Introduction(MSc Management Assignment sample:Customer Experience Strategy)
The global market competencies are rising so fast that the businesses are focusing on taking effective business strategies that can ensure better customer experience (CX) and bring them satisfaction with the provided products and services. This report has focused on how Samsung is operating its market with an Omni channel marketing platform for contributing a better customer experience.
Importance of customer experience
Considering the customers as the primary driver of business development, Samsung has always focused on evaluating the feelings of its customers’ feelings for future development. Familiar brands like Samsung are leading in the technological market with its variety of electric products such as mobile, laptop, fridge and more. From the electronic devices, customers expect a huge amount at the cost of high pay and therefore, it is the responsibility of the brands to resolve the issues or prevent those. Better CX can be found while a brand is capable enough to understand customers’ demands and bring products for meeting their expectations with less errors and quick responses to their queries. Electronic gadget and its demand is speedily increasing and China is becoming the major competitor. In that case, for upholding the customers for a long term, Samsung must focus on its problem resolving techniques. As per DAM and DAM (2021), customers’ behaviour is dependent on how efficiently a brand is maintaining its quality of products and pricing sense for the market affordability. Today’s researchers are indicating that by focusing on Omni channel marketing, better CX can be achieved.
Being a South Korean brand, Samsung has been operating in the global market for ages with around 40% of satisfied customers. Feedback loop is so common in today’s date from where customers’ perceptions towards the brand and its services can be measured and in this term, customers are claiming against critical technological challenges. With the profitability and business volume it can be easily measured how effectively a brand is operating in this competitive edge. By last year around 138.07% of assets had increased in comparison with 2019 (Samsung, 2021). That is a clear indication of its performance growth and enhanced business sales.
Consumer persona creation
In this era of Industry 4.0, businesses are more interested in taking active participation in globalisation and digitalisation as those find online media marketing the most effective way to grab the largest consumer base and enhance the business sales. Start-ups or the larger enterprises, all must be focused on satisfying its customers and therefore, targeting the most appropriate audience is always important so that understanding their behaviour and making changes in the business process, accordingly, becomes easier (NGUYEN et al. 2020). Therefore, Samsung is focusing on some efficient measures for establishing a customer persona, follows as;
Based on various demographic stories, Samsung prioritises South-Korean people and then America, China, Europe and other places. Demand and requirements of various regional people are different from each other that enforce the brands to target its audience with proper market knowledge (Haba et al. 2017). As Samsung products are found in between medium to high range of prices, it has focused on customers’ profiles those are employed and easily afford the products at every global region. For better customer motivation, Samsung is prioritizing its smart phone range and bringing various series of some specific models based on their purchasing intentions. Goal has been set for the users keeping in mind their willingness to experience new technologies in handy gadgets and the pain point Samsung has found towards the usage of Omni channel .
Mapping the customer journey
Brands are now focusing on better connectivity with the customers so that future business deals can be ensured. Customer journey starts from when a customer starts going through the product details for purchasing and ends with their experiences after using that for a certain period (Rosenbaum et al. 2017). Therefore, mainly 5 stages can be found such as awareness, consideration, detailing, retention and advocacy. Behaviour of Samsung customers depends on how the brand is maintaining a transparent relation at all the aspects of product detailing, productivity, and supply chain until the final selling. Retaining customers for a longer time is hard as Apple is giving a tough competition to Samsung and alongside some other brands like Xiaomi, Vivo, Oneplus and others. Therefore, it is focusing on potential opportunities that it might get after moving forwards in a strategic way.
| Journey stages | Actions | Requirements | Potential opportunities and betterment |
| ● Spreading awareness
● Considering new and existing customers ● Purchasing details evaluation ● Customers retention
● Advocacy |
● Critical market research are done by customers
● Flagship products are high in demand ● Required proper detail of product and services ● Active feedback section |
● Adopting new technological features
● Using new gadgets in a playful manner |
● Adequate investment in R&D
● Evaluation of customer preferences towards the brand |
Table 1: Customer journey mapping
(Source: learner)
Omni-channel marketing
Maximum global firms from every industry are now focused on improving consumerism strategy for the betterment of the business growth and success with high efficiency. Therefore, all the plausible measures and strategies are adapting to pertaining customers’ requirements in detail and bringing products accordingly. Omni channel marketing strategy is transforming the idea into a new manifesting one that fact of available customer’s data and fetching their requirements from a brand (Cui et al. 2021). This revolutionary technique is effective enough for marketing a specific product in a line product selling manner while other firms from the similar industry are doing just the same.
