a critical success factor for
utilitarian firms. Important managerial insights derive from our in-depth case study. We draw
on the preceding sections to submit a range of actionable guidelines for managers in Table 3.
These insights can help improve how the experience design task is understood and applied in
practice, providing a general roadmap that can guide the development and implementation of
more hedonic customer experiences in utilitarian consumer markets. In addition, our journey-
based framework of design characteristics (i.e. structural components and delivery mechanisms)
advances two specific implications for practicing managers. First, our findings offer a
theoretically sound and practically relevant framework, encompassing four major forms of
experience design, identifying key delivery mechanisms for each of the four components and
offering a clear justification for their inclusion. This provides a useful and robust platform for
managers involved in creating a new experience or rethinking how their existing experience
supports the delivery of more hedonic benefits. Managers can decide whether it is more
appropriate to take a holistic perspective, integrating all four components into the design of the
customer experience, or follow a more piecemeal approach focused on prioritising certain
components over others. Second, while we make no claims that the components and delivery
mechanisms identified in this research are universally applicable to all utilitarian firms, we
believe that they can nonetheless provide a relevant conceptual frame for fostering managerial
thinking and supporting decision-making. For instance, utilitarian firms can benefit from
comparing their existing experience with our framework to evaluate the relevance of their
approach and identify opportunities for experience design augmentation or enhancement.
Stage 1: understand and connect with the customer’s emotional life journey
Making the
• Leverage internal data on existing customers to identify and predict key, emotionally laden events customer
within the customer’s life journey experience
• Develop partnerships with other direct-to-customer organisations (e.g. banks and supermarkets) to
obtain information about the life journeys of prospective customers
more hedonic
• Redesign savings and investment products around these key life moments and life planning events
• Develop the emotional competence of front-line employees
• Following feedback from Stage 4, adapt/refine life journey analysis
Stage 2: increase customer competence and readiness
• Provide an educational platform for customers to learn, build confidence and guide their choices
• Develop/curate, provide and continually update relevant and meaningful informational content (e.g. on
financial markets and on investment products)
• Develop and implement exciting, challenging and rewarding customer awareness and training
mechanisms (e.g. partner with reputable educational institutions, deliver proficiency certificates and
adopt gamification techniques)
• Ensure products and services can be explained in a simple and transparent way
Stage 3: encourage sustained experiential involvement
• Enable customers to play an active role and make their own decisions in their self-service experience
• Use technology to connect fellow customers, such as managing a firm-hosted problem-solving virtual
community, supporting a social experience with features for sharing knowledge and providing
guidance (e.g. information, adviser experiences, investment selection, watch lists, buying and selling
trends, adviser rankings and comments . . .)
• Find innovative fun, enjoyable and rewarding ways to involve customers in building the community
(e.g. fantasy portfolio management competitions, guest resident advisers, league table of discretionary
fund managers, peer-to-peer data summary, financial adviser community . . .)
Stage 4: individualise and customise to drive purchase decisions
• Analyse and interpret customer participation data (e.g. degree and nature of engagement in a virtual
community)
• Develop behaviour-based customer segmentation (e.g. asset management, interactions with fellow
customers, lifestyle and biometrics) to replace demographics-based segmentation
• Develop holistic (e.g. combining wealth management and health management, all solutions in one
place), customer-specific (i.e. relevant to customers’ lifestyle, life journey and aspirational goals) and
dynamic offerings (e.g. adapting to customers’ changing needs and goals now and in the future) Table 3.
• Build choice into the customer experience design to put the customer in control of the consumption Managerial guidelines
journey, shifting from a “push” to a “pull” logic for making utilitarian
• Ensure that the transition between and across different channels and interactions (e.g. from “self- experiences more
service” to “interactions with an adviser”) is smooth and seamless for the customer hedonic

5.3 Limitations and future work


Beyond the usual limitations associated with single case study designs, our study has several
limitations that provide opportunities for future research. First, key performance outcomes, such
as customer acquisition, customer retention, revenues, return on investment, or profitability, are
not considered. There is a need for knowledge that is more prescriptive to infer robust design
principles. Second, we have taken a firm-centric perspective to explore how the customer
experience is designed to elicit hedonic reactions, without directly considering the customer’s
perspective. It is clear, however, that there can be a mismatch between the intended experience
(provider’s perspective) and the realised experience (customer’s perspective). Comparing and
contrasting the customer and provider perspectives to appraise the alignment between intended
experience and realised experience would help enrich this research. Third, the findings require
further empirical examination and verification to establish their relevance and validity across
different service contexts. It would also be useful to extend this research by comparing and
contrasting additional utilitarian firms that adopt a hedonic orientation. Finally, future research
could explore the relevance of a hedonic orientation in a business-to-business environment.
Recent work in the B2B domain suggests that emotional benefits are important for customer
satisfaction (Candi and Kahn, 2016) and that experiential approaches can be effective in

supporting a firm’s branding strategy (Osterle et al., 2018). Pursuing this line of enquiry, future
JOSM
research could address the question of how firms may integrate hedonic elements into the
customer experience in different B2B contexts.

