Customer experience
[1][2][3] Different dimensions of customer experience include senses, emotions, feelings, perceptions, cognitive evaluations, involvement, memories, as well as spiritual components, and behavioral intentions.
These progressive phases are: In today's competitive climate, more than just low prices and innovative products are required to survive in the retail business.
It involves providing valuable information, insights, and learning opportunities, fostering a sense of personal growth and understanding.
It involves creating visually appealing and sensory-rich environments, products, or services that stimulate the senses and elicit positive emotional responses.
It involves creating experiences that transport customers to different worlds or realities, allowing them to temporarily disconnect from their usual routines and responsibilities.
Understanding and effectively developing a positive customer experience has become a staple within businesses and brands to combat growing competition (Andajani, 2015[12]).
A study by Ali (2015[21]) found that developing a positive behavioural culture created a greater competitive advantage in the long term.
To optimise a customer's experience, management must also consider the peace of mind and relaxation, recognition and escapism, involvement, and hedonics.
Brand loyalty can turn customers into advocates, resulting in a long term relationship between both parties (Ren, Wang & Lin, 2016[23]).
If female consumers are the target market, an app advert focused on the emotion of the product will provide an effective customer experience (Kim & Yu, 2016[22]).
They shared an example of a town centre's management team developing synergy between the surrounding location and the retail stores.
A location bound with historical richness could provide an opportunity for the town centre and local businesses to connect at a deeper level with their customers.
They suggested that town centre management and retail outlets should work cooperatively to develop an effective customer experience.
By understanding what causes satisfaction or dissatisfaction with a customer's experience, management can appropriately implement changes within their approach (Ren, Wang & Lin,[23] 2016).
If these dimensions did not reach an appropriate standard, satisfaction would decline, resulting in a negative experience (Ren, Wang & Lin, 20[23] 16).
[28] According to Jeananne Rae, companies are realizing that "building great consumer experiences is a complex enterprise, involving strategy, integration of technology, orchestrating business models, brand management and CEO commitment".
"[32] Harvard Business Review blogger Adam Richardson says that a company must define and understand all dimensions of the customer experience in order to have long-term success.
[40] Utilizing surroundings includes using visuals, displays and interactivity to connect with customers and create an experience (Kotler, et al. 2013, p. 283).
[44] It needs to be noted that there isn't a specific set of rules or steps to follow as companies (in their various industries) will have different strategies.
[49] The classical linear communication model includes having one sender or source sending out a message that goes through the media (television, magazines) and then to the receiver.
The purpose of this strategy is to change the approach to customers and improve the experience for the consumer by making the supplier more aware of their buying habits and frequencies.
Since the rise of the World Wide Web and smartphone applications, there are many more touchpoints from new content serving platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube etc.
Due to the growth and importance of social media and digital advancement, these aspects need to be understood by businesses to be successful in this era of customer journeys.
With tools such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter having such prominence, there is a constant stream of data that needs to be analysed to understand this journey.
[57] Due to the shift in customer experience, in 2014 Wolny & Charoensuksai highlight three behaviours that show how decisions can be made in this digital journey.
[62] Customer journey maps take into account people's mental models (how things should behave), the flow of interactions, and possible touchpoints.
[65] Environmental stimuli such as lighting and music can influence a consumer's decision to stay longer in the store, therefore increasing the chances of purchasing.
This has led to the increased use of digital-led experiences in their purchase journey both in-store and online that inspire and influence the sales process.
[66] For example, Rebecca Minkoff has installed smart mirrors in their fitting rooms that allow the customers to browse for products that may complement what they are trying on.
[67] These mirrors also hold an extra feature, a self-checkout system where the customer places the item on an RFID-powered table, which then sends the products to an iPad that is used to check out.
