Understanding Customer Experience Management

The provided document is an assignment on customer experience management, which involves analyzing the different aspects of CRM in the context of Hotel Hilton to identify customer touchpoints and evaluate their effectiveness. The emergence of digital technology has brought significant changes, making it essential to adapt and provide additional support to existing customers. The assignment emphasizes the importance of managing customer relationships through interaction management and resource endowments. It also highlights the significance of customer experience in online shopping environments, beauty retailing, and social media marketing.

MANAGING CUSTOMER
EXPERIENCE

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Significance of needs and preferences of customers.............................................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
P2 Factors affecting customer engagement.................................................................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
P3 Create a customer experience map........................................................................................9
P4. Customer touch-points to create business opportunities for Hotel Hilton..........................10
P5 How digital technology is employed in managing customer experience............................11
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................12
P6 customer service strategies in a specific service sector.........................................................12
P7 Customer service strategies create and develop the customer experience in a way that meet
the need of customer.................................................................................................................14
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................16

INTRODUCTION
Consumer experience is defined as the perception of customers towards any product,
service, brand or organisation. The purchasing behaviour of the consumers is greatly influenced
by their experience. Thus, for sustaining the leading positions business organisations pay more
attention to the customer satisfaction so that they have great experience and prefer the
organisation over again and again. Different types of consumers have different expectations and
requirements from organisations especially in hospitality sector.
The report will analyse the different aspects and approaches to manage the customer
experience by case study of Hotel Hilton. This hotel is one of the most successful hospitality
chain and operates across all over the world (Peppers and Rogers, 2016 ). The customers of the
Hilton are highly impressed with the services and have great experience which motivates them to
pay even more in comparison to other service providers. The report will explain the significance
and requirements of understanding the needs of different consumer profiles. It will provide a
consumer experience map so that touch points which leads to positive customer experience can
be enhanced. The document will also analyse that how digital technology is employed by Hilton
to manage the experience of its consumers. It will also discuss the consumer experience
management strategies so that engagement of people can be maximized.
LO 1
TASK 1
P1 Significance of needs and preferences of customers
Hotel Hilton is popular choice of consumers from different backgrounds and experiences.
The different personalities may have diversity in their choices. It is important for Hilton to
understand and analyse the needs of these diversified consumers. The organisation is also
operating globally thus the variation in needs is also characterised by cultural differences along
with the personal choices. Hence, it becomes important for the Hilton to consider these
preference variations into account so that it can address wider scope of target audience.
For instance if Hilton will focus on the needs of only one type of consumer profile then it
can lead to number of adverse impacts on the performance of organisation (Lemon and Verhoef,
2016). At first the profit goals of organisation will be limited to only fixed size of group then
there will be no advantage of exploring business to international level. It is also possible that if
Hilton ignores the needs of one type of customer profile then it can lead to unpleasant experience
1

to other type of consumer profiles. For instance disabled people faces a lot of physical challenges
thus it is required that hospitality services provided by Hilton must consider this aspect. There
must be services like ramp, nutritional food and menu cards with brail language so that disabled
people can also feel comfortable.
However, if Hilton will consider it as unnecessary expenses then along with the disabled
group of consumers several other groups may also not include Hilton in their preferences. The
families and other hospitality patients may believe that Hilton hotel is not concerned with
humanity and kindness and thus they will also develop a negative image for the organisation.
Thus, for creating a goodwill image among target audience it is required that hotel analyses these
different needs and expectations of the people and provide services accordingly. The hospitality
services provided by Hilton hotel aims at delivering comfortable living and hospitality services
to all people equally. Thus, it is necessary for the organisation to analyse needs of every
consumer profile.
On the other hand business groups which prefer hotel for corporate meetings have
different needs. They require meeting rooms, Wi-Fi services and charging points. For this type of
consumer profile there is no need of colouring books or nappy changing services because these
are not included in their requirements (De Keyser and et.al., 2015). Various consumers evaluate
the performance of organisation on the basis of factor that how their needs are satisfied. The
business target groups never use criteria of nappy changing service or crayons to select the
hospitality while disabled people always choose hospitality which meets their needs of physical
challenges. Thus, for achieving business goals and to serve all types of capable consumers who
could pay for the services Hilton hotel is required to understand the needs and requirements of
different people.
2

Disabled
Customer
Access ramp next to
front steps
Wi-Fi Sufficient space to
pass between tables
Low-Calorie meals Intimate atmosphere Menus written in
brail
Business
Person
Wi-Fi Poolside service Crayons and
colouring books
Nappy changing
facilities
Mobile telephone
charging points
Meeting rooms
Gym
Instructor
Calorie information
printed on the menu
Fruit and vegetable
smoothies
Nappy changing
facilities
Healthy dishes Menu in three or
more different
languages
A nice view from the
window
Primary
School
Children
Waiters wearing
dinner jackets and
bowties
Smaller portions Crayons and
colouring books
available
Menus written in
brail
Fun food Over-priced, poor
quality food
Holidaymaker Local food Entertainment Waiters wearing
3

