Managing the Customer Experience

This project focuses on managing customer experience in service sector industry. It covers the value and importance of understanding the needs, wants and preferences of target customers, factors that influence customer engagement, customer experience map, digital technology used for managing CRM systems, and customer service strategies. The chosen organization is Crowne Plaza, a brand of InterContinental Hotels Groups PLC.

Managing the Customer
Experience
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Table of contents
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
PART 1- Comparative Analysis......................................................................................................3
P1: Explain the value and importance of understanding the needs, wants and preferences of
target customer groups for a service sector industry...................................................................3
P2: Explore the different factors that drive and influence customer engagement of different
target customer groups within a service sector organisation......................................................3
PART 2- REPORT...........................................................................................................................4
P3 Create a customer experience map for a selected service sector organisation.......................4
P4 Discuss how the customer touch-points throughout the customer experience create
business opportunities for a selected service sector organisation...............................................6
P5 Examine how digital technology is employed in managing the customer relationship
management (CRM) systems......................................................................................................7
P6 Illustrate customer service strategies in a specific service sector context.............................8
P7 Demonstrate how customer service strategies create and develop the customer experience
in a way that meets the needs of the customer and required business standards........................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11
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INTRODUCTION
Customer experience generally focuses on the relationship between customer and
business. It is important for organisation to offer better customer experience as it helps in
creating strong customer base and enhance the loyalty of customer towards brand. The positive
customer experience helps in promoting loyalty, encourage brand advocacy and retain customer.
It also improves the performance and productivity of business by improving the engagement
level of customer (Kandampully, Zhang and Jaakkola, 2018). The project is based on managing
customer experience in which the value and importance of understanding the needs, preference
and wants of target customers is determined and also the different factors that influence the
customer engagement is also explained. It also covers the customer experience map, digital
technology used for managing customer relationship management system and also the strategies
for enhancing customer service are determined. The Chosen organisation for accomplishing this
project is Crowne Plaza, it is one of the brand of InterContinental Hotels Groups PLC.
PART 1- Comparative Analysis
P1: Explain the value and importance of understanding the needs, wants and preferences of
target customer groups for a service sector industry
 Crowne Plaza: Importance of understanding the needs, wants and preferences of target
customers in Crowne Plaza are such that it helps the restaurant in adding up in its product
portfolio as per the demands of the customers. It enhances the servicing activities of the
customers along with the improving the customers experiences as well (Choo, Ling and
Fernando, 2018).
 The Ritz-Carlton: Importance of understanding the needs, wants and preferences of
target customers in the Ritz-Carlton are such that company would be able to know that
the customers are interested and willing to explore more options in the restaurant.
Accordingly, company manages its activities and enhances the customer experiences and
servicing as well (Rahimian, ShamiZanjani, Manian and Esfiddani, 2020).
P2: Explore the different factors that drive and influence customer engagement of different target
customer groups within a service sector organisation
 Crowne Plaza: There are factors which drives the customer engagement in Crowne
Plaza are such that the staff who is attending the customers. Stronger loyalty of the brand
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and reduction in the competitive threat are the factors which influencing the customer
engagement. Greater advocacy and opportunities for up sell and cross sell factors are also
affecting the same (Hoyer, Kroschke, Schmitt and Shankar, 2020).
 The Ritz-Carlton: There are factors which drives the customer engagement in the Ritz-
Carlton are such that the feedback system within the restaurant. How actively the
employees are responding in an accurate manner is the major factor which is influencing
the customer engagement. Moreover, presentation of the servicing and variety of options
available with the customers also affects the customer engagement (Wu and Gao, 2019).
PART 2- REPORT
P3 Create a customer experience map for a selected service sector organisation
Customer Experience map generally represent the complex customer interaction with
organisation. It generally include many benefits for the health of business and also it illustrates
the steps from which customer go through in engaging with company. Through customer journey
mapping, Crowne Plaza can develop visual picture of their customer journey. Customer journey
mapping helps in telling story of customer experience with brand across email, social media,
livechat and many other channels. There are various advantages which is gained by Crowne
Plaza while creating customer journey mapping are that it helps in getting valuable insights and
also hotel can understand customer expectation in better manner (Smit and Melissen, 2018)
(Moliner, Monferrer, Estrada and Rodríguez, 2019). Through customer experience mapping,
Crowne Plaza can predict and influence the behaviour of consumers. It helps in giving insight
into customer's expectation of brand at each stage of customer's journey and also helps to create
customer experience that motivates customer to reach the last stage of journey. By creating
customer journey mapping, Crowne Plaza can understand the channels and touchpoints that their
customer are likely to take to get the services and products of resort and also they can identify
the expectation level of customers with the services and their possible frustration could be.
