From Customer Service to Customer Experience: The Drivers, Risks and Opportunities of Digital Transformation

Author(s):  
Lumir Boureanu
2021 ◽  
pp. 147078532110475
Author(s):  
Manit Mishra

The ubiquity of social media platforms facilitates free flow of online chatter related to customer experience. Twitter is a prominent social media platform for sharing experiences, and e-retail firms are rapidly emerging as the preferred shopping destination. This study explores customers’ online shopping experience tweets. Customers tweet about their online shopping experience based on moments of truth shaped by encounters across different touchpoints. We aggregate 25,173 such tweets related to six e-retailers tweeted over a 5-year period. Grounded on agency theory, we extract the topics underlying these customer experience tweets using unsupervised latent Dirichlet allocation. The output reveals five topics which manifest into customer experience tweets related to online shopping—ordering, customer service interaction, entertainment, service outcome failure, and service process failure. Topics extracted are validated through inter-rater agreement with human experts. The study, thus, derives topics from tweets about e-retail customer experience and thereby facilitates prioritization of decision-making pertaining to critical service encounter touchpoints.


2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 343-350
Author(s):  
N. Gryaznova ◽  
Olga Konovalova ◽  
Nataliya Pleshkova

Introduction. Service quality and variety is currently the key success factor in retail trade. Retail service assessment can improve customer experience. The SERVQUAL method makes it possible to evaluate the service quality and solve the detected problems in customer service, thus securing the brand loyalty. Study objects and methods. The present research was based on a customer service survey conducted among 500 customers of the Lenta hypermarket in Kemerovo (Russia) in 2018. The results of the questionnaire underwent a SERVQUAL analysis. The obtained data on the customers’ needs and the degree of their satisfaction with the hypermarket customer service made it possible to develop recommendations for the retail chain. Results and discussion. The respondents answered three groups of questions: expectations, experience, and importance. The assortment of goods proved to be the most important factor, and there were no complaints in this respect regarding the Lenta retail chain. The attended time was rated second. Its assessment demonstrated a gap between the expectations and the experience (Q = –1.3). Retail space service also proved important; however, this aspect of service quality demonstrated the greatest gap between expectations and experience. Conclusion. The three-part SERVQUAL questionnaire helped to reveal the problems in the organization of the shopping service. The subsequent improvement will be important for consumers and the retail chain.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daria Plotkina ◽  
John Dinsmore ◽  
Margot Racat

Purpose Augmented reality (AR) apps offer a great opportunity for brands to provide better service to customers by creating augmented customer service. However, not every AR app is equally effective in improving customer experience. Investigation of underlying processes and brand-related outcomes of AR marketing remains scarce and it is unclear how different types of AR apps influence brand perceptions, such as brand personality. This paper aims to fill in this knowledge gap and provide practical insights on how different AR apps can improve service brand personality. Design/methodology/approach Using an experimental plan, the authors investigate how attitudes towards AR apps contribute to customer perceptions of brand personality (i.e. excitement, sincerity, competence and sophistication) according to two different variables, namely, the location of the AR app (location-specific vs non-location-specific) and its orientation (augmenting the product, brand or store experience). The authors also examine the effect of expected customer experience with the AR app (i.e. playfulness and pleasure) and customer technological innovativeness and shopping orientation as predictors of attitudes towards the AR app. Findings The findings show that non-location-specific and product-oriented AR apps (i.e. virtual try-on apps) receive more positive evaluations and lead consumers to perceive the brand as more exciting, sincere, competent and sophisticated. Moreover, the playfulness and pleasure experienced with the AR app determine consumers’ attitudes towards the app. Additionally, AR apps improve brand personality perceptions amongst more innovative and adventure-focussed shoppers. Originality/value The authors show that brand announcements on high-technology, customer-oriented service offerings are an effective branding tool. Thus, AR apps perceived as pleasant and playful can signal and improve brand personality.


Author(s):  
Kijpokin Kasemsap

This chapter presents the utilization of optimization techniques in the hospitality and tourism industry; the perspectives on customer service and customer service teams; customer service and service leadership; customer service behavior in the travel industry; the overview of customer experience; customer experience, customer satisfaction, and service quality in the airline industry; customer experience and budget hotel in the hospitality industry; the issues with customer orientation; and the relationship between customer orientation and service innovation in the hotel industry. Optimization techniques are the essential approaches to many real-world problems, and can be applied to promote the performance of hospitality and tourism industry regarding customer service, customer experience, and customer orientation. The chapter argues that enhancing customer service, customer experience, and customer orientation through optimization techniques has the potential to increase organizational performance and reach strategic goals in the hospitality and tourism industry.


Author(s):  
Hammad Azzam

A proposition for digital transformation of global groups into efficient enterprises is introduced. At the heart of the proposition is a transformational practice aimed at creating a customer-focused, data-driven global culture in any customer-serving company. The digital age has added a level of complexity to the way we acquire and serve customers. Doing a good job in the traditional channels is not enough anymore. Online is increasingly becoming the channel of choice with the two main customer-interaction paradigms: sell and service. And building a great customer experience is probably the most essential factor of success for both functions.


Author(s):  
Nedra Bahri Ammari ◽  
Ines El Hassoumi

What if customer experience was the primary driver of digital transformation? Indeed, new hybrid experiences have emerged thanks to daily-life technologies that fused both digital and physical worlds. This kind of experience uses applications and connected objects (IoT) to adapt and respond to consumer needs. Augmented reality and virtual reality are one of the most functionally and emotionally memorable phygital experiences that create value for customers. In this chapter, the authors chose heritage tourism as the study field for different reasons. While the adoption of augmented and virtual reality is gaining grownd, cultural heritage sites have started to consider the possibilities offered by these new and innovative technologies. This industry is starting to integrate AR and VR in several ways to attract more people. However, it is necessary to study how modern technology can be developed and implemented in a meaningful way to improve the tourist's experience. An AR- and VR-based mobile application has been developed and tested at Antonine's Baths in Carthage, Tunisia.


Author(s):  
Hanaa Abdulraheem Yamani ◽  
Waleed Tageldin Elsigini

The current era is witnessing many changes on various levels. The information and communication revolutions are considered one of the important changes which has cast a shadow over how different institutions in society work via the phenomenon of digitization. As some of the most important institutions of society, industrial companies have been responding to this phenomenon of digital transformation to improve products and customer service while achieving a significant profitable return. This response by these institutions to the digital transformation has resulted in the emergence of the so-called fourth industrial revolution. In this context, this chapter reviews the definition of digital transformation as well as its dimensions, benefits, and obstacles. It also comments on the future of digital transformation and its relationship with industry. Ultimately it presents the fourth industrial revolution in terms of its definition, history, criteria, benefits, and the challenges it faces moving into the future.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document