Customer Service Strategies - PDF

Managing Customer
Experience

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1 ...........................................................................................................................................3
P1 Explain the Value and importance of understanding the needs, wants and preferences of
target customer groups for hospitality industry .........................................................................3
P2 Explain the different factors that drive and influence customer engagement of different
target customer groups within a service sector organisation .....................................................5
TASK 2 ...........................................................................................................................................6
P3 Create a customer experience map for the organisation ......................................................6
P4 Discuss how touch points create opportunities throughout the customer experience in the
organisation.................................................................................................................................7
TASK 3 ...........................................................................................................................................8
P5 How digital technology is employed in managing the customer experience, providing
specific example of customer relationship management systems ..............................................8
TASK 4 ...........................................................................................................................................9
P6 Customer service strategies in a specific service context .....................................................9
P7 Customer service strategies create and develop the customer experience ..........................10
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13
Books and journals ........................................................................................................................13
.......................................................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
A customer experience is defined as the interaction between the organisation and
customer throughout the relationship of business. This interaction includes discovery,
cultivation, advocacy, service, purchases, awareness, etc. A customer experience is integral part
of the customer relationship management (Badwan and Et. Al. , 2017). This is important because
if a customer has positive experience with business then he will become a loyal customer. The
customer experience affects the willingness of a customer to buy the service again. A good
customer service of the organisation affects the business positively and hence it is important for
the company to develop good relation with customers. In this assignment, the company which is
considered is Trafalgar. This is a travel and tourism company of UK that was founded in the year
1947. The headquarter of this company are situated in London. Trafalgar is operating globally
and providing tourism service in different countries. This assignment explains the value and
importance of the understanding the needs and preferences of customers. This consists of
different factors that drive and influence customer engagement of different target customer
groups within the organisation and a customer experience map. This assignment describes some
touch points that create opportunities in customer experience and at last it explains the customer
service strategies of the service sector.
TASK 1
P1 Explain the Value and importance of understanding the needs, wants and preferences of target
customer groups for hospitality industry
Customers are as essential and most important asset of the business. Every organisation
has to focus on understanding the needs, demands, preferences and wants of customers if it
wants to run a profitable business (Berthon, and Pitt, 2018). The needs and demands of
customers are evaluated in order to engage customers towards the service offered by the
organisation. For engaging customers and knowing their needs and wants, the company
formulates effective strategies to analyse customer preferences. The results are implemented in
the service and offering of the organisation and building a healthy relation between customer and
the company. Trafalgar is a travel and tourism organisation that is involved in operation the
business at global level. This company focuses on people or tourists who like adventure and like
to travel the world. Target customers of Trafalgar are individuals between the age group 17 to

50. These people are more likely to spent time in travelling for relaxation or work. The target
customers are attracted by the company by conducting an analysis that helps in understanding the
needs and demands of potential customers (Chekalina, Fuchs. and Lexhagen, 2018). Trafalgar
conducts analysis for knowing the needs and wants of customers in the following manner-
Potential Customers Need, wants,demands and Preference
Teenagers Affordable price, attractive location,
adventure activities, meal and hotel
included, musical night or interesting
activities or programmes.
Family Value for money and time, vacation
planning, safety environment, course
guide advisers, self services.
Couples Attractive and romantic location, safe
environment, privacy.
Old Age peoples Peaceful location, food safety, medical
facilities, arrangement for wheel chairs,
economy class for travelling.
Business Class Leisure services, connectivity, fast
check in and check out process in digital
manner, quite and safe environment for
business meeting, video conferencing
facilities.
There are different needs, wants and demands of customers. Every person enjoy different
things while travelling. From the above chart it is analysed that managers of the hospitality sector
organises events and programs that are required by different age group people. The customer
prefer that travel agency which offers appropriate service according their demands. This can be
explained with an example a youngster of 17 to 18 age will want appropriate services at
reasonable price (.Gallarza, And Et. Al.., 2017). On the other hand, a customer of high standard

