MSC MANAGEMENT CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE STRATEGY ASSIGNMENT SAMPLE

Introduction

Customers are an integral part of an organisation as based on customer experiences it is not possible for an organisation to secure a productive position in the market without customer satisfaction.

Consumer satisfaction opens better and effective market opportunities for an organisation. It enhances business scope and further strengthens the organisations place in its business environment. Big companies like Apple have been able to secure such a productive place within its business environment through focusing on consumers.

Company Background

Apple is a multinational company that situated in America California. Organisation is specialised in manufacturing electronics, software and online services. The founders of this organisation are “Steve Jobs, Steve Woziniak and Ronald Wayne”.

Organisation has higher popularity between people around the world because of manufacturing higher quality electronic product. Some popular products of Apple are I phone, apple watch, I pad, Mac book and Apple TV. Selling of their product in market, Apple is able to achieve revenue of $97.28 billion in second quarter of 2022 (STATISTA, 2022).http://MSC MANAGEMENT CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE STRATEGY ASSIGNMENT SAMPLE Moreover, Apple’s product quality and their higher brand awareness are effective strategy for improving customer experience.

Importance of customer experience

Customer experience

Customer experience is defined as the sum of consumer feelings and perceptions regarding a brand.  This perception of consumers is built up regarding a grand based on the type of services that consumers receive from a company. As reported by Peppers and Rogers (2016), organisations usually focused on developing successful customer relationship in order to provide higher customer experience.

An effective strategy assists organisation to transform business from traditional selling to customer focus selling. Focusing on customer demand companies able to provide higher quality and quantity that customer require.

An overall customer experience is built up within an organisation by providing efforts to understand and analyse consumer demands (Becker and Jaakkola, 2020).http://MSC MANAGEMENT CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE STRATEGY ASSIGNMENT SAMPLE Apple, the technical giant of this globe, has earned a customer satisfaction rating of 82 out of 100.

This is because of the efforts that this firm puts into analysing and understanding their customer demands. An overall productive customer experience improves the lifespan of consumer and brand bonds. It further enhances business slopes and improves the overall brand image of a firm.

Critical evaluation

Benefit that is earned through developing customer experience is that it helps in bringing an overall improvement in customer and brand relationship. It also improves overall sales and improves revenue generation of an organisation.

As followed by Villani (2018), in recent time understanding of customer demand become easy for organisation because of effective strategies. For instance, customer now easily able to access organisation information through online and soical connection reviews. Therefore, providing quality information that provide better understanding to customer create influence on customer experience towards companies.

Apple’s revenue has been constantly improving because of this company’s strong customer loyalty. Apple has generated a revenue of $365 billion revenue in 2021, which is higher than 2019 and 2020 (STATISTA, 2022).http://MSC MANAGEMENT CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE STRATEGY ASSIGNMENT SAMPLE This took place because of increased customer satisfaction in Apple. One challenge that is often faced by organisations while improving customer experience is that firms often fail to recognize exact customer demands and thus fail to improve their experience.

Importance of improving customer experience

Figure 1: Apple MacBook sales

(Source: STATISTA, 2022)

Apple also needs to put further efforts to bring developments within customer experience as it is observed that revenue generation of Apple has spiked up from the last few years. A hike has been observed in MacBook sales and nearly 20 million MacBook has been sold.

In 2021 quarter 1, nearly 8000 units were sold and in quarter 2 of 2021 the sales dropped nearly to 6000 units (STATISTA, 2022). http://MSC MANAGEMENT CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE STRATEGY ASSIGNMENT SAMPLETherefore, based on the sale of MacBook it can be determined that Apple must put more emphasis in bringing further development in customer satisfaction and developing customer experience.

Consumer persona creation

Consumer persona definition and its role in developing strategy

Consumer persona is a fictional representation of a customer that is built up by a company based on key traits of a large section of consumers of a firm. As stated by Godovykh and Tasci (2020), this customer persona is created based on the

data that is collected regarding consumer demands and purchasing patterns. Consumer persona plays an effective role in development of CX strategies because CX strategies are formulated based on customer journey and measurement of consumer experiences. Consumer persona consists of key points and traits of a firm’s consumer and thus it helps a firm to develop customer strategy that helps in satisfying all demands of consumers.

