Within large service organizations there are currently two trends visible. These trends seem to be diametrically opposed. On the one hand organizations face increasing price pressure and thus a pressure to cut costs. One of the consequences of this trend is that organizations are increasingly encouraging customers to make more use of digital communication channels. At the same time, companies find it important to know their customers in order to respond adequately to their needs. To do this, organizations must have a certain degree of personal involvement to their customers and they must have regular personal contact. It is assumed that both trends – digitisation and personalisation – will have a strong impact on customer experience and (perhaps) on the relational models customers use. If it is true that relational models - so the way in which people perceive and assess a relationship - play a role in the perception of the customer, it is also interesting to know if it is possible to influence these relational models. During the last fifty years much research has been done into the possibilities to influence customers by using subliminal priming techniques. In these techniques thoughts and feelings are unconsciously activated by showing people certain words or images (eg Bargh, Chen & Burrows, 1996; Dijksterhuis, 2005). In recent years a number of experiments were performed in which customers were unconsciously primed at some type of relationship (eg Aggarwal, 2004; McGraw & Tetlock, 2005; Tuk, Verlegh, Smidts & Wigboldus, 2009). These experiments showed that it is possible to activate a certain type of relationship. The experiments however the researchers used scenario’s based on an interpersonal relationship, and often to a fictitious relationship. The question is whether priming techniques also work for an already existing and more complex relationship between an organization and its customers. From 2010-2013 we conducted research for six large service providers in banking, insurance, utilities and social welfare to discover what the customer experience of these organisations, what role relational models played in customer experience and whether it was possible to influence these relational models. The research project has provided answers to the following questions: - Which relational models are used by customers and what is the influence of these models on customer experience? - What is the influence of digitisation in customer communication on relational models and customer experience? - What is the influence of personalisation in customer communication on relational models and customer experience? And finally, - Is it possible to influence relational models (and customer experience) by using specific words and images that are associated with relational models (relational framing)?
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From the article: Globalization and technological innovation has led to an increasing competition between telecommunication service providers and has eroded traditional product- and service-based differentiation. One way to gain a competitive advantage is to create distinctiveness by improving customer experience in such a manner that it leads to higher customer satisfaction and loyalty. One of the drivers to improve the customer experience is the service interface. To improve this service interface, organizations must get insight into their customer interaction process. The amount of data about customers and the service provider processes is increasing and becoming more readily available for analysis. Process mining is a technique to provide insight into these processes. In this paper, a framework is presented to improve the customer satisfaction by alignment of the business service delivery process and the customer experience by applying process mining.
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Aanleiding : Het vakgebied Customer Experience is de laatste jaren enorm in ontwikkeling. Organisaties zien de toegevoegde waarde van een positieve klantbeleving. Voor commerciële organisaties kan een positieve klantbeleving leiden tot meer tevreden klanten die loyaler zijn naar de organisatie, meer bereid zijn de organisatie aan te bevelen (NPS) en minder gevoelig zijn voor prijs. Voor organisaties in de publieke sector kan een goede klantbeleving daarnaast leiden tot een beter imago en meer vertrouwen in de organisatie. Omdat klantbeleving een steeds belangrijker plek inneemt op de agenda van organisaties heeft het lectoraat Marketing en Customer Experience in 2021 besloten om een onderzoek te doen naar de toekomst van het vakgebied customer experience. Het belangrijkste doel van dit onderzoek was om duidelijk te krijgen hoe deze toekomst er mogelijk uit komt te zien en wat hiervan uiteindelijk de consequenties zijn voor nader onderzoek, onderwijs en de beroepspraktijk.
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Customer-supplier relationships are becoming more digital. However, a personal approach still seems to be a key success factor in the service journey, creating an optimal customer experience. In this research, we investigated the effects of a personal communication approach on customer experience and customer relationship. The personal touch was operationalised in two studies focusing on written forms of communication (Study 1) and spoken forms of communication (Study 2) amongst customers of an energy company. Both studies show that a personal tone of voice in customer contact results in a more positive customer experience (in terms of consumption emotions, customer satisfaction and recommendation intention). However, it does not impact the long term relationships between service provider and customers. Customers do not adjust previously built relationship norms when they are approached in a more or less personal way, as long as the chosen approach does not violate relationship norms. The research is relevant for organisations interested in the effects of a more personal approach in customer contact. The paper combines existing theories on customer experience and customer communication with the existing theories on relational models.