(typical of the
country)
dinner jackets and
bowties
Over-priced, poor
quality food
Terrible customer
service
Poolside service
Hospital
Patients
Meeting rooms Terrible customer
service
Nappy changing
facilities
Nutritious food Meals brought to the
bedside
Easy to eat food
Couple on a
First Date
Terrible customer
service
Candlelight Soft music
Bottle warmers No garlic in the dishes Unpleasant smells
from the drains
Old Aged
Pensioner
Smaller portions Meeting rooms Fast food
Over-priced, poor
quality food
Plenty of time to eat
the meal without
rushing
Food that makes
them remember
things from the past
Pop Star Terrible customer
service
Private section of the
restaurant
Champagne
Fast food Bottle warmers Luxurious food
4

College student Space to work Wi-Fi Unpleasant smells
from the drains
Poolside service Over-priced, poor
quality food
Comfortable sofas to
sit on
Commuter Grab & Go coffee and
food
Wi-Fi So that they
can collect mails
Terrible customer
service
Menu in three or
more different
languages
Waiters wearing
dinner jackets and
bowties
Restaurant/Café is on
their route to the
bus/train station
Teenagers Bottle warmers Loud pop music Fast food
Meeting rooms Milkshakes and soda Unpleasant smells
from the drains
Mothers with
Babies
Over-priced, poor
quality food
Unpleasant smell from
the drains
Terrible customer
service
Nappy changing
facilities
Place to park
strollers/prams
Bottle warmers
Customers Restaurant being Menus written in Meeting rooms
5

Going to the
Theatre (after
the meal)
close to the theatre brail
Themed menu
reflecting the show
they are going to see
Quick service Poolside service
Soldier Meals that give extra
energy
Nappy changing
facilities
Terrible customer
service
Plenty of space to eat
with other soldiers
Over-priced, poor
quality food
A secure place to put
their rifles
TASK 2
P2 Factors affecting customer engagement
For different customer groups there is variety of factors which acts as the driving force
for enhancing their engagement in utilising services. These factors may depend upon the
personal choices, social and economic factors as well as needs. The business people who prefer
Hilton also ensure that hotel provides services such as conference halls, Wi-Fi services and
charging points for connecting their laptops and other devices (Nema and Joshi, 2016). On the
other hand the target customer groups such as people who prefer to go theatre or any other
recreational activity after having meal does not require above mentioned facilities.
The criteria which forces them to use services of Hilton hotel are quick services, distance
of Hilton with their theatre and attractive offers on the meal. There are certain customer groups
6

for whom pricing are also an important factor. IF Hilton does not provide any discount to them
and its prices are higher than there is less probability that such customer groups will assure their
engagement. An example of such groups is pensioner groups. Such people have limited income
source and they spend their money with great concern and assurance that the hospitality chosen
by them will be cost effective as well as will understand their age related requirements. This type
of customers are usually not in rush so they prefer that there must be a peaceful environment in
which they can enjoy their meal or stay.
Apart from these preferences social and cultural factors also affect the engagement of
consumers. If hotel Hilton does not have structure which is accepted by the society then, it may
not be able to achieve their profit goals (Ng, Sweeney and Plewa, 2018). For instance if in any
culture people does not prefer non vegetarian food then definitely they will avoid choosing
Hilton if will have such food in its menu. All these factors must be considered by Hilton during
its operational strategies so that consumer participation can be maximized.
7

8

TASK 3
P3 Create a customer experience map
A customer experience map helps in identifying how customers has interacted with
company. it shows the overall process through which customer has engaged with products or
services. the map of Hilton hotel is described below :-
Phases Searching hotel Booking room stay Post stay
Activity Website Email Hotel app Review site
Touchpoint Social media and e Hotel app Staff, Uploading
9