Identification of one consumer persona

Table 1: Customer persona table

(Source: Created by author)

Mapping customer journey

Customer journey definition and its purpose

Figure 1: Customer journey

(Source: Created by author)

Customer journey is defined as the entire experience that is obtained by a consumer while engaging with a brand. Mapping a customer’s journey is helpful for an organisation as it allows a company to come up with relevant strategies that improves the business position of an organisation (Clinehens, 2019). http://MSC MANAGEMENT CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE STRATEGY ASSIGNMENT SAMPLE

Apple by mapping its customer strategy can easily come up with relevant strategies that helps to improve overall customer experience by bringing further changes within MacBook. As commented by Bolton et al. (2018), customer journey is a vital part in maintaining customer experiences as it helps in reflecting overall consumer satisfaction. Customer journey also assists Apple to make suitable changes in existing CX strategies thus improving overall customer satisfaction.

Detailed customer journey

Table 2: Detailed customer journey

(Source: Created by author)

Omnichannel marketing

Definition of omni channel marketing and role of interaction, customisation in omnichannel marketing

Omnichannel marketing is defined as the cooperation and integration of the various channels organisations that are used to interact with consumers. This is done so that a brand can develop an effective customer experience and further creates a consistent brand experience.

Omni Marketing channel is conducted through two ways, one is physically and another one is through digital channels. As commented by Keiningham et al. (2020), main goal of using this omnichannel marketing is so that a seamless customer experience can be created. Omnichannel marketing aids a company to provide customers the chance to find and purchase products from both online, in store or from both sources.

Omnichannel marketing assists to create a positive brand tone and vision. This marketing further assists brands to create personalised messaging based on customer interests. Omnichannel marketing helps to develop a better user experience and further assists in cohesive brand strategy and identity.

Apple to enhance its customer’s experiencemust impose necessary modifications and changes within its marketi8ng methods. In opinion of Flavián et al. (2019), currently after emergence of COVID 19, people have become more online marketing centric.

Therefore, Apple must make changes in online marketing platforms and has to increase product stocks in this marketing channel. Furthermore, in both online and offline platforms Apple, should increase customer service as improved customer service assists in better customer interaction. In online platform of Omnichannel marketing, Apple must include more discounts in its products like MacBook to improve customer experience and earn more profit.

Identification of channel used by Apple

Apple makes use of both offline and online marketing methods to improve customer experience and enhance customer bond. Apple has a strong social media presence and Apple provides better customer experience through online marketing.

Most consumers have a larger online presence. After pandemic, most consumers have become more online marketing centric. Apple enhancing its social media presence has been able to build an effective customer experience. During COVID, most of the offline marketing was stopped and as a result they were unable to continue offline customer connection. As stated by McColl et al.

(2019), choosing an online marketing channel has helped Apple to gain relevant information regarding current customer needs. Apple has been able to know the issues that are faced by consumers regarding MacBook currently through online marketing.

Apple used to gather information from the consumer reviews that are posted by consumers. Apple promotes their products through commercials and print ads to aware consumers regarding upcoming products and other specific details regarding Apple services (APPLE, 2022).http://MSC MANAGEMENT CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE STRATEGY ASSIGNMENT SAMPLE Apple through commercials displays the date on which product is launched and through print ads Apple provides in depth details regarding a product’s life. Apple has attained a customer base of 1 billion people by providing seamless customer experience to people through online marketing.

CX performance metrics

Figure 2: CX performance matrices

(Source: Influenced by Imhof and Klaus, 2020)

Identification of four CX metrics

CX metrics is the type of data that allows to track and measure the experience of customers while they are using a product. There are four CX performance matrices.

Customer satisfaction survey – Customer satisfaction survey is a metric that is used by companies to find out the happiness of customers regarding a product (Imhof and Klaus, 2020). http://MSC MANAGEMENT CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE STRATEGY ASSIGNMENT SAMPLE

Surveys are used by companies to collect in depth knowledge and understanding regarding current customer needs and experiences. Surveys help to gather information about a wider section of consumers’ experience.

