Digital Customer Touchpoints and Affirmative Experience

The provided document focuses on management of human resources in public sector banks from 1991-2008, a phenomenological examination of susceptibility to cyber deception, perceived value creation process, and managing service quality dimensions. It also includes case studies on managing business goals via BSC, deciding maintenance asset strategies via risk assessment models, and the effect of liquidity on bank profitability. The document aims to provide insights into customer experience management, digital communication strategies for luxury products, and creating enduring customer value.

MANAGING CUSTOMER
EXPERIENCE

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Learning Outcome...........................................................................................................................3
P1: Value and importance of understanding the needs, wants and preferences of target
customer groups for the hospitality industry...............................................................................3
P2: Various factors that influences customer engagement of different target group within
service sector are defined below.................................................................................................4
Learning Outcome 2 .......................................................................................................................6
P3: Consumer experience map for a selected service organization............................................6
P4: Customer touch point to create opportunity throughout the customer experience in
hospitality organisation...............................................................................................................8
Learning Outcome 3........................................................................................................................9
P5: Digital technology is employed in managing the customer experience within the service
sector...........................................................................................................................................9
Learning Outcome 4......................................................................................................................10
P6: Illustrate consumer service strategies in context to specific service sector.......................10
P7: Create & develop consumer experience in hospitality industry.........................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Managing customer experience refer to the practice where business interact with
the customer in order to meet the expected need of customer. This helps to derive the
loyalty as well as satisfaction to the customer by making long term relationship with
them through digital technology (Reynolds, 2013). To better understanding this,
InterContinental Hotel group has been selected which is multinational hospitality
company of UK. It provide worldwide travelling services, insurance, restaurant as well
as hotel facility to both national as well as international guest. This report cover
following topic such as expectation or requirement of market segment within hospitality
industry, create business opportunity to build customer experience and customer touch
points, Impact of digital media in managing customer relationship, application of
effective customer experience within service sector to maximize engagement of
customer.
Learning Outcome
P1: Value and importance of understanding the needs, wants and preferences of target
customer groups for the hospitality industry
It is essential for the successful business to identify the emerging need, trend
and preferences of customer and serve them accordingly. Companies segment the
mass market or whole market into smaller segments based on interest, preference,
income and buying behaviours of people (Guido, 2017). Further, customer centric
strategy is adopted by company to make better contribution in order to satisfy the utility
of customer. In relation to InterContinental Hotel group, managers make plan for
different target market such as friends, family, official tour as well as couple on the basis
of their interest area. Like friends may prefer adventurous trip whereas family may
prefer ethnic trip so respective company must take care of the preferences of people.
Therefore, analysing customer need and adopting changes on the basis of it helps to
attain long term sustainable benefit to the company.
There are several benefit which IGH company can receive by identifying the
value and requirement of customer are defined below:

 The potential effort of understanding buying behaviours of consumer for the
product on the basis of taste and income helps the business to flourish by
satisfying the comprehend needs of the customer (TSEGAYE, 2017).
 It helps the organisation to choose effective strategy regarding place like where
services will be offered as well as promotion tool to appeal the interest of target
market.
 Moreover, once the company is familiar with the existing taste of customer then
they can design promotional technique in similar way.
P2: Various factors that influences customer engagement of different target group within
service sector are defined below
Customer engagement is basically a connection among the stakeholders of the
company who are interested in the activity of business as well as organisation. Based
on the experience, interaction as well as review of customer strategies are build up. As
business do not have control over the switching of customer from one brand to another
but firm can compel the customer by differentiating their product among the alternatives.
In context to this, respective company basically uses both online as well as offline
platform to bind up the customer for long term. Hence, most of the company uses
ECRM technique that is electronic customer relation management within this the data of
customer are managed electronically (Bruce and Love, 2018). Further, with the help of
digital technology such as email marketing or text messages company connect the
customer by making them familiar about the offer, discount tour detail etc. Therefore,
generation of vital information helps the customer to make better choices and engage
for longer duration.
Therefore, each target market has their own preferences so company must
identify them in order to engage the customer successfully.

