A Comprehensive Literature Review on The Consumer Experience

This report offers a comprehensive literature review on the multifaceted concept of consumer experience. It delves into various theoretical frameworks, including those related to customer purchasing behavior, brand loyalty promotion, and the significance of service quality. The report examines the role of relationship marketing, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), consumer centricity, and consumer engagement in enhancing customer experience. Furthermore, it explores the management and measurement of consumer experience, highlighting key strategies and touchpoints. The review also identifies gaps in current research, providing a holistic understanding of the factors that contribute to positive consumer experiences and their impact on business success. The paper highlights the need for a multidisciplinary approach to consumer experience management, integrating customer service, relationship marketing, and online marketing strategies. Finally, the report emphasizes the importance of measuring customer experience to assess a firm's success in satisfying its customers.

Running head: THE CONSUMER EXPERIENCE
THE CONSUMER EXPERIENCE
Name of Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1THE CONSUMER EXPERIENCE
Abstract
In the present competitive market, customer experience has gained much value among the
business firms. This paper aims at evaluating and reviewing the current literatures present on
the context of customer experience. It has been found that customer experience is built on a
wide scale of agendas. It is also noted that strategies related to customer experience
management and customer experience measurement are two important aspects in examining
the extent to which a firm is able to attain satisfaction on the part customers regarding their
experience with the firm. In conclusion, it has been observed that consumer experience is a
concept that has a wide range of effects on a brand’s popularity as well as on its growth.

2THE CONSUMER EXPERIENCE
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Discussion..................................................................................................................................3
Consumer Experience Theories.............................................................................................3
Role of Customer Purchasing Behavior.............................................................................3
Promotion of Consumer Brand Loyalty.............................................................................4
Importance of Quality of Service in Enhancing Customer Experience.............................5
Relationship Marketing Strategies in Enhancing Customer Experience...........................5
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in Enhancing Customer Experience...........6
Consumer Centricity and Consumer Engagement in Improving Customer Experience....7
Role of Consumer Experience Management in Ensuring Positive Customer Experience.....7
Importance of Consumer Experience Measurement..............................................................8
Literature Gap..........................................................................................................................10
Conclusion................................................................................................................................10
References................................................................................................................................11

3THE CONSUMER EXPERIENCE
Introduction
Over the years, the creation of high quality customer experience has become a leading
concern among the objectives in the management industry. The focus on consumer
experience has rapidly gained importance, because in the recent years, consumers have begun
to interact with the business organizations through various mediating channels like feedback
portals, company official site, social media and surveys. This literature review proposes to
evaluate and analyze the current articles published in this context. The first section of the
paper discusses the various theories and models for the different agendas present within the
definition of customer experience. The second section discusses the management of customer
experience in the business and management industry. The third section provides discussion
on the measurement of customer experience. The fourth section presents and demonstrates on
the topics that have not been yet researched or discussed in the context of customer
experience.
Discussion
Consumer Experience Theories
Consumer experience attributes to certain qualities on the part of the customers as
well as the industry or business organizations the customers are related to (Peppers and
Rogers 2016). There are various agendas within the consumer experience that mainly forms
the framework of the experience of the customer. Among these are the customer purchasing
behavior, customer’s loyalty and satisfaction towards the brand, the quality of service that the
firm offers, relationship marketing, customer engagement, customer focus or customer
centricity, and customer relationship management (CRM).