mails receptionist photos
Experience A lot of time
consumed in
booking room
It was quick and
instant
Positive
atmosphere
and high
quality food
Positive
review
Opportunity Better website The services must
be delivered in
time
Quality of
service must
be improved
Instant
texting back
on customer
review
P4. Customer touch-points to create business opportunities for Hotel Hilton
A customer touch point is defined as the fluid term which assist in encountering the
customers' interaction with respect to a business, product, service or brand. This involves an
outline structure for the touchpoints in the hotel sector that includes several phases of
considerations, purchasing, service provider and awareness generation for building a loyal
customer base (Malthouse and et.al., 2013). In regard to Hotel Hilton, the trigger points of these
touchpoints have accelerated the socio-economic aspects that has intertwined in the evolution of
brand awareness at global level.
This podium is important to connect with the customers in appropriate manner and there
is a lower risk while handling the operational activities of this hotel. It also affects the interactive
channel of integrated communication framework through employing the tracking of feedbacks,
online reviews on different social media and more. Moreover, it assists in handling of customers'
mapping with full comprehensive demonstrations of the hotel that are used to enhance the
customers experience.
This includes four major interaction types that support in building up of business
opportunities for Hotel Hilton. These are appropriate, relevancy, meaningful and endearing
components. Each has a significance to perform the functional units by assessing the
requirements and complete interactive framework with purpose in order to create desirability in a
playful tone so that customers can stay with this brand for longer run.
10

In addition to the same, these touch points have established an effective connect with a
consistent message that has delivered the highlighted points in terms of quality, staff, facilities,
provisions etc. These hotels' services have given the management a chance to explore both the
traditional and modern methodologies to gain their targeted audience attention (Stein and
Ramaseshan, 2016).
Illustration 1: Description of Customers touchpoints setup
(Source: Innovation Tactics, 2017)
P5 How digital technology is employed in managing customer experience
In present times, gaining customer satisfaction has become very important for service
sector. This is because it helps in retaining them and turning into loyal one. Technology has
played a significant role in managing it (Homburg, Jozić and Kuehnl, 2017). it has allowed
service sector to track details of customers so that satisfaction can be enhanced and they can be
retained. Besides this, it becomes easy to develop as well as improve services according to their
11

needs. There are several types of digital technologies available which can be implemented in
service sector. It helps in managing customer experience so that their needs can be identified and
services can be provided accordingly. The CRM systems are most commonly used. There are
different types of CRM systems that can be employed in Hilton hotel (CRM software. 2018).
These are described below:-
Operational CRM- by implementing this, operations can be managed easily such as customer
service, sales, etc. it helps in smooth flow of operations.
Analytical CRM- as name depicts it helps in tracking data and information of customers.
through this, customer interaction can be improved and CRM can be managed.
Sales force- it is a common CRM system which helps in maintain the track records of customers.
through this, it becomes easy to analyse customer needs and fulfil them. furthermore, the data is
stored in segregated way which ease in managing customer experience.
Zoho-it is also another CRM software that can be used by Hilton hotel. It is similar to sales force
but lacks certain features. It assists in taking feedback of customers in real time so that their
experience can be measured.
TASK 4
P6 customer service strategies in a specific service sector
The customer service strategies adopted by Hilton hotel aims at building new customers
as well as to sustain long term business relations with the existing customers. The most important
strategy used by Hilton is to develop its organisational culture as customer centric. The
functional and operational strategies of the hotel are developed according to preference and
needs of its target audience. In order to ensure that the customers of Hilton do not suffer from
any service related issue the organisational manages easy channel of communication. Through
this channel clients can easily coordinate with organisation (Peppers and Rogers, 2016.). The
feedback systems and innovations are always kept as priority in the functional context of the
hotel so that its consumers never loose interest in the organisation.
If the quality of services are satisfactory but if organisation lacks the personal interaction
with the people then people do not find the organisation suitable for their needs. On the other
hand if Hilton gives special attention to the personalised needs of individuals then it creates a
long lasting impression among consumers. For instance if organisation consider the health status
12

of its customers and have facility to provide health conscious food then it will distinguish
organisation from other competitive groups and Hilton brand will be represented as a customer
oriented brand. The customer loyalty programs, regular improvements in quality of services are
also the most effective customer service strategies (Lemon and Verhoef, 2016). To manage the
customer experience Hilton also focus on the factors which affect the easy access of the services
to users. The services of Hilton are easily available in different parts of world thus its consumers
find it very easy to connect with organisation without searching for any other option when they
are travelling.
In addition to the above, training and orientation programmes must be employed to
maintain the decorum Hotel Hilton has always followed. Their employees must be made well
aware about the latest trends of the global competitive markets to sustain among their rivals and
assist in reaching the top positioning effectively (Koetz, 2018). Along with, these programmes
will lay an understanding on how to implement approaches for enhancing the customer services'
and understand such different types of customers' with context to their preferences and choices.
It would also give an upper hand by engaging these employees for performance management.
Moreover, with advanced technologies and its implementation in their hotel's
administration, they can improve the customers' services by taking feedbacks, one to one
communication for understanding their loopholes or making them feel at home by giving
undivided attention to force them to revisit their hotel again and again. Additionally, the
employees' must also get an opportunity to say their dilemmas and queries with the upper
management to bring transparency and trust. This will make them loyal to this brand. To sum up.
Customer services are often neglected but must be given some attention to provide a platform of
improvements to the employers and employees as well.
13