will want a luxurious travel and stay as he cant spend a lot of money. The organisation make
strategies to entertain both type of customers. Business people want peace and less interruption
during heir travel but teenagers or youngsters will enjoy noise, adventure, music, parties, fun
while their travel (Goodman, 2019). If an organisation gives services according to requirement of
customer then it will sustain for a longer time in market and earn profits. It is advisable for
Trafalgar to formulate strategies which are based on the demands of different types of customers.
Trafalgar will make offers and tour packages for teenagers, business people , family, adventure
trips, etc. at a reasonable price. An impressed customer is helpful in increasing the profits and
popularity of the service.
P2 Explain the different factors that drive and influence customer engagement of different target
customer groups within a service sector organisation
The needs, wants and preferences of customers are different and so organisation
formulates different packages and offers for different kind of customers. Potential customers are
not same, they have different price range, interests, purpose of travel and reason behind travel.
Trafalgar mainly emphasize on five different range of customers that demands a variety of
services and facilities while travel or vacation. They are described as below-
Teenagers- These customers wants affordable prices and not very luxurious stays. They
require an attractive and adventurous place where they can enjoy a lot. This group of target
customers will require chilling events like musical nights, DJ parties, pool parties, etc. These
events and programs will attract teenage customers.
Family – This target group of customers demands different service and facility. The
person travelling with family generally has a fixed range of budget in which he has to complete
the trip. These customers want value for their money. Tourists travelling with family requires a
planned trip with all good facilities. This group requires a safety environment and a tour guide a
time of travel.
Couples- These people have different needs than other target customers. These target
customers include newly married couples who want to spent time together (Hapsari, Clemes, and
Dean, 2017). The organisation searches for a romantic location and they require privacy and least
interruptions while their travel.
Old age People- These people have different perspective about travelling and they
require least disturbance while travelling. Old people wants a peaceful location, medical

facilities, food safety, doctor on call service, economy class while travelling, etc. They require
extra care while their travel.
Business Class- Business class people are those target customers who needs different
kind of service (Homburg, Jozić and Kuehnl, 2017). They require luxurious facilities to be
offered while travelling. They need all top class facilities starting from first class travel tickets,
hotel stay in a five star or seven star hotel, food variety, swimming pool, golf court, game area,
etc. These people require fast check ins and checkouts in a digital manner. The main purpose of
these travellers is the conduction of a formal and important business meeting so they require
least disturbance of outsiders. Moreover they need a safe and secure environment for smoothly
implementation of the meeting. These people also want the facility of video conferencing and
good network connectivity.
Trafalgar focus these target customers and makes strategies according to their demands.
This helps in making a good relation with the customers. The increase in loyal and trustful
customers will enhance the profit of business.
TASK 2
P3 Create a customer experience map for the organisation
A customer experience map is defined as the various steps or activities considered by
customers before interacting with the company for buying service or product. It is very important
for the company to develop and maintain process and service providing of the company to retain
customers. An effective way of operating business processes always help a company to earn
profits and remain successful in market. The organisation is able to identify opportunities that
helps in achieving goals and objectives of the business. The managers of Trafalgar develop and
implement ideas for customer experience map. This helps in formulating strategies and plans
which are described below-
Website- Websites are the most common way by which customers grab information
about the offerings and services of the organisation. Therefore companies must ensure that their
websites are upgraded and they should contain all of the information related to trips, adventure
tours, events, tour packages, pilgrimage tours, etc. Customers rely on websites of companies for
knowing about upcoming trips and their price, offers, discounts, etc (Iglesias, Ind and Alfaro,
2017). Trafalgar has a very attractive website and it is updated every day for making it more

convenient for customers and clients. Trafalgar updates reviews from customers and pictures of
satisfied customers for impressing other people. They also uploads videos and pictures of the
trips that were organised before by the company. This increases customer trust and loyalty.
Staff Behaviour- This is an important part of the company's profit (Kang and Et. Al,
2017). The members of staff or workers of the organisation should behave properly for
increasing the customer satisfaction. Trafalgar should provide trainings and development for the
staff members in order to provide better service sand treatment to customers. Staff is required to
be trained so that customers experience a good treatment while their travel.
Facilities and services- The customer needs hat facilities and services offered by the
company should match the desired standards. It is essential for the company to provide excellent
facilities and services to customers in a proper manner. The hotel rooms, locations and travel
medium should be of good standard according to the standards of the customers.
There are some other factors that are considered by customers when they visits the
tourism and travel agency such as price, location, environment. Trafalgar's managers take special
care for providing good services to people and retaining customers.
P4 Discuss how touch points create opportunities throughout the customer experience in the
organisation
A customer touch-points are defined as the point of the brand of customer contact from
start to the finish. This can be explained with an example if customers find advertisement of the
company online, they will see ratings given by clients and according to it they will buy the
service (Kawaf, and Tagg, 2017). The customer touchpoint is adopted in a company for
communication of information in a good manner. This leads to attract more number of customers
and engaging them for generation of opportunities. In context of Trafalgar, it is important for the
company to adopt customer touchpoint for attracting more number of customers. Trafalgar is
able to identify need, expectation and demands of the customers by using customer touchpoint.
There are some example given below which is in the form of script of conversation between the
staff of Trafalgar and customers. This conversation is between a customer and Trafalgar manager
about the booking of ticket.
Employee: Hello, Trafalgar travel and tourism. How may I help you?
Customer: Hello, I want to book tickets of holiday package of France.
Employee: Okay sir, How many members?