4THE CONSUMER EXPERIENCE
Role of Customer Purchasing Behavior
Various theories focus on the factors motivating the customer purchasing behavior
and their purchasing experience. Among the many models the most important and influential
is the model developed by Howard and Sheth that determines the direction of the purchasing
process of the consumers, moving from requirement to recognition, to purchasing and finally
to the assessment of the product purchased (Lemon and Verhoef 2016). A different model
was developed in the context of the role of advertisements that influence a consumer’s buying
decisions –the Attention-Interest-Desire-Action Model (AIDA) (Wolny and Charoensuksai
2014). The AIDA model explains the process of a customer’s engagement with the firm.
When it comes to marketing, it is important to get the attention of the customers or the
potential customers through advertising that the relates with the customers, which in turn
develops an interest in the product or service of the firm among the customers. Once the
customers have established an interest in the products, the firm develops strategies to induce
a desire of purchasing the product within the customers by demonstrating services beneficial
to them, which then drives them into the action of buying the product. These models have
been sufficiently influential in determining the factors that inspire the purchasing decisions of
consumers.
Promotion of Consumer Brand Loyalty
There have been extensive studies conducted that confirmed that customer satisfaction
rising out of the firm’s performance has had positive impacts on the customer’s response and
in the retention of customer brand loyalty (Ramaseshan and Stein 2014). Customer brand
loyalty is influenced by many factors. To state an instance, a firm’s pricing strategies
influence customer brand loyalty. High cost functions usually fail at retaining brand loyalty
on part of the customers who are highly price-conscious. However, consumers with
established brand trust on the service of a firm are more likely to retain brand loyalty. Again,

5THE CONSUMER EXPERIENCE
customers who identifies personally with a brand are likely to retain their loyalty towards the
firm because of brand symbolism. Such factors influence a customer’s satisfaction regarding
the brand experience. Satisfaction and brand loyalty evaluates the perceptions of the
consumers on the consumer experience and helps in the formation of a comprehensive
understanding of the factors working at the enhancement of customer experience.
Importance of Quality of Service in Enhancing Customer Experience
Service marketing came to be considered as a different area in the management
framework in the recent years. Business organizations have realized that service marketing is
much more beneficial than product marketing and has a stronger impact on the customers
(Nasution et al. 2014). Service marketing is the process of recognizing, framing,
communicating and serving customers value and managing the relationship with the
customers in such a manner that would benefit both the stakeholders and the organization.
Service- marketing emerged as a protesting paradigm against the product-centric activities of
the firms. Service –marketing ensures that not only the products but also the service of a firm
towards a customer is important in determining the experience of the customers with a firm.
To this end, have been developed the SERVQUAL model that determines the quality of the
service provided by the firms and how it enhances customer experience through customer
satisfaction.
Relationship Marketing Strategies in Enhancing Customer Experience
Consumer experience theories claim that relationship marketing promotes and
advertises the relationship quality that includes factors like trust and commitment towards the
customers and is important for the determination of consumer experience (Miquel, Caplliure
and Adame 2014). Relationship marketing can be referred to as an arrangement that ensures
an interest in a satisfying exchange on the parts of both the customers and the firms. Such
strategies focus mostly on maintaining long-term and committed relationships between

6THE CONSUMER EXPERIENCE
customers and firms. It is believed that research marketing is most influential in the presence
of a range of competitive products in the market form which the consumers can choose to
buy. One of the few popular strategies that can be influential in establishing successful
relationship marketing is a web-based approach to the customers. With the rising popularity
of the Web2.0 and advanced technology, most customers find it convenient to engage in
online purchasing activities. It is, therefore, recommended that business firms apply strategies
that involve online purchasing portals to ensure a better and convenient experience for the
customers that in turn guarantees a more stable relationship with the customers.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in Enhancing Customer Experience
While relationship marketing mainly focuses on the creation of long-term and strong
relationships with the customers, CRM mainly focuses on the effective utilization of
customer relationships for the company profits. In this context, Payne and Frow mentions that
maintaining good and long-term relationships with consumers is no longer the major concern
(Peppers and Rogers 2016). Major studies have found out ways to implement strategies in a
manner that ensures customer retention and better customer experience as well as a growth in
the company’s revenue. Some of the strategies to ensure better customer relationship
management include collection of personal data of customers such as birthdays and
anniversaries. This will help in gaining a better understanding of the customer and their needs
and demands. The CRM team of a business must have knowledge of the most influential and
high priority customers of their firm. Such an approach is called target-based allocation and
ensures that the high priority customers who have invested much in the company’s profit
receive the best service. The CRM team must also be efficient in providing quick replies to a
customer’s complaints. They must ensure proper investigation into the matters and take quick
action as a response to a customer’s grievances with service provided by the firm.

