Managing Customer Experience

This report discusses the value and importance of understanding the needs, wants, and preferences of target customers in the service industry. It explores factors that influence customer engagement and provides a customer experience map. The report also discusses the role of digital technology in managing customer experience and provides insights on developing a customer service strategy for creating and developing the customer experience.

Managing Customer
Experience

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1. Value and importance of understanding the need, wants and preference of target customer
in service industry.......................................................................................................................1
P2. Factors which influence customer engagement of different target customer groups...........2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................2
P3. Create customer experience map..........................................................................................2
P4. Explain customer touchpoints throughout customer experience..........................................3
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................4
P5 Digital technology is employed in managing the customer experience...............................4
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................6
P6. Customer service strategy.....................................................................................................6
P7. Customer service strategy in creating and developing the customer experience..................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Customer experience is most crucial factor for a growth or success of a company as it
affect the customer base as well as choice. This is consider as an essential tool which help a
company in achieving sustainability within marketplace (Alexander, 2013). Current report is
about the The Clove Club which is a restaurant present in London and offer Italian food with a
British Touch. This project includes a detail description about the importance of understanding
the need, want and preference of target customers and factors that influence the customer
engagement. Further it also includes a customer experience map and touch points throughout the
customer experience. At last report includes explanation about the customer service strategy and
how it support in developing customer experience.
TASK 1
P1. Value and importance of understanding the need, wants and preference of target customer in
service industry
Customer are considered as a king of market and most essential part of an organisation,
because its success and growth depends over the satisfaction of customers. So it is crucial for an
organisation to provide product or services as per the demand of customers in order to keep them
satisfied. As better customer experience will support a company to enhance its brand image and
maintaining a long term relation with customers. The Clove Club is a London based restaurant
which offer Britalian cuisine, i.e. Italian with British Twist (Ariffin and Maghzi, 2012). The
need, demand and preferences of customers are different as per their behaviours, geographical
and climatic change etc. So, The Clove Club must ensure that the services it provide will be able
to satisfy those needs of customer. There are several type of customers who visits restaurant to
avail services provided by The Clove Club, so it must ensure that the customer must be satisfied
with them. Following table describe about some type of customers and their need, want and
preference:
Questionnaire:
Type of customer Different types of customer needs
Disabled customer Menu in Brail Sufficient space to pass
between table
Access ramps
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Business person Meeting rooms Wi-Fi Mobile telephone
charging port
College students Space to work Wi-Fi Comfortable sofa to sit
on
As per the above mentioned table it can be observed that each customer is different in
term of their need, taste and preference which influence their choice regarding any restaurant. So
The Clove Club must try to analyse the needs of a customer and try to offer them services which
support in keeping them satisfied (Bilgihan, Kandampully and Zhang, 2016). Here, first
customer base targeted is disable customers in which they requires ramps for entering and
moving in restaurants, Menu in Brail for the one who are blind and sufficient space to move with
in the restaurant without any difficulties. These things are required to consider by The Clove
Club in order to attract the disable customers within their restaurants and enhancing their image
in marketplace.
Second customers category is business persons that generally visits the restaurants for
their official meetings or get together with key persons. For this they generally demand for
meeting rooms that are spacious, well arranged and peaceful. Apart from this for conducting
their meetings effectively they prefer restaurants which provide Wi-Fi and mobile charging
ports. Third customer category is college students where they generally visit restaurants to for
their refreshment, enjoyment and sometimes for completing their college work. So their
preference will be toward the restaurants which offer Wi-Fi, space to work and comfortable sofa
to sit on. Therefore, in order to maintain its customers base and improving their brand image
“The Clove Club” must try to analyse the need of their targeted customers for aligning services
offered as per their requirement.
P2. Factors which influence customer engagement of different target customer groups
Covered in poster
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TASK 2
P3. Create customer experience map
Customer experience mapping refers to the process of identifying that how the potential
customers or users feel engage with product or service that are being offered by company. This
includes number of stages through which a customer move when interacting with company
(Blázquez, 2014). As the main focus of each organisation is growth and this can be achieved by
providing major sources through which customer can collect information about the company and
make their decision regarding the selection of services.
The Clove Club must try to analyse the sources that a customers generally assess before
making their choice regarding selection of restaurant. The sources that are generally used by
customers for evaluating the information regarding product or services and quality it offers are
website, review sites, E-mails, Restaurant environment, Restaurant staff, Restaurant management
etc. These sources can be better understood using following points:
Website:- This is one of the best option through which The Clove Club can improve their
image and increase brand recognition within the marketplace by sharing picture of product and
by providing information regarding services over its official website. Further it can also share
experience which its regular customers have with its services (C. Harris and Daunt, 2013).
Customers can search the required information from these sources before making their decision.
An information represented in an effective and attractive manner also support in building up a
positive perception about the services that restaurant offer. It further help in improving their
experience at the time of getting services.