Through having detailed customer journey mapping, hotel can predict and influence the
consumer behaviour. In order to create customer experience map, Crowne Plaza must follow
these steps:
Buyer Personas:
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It is one of the step of creating customer experience mapping, Crowne Plaza must focus
on creating customer persona as it represents a specific customer segment for brand. While
creating customer persona, it is important to consider the following characteristics such as
lifestyle, information sources, background, demographics, shopping preferences and personality.
Crowne Plaza must collect persona information as it helps to map out customised journey for
that particular buyer persona.
Customer stages:
After creating customer persona, Crowne Plaza must consist the stages of customer
journey such as awareness, consideration, decision and retention as it helps to provide more
personalised experience for customer. Crowne Plaza must use awareness stage as it helps to
inform customer about the consequences of problem which they face in hotel and also determine
how they can solve the problem. In consideration and decision stage, Crowne Plaza need to
separate themselves from the competition and provide clear information to customer why they
have winning edge over the competition. In conversion and retention stage, guest are ready to
sign-up for the offer and convert of Crowne Plaza.
Understanding Customer goals:
Understanding customer goals is another step which must be followed by Crowne Plaza
while creating effective customer experience map. In order to understand the customer goals, it is
important to collect the data through interviews, surveys and customer service emails so that they
can identify the goals of customer and align it with customer journey touchpoints.
Identify Touchpoints:
Touchpoints determines the interaction that customer have at the beginning of buyer's
journey. It also helps in making effective decision to make the choice of hotels. In Crowne Plaza,
the touchpoints of customer are promise, innovation, consumer experience, brand story and
purchase moment. The touchpoints of customers are where they interact with product, brand and
services.
Maintain a time frame:
Crowne plaza must maintain a time frame by knowing how long touchpoints of hotel take
place to convince customer for moving to next stage. This is important for the customer to
manage their time and come to enjoy the vacation.
Consider customer emotions:
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It is important for Crowne Plaza to consider the emotions of customer, they must
ascertain whether their customer are happy, frustrated or delight with the services of hotel. The
emotions of customers are totally depended on the services, facilities and price of hotel.
P4 Discuss how the customer touch-points throughout the customer experience create business
opportunities for a selected service sector organisation
 Website: It is one of the touch point used by Crowne Plaza. Organization have its own
website through which they can create awarenesses to the customers of the products and
services offered by the restaurant. It gives the opportunities to the business to better gain
the return on investment of marketing through website.
 E mail: It is an another touch point used by Crowne Plaza. Restaurant has initiated the
bulk email marketing in order to create the brand awareness. This helps the organization
in contacting their their target customers easily. It gives the opportunities to the business
developing the favourable brand image.
 Text message: It is also one of the touch point used by Crowne Plaza. If any query raised
by the customers or any booking confirmed have to be notified then text message is an
efficient way of contacting the customers. It gives opportunities to the business to
develop better business strategies in finding out more information that can be texted to
the customer.
 Restaurant environment: It is also an another touch point used by Crowne Plaza.
Customers always browse the place before they visit to the restaurant. Therefore, images
on the internet must match the actual environment of the restaurant. It gives opportunities
to the business enhance the feedback system regarding the overall ambience of the place
(Alnawas and Hemsley-Brown, 2019).
 Telephone: It is one of the touch point used by Crowne Plaza. Restaurant uses the
normal audio calling systems in the form of customer servicing at the desk of reception.
So that any query from the customers can easily call the restaurant sitting at home and
gain the information they want. It gives opportunities to the business make the call more
interactive by providing the information about more offers and discounts currently
available in the restaurant.
 Staff: It is an another touch point used by Crowne Plaza. Staff engagement with
customers must be impressive so that customers funds it comfort while having the
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experience of the restaurant. It gives opportunities to the business to formulate the plans
about attending and serving the customers in a particular gesture and interactive nature as
well (Witell, Kowalkowski, Perks and Burton, 2020).