Net promoter score –  Net promoter score or NPS allows business to understand satisfaction level based on their decision making that is taken by consumers after reading reviews about their brand. Through NPS, companies can easily determine the potential consumers that will recommend services or products to other people.

Customer Effort Score– Customer effort score assists a company to gain an idea regarding the level of effort that is required by consumers to complete a task by using product or services (Szulejko et al. 2019). This CX performance metrics allows a company to go through a consumer’s purchasing process.

Consumer churn rate– Customer churn rate helps in determining the degradation in customer base by allowing a firm to know the section of customers that are no longer using a company’s products. By calculating churn rate, businesses can easily determine the number of customers that left a firm within a month.

Recommendation

Apple to understand the customer experience evidence must impose necessary CX metrics so that it is able to gain relevant knowledge regarding the amount of customer satisfaction that is achieved by this brand. In the opinion of Chauhan and Sarabhai (2019), imposing Net promoter score can help an organisation to identify its potential consumers. In this scenario, Apple to target its consumers must identify its potential customers.

Therefore, through incorporating these metrics Apple can improve customer experience by analysing it. Apple can also impose use of Customer Churn rate as these metrics can help Apple to find out the consumers that are unsatisfied with Apple services. This can help Apple to come up[ with necessary improvements to reduce customer churn rate.

CX process in different industries 

Maintaining CX in a particular industry there are some processes that a company has to maintain during the period of providing customer services. As followed by Loftis, (2021), creating customer centric culture is necessary for an organisation to achieve effectiveness in CX. As followed by 90%, the organisational executive believes that a customer centric culture is beneficial for an organisation to achieve CX.

Focusing on creating a customer centric culture creates a better customer product journey that satisfies them. In order to make a customer culture organisation has to focus on the customer journey.

In the case of Apple, most customers start with any product with apple. However, over time the benefits of the Apple ecosystem attract customers to choose products such as Mac book for better satisfaction.

Apple ecosystem provides better connectivity with mobile and Macbook which assist in data sharing easily through little process. Developing Apple products with customer centric benefits attracts customers to use their product and services. On the other hand, organisations such as Amazon also focus on customer centric cultures.

Providing customer centric culture, they provide services such as discounts and adequate products with customer needs. Amazon provides sales by introducing different sales on their platform. These sales provide customers higher discounts on products that customers want, which assist in providing customer experience. Measurement is a critical success factor for CX in an organisation.

As mentioned by Kim et al. (2018), measuring customers’ needs a necessary process in a CX program. Thorough measuring customer needs an organisation able to understand demand of customer to provide adequate product for organisation. For instance, customers using Apple products such as mobile and watches are more likely to choose Macbook for activities.

Apple mainly focuses on creating the needs for customers so they have to choose Apple products over other companies. Moreover, measurement assists in taking feedback from customers that assist in finding negative points for an organisation.

Through negative feedback, Apple improves their weak point in a product for providing customer satisfaction. For instance, in Macbook they provide OS updates in certain periods of time. In this factor, taking feedback assists them to fix bugs for Macbook users are facing during usage to improve their experience. On the other hand, Amazon takes feedback for their delivery processes to lower problems to provide quality delivery services with lower damage in products.

CX leadership at all levels is another CX program to assess customer experience. Having leadership in different levels of organisation assists them in focusing on different aspects to maintain quality in product and services. Empowerment is another aspect of CX programmers to provide customer satisfaction. Empowering employees assist them to make decisions toward the context of CX. Employee empowerment provides them the ability to communicate with customers to solve their problems.

Moreover, employees try to educate customers to improve their knowledge about products and services. At last, momentum is the last critical success factor for CX. Momentum assist organisation to create a stable CX program. Using these five factors is beneficial to achieve effectiveness in customer experience processes.

Conclusion

Customers are the base of organisations success and each firm must provide necessary importance so that consumer issues are easily identified and necessary changes are done. A company must put importance to customer needs as it allows a firm to meet consumer demands thus improving overall customer experience.