7THE CONSUMER EXPERIENCE
Consumer Centricity and Consumer Engagement in Improving Customer Experience
Studies have suggested the importance of consumer-centered marketing in improving
the consumer experience. They suggest that there are four stages to ensuring effective
consumer-centered marketing –collaboration of consumer data, attaining views on the
consumers from their past behaviors to understand, development of a comprehensive
understanding of their future possible behavior, and responding to the valuable feedback of
the consumers (Jaakkola and Alexander 2014). Theories have also been developed that give
much importance to customer engagement. Customer engagement ensures the participation of
consumers in activities that go beyond the act of purchasing. Customer engagement helps in
creating a stable relationship between customers and the firms, enabling the customers to
engage in the company decisions. This creates a sense of value among the customers and
enhances the consumer experience.
Role of Consumer Experience Management in Ensuring Positive Customer Experience
Studies consider the management of consumer experience as the procedure that
includes framing strategies for the management of the complete consumer experience
associated with the service rendered by the firm in consideration. According to studies based
on the subject, there are five paradigms to the consumer experience management. The first
includes the evaluation of the satisfaction of the customers regarding their previous
experiences. The second involves building an appropriate platform for the implementation of
strategies aimed at customer experience improvement. The third involves developing
innovative and unique ideas specific to the brand in order to increase brand loyalty by
enhancing customer experience. The fourth includes constructing and framing the steps to be
taken to improve the customer experience associated with a brand. The fifth requires constant
upgradation of the business strategies to ensure better consumer experience (Homburg, Jozic
and Kühnl 2013). However, many studies have emphasized on managing consumer

8THE CONSUMER EXPERIENCE
experience by addressing the consumer touch-points. Such studies refer to consumer
experience management as the cultural approach towards the experience of the customers and
the ability of the firm to upgrade and update their management strategies directed towards a
positive customer experience for the purpose of accomplishing customer retention. According
to most research enthusiasts on this topic, there are specific touch points around which the
framework of customer experience strategies must be developed (Jozic 2015). Such touch
points that contribute to the improvement of consumer experience include mediating channels
for customer feedback, advertisements and other promotional campaigns.
Management of consumer experience also has a significant effect on the business
organization. In the context of Customer Relationship Management (CRM), a firm’s
strategies that are customer-oriented prove beneficial for the firm as well. It renders them a
better understanding of the consumer experience and enables to improve them their consumer
experience management. It is therefore, often recommended that firms develop strategies and
approaches to provide effective management of the customer experience (Eichorn 2017).
Furthermore, management of customer experience requires an approach that is
multidisciplinary and multifunctioning like customer service, relationship and service
marketing and also online marketing strategies (Fatma 2014). Additionally, organizations
need to have essential abilities like management of partner networks and evaluation of
customer behavior in both past and present business scenarios.
Importance of Consumer Experience Measurement
Measuring customer experience is important for understanding and forming
recommendations beneficial for the firm. Firms assess the experiences of the customers in
order to evaluate the extent of their success in satisfying their customers. However, there does
not exist any solid or strong measurement approach yet to evaluate every dynamic of the
customer experience other than approaches like the SERVEQUAL. In fact, a better way to

9THE CONSUMER EXPERIENCE
evaluate customer experience at the present time, is determining the extent of customer
satisfaction through the Net Promoter Score (NPS). Customer feedback collection channels
both online and offline that emphasizes on specific aspects of customer experience like the
Customer Effort Score (CES) (Peppers and Rogers 2016). The customer feedback channels
also help the firms to evaluate and anticipate possible customer behavior. It should also be
noted that the customer’s journey from purchasing to using the product moves across specific
touch points which directly affects the consumer’s decisions of buying (Stein and
Ramaseshan 2016). It is therefore, important for firms to recognize those