P5 Examine how digital technology is employed in managing the customer relationship
management (CRM) systems
 Web Services and Services Oriented Architecture: It is one of the digital technology
which manages the CRM systems in Crowne Plaza. Such system consist the support to
operate the website in order to provide the quality web services. Framework rendered by
the CRM systems are totally services oriented and assists in the customer relationship and
experiences.
 Speech Applications: It is an another digital technology which manages the CRM
systems Crowne Plaza. Such systems consist the speech applications which contains the
audio servicing to the customers in order to resolve any queries. Such applications are to
be installed within CRM systems in order to activate the same.
 Social Networking: It is also one of the digital technology which manages the CRM
systems Crowne Plaza. Such systems also consists the social media networking such as
Facebook, twitter, Instagram and YouTube access in order to provide any kind of
information to the customers based on current offerings by the restaurant (Kenyon,
Robinson and Musgrave, 2020).
 Wireless Connectivity and Applications: It is also an another digital technology which
manages the CRM systems in Crowne Plaza. Wired connectivity could not be possible in
order to have the customer relationship throughout the country or on an international
basis as well. Therefore, wireless technology is highly essential for the wider customer
relationship management within the restaurant.
 Embedded Analytics and Business Intelligence: It is one of the digital technology
which manages the CRM systems in Crowne Plaza. Such systems contains the data
analytics tool as well in which the past and current data is compared so that future
considerations can be made in an accurate manner. It also helps in the strategic decision
making via business intelligence tool. CRM is highly based on the future predictions and
therefore, CRM systems are used for the same.
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 Queue Management: It is an another digital technology which manages the CRM
systems in Crowne Plaza. Restaurant receives so many queries at a time from the
customers, therefore, it is required to be managed with the help of first come and first
serve methodology. In order to the reduce the complications, queue management in CRM
systems are developed for better reverting back in a systematic manner in order to
enhance the customer relationship and experience (Klink, Zhang and Athaide, 2020).
P6 Illustrate customer service strategies in a specific service sector context
 Process of customer service strategies: There are majorly four steps to plan and
implement the customer service strategies. Understanding is the first step in which the
Crowne Plaza aligns its organization objectives with the customer experience business
model. So that the target of the company can be fulfilled by meeting the expectations of
the strategies of business model. Second step is the identification which analyses the
which strategy and which process can impact the customer experience in a maximum
manner. Implementation is a third step which executes the strategy for customer
experiences in terms of improving the customer relationship as well. Measuring is the
fourth step which measures the result of changes and connects the bottom line within the
restaurant. This helps in the improvement in developing the further strategies by
examining the past outcomes (Rather, 2020).
 Strategies adopted by the Crowne Plaza: There are some of the strategies which are
adopted by the restaurant in order to enhance the customer experience. Such as regularly
communicate for the better engagement of the customers towards the brand is one of the
strategy. Interaction is done due to the feedback, providing information about the current
offers and many more, it is done with the help of social media, e mail, websites,
newspapers and many more. Creation of the long-standing program is an another strategy
which helps the restaurant in engaging with the customers for a long term. This results in
the improved customer experience and services. Investing in the self service solutions is
also one of the strategy. Using automation to create the personalised customer experience
in order to improve the digital customer service (Flavián, Ibáñez-Sánchez and Orús,
2019).
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P7 Demonstrate how customer service strategies create and develop the customer experience in a
way that meets the needs of the customer and required business standards
 Customer servicing strategies develop the customer experience by creating a clear
customer experience vision: Customer must be clear in their purchasing without any
doubts. It is highly necessary to create the vision of the customers. Customer servicing
helps the customer in bringing transparency towards the brand in terms of their
perception in Crowne Plaza.
 Customer servicing strategies develop the customer experience by understanding
who the customers are: Target customers can easily be identified by Crowne Plaza if
they have adopted the strategies of customer servicing. This is because they analyse that
how the customer is reacting on their servicing and how they are experiencing within the
restaurant.
 Customer servicing strategies develop the customer experience by creating an
emotional connection with the customers: Crowne Plaza has an attractive content to
serve the customers so that they can get connected with the brand. This enhances the
experiences in terms of emotions and also maintaining the long term relationships as
well.