References
Albers-Miller, N.D. and Royne Stafford, M. (1999), “International services advertising: an examination
of variation in appeal use for experiential and utilitarian services”, Journal of Services
Marketing, Vol. 13 Nos 4/5, pp. 390-406.
Alves, H., Fernandes, C. and Raposo, M. (2016), “Value co-creation: concept and contexts of application
and study”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 69 No. 5, pp. 1626-1633.
Andreassen, T.W., Kristensson, P., Lervik-Olsen, L., Parasuraman, A., McColl-Kennedy, J.R.,
Edvardsson, B. and Colurcio, M. (2016), “Linking service design to value creation and service
research”, Journal of Service Management, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 21-29.
Arnould, E.J. and Price, L.L. (1993), “River magic: extraordinary experience and the extended service
encounter”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 20 No. 1, pp. 24-45.
Bell, S.J., Auh, S. and Eisingerich, A.B. (2017), “Unraveling the customer education paradox: when, and
how, should firms educate their customers?”, Journal of Service Research, Vol. 20 No. 3,
pp. 306-321.
Beltagui, A. and Candi, M. (2018), “Revisiting service quality through the lens of experience-centric services”,
International Journal of Operations and Production Management, Vol. 38 No. 3, pp. 915-932.
Beltagui, A., Candi, M. and Riedel, J. (2016), “Setting the stage for service experience: design strategies
for functional services”, Journal of Service Management, Vol. 27 No. 5, pp. 751-772.
Blinda, K., Schnittka, O., Sattler, H. and Gr€ave, J.-F. (2019), “Implementing effective customer
participation for hedonic and utilitarian services”, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 33 No. 3,
pp. 316-330.
Brakus, J.J., Schmitt, B.H. and Zarantonello, L. (2009), “Brand experience: what is it? How is it
measured? Does it affect loyalty?”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 73 No. 3, pp. 52-68.
Candi, M. and Kahn, K.B. (2016), “Functional, emotional, and social benefits of new B2B services”,
Industrial Marketing Management, Vol. 57, pp. 177-184.
Candi, M., Beltagui, A. and Riedel, J.C. (2013), “Innovation through experience staging: motives and
outcomes”, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Vol. 30 No. 2, pp. 279-297.
Chitturi, R., Raghunathan, R. and Mahajan, V. (2008), “Delight by design: the role of hedonic versus
utilitarian benefits”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 72 No. 3, pp. 48-63.
Damali, U., Miller, J.L., Fredendall, L.D., Moore, D. and Dye, C.J. (2016), “Co-creating value using
customer training and education in a healthcare service design”, Journal of Operations
Management, Vol. 47, pp. 80-97.
De Keyser, A., Verleye, K., Lemon, K.N., Keiningham, T L. and Klaus, P. (2020), “Moving the customer
experience field forward: introducing the touchpoints, context, qualities (TCQ) nomenclature”,
Journal of Service Research, Vol. 23 No. 4, pp. 433-455.
Dhar, R. and Wertenbroch, K. (2000), “Consumer choice between hedonic and utilitarian goods”,
Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 37 No. 1, pp. 60-71.
Ding, D.X., Hu, P.J.-H., Verma, R. and Wardell, D.G. (2010), “The impact of service system design and
flow experience on customer satisfaction in online financial services”, Journal of Service
Research, Vol. 13 No. 1, pp. 96-110.
Dixon, M.J., Victorino, L., Kwortnik, R.J. and Verma, R. (2017), “Surprise, anticipation, and sequence
effects in the design of experiential services”, Production and Operations Management, Vol. 26
No. 5, pp. 945-960.
Dong, B. and Sivakumar, K. (2017), “Customer participation in services: domain, scope, and
boundaries”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 45 No. 6, pp. 944-965.
Flyvbjerg, B. (2006), “Five misunderstandings about case-study research”, Qualitative Inquiry, Vol. 12 Making the
No. 2, pp. 219-245.
customer
Gioia, D.A., Corley, K.G. and Hamilton, A.L. (2013), “Seeking qualitative rigor in inductive research:
notes on the Gioia methodology”, Organizational Research Methods, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 15-31.
experience
Goffin, K., Ahlstr€om, P., Bianchi, M. and Richtner, A. (2019), “Perspective: state-of-the-art; the quality
more hedonic
of case study research in innovation management”, Journal of Product Innovation Management,
Vol. 35 No. 5, pp. 586-615.
Higgins, E.T. (1998), “Promotion and prevention: regulatory focus as a motivational principle”,
Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 30, pp. 1-46.
Jaakkola, E. and Terho, H. (2021), “Service journey quality: conceptualization, measurement and
customer outcomes”, Journal of Service Management, Vol. 32 No. 6, pp. 1-27.
Johnston, R. and Kong, X. (2011), “The customer experience: a road-map for improvement”, Managing
Service Quality, Vol. 21 No. 1, pp. 5-24.
Johnston, R., Clark, G. and Shulver, M. (2012), Service Operations Management: Improving Service
Delivery, 4th ed., FT Prentice Hall, Harlow, England.
Karpen, I.O., Bove, L.L., Lukas, B.A. and Zyphur, M.J. (2015), “Service-dominant orientation:
measurement and impact on performance outcomes”, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 91 No. 1,
pp. 89-108.
uhler, A.M., Kleijnen, M.H., Morgan, R.E. and Teerling, M. (2018), “The multilevel nature of
Kranzb€
customer experience research: an integrative review and research agenda”, International
Journal of Management Reviews, Vol. 20 No. 2, pp. 433-456.
Kuehnl, C., Jozic, D. and Homburg, C. (2019), “Effective customer journey design: consumers’
conception, measurement, and consequences”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science,
Vol. 47 No. 3, pp. 551-568.
Ladhari, R., Souiden, N. and Dufour, B. (2017), “The role of emotions in utilitarian service settings: the
effects of emotional satisfaction on product perception and behavioral intentions”, Journal of
Retailing and Consumer Services, Vol. 34, pp. 10-18.
Lemon, K.N. and Verhoef, P.C. (2016), “Understanding customer experience throughout the customer
journey”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 80 No. 6, pp. 69-96.
Loureiro, S.M.C., Miranda, F.J. and Breazeale, M. (2014), “Who needs delight? The greater impact of
value, trust and satisfaction in utilitarian, frequent-use retail”, Journal of Service Management,
Vol. 25 No. 1, pp. 101-124.
McColl-Kennedy, J.R., Danaher, T.S., Gallan, A.S., Orsingher, C., Lervik-Olsen, L. and Verma, R. (2017),
“How do you feel today? Managing patient emotions during health care experiences to enhance
well-being”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 79, pp. 247-259.
Miles, M.B. and Huberman, M. (1994), Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook, Sage,
Newbury Park, CA.
Okada, E.M. (2005), “Justification effects on consumer choice of hedonic and utilitarian goods”, Journal
of Marketing Research, Vol. 42 No. 1, pp. 43-53.