Restaurant management:- The arrangement and management that a restaurant present
to its customer also support in influencing the choice of customer. As if users get satisfied with
the services then they willing to visit restaurants again and also suggest others to try. So, The
Clove Club must provide appropriate training to its staff member regarding the way to interact
with customers and providing them services in a best possible manner to satisfy them. Apart
from this it also focuses on hiring the high skilled and qualified employees who have an ability
to perform their job effectively.
Restaurant Environment:- The ambience and environment that a restaurant have also
affect the choice of customers to visit again. Therefore, the management team of The Clove Club
must try to provide a environment of peace where customers feel comfortable and enjoy to visit
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restaurant (Cetin and Dincer, 2014). As effective environment will support in enhancing the
customer experience at restaurants which further support in getting positive mouth publicity.
Review Sites: This will help to gather the views of others about the quality of their
services and products offered by them. This will aid in creation of trust.
Text Messages and Emails: This will provides an opportunity regarding regarding
spread the information about the new offers
Telephone: This will includes about telephonic conversation with their premium
members which help in creation of effective bond with them .
P4. Explain customer touchpoints throughout customer experience
Customer touch points refers to the business jargon for any encounter where business as
well as customer engage in exchanging of information, providing services and handling
transactions. It includes the point of interaction between brand, product, businesses and
customers which support in altering the way in which a customer feel about brand, its product or
services. These touchpoints helps in enhancing the customer experience which further support
toward creating a business opportunity. The Clove Club must try to use effective touch points
that support them in enhancing their relationship with customers.
The most effective touchpoint that will help The Clove Club in enhancing customers
experience and in maintaining a long term relation with them is effective and informative
communication (Garg, Rahman and Qureshi, 2014). As a proper interaction between staff
members and customers will support in delighting them and making them feel valuable. So, for
this The Clove Club must provide training to its staff members related to the way of interaction
and methods to handles the issues that may be faced while serving customers. This training
provide them understanding about the way to use soft speaking skills along with appropriate
gesture that includes hand movement, facial expression, eye contact. These all act as a touch
point for enhancing the customer experience. A script is mentioned below which reflect about a
conversation between a customer and employee of The Clove Club:
Employee: Good Evening, sir.
Customer: Good Evening,
Employee: Sir, How can I help you?
Customer: Yes, I want a Chicken Burger and orange juice.
Employee: Wait for a minute, sir. Your order will be served soon.
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Customer: How much it costs?
Employee: Only 50£ sir.
Customer: Here is your amount
Employee: Thank you sir.
TASK 3
P5 Digital technology is employed in managing the customer experience
Digital technology plays an essential role in improving and enhancing the customer
experience by using the internet as a medium of providing services and creating value among
customers. This support a company in increasing their brand value and satisfying the demand of
customers. Digital transformation is affecting the business models which are being adopted by a
company for providing services.
Digitalisation support The Clove Club in enhancing their customer interaction which
ultimately helps an organisation in determine the demand of customers so that services can be align
as per their requirement. Following are the ways in which digitalisation support in improving the
customer experience:
 Chatbot:- It is a new revolution within business landscape by providing them better
equipments to handle customer services. It act as a virtual assistants which work toward
fulfilling a customer's demand by providing instant support service through voice, instant
message, SMS, website or mobile app. This support in improving customer satisfaction and
experiences.
 Big data analytics:- Under this approach The Clove Club ask customer to share their
personal data with them in order to receive personalised offers and discounts. This support
in enhancing the customer experience and also support in retaining customers for longer
period of time.
 Internet of Things(IoT):- The IoT helps a business in deploying an effective promotional
campaign by using different platform by maintaining a relationship between the digital and
real world activities. This support The Clove Club in attracting large number of customers
toward its services and contribute toward reducing the operational cost of it by increasing
productivity.
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The Clove Club operates its business in hospitality industry and mainly focused toward
maintaining an effective customer relations for its growth or success. Digital technology support in
effective customer relationship management by providing a software which integrates practices,
strategies and technologies that company uses to maintain an effective customer interactions.
Following are the ways in which CRM help The Clove Club in improving their customers
experience:
 By using CRM software, The Clove Club can maintain personal data of its regular
customers and can ask them for feedback through emails or phone calls for creating value.
 It can send gifts and greetings to its regular customers by maintaining details in order to
keep them have and remain first at their selection choice.
 It can also provide personalised services or some times home delivery of their dishes to its
loyal customers.
 What was the name of the company making the presentation?
Black and White
 What was the name of the person who made the presentation?
Julian Hook
 What is the name of the software programme that they demonstrated?
OPERA
 What are the key elements of their programme?
This programme mainly consist of table booking, reservation systems, EPOS system,
housekeeping, open table etc.
 Name some of their current customers.
Some of the current customers for Black and White are Travelodge, Marco Pierre White
Restaurant, Hilton International and more such hospitality organisations.
 How long have they been in business?
Black and White was incorporated in 2014 and the software which has been discussed in
the workshop is in action since 1970s.
 How does the Company see these programmes developing in the future?
In future prospect, Black and White is emphasizing upon increasing communication with its
guests.