It is learned that bringing changes in overall customer experience assists to develop effective business image by enhancing further business scopes. It is further understood that Apple has been able to develop its stronger business place because of the overall customer experience that has been provided by this firm. Similarly, it is further learned that through

Apple has been providing effective customer services as it has earned a productive customer rating. Furthermore, it is also learned that through application of CX performance metrics better information regarding customer experiences has been achieved. Apple through incorporating online marketing has also improved its customer bond and satisfaction.

References

APPLE (2022). Home. Available at: https://www.apple.com/uk. [Accessed on: 13^th July 2022].

Becker, L. and Jaakkola, E., (2020). Customer experience: fundamental premises and implications for research. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 48(4), pp.630-648.

Bolton, R.N., McColl-Kennedy, J.R., Cheung, L., Gallan, A., Orsingher, C., Witell, L. and Zaki, M., (2018). Customer experience challenges: bringing together digital, physical and social realms. Journal of Service Management, 29(5), pp.776-808.

Chauhan, P. and Sarabhai, S., (2019). Customer experience quality in omni-channel banking: identifying the factors affecting customer experience in the Indian context. International Journal of Management Concepts and Philosophy, 12(2), pp.222-238.

Flavián, C., Ibáñez-Sánchez, S. and Orús, C., (2019). The impact of virtual, augmented and mixed reality technologies on the customer experience. Journal of business research, 100, pp.547-560.

Godovykh, M. and Tasci, A.D., (2020). Customer experience in tourism: a review of definitions, components, and measurements. Tourism Management Perspectives, 35, p.100694.

Imhof, G. and Klaus, P., (2020). The dawn of traditional CX metrics? Examining satisfaction, EXQ, and WAR. International Journal of Market Research, 62(6), pp.673-688.

Keiningham, T., Aksoy, L., Bruce, H.L., Cadet, F., Clennell, N., Hodgkinson, I.R. and Kearney, T., (2020). Customer experience driven business model innovation. Journal of Business Research, 116, pp.431-440.

Khan, I., Hollebeek, L.D., Fatma, M., Islam, J.U. and Riivits-Arkonsuo, I., (2020). Customer experience and commitment in retailing: Does customer age matter?. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 57, p.102219.

Kim, E., Beckman, S.L. and Agogino, A., (2018). Design roadmapping in an uncertain world: implementing a customer-experience-focused strategy. California Management Review, 61(1), pp.43-70.

Loftis, L., (2021). Money and a Mandate Aren’t Enough for Great Customer Experience. Available at: https://www.cmswire.com/customer-experience/money-and-a-mandate-arent-enough-for-great-customer-experience/ [Accessed on: 12th July 2022]

McColl-Kennedy, J.R., Zaki, M., Lemon, K.N., Urmetzer, F. and Neely, A., (2019). Gaining customer experience insights that matter. Journal of service research, 22(1), pp.8-26.

STATISTA (2022). Global revenue of Apple from 2004 to 2021. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/265125/total-net-sales-of-apple-since-2004. [Accessed on: 13^th July 2022].

STATISTA (2022). Global unit sales/shipments of Apple Mac computers from 1st quarter 2006 to 3rd quarter 2021. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/263444/sales-of-apple-mac-computers-since-first-quarter-2006. . [Accessed on: 13^th July 2022].

Szulejko, J.E., Kim, K.H. and Parise, J., (2019). Seeking the most powerful and practical real-world sorbents for gaseous benzene as a representative volatile organic compound based on performance metrics. Separation and Purification Technology, 212, pp.980-985.

Villani, I., (2018). Transform Customer Experience: How to achieve customer success and create exceptional CX. John Wiley & Sons.

Clinehens, J.L., (2019). CX that sings: An introduction to customer journey mapping. Jennifer Clinehens.

STATISTA (2022). Apple’s global revenue from 1st quarter 2005 to 2nd quarter 2022. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/263426/apples-global-revenue-since-1st-quarter2005/#:~:text=For%20the%20second%20quarter%20of,of%2097.28%20billion%20U.S.%20dollars. [Accessed on: 13^th July 2022]

Peppers, D. and Rogers, M., (2016). Managing customer experience and relationships: A strategic framework. John Wiley & Sons.