Buyers from different regions are found with different tastes of product and services that can be achieved by booth offline and online marketing segments. While traditional marketing of the brands are dining slowly and digital media is filling that gap, Samsung has been noted to launch its display solutions in the UK marketplace by visualising the digital canvas so that customers can visualise the product and get clear concepts about its new features. Visualisation is important in making Omni-channel platforms the most beneficial in this edge as customers can easily get details of the products and the services provided by the brands (Hilken et al. 2018). Statistics are saying that customers are thirsty for experiencing new technologies and therefore, cost is never found as a barrier. Meeting this thirst can be done efficiently if brands launch the right products in the market in the right way as grabbing the attention of customers nowadays is next to impossible. Therefore, brands are using Omni channel marketing strategies to explore something new and attract the customers in a new but effective way.
In addition to this, customers said that visualisation of products has helped them to compare a product with others before buying and hence, they can never regret it after purchasing a product. Samsung is using both offline and online markets though more active in online promotions with detailed promotion that is building a strong trust level and strengthening the relation of B2C. Hence, it has become an opportunity for the customers to save money and invest in the effective one, especially when it is the term of electronic elements. Technological campaigns for the smart phone range widened up various ways that retail solutions are using for resolving the issues regarding communication. Exploring the choices on a transparent platform is helping the brand to adopt a unique brand story to get the attention of customers with this omnibus marketing technique.
CX performance metrics
Evaluation of four CX performance metrics
CX performance metrics help in understanding the satisfaction level of the customers with the products and services of an organisation. The four CX performance metrics that can help a business understand the satisfaction and loyalty of the customers are:
Net promoter score (NPS): NPS not only helps in measuring the CX but also helps in understanding the loyalty of the customers. The NPS is a metric that measures the experience of the customers through a simple question ‘How likely are they to recommend the brand to their friends, colleagues and relatives’ (Fisher and Kordupleski, 2019). Customers are provided with the opportunity to draw upon their experience with the brand and rate their experience on the scale of 0 to 10.
Customer satisfaction score (CSAT): CSAT is a metric that is used to measure the experience of the customers during one-time interaction with the brand. CSAT is the most popular metric used by organisations to understand the satisfaction level of the customers with the recent interaction with the brand (Figalist et al. 2020). Multiple questions can be asked by the company regarding the experience of the customers and a longer survey can be done in the process. CSAT provides the highest level of flexibility to the organisation in terms of customer experience and can be customised by the brand based on their needs.
Customer effort score (CES): CES is completely different from the above two mentioned metrics and involves inputs of the customers for making necessary improvements. A simple question is asked to the customers which involves ‘How easily was your problem with the brand solved today?’ This metric is concerned with customer service and in turn used to make improvements to the systems that might frustrate the customers.
Retention rate: The metric outlines that percentage of customers that came back to shop for the products and services of the brand. A retention rate of 80% implies that 80 percent of the customers stayed with the brand of the company. Higher retention rate outlines that the customers had a positive experience with the brand and vice versa. Retention rate is a prominent indicator of the performance of the business in the market.
Figure 1: Four CX performance metrics
(Source: Self-developed)
Recommendations of two key metrics for Samsung mobiles
It is recommended that Samsung mobiles make the combined use of NPS and CSAT to understand the experience of the customers. NPS and CSAT are very simple and would be easy for the customers to answer the questions. It will further provide the organisation with the flexibility to formulate the questions based on their needs and requirements. NPS and CSAT will be a fast, easy and simple method for both the customers and the company. Simple questions that would be less time consuming for the customers and easy for them to answer can be formulated in this context (Referred to appendix2). More accurate and proper insights can be gathered by the brand with the help of recommended metrics.
CX processes in different industries
Critical Success Factors (CSFs) help a company focus on its capabilities and achieve growth in the market (Banihashemi et al. 2017). Hence, five CSFs in regards to customer experience will be discussed with focus on Samsung and Toyota. Toyota is a manufacturing company in the automobile industry with operations around the world.