Various type of
customer
Different
needs of customer
Family member Easy access of
internet
Availability of basic
amenities such as on-
site dining or room
services
Healthy food ass
well as laundry
facility
Middle and older
age adult group
traveller
Clean room,
pleasant music,
room services
Nutritious food and
purified water
Full service area
Business person Convenient room to
rest as well as
conference room
carrying the
equipments like
speaker, TV and so
on.
Facility of pick up and
drop off to Airport
Wi-Fi facility and
electronic gadget
charging sockets
Sports person Quick room and
house keeping
services
Internet access,
restaurant as well as
mini bar facility
Recreational facility
and fitness area
The priority of various traveller within InterContinental Hotel group are stated
below:
Family member: Family member comprises of people with different age group
having different requirement which is further the responsibility of company to fulfil.
Therefore, company must make sure they provide them essential amenities like dining
facility, room service, laundry and so on (Aliyas, Shishebori and Ramazani, 2016).
Middle and older age adult group traveller: These traveller are more keen to
explore ethnic or holy places in comparison to any adventurous trip. Henceforth,

InterContinental Hotel group must provide them convenient services like pleasant area
to rest, nutritious food and beverages.
Business person: The corporate traveller seeks for full fledged services so that
they can visit and well as invest their time to conduct business meeting with
international client. Thus, selected company should have the facility of scanner, printer,
conference room, computer, charging station and so on.
Sports person: Sports person seeks for recreational area, fitness area as well
as intake protein diet. Therefore, existence of such facility helps in customer
engagement.
Learning Outcome 2
P3: Consumer experience map for a selected service organization
Customer experience mapping refers to the journey of customer that helps in
developing experience of an individual. Additionally, this experience of consumer is
carried forward to make further decision regarding availing the product or services from
particular brand (Pravdic, 2013). In context to InterContinental Hotel group makes
significant effort to gain the deep insights about the regarding the whole scenario such
as demand of customer and make strategy according. Moreover, company provide
regular training to their staff so that they can maintain effective relationship with
customer.
Pre Tour During Tour Post Tour
Touchpoints Customer has the
intention to avail
travel and tourism
services for which
they gain all the
detail through digital
media like the
website from where
they get the booking
Once all the
booking and
selection of
industry is done
tour guide helps
the traveller to
develop valuable
experience at
the time of
Based on the
experiences
customer
develop an
opinion about
the company
and refer to their
referral. Along
with that people

page detail. journey by
providing them
high level of
convenience
can post
feedback on the
website of
company as well
as review sites
such as Yelp.
This further help
new customer to
take wise
decision
Thinking and feeling During this phase
customer does not
have any local
referral who can
exactly guide about
the tour. Along with
that lack of printing
ticket and
recommendation
that create
confusion while
making final
decision.
Initially traveller
may have
negative feeling
or might be
unhappy because
of communication
gap with local
resident
At this stage the
customer gains
happy as well as
delightful
experience when
they think about
the whole trip,
while discussing
it with other or
by going through
the album of trip.
Ideas for improvement Company can have
the printing function
of ticket, discuss all
the facility which
customer will gain.
Moreover, checklist
can be provided to
Adequate training
must be given to
tour guide to
enhance their
communication,
listening as well
as persuading
Customer can
have the option
of easy album
sharing.

employee to make
better plans
skill. They have
have the idea
about local
community and
must familiar with
the language of
local residence.
P4: Customer touch point to create opportunity throughout the customer experience in
hospitality organisation
Customer touchpoint involves the phase when customer comes in contact and
become familiar with company as well as its services (Harmeling and et.al., 2017). It
simply refer to the journey of customer that begin before availing any services, during
the time as well as after services are experienced by the traveller. Therefore, it includes
the usage of various digital media that helps in connecting various customer at a time.
Websites: All the essential details of InterContinental Hotel group are covered
within the official website of company. For instance, number of trips to be organised,
detail information regarding the trip, review of customer who have already availed the
facility, contact detail etc. Thus, it is a powerful platform that helps can help customer to
gain comprehensive information which is further utilised to make comparison and take
decision effectively (BERHE, 2017).
Email marketing: It is one of the medium adopted by company to communicate
vital information to the customer. Here both company as well as traveller can conduct
one to one communication based on the essential information. Therefore, IGH company
takes the help of this tool to share the documents, data regarding booking of ticket,
reservation in hotel, resolve the query of customer and so on.
Review sites: People usually visit these sites to gain the feedback of customers
and make the decision based on their review. The example of these sites are
TripAdvisor and Yelp which is considered by the internal management of selected
company to bring the changes effectively. Therefore, this make the traveller loyal