Osterle, B., Kuhn, M.M. and Henseler, J. (2018), “Brand worlds: introducing experiential marketing to
B2B branding”, Industrial Marketing Management, Vol. 72, pp. 71-98.
Ponsignon, F., Klaus, P. and Maull, R. (2015), “Experience co-creation in financial services: an
empirical exploration”, Journal of Service Management, Vol. 26 No. 2, pp. 295-320.
Pine, J.B. and Gilmore, J.B. (1999), The Experience Economy, Harvard Business School Press,
Boston, MA.
Ponsignon, F., Durrieu, F. and Bouzdine-Chameeva, T. (2017), “Customer experience design: a case
study in the cultural sector”, Journal of Service Management, Vol. 28 No. 4, pp. 763-787.
JOSM Pullman, M.E. and Gross, M.A. (2004), “Ability of experience design elements to elicit emotions and
loyalty behaviors”, Decision Sciences, Vol. 35 No. 3, pp. 551-578.
Robison, J. (2006), “How the Ritz-Carlton is reinventing itself”, Gallup Management Journal, October, pp. 1-2.
Roth, A.V. and Menor, L.J. (2003), “Insights into service operations management: a research agenda”,
Production and Operations Management, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 145-164.
Ryan, G.W. and Bernard, H.R. (2003), “Techniques to identify themes”, Field Methods, Vol. 15,
February, pp. 85-109.
Rychalski, A. and Hudson, S. (2017), “Asymmetric effects of customer emotions on satisfaction and
loyalty in a utilitarian service context”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 71, pp. 84-91.
Siebert, A., Gopaldas, A., Lindridge, A. and Sim~oes, C. (2020), “Customer experience journeys: loyalty
loops versus involvement spirals”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 84 No. 4, pp. 45-66.
Siggelkow, N. (2007), “Persuasion with case studies”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 50 No. 1,
pp. 20-24.
Stuart, I., McCutcheon, D., Handfield, R., McLachlin, R. and Samson, D. (2002), “Effective case research
in operations management: a process perspective”, Journal of Operations Management, Vol. 20
No. 5, pp. 419-433.
Voss, C., Tsikriktsis, N. and Frohlich, M. (2002), “Case research in operations management”,
International Journal of Operations and Production Management, Vol. 22 No. 2, pp. 195-219.
Voss, C.A., Roth, A. and Chase, R.B. (2008), “Experience, service operations strategy, and services as
destinations: foundations and exploratory investigation”, Production and Operations
Management, Vol. 17 No. 3, pp. 247-266.
underlich, N.V. (2016), “Reflections on context in service
Voss, C., Perks, H., Sousa, R., Witell, L. and W€
research”, Journal of Service Management, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 30-36.
Weingarten, E. and Goodman, J.K. (2021), “Re-examining the experiential advantage in consumption: a
meta-analysis and review”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 47 No. 6, pp. 855-877.
Wirtz, J. and Lwin, M.O. (2009), “Regulatory focus theory, trust, and privacy concern”, Journal of
Service Research, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 190-207.
Yin, R.K. (2003), Case Study Research: Design and Methods, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.
Zomerdijk, L.G. and Voss, C.A. (2010), “Service design for experience-centric services”, Journal of
Service Research, Vol. 13 No. 1, pp. 67-82.