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TASK 4
P6. Customer service strategy
Customer service is not just being polite to the customer, it's an essential element of business
operation that can impact bottom line and goodwill of clove club. Customer service matters more
then price because customers are willing to pay more for right services and experiences (Gyung
Kim and S. Mattila, 2013). Customer retention is the most important element of customer
service. Problems are always going to arise for any business no matter how hard one tries to
avoid them so good customer services helps in reducing problems. Furthermore, strategies
undertaken by clove club for better customer service are discussed under this report.
Strategies for better customer services
Make customer convenience a priority : Customer's should be given primary
importance and they should be of first priority. Identify customer needs in clove club and make
plans accordingly to meet those needs. Clove club should directly talk to the customers to find
out their perception of the services being provided and determining what their needs and
expectations are. This can be done by surveys, feedback forms etc.
Reward loyal customers : clove club should keep their customers happy by offering
them special incentives and offers. This could be an additional discount or free entry. When
clove club will reward their customers then, this will increase organisations brand value and
customers will visit again and again or may recommend to other people.
Greet your customer : Clove club should always take care to greet their customers
whether its over a phone, email or personal as it helps in developing strong customer experience.
It may seem like a simple greeting but that level of friendliness and being personal leaves a long
lasting impact on customer (Komunda and Osarenkhoe, 2012).
Add a chatterbox : Chatterbox are expansion of internet sales channel. This will help
clove club to provide better services to their customers by processing data and customers
histories in a very quick and effective way. This will help clove club to recognize who customer
was and will provide better offerings to them.
Uniformity in online and offline connection : When it comes to communicating
customers online whether email or any other social network , clove club should take care how
they speak to their customer's offline. Hence, always build uniformity between the organisations
digital presence and personal offline communication manner.
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Customization : It is the action of modifying something to suit a particular customer.
Clove club should always focus on customization that is a particular product or service should be
such that it can be customized according to the need of the customer easily. For instance,
customization in menu like customer may be allergic to some ingredient of the dish so that
should be made according to the customer's need.
P7. Customer service strategy in creating and developing the customer experience
Customer Audit Trail, Critical Observations
Name of hospitality business visited: The Clove Club
Date and time of visit: 20 October, 2018
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?
Light music and peaceful
environment attract the most.
The space between the tables
is very limited which
sometimes make it harder to
move when the crowd is
more.
Table must be arrange in a
systematic manner so that
customers can move effectively
from one place to another
without disturbing others.
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 ?
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Fire exist, direction arrows,
danger, do not touch etc. are
the sign boards which are
placed within the restaurant.
There is a confusion within
the tariffs as customers are
not being able to identify the
exact price of dishes.
Tariff Boards should be placed
and presented effectively so that
same problem will not rise in
future again.
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?
Some dishes are being
offered at economic price
with a better taste.
Alcohol or liquor related
products are over priced
The taste of some dishes are not
as per it promised by restaurant
and also over priced. So, if it
was my business then I would
provide value for the money
being paid by customers.
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 ?
It offer variety of Italian
dishes with British twist and
free Wi-Fi.
In case of large number of
customer entrance the
restaurant become messy.
I will be more focused toward
maintaining the sitting
arrangements well maintained
and premises clean by hiring
more staff for handling large
customer traffic.
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 behaviour of staff
members was very good and
cooperative with customers.
There are some employees
who are the not trained
effectively and are not able to
deliver services effectively.
I would hire skilled employees
and also provide training to
them for developing an
understanding among them
regarding the way to handle
situations.
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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 ?
The food is served within the
specific time period.
The ingredients get finished
at the time when large
number of people enter
within the restaurant. At that
time the food serving get
delayed.
If this would be my business
then I will prepare the lists of
required material in advance and
keep them stock for ensuring
that customers doesn't get
offend.
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 ?
Supplement services like Wi-
Fi, Charging ports etc. are
good.
The charging ports are very
limited that always remain
engaged and never left free.
I will arrange more charging
ports and event at every 3rd
table.
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 ?
Cash and card payments are
being acceptable by
restaurant.
Sometimes the payment
system get disrupted and take
time for processing which
increases the waiting time of
customers.
I would try to improve payment
system and also include other
mode of payment like mobile
app.
CONCLUSION
From the above given report it has been summarised that customer experience is one of
the most essential factor which contribute toward the growth of hospitality industry. It has been
observed that management team is responsible for the identifying the need and demand of
customers so that services can be improved and offered as per the requirement of target market.
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An organisation can use tools like website, restaurant environment, restaurant management as a
touch point for enhancing customer experience.
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REFERENCES
Books & Journals
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Management. 31(1). pp.191-198.
Bilgihan, A., Kandampully, J. and Zhang, T., 2016. Towards a unified customer experience in
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Blázquez, M., 2014. Fashion shopping in multichannel retail: The role of technology in
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C. Harris, L. and Daunt, K., 2013. Managing customer misbehavior: challenges and strategies.
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Yang, Y., Liu, X. and Li, J., 2015. How customer experience affects the customer-based brand
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pp.S97-S113.
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