towards the company as company is making changes to match their pace with the
requirement of traveller.
Social media: Social media is basically a group of alike minded people who
communicate with each other through various platform of social media such as
Instagram and Facebook. Herein, InterContinental Hotel group make the use of this
tool to update the information regarding the trip, images and reviews of customer. This
help the company to engage the large pool of potential people.
Therefore, these customer touchpoints helps the company to cover worldwide
customer and get the result at real time with the help of analytical tool. This further
saves the time and effort of company to enhance their performance significantly (Al-
Ahmad, and Mohammad, 2012).
Learning Outcome 3
P5: Digital technology is employed in managing the customer experience within the
service sector
Digital technology includes the use of online platform such as smartphone and
computer to deliver the value to the customer as well as formulate experience. This is
most effective marketing strategy in comparison to traditional media as it helps to cover
wide range of market significantly. Moreover, such method helps to engage the potential
customer for long duration by making the use of various platform such as email
marketing, SEO, website, social media etc. Herein, InterContinental Hotel group
company majorly perform all its operation through digital media like all the information or
detail as well as the issue of customer are tackled virtually (Wirtz and Jerger, 2016).
For instance, company carries the data of their present as well as existing customer
based on the loyalty of customer company grant the discount or beneficial coupons.
Such technique encourages the customer to repetitively avail the services from
respective company and perform all the business operation with ease. Hence, these
technique help to identify the source from where the traffic emerges into the company.
Further, investment is done on such tool to enhance the sales of company (Pandža
Bajs, 2012).

Therefore, various digital tool, technique as well as programme are adopted by
respected company to build effective strategy for the customer as well as competitor,
bring changes based on the requirement of customer. Moreover, the constructive
feedback of company is analysed in order to achieve desirable result. Herne, some of
the software used by company are defined below:
ECRM hospitality software: ECRM or electronic customer relationship
management is a software designed with the purpose to maintain the data of all
customer effectively. This helps to manage long term relationship with customer by
analysing the need of customer and work accordingly to fulfil current as well as
forecasted need. Therefore, it require the use of digital platform to remain connected
with customer and formulated effective relationship with them (Shea, 2016).
Opera Software: Opera Software is an advance software which is used by
InterContinental Hotel group to make all the dealings with the help of online platform. It
is smaller is size, provides speedy or quick result and works in different operating
system whether it is macOS, Android or iOS. Thus, because of it company prefer this in
comparison to other software such as chrome or Mozilla.
Learning Outcome 4
P6: Illustrate consumer service strategies in context to specific service sector
For an organisation, consumers are necessary source of income. It is necessary for a
company to provide the better experience to customers so that they can be loyal
towards firm. InterContinental Hotel group tend to develop the better strategy through
developing the long term relationship with consumers. In service sector, there is a need
to develop the positive relationship with consumers through fulfilling their needs like
travelling packages, hotel bookings etc. There are some strategy mention below which
respective company can be adopted to maintain the better customer service:
Deliver promise: To attract the interest of customer and differentiae their
services amongst competitor company deliver some promises to the customer which
creates their brand recognition value (Kumar and Reinartz, 2016). Moreover, it is
essential for the company to function as per their promises other it can deteriorate the
image of company. In context to above mentioned company promises to maintain the

transparency by satisfying the customer at best possible prices. Thus, to maintain this
company clearly state their services and for which customer finds interest and the
overall expenditure of traveller is discussed accordingly.
Seek feedback of customer: It is necessary for firm to determine the
preferences and needs of consumers before offering its services to consumers. Main
focus of InterContinental Hotel group is to satisfying the needs and demands of
consumers and then take feedback from them to aware about effectiveness of the
business. The feedback can be receive from the helpline number and emails of firm. On
the other hand, selected company can conduct a survey by using telephone and email
and customers can discuss about their bad and good experience of consumers. The
gathered data from the respondents is helpful in provide authentic insights regarding
business organisation. On the basis of customer feedback or survey, firm can make
changes in its services or products accordingly.
Provide reward to loyal customers: It is essential to firm to follow its promises
and also work on the customers preferences. It is most necessary for firm to gain the
attention and trust of consumers (Reynolds, 2013). In this present time period, taste and
demands of people are changing with in given period of time so it is necessary for
company to provide them services accordingly. The service industry consists different
reward to consumers which are loyal such as sponsoring the stay of loyal customer by
offering them discounts and offers. It will help in maintain trust of consumers and also
encourage them to become loyal towards firm.
P7: Create & develop consumer experience in hospitality industry
Firm develop the different strategies which aids to compel and persuade directly
affect customers decisions. The main purpose of developing the customer strategy us to
engage consumers or guests by using digital tools. With the help of conducting the
market research, InterContinental Hotel group can determine requirement of consumers
and also take the effective decision to operating business in a smooth manner. It is
necessary that firm should determine the needs and demands of consumers and find
effective ways to satisfy them by producing services accordingly. Research and
development is an effective or beneficial strategy that aids firm to gain the long term and
short term benefits over its strong rivals (Jain, 2017). On the other hand, after providing