Customer: 2 adults and 1 child.
Employee: Okay sir, for which date?
Customer: From May 5 to 15.
Employee: Okay sir, I am booking 3 tickets 2 for adult and 1 for child from May 5th to 15th
Customer: Yes
Employee: Thank You so much sir, have a good day
Customer: Thanks, Same to you.
TASK 3
P5 How digital technology is employed in managing the customer experience, providing
specific example of customer relationship management systems
Customer relationship management requires the involvement of digital technology in the
organisation for enhancing the relationship among customers and organisation (.Kelly, Lawlor,
and Mulvey, 2017). A company can achieve the goals and target of the organisation in time if it
adopts a proper customer relationship management. An effective CRM helps in high profitability
ratio, market share and goodwill of the company. The different ways by which companies
develop proper relationship with the customers are proper flow of communication, suggestions
and feedbacks, discounts and offers. The Trafalgar uses digital technology in performing various
processes of the company. This company can easily conduct its functions and activities in
effective manner. The use of digital technology in the company will help in acquiring and
retaining customers. Trafalgar customers are able to book tickets, status of check in and check
out, give reviews and feedbacks, etc. Digital technology enables to contact customers easily
using emails, social media, social networking sites, etc. There are both advantages and
disadvantages of customer relationship management and this affects the functioning of
organisation. The advantages and disadvantages of Trafalgar are mentioned below-
Advantages Disadvantages
 A good CRM helps in increasing the
relationship of customers and
organisation in appropriate manner
(Kumar, 2018)(Lee, and Et. Al., 2018).
This also helps in increasing the sales
 This is an expensive process and it is
not easy for every company to afford it.
 Regular trainings have to be provided if
CRM is adopted and these trainings
will cost a lot to the company.

of business.
 Trafalgar is able to communicate with
customers in an effective manner.
TASK 4
P6 Customer service strategies in a specific service context
Customer service strategies are concerned with making plans for increasing the
satisfaction level of the customer's. Formulating such types of strategies will help in retaining
and attracting more and more customer's (Ul Islam and Rahman, 2017). The goals and objectives
of the organisation and travel and tourism industry can be attained by providing better services to
the customer's. For increasing the satisfaction level of the customer's effective strategies are
needed to be formed by the management of Trafalgar. This can be done by conducting analysis
of the market and also to know the need and preferences of the potential customer's. The various
customer service strategies which can be adopted by Trafalgar are discussed below-
Training and development to the employees- If proper training and development
programmes are arranged by the organisation than the employees will be able to provide better
services to the customer's for increasing their satisfaction. The management of Trafalgar analysis
the skills and knowledge of its staff members. For deciding the measures which can be taken to
improve such skills. As if the employee are well trained than appropriate services can be given to
the potential customer's. The employees will also be motivated to work in a desirable and
appropriate manner. Whereas employees with less skills and talent will not work properly and
will also disturb the working of the organisation. But these training and development
programmes mainly depends upon the requirement of the workforce in the organisation.
Resolve issues and problems- It is very much necessary to solve the issues and problems
of the customer's so that their satisfaction level is enhanced (Venkatesan, 2017). If Trafalgar is
successful in solving the problems than the profit of the organisation will be automatically
increased. The employees of the organisation must be able to deeply analyse the problem so that
better suggestions are provided to the customer for overcoming the problem. The focus must be
on using new and innovative plans for the enhancing the overall experience of the potential