 Customer servicing strategies develop the customer experience by capturing
customer feedback in real time: Feedback systems is the strategies adopted by the
Crowne Plaza. It is one of the most effective thing which highly improves the customer
experience. Crowne Plaza captures the feedback which not only helps them servicing but
also enhances the experiences as well (Kuuru, Litovuo, Aarikka-Stenroos and Helander,
2020).
 Customer servicing strategies develop the customer experience by using a quality
framework for development of the team: Structure adopted by Crowne Plaza to
develop the team for better servicing of the customers generally involves the experiences
strategies as well. Restaurant collaborates the team activities with the customers
experiences strategies so that objevtives can be accomplished set within the Crowne
Plaza.
 Customer servicing strategies develop the customer experience by acting upon
regular employee feedback: Crowne Plaza has managed its feedback systems in the
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systematic manner. There are employees who are handling the feedbacks either on the
internet or on the call or messages. They are well trained that how they must respond to
the customers which ultimately helps in managing the customer experiences.
 Customer servicing strategies develop the customer experience by measuring the
ROI from delivering great customer experience: Crowne Plaza always calculates its
return on investment after implementing the customer service strategies so that it can be
analysed that experience is affecting or not in a positive manner. If expectation does not
meet then servicing strategies has to be changed and also the customer experience as
well. If expectations matches then strategies has to be improved in order to enhance the
experience.
 Customer servicing strategies develop the customer experience by optimizing the
customer journey: Crowne Plaza has adopted the systematic steps to cover the customer
journey in its best experience at each and every stage of implementation. The entire
journey optimizes the customer servicing and experiences as well (Nobar and
Rostamzadeh, 2018).
CONCLUSION
It is being concluded from the above information that hotel can focus on mapping the
customer experience in order to identify the perspective and satisfaction level of people with
their services. By understanding the need, want and preference of customer, hotel can improve
its customer base and also attract large number of people towards the brand. There are various
factors that influence the customer engagement such as product variety, discounts, privacy
concern, technology issues and many others. In order to enhance customer loyalty and
experience, hotel offers excellent customer service and also manage customer relationship
management systems. They also use various customer service strategies in order to attract large
number of people such as communicating regularly, creating long-standing program, closing the
feedback loop and use automation to create personalised customer experience. For improving
customer service standards, it is essential to seek customer feedback, strengthen customer service
team, use CRM strategies and leverage final multi-channel servicing.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Alnawas, I. and Hemsley-Brown, J., 2019. Examining the key dimensions of customer
experience quality in the hotel industry. Journal of Hospitality Marketing &
Management, 28(7), pp.833-861.
Choo, P.W., Ling, T.C. and Fernando, Y., 2018, May. Managing knowledge, service innovation
and service experience in Hospitality Industry: A proposed framework. In ICMLG 2018
6th International Conference on Management Leadership and Governance (p. 78).
Academic Conferences and publishing limited.
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,
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Hoyer, W.D., Kroschke, M., Schmitt, B. and Shankar, V., 2020. Transforming the customer
experience through new technologies. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 51, pp.57-71.
Kandampully, J., Zhang, T.C. and Jaakkola, E., 2018. Customer experience management in
hospitality: A literature synthesis, new understanding and research agenda. International
Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Kenyon, A., Robinson, P. and Musgrave, J. eds., 2020. Managing Hospitality Experiences.
CABI.
Klink, R.R., Zhang, J.Q. and Athaide, G.A., 2020. Designing a customer experience management
course. Journal of Marketing Education, 42(2), pp.157-169.
Kuuru, T.K., Litovuo, L., Aarikka-Stenroos, L. and Helander, N., 2020. Emotions in customer
experience. Society as an Interaction Space: A Systemic Approach, 22, p.247.
Moliner, M.Á., Monferrer, D., Estrada, M. and Rodríguez, R.M., 2019. Environmental
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accommodation. Sustainability, 11(19), p.5279.
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Experience Management Framework in Hoteling Industry: A Systematic Review of
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Rather, R.A., 2020. Customer experience and engagement in tourism destinations: the
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Smit, B. and Melissen, F., 2018. Sustainable customer experience design: Co-creating
experiences in events, tourism and hospitality. Routledge.
Witell, L., Kowalkowski, C., Perks, H. and Burton, J., 2020. Characterizing customer experience
management in business markets. Journal of Business Research, 116, pp.420-430.
Wu, S.H. and Gao, Y., 2019. Understanding emotional customer experience and co-creation
behaviours in luxury hotels. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management.
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