Appendix

Documentary evidence

Functional area Name Type Length

Strategy  2030 vision: a step-change in wealth management PPT presentation 33 slides


 2030 vision: script Word document 5 pages
 A day in the life of a customer in 2030 Word document 6 pages
 New value propositions PPT presentation 14 slides
 Societal changes PPT presentation 11 slides
 Strategy summary PPT presentation 6 slides
Table A1.  What if . . . dimensions of an exciting future Word document 44 pages
Description of key Marketing  Customer journey tracker PPT presentation 55 slides
documents collected  Customer experience dashboard Word document 21 pages
Case Study Protocol Making the
This protocol describes the field procedures to follow. During the first visit at the company, the
researchers should try to identify relevant key informants that possess a wealth of knowledge in the customer
areas investigated in the study. In this respect, the help of project champions would be highly valuable. experience
Semi-structured interviews should be conducted with the key informants to address the research areas more hedonic
specified below. Other sources of information, such as documentary evidence emanating from the
strategy, marketing, operations and IT functions, should be gathered. These may be provided by the
interviewees or the project champions on the request of the researchers. A case report should be
produced shortly after the entire dataset has been analysed. The report should be sent to the project
champions for feedback on the validity and reliability of the findings.
To address the research question, the researcher should collect timely and relevant data from the
case organisation across several research areas. The next sections specify in more or less detail the key
issues and questions to address during the data collection and analysis process.
(1) Business environment
 Background information on the markets the company competes in (i.e. key characteristics
and figures: industry, share in economy, market growth, market share, growth drivers,
recent evolution and future prospects).
 Current and future opportunities and challenges for the industry and the company.
(2) Strategic context
 Vision for long-term digital strategy and transformation
 Planned/future business models
(3) Value proposition (focussing on both the existing business model and the future
business model)
 Customers and markets: the customer segments the company wants to offer value to:
– Who are the right customers? What are the drivers of customer segmentation? What
are the important attributes of the different segments? What is the size of each
segment? What sales and delivery channels are used by the targeted segments?
– Relationship: the kind of links the company establishes with its different customer
segments.
– Customer requirements (type of and variety of customer requirements): could you
provide detailed examples of what the customer requirements are? To what extent are
customer requirements unique or similar?
 Products and services: both an overall and detailed view of the company’s bundle of
products and services (the offering):
– Identification, definition and description: what is the offering or solution proposed to
customers? What is the customer’s problem that the offerings are designed to solve?
What benefits and/or results are offered to customers?
– The type of attributes and options available to the customer for selection: what are the
attributes that compose the service offering?
 Intended experience: the experience that the company intends its customers to have:
– What does “customer experience” mean? How would you define the concept?
– How important is it to enable customers to co-create a superior experience? How to
achieve this? What does a successful/superior customer experience look like?
– What are the key components or building blocks of the customer experience? What
does the customer journey look like?
JOSM – How are the building blocks to be implemented? Key issues include: the role of people
(level and type of skills and knowledge, competences), digital capabilities, technology
resources and equipment, facilities (location and distribution), layout, processes,
procedures, distribution channels (to interact with customers) and partner network.

Corresponding author
Frederic Ponsignon can be contacted at: frederic.ponsignon@kedgebs.com

For instructions on how to order reprints of this article, please visit our website:
www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/licensing/reprints.htm
Or contact us for further details: permissions@emeraldinsight.com

View publication stats

You might also like