customer's. If better solutions are given to the customer's than sale of the organisation will be
increased because the customer's will be happy and satisfied.
Services and facilities to customers- The services and facilities which are to be
provided to the customer's needs to be decided according to their needs and preferences.
Customer's generally gets attracted to such organisations which are successful in taking care of
their needs and preferences. So Trafalgar can make necessary changes in their strategies to
increase the satisfaction level of the customer's. The management of organisation focuses on
continuously updating the service as per the needs and demands of their customer's. The major
motive behind this to attract large number of customer's and also to retain their valuable
customer's.
P7 Customer service strategies create and develop the customer experience
Customer Audit Trail, Critical Observations:
Name of hospitality business visited: Trafalgar
Date and time of visit: 30 April, 2019
Ambience and First Impressions:
Things that I observed that
were positive, or good?
Things that I observed that
were negative, or bad?
What would I change if this
was my business?
The staff behaviour and
treatment offered by his
company is very good. The
architecture and ambience of
the organisation is very
attractive.
The coordination among
management and staff was not
proper (Mohseni, and Et. Al.,
2018).
I will initiate effective training
sessions for the workers for
enhancing the skills and
abilities of staff people.
Signage, Tariff Boards, Labelling, etc.:
Things that I observed that
were positive, or good?
Things that I observed that
were negative, or bad?
What would I change if this
was my business?
This company has proper The price of package was not I will definitely mention price

tariff board that guides in
reaching the correct
destination (Romero, 2017).
This organisation has proper
signage which helps people in
reaching office at time.
clearly mentioned. of packages properly on tariff
boards.
Prices:
Things that I observed that
were positive, or good?
Things that I observed that
were negative, or bad?
What would I change if this
was my business?
This organisation offers price
of package at a reasonable
price and customers can easily
able to buy this service.
This organisation is not able to
make customised packages
related to the budget of
customers.
I will suggest the organisation
to develop a customised
package.
Range of Products:
Things that I observed that
were positive, or good?
Things that I observed that
were negative, or bad?
What would I change if this
was my business?
They offer variety of product
range according to age and
requirement of customers
(Rychalski and Hudson, 2017).
They didn't provide
customized packages which
must be based on customers
need and preference.
I will suggest them to
introduce options of
customized package.
Staff:
Things that I observed that
were positive, or good?
Things that I observed that
were negative, or bad?
What would I change if this
was my business?
The Staff members of this
company is having a good
behaviour. They are polite,
There are some unskilled
labour present in the
organisation. They do not
I will try to make unskilled
labour perfect by providing
them good trainings on

helpful and kind. communicate with customers
effectively.
communication skill
enhancement.
Time:
Things that I observed that
were positive, or good?
Things that I observed that
were negative, or bad?
What would I change if this
was my business?
This organisation entertains
customers in a good way and
at a proper time (.Ryu and Lee,
2017).
When this organisation offers
any offer on packages, then it
is not easy to handle the clients
as staff people are less.
I will give effective trainings
to existing employees to
manage working in rush hours
and hire few new employees
that can manage queries of
customers in time.
Supplementary Items:
Things that I observed that
were positive, or good?
Things that I observed that
were negative, or bad?
What would I change if this
was my business?
Employees of this company
are skilled and they give good
service and satisfaction.
The Trafalgar organisation do
not provide discounts or offers
to customers.
I will launch discount and
offers in the services of the
company and also provide
complementary services in
order to attract more
customers and clients.
Payment:
Things that I observed that
were positive, or good?
Things that I observed that
were negative, or bad?
What would I change if this
was my business?
This company accepts cash
payments as well as card
Trafalgar company do not uses
the modern ways of payments
I will implement digital mode
of payment.

payments (Šerić, Gil-Saura,
and Mikulić, 2017).
like digital payments, app
payments, etc. Generally
people prefer these modes for
paying.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the above assignment that customer experience is necessary for
the development of business in an effective manner. It is essential for organisations to develop
strategies and planning for developing good and healthy relationship between customers and
organisation. The various activities for increasing the customer engagement is understanding
demand, needs and requirement of customers and offering products and services that attracts
customers. The company can also use digital technology for maintaining good customer
relation . It also helps in interaction of company and customer for providing suggestions,
feedbacks and resolving issues and problems in an appropriate manner.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
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Venkatesan, R., 2017. Executing on a customer engagement strategy.