Product quality and design: The design and quality of the products are the most vital CSFs for both the companies. Product quality and design dictate the experience of the customers since products of high quality and better design provide the customer with a better experience. Significant investments are made by Samsung in the design of the products and the products go through several stages of quality checks before being released into the market. Toyota makes use of lean manufacturing in order to ensure that high quality products are delivered to the customers in the market.
Products pricing strategy: Customer experience can directly be linked to the amount they pay for the products and services of the company. Prices of the products must be set according to the perceived value of the products in the eye of the customers. Customers paying more than the perceived value are likely to have poor experience with the brand in the market. Samsung and Toyota both make use of the competitive pricing strategy to function in the market. Competitive pricing strategy involves taking into account the competitor price before setting the price of the products of the company (Kienzler and Kowalkowski, 2017).
Lower production costs: Production costs cannot be directly linked to the customer experience but is a CSF in context to CX. Lower production costs enable the company to focus on the needs and requirements of the customers in a better manner. The less the company has to worry about the production process the more attention it can give to enhancing the experience of the customers. Toyota and Samsung have production facilities in strategic locations across the globe that helps them reduce the production costs and attend to the needs of the customers across the globe. The companies make use of advanced machineries in their production process to improve the productivity and performance of the entire experience.
Customer service: Customer service as a direct impact on customer experience and in turn gaining the loyalty of the customers. Customer service involves the interaction of the customers with the employees during their purchase of the products. Customers have a positive experience if their doubts and queries are handled in a friendly and patient manner by the employee of the brand (Shen and Tang, 2018). Employees attending to the needs of the customers in both the brands are highly qualified individuals with proper training of handling the customers. Customers are provided with better service in both the brands while purchasing the products.
Effective marketing strategy: Marketing strategy helps in creating the required differentiation for the brand in the market and outlines the unique selling proposition (USP) of the products to the customers (Morgan et al. 2019). Samsung is able to make use of the various marketing channels to engage with the customers and provide them a better experience. Samsung employs a robust marketing strategy to attract the customers and maintain its position in the market. On the other hand, Toyota is unable to make effective use of the various marketing channels to provide the customers with a better experience. Toyota needs to develop an effective marketing strategy to improve CX for the brand.
Conclusion
Samsung’s CX strategy has been quite successful in the market and helped it become an industry leader in the market. The company has been able to address the various needs of the costumes in an appropriate manner with the help of the strategy. The company has a large consumer base and much of this can be attributed to its CX strategy. The Omni channel marketing used by the company helped it reach a larger audience and understand their experience in the process. The various marketing channels were effectively used by the brand to appeal to the wider audience and capture their attention in the process. The strategy helped the brand understand the preferences of the customers in different markets and develop strategies accordingly. The company holds a significant share of the market due to the CX strategy used by the business. NSP and CSAT can further help the brand gain proper insights into the experience of the customers.
Reference list
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Cui, T.H., Ghose, A., Halaburda, H., Iyengar, R., Pauwels, K., Sriram, S., Tucker, C. and Venkataraman, S., 2021. Informational Challenges in Omnichannel Marketing: Remedies and Future Research. Journal of Marketing, 85(1), pp.103-120.
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Figalist, I., Dieffenbacher, M., Eigner, I., Bosch, J., Olsson, H.H. and Elsner, C., 2020, December. Mining Customer Satisfaction on B2B Online Platforms using Service Quality and Web Usage Metrics. In 2020 27th Asia-Pacific Software Engineering Conference (APSEC) (pp. 435-444). IEEE.
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Kienzler, M. and Kowalkowski, C., 2017. Pricing strategy: A review of 22 years of marketing research. Journal of Business Research, 78, pp.101-110.
Morgan, N.A., Whitler, K.A., Feng, H. and Chari, S., 2019. Research in marketing strategy. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 47(1), pp.4-29.
NGUYEN, D.T., PHAM, V.T., TRAN, D.M. and PHAM, D.B.T., 2020. Impact of service quality, customer satisfaction and switching costs on customer loyalty. The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics, and Business, 7(8), pp.395-405.
Rosenbaum, M.S., Otalora, M.L. and Ramírez, G.C., 2017. How to create a realistic customer journey map. Business Horizons, 60(1), pp.143-150.
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