P7 Customer service strategies create and develop the customer experience in a way that meet
the need of customer
Customer service strategies are common approach that help for providing the customer
experiences which are most eliciting towards the business opportunities for growth and
development. Hilton firm is mainly focus on the customer experience that reduce the price and
increase the quality of product in the marketplace (Srivastava and Kaul, 2016). The experience
can be changed according to the market demand and values. Hilton is successfully implemented
the customer experience strategy to achieve their goals and objectives. Customer strategies is
developed because the experience is changed according to the global marketplace. These
strategies are beneficial for business planning to create good impression towards the customer. A
good experience is not static because it can be changed according to the business situations.
Hilton is planning these strategies for increasing the large number of people that usually interact
with the staff members. In this way, it gives more opportunities to deliver the better quality of
customer services. Hilton uses the customer relationship software that view the all details of
customer for purchasing the product, items. It needed for the future predict to easily identify the
need and requirement of consumers.
This software is beneficial for the Hilton to manage their details in the form of database. In this
way, it can be identified that customer service is important as ever because it brings new ways to
build good relationship with the help of technology. There are different ways to determine that
customer strategies help for creating a good experience to meet all the necessary goals and
objectives.
Such strategies which influence the customer experience are as follows:
 Innovation: applying the innovative ideas in order to develop the products and services
can be strongly impact on the minds of the consumer (McColl-Kennedy and et.al., 2015).
Applying innovation and adding more features to the goods according to the demands of
the consumer attracts large amount of consumers. It also influences their buying decisions.
 Feedback: taking feedbacks and reviews from the consumer about the taste and quality of
the product helps them to improve the performance of the company. Customer experiences
are the ones which determines the growth and development of the company. In order to
overcome the threats marketing threats organisation needs to take timely feedbacks and
14

reviews from the customer. Such feedbacks basically helps in improving the quality of the
goods and services and satisfied customers are highly influenced by their kind treatment.
 Quality: this can be considered as the most effective way which helps in improving
growth and development of the company for a longer run. The Best quality of products
mainly attracts the consumers and therefore this helps ion increasing the sales of the
company which generates more profitability. Quality is the major factor which influence
the buying decisions of the consumers as most of the people prefer to have the best quality
products as compared to fared prices.
CONCLUSION
It has been summarized that management of customer experience is relevant and has
become the necessity for the hospitality sector to survive and flourish in the global competitive
marketplaces. Moreover, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) of Hotel Hilton has
provided a platform that laid an understanding of techniques, approaches and tools that have
been implemented to influence the decision making and the purchasing power of customers' as
well. Also, it shed light on the significance of targeted groups of consumers to comprehend the
preferences and specifications as per the provided services of this hotel in effective mode.
However, it has explained the various facets of CRM in context of Hotel Hilton to identify and
evaluate the customer touch-points etc. in more profound manner. Furthermore, it laid emphasis
on the emergence of digital technology in recent times with has brought revolutionary
modifications to attract the new customers' and provide additional backing towards the existing
ones.
15

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Bilgihan, A., Kandampully, J. and Zhang, T., 2016. Towards a unified customer experience in
online shopping environments: Antecedents and outcomes. International Journal of
Quality and Service Sciences, 8(1), pp.102-119.
De Keyser, A. and et.al., 2015. A framework for understanding and managing the customer
experience. Marketing Science Institute working paper series, pp.15-121.
Homburg, C., Jozić, D. and Kuehnl, C., 2017. Customer experience management: toward
implementing an evolving marketing concept. Journal of the Academy of Marketing
Science. 45(3). pp.377-401.
Koetz, C., 2018. Managing the customer experience: a beauty retailer deploys all tactics. Journal
of Business Strategy.
Lemon, K.N. and Verhoef, P.C., 2016. Understanding customer experience throughout the
customer journey.Journal of Marketing. 80(6). pp.69-96.
Malthouse, E.C. and et.al., 2013. Managing customer relationships in the social media era:
Introducing the social CRM house. Journal of Interactive Marketing. 27(4). pp.270-280.
McColl-Kennedy, J.R. and et.al., 2015. Fresh perspectives on customer experience. Journal of
Services Marketing, 29(6/7), pp.430-435.
Nema, G. and Joshi, A., 2016. Managing Customer Relationships through Customer interaction
management.International Journal of Research in Finance and Marketing.6(4). pp.74-82.
Ng, S.C., Sweeney, J.C. and Plewa, C., 2018. Managing Customer Resource Endowments and
Deficiencies for Value Cocreation: Complex Relational Services. Journal of Service
Research, p.1094670518812195.
Peppers, D. and Rogers, M., 2016. Managing customer experience and relationships: A strategic
framework. John Wiley & Sons.
16