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Design/methodology Organisations are digitising the customer journey at a fast pace but have no idea what the effects of digitisation will be on customer experience and customer relationships. This paper describes two studies on digitisation in customer contact and the effects on customer experience and customer relationships. The first study examines how a relatively new medium, such as chat, relates to more a traditional medium such as the telephone. The second study examines the effects of re-directing customers from a traditional channel like telephone to the internet. Purpose: The research described in this paper was designed to measure these effects of digitisation on customer experience and customer relationships. Findings: Findings show that customers have a more positive customer experience when they use a digital channel like chat than when they use a traditional channel like phone, regardless of whether they have a simple or a complex question. The use of a digital channel does not have an impact on the customer relationship. Channel direction, however, has a negative impact on customer experience but also does not have an impact on the relationship. Practical implications: Our research shows that the use of digital channels like chat, unlike what people often think, do not necessarily have to lead to a deterioration of customer experience. In certain cases, the use of digital channels will lead to an improvement of customer experience. The research results also show that neither the used communication-medium nor a restriction of freedom of choice have a significant influence on the relational models. Originality: The most important contribution of this paper to the scientific literature is that it provides a deeper insight into the effects of some aspects of digitisation on customer experience and customer relationships. It also provides insight into the applicability of relational models in existing customer–supplier relationships.
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Much research has been conducted into the determinants of customer experience. However, these studies do not include relationship norms as a possible determinant of customer experience. Nevertheless, there are strong indications that the relationship norms used by a customer are an important factor in customer behavior and customer experience. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of relational models on customer experience and to explain possible differences in presence of relational models. This paper describes the results of two studies. The first study focuses on the effects of relational models on customer experience. This first study shows that the type of relationship has a strong influence on customer experience in terms of consumption emotions, customer satisfaction, and recommendation intention. Knowing that differences in the presence of relational models have a strong influence on customer experience, a second study focuses on finding a possible explanation for the differences in the presence of relational models. We hypothesize that differences in the presence of relational models can be explained by how organizations approach their customers and how customers perceive the organization. Especially, the perceived organizational involvement and freedom of choice as perceived by the customer play an important role. The second study, therefore, focuses on the influence of perceived organizational involvement and freedom of choice on relational models. The study shows that organizational involvement and freedom of choice have a significant impact on the activation of relational models. The findings are interesting for organizations that want to improve customer experience
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Wil je de customer experience verbeteren? Hoeveel aandacht besteed je dan aan het soort relatie dat je organisatie heeft met de klant? Uit onderzoek blijkt dat dit juist een belangrijke beïnvloeder is van klantbeleving. In dit artikel lees je meer over de effecten van de klant-leverancierrelatie.
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Immersive technologies are redefining and revolutionizing the staging of experiences and co-creation of value, implicating the management of customer experiences. However, limited studies have looked at the role of immersive technologies as part of the customer experience management (CXM) process. Incorporating the concepts of experience economy and value co-creation, this study proposes a dynamic CXM framework that highlights the emerging field of immersive technologies like augmented and virtual reality as part of business and marketing research. The framework acts as a guide for researchers and industry practitioners to initiate immersive technology ventures that are rooted in the co-creation and management of customer experiences
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Previous research suggests that in today’s experience economy, service is no longer the key determinant and that customer experience has taken over. However, few studies compare the relative impact of service quality and customer experiences on outcomes. The aim of this quantitative study is to examine the separate effects of service quality and customer experience on satisfaction, revisit intentions and word-of-mouth communication. Contrary to expectations, service quality has a larger effect on outcomes than customer experience. The mediation analysis shows very small indirect effect sizes, suggesting that that customer experience hardly mediates the relationship between service quality and the three outcomes. The conclusion is that measuring service quality remains essential to explaining consumer behaviour in the experience economy.
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Much research has been conducted into the determinants of customer experience. However, these studies do not include relationship norms as a possible determinant of customer experience. Nevertheless, there are strong indications that the relationship norms used by a customer are an important factor in customer behaviour and customer experience. The purpose of this PhD thesis was to investigate the influence of relational models on customer experience and to explain possible differences in presence of relational models. This thesis describes the results of two studies. The findings are interesting for organisations that want to improve customer experience.
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