the products and services at market place, it is essential to take the feedback from them
and know about their opinions. In addition to this, firm should design its content that is
based on modifications which are adopted through company aid people to aware
regarding the extra convenience which they well receive from organisation. So, these
kinds of activities are helpful for firm to update regarding the changing needs of
consumers and also develop the strong customer base.
Recommendation
 Company must provide customer care services to address any query or handle
grievances of customer effectively. This helps the customer to gain clear picture
due to which they remain satisfied.
 Technology needs to be upgraded as well as enhanced based on the emerging
need of customer as it helps in seedy delivery of services within stipulated time
period.
 Company must not only take the feedback of customer but also make effort to
adopt constructive changes. Along with if the company receives positive
feedback in that case also it must upgrade its services so that intervention of
rivalry does not hamper the growth of company.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that hospitality industry offer huge
convenience to the customer so whether it is regarding travel and tour, exploring new
place, hotel and so on. It is vital for the company to cater the changing requirement or
need of different age group so whether it is youth or adult everyone's expectation must
be met by company. Moreover, digital tool as well as techniques are utilised as a
customer touchpoint that helps in developing affirmative experience which helps in long
term sustainable growth of business.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Jain, S., 2017. Management of Human Resources in Public Sector Banks-1991-2008.
Journal of Commerce and Management Thought. 8(1). p.97.
Shea, G. K. I., 2016. A phenomenological examination of susceptibility to cyber
deception (Doctoral dissertation, Colorado Technical University).
Pandža Bajs, I., 2012. Perceived value creation process: focus on the company
offer.Market-Tržište. 24(2). pp.279-296.
Al-Ahmad, W. and Mohammad, B., 2012. Can a single security framework address
information security risks adequately. International Journal of Digital Information
and Wireless Communications. 2(3). pp.222-230.
BERHE, D., 2017.THE EFFECTS OF SERVICE QUALITY DIMENSIONS ON
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION: THE CASE OF NIB INSURANCE SC (Doctoral
dissertation, St. Mary's University).
Pravdic, P., 2013. MANAGING BUSINESS GOALS OF MANUFACTURING
ORGANIZATIONS BY BSC. Center for Quality.
Aliyas, R., Shishebori, D. and Ramazani, S., 2016. Deciding of the strategy of
maintenance assets via model selection of risk assessment: A case study
industrial factory of steel of international process of Arvand. International Journal
of Humanities and Cultural Studies (IJHCS) ISSN 2356-5926. Pp. 1409-1420.
Bruce, A. and Love, S., 2018. Speak for a Living: The Insider's Guide to Building a
Speaking Career. American Society for Traini
TSEGAYE, T., 2017. The Effect of Liquidity on Banks Profitability for Commercial Banks
in Ethiopia (Doctoral dissertation, St. Mary's University).
Guido, M. G., 2017. Strategie di comunicazione dei prodotti di lusso attraverso l’inglese
come ‘lingua franca’internazionale. Sostenibilità ed emozioni come leve
strategiche per lo sviluppo del ‘Made in Puglia’–Fulltext version. Lingue e
Linguaggi. pp.1-292.
Reynolds, C. S., 2013. Breaking Codes: Making Theories on Menstruation Accessible
Through Third-wave Feminism.
Kumar, V. and Reinartz, W., 2016. Creating enduring customer value. Journal of
Marketing. 80(6). pp.36-68.
Wirtz, J. and Jerger, C., 2016. Managing service employees: literature review, expert
opinions, and research directions. The Service Industries Journal. 36(15-16),
pp.757-788.
Harmeling, C. M., and et.al., 2017. Toward a theory of customer engagement
marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. 45(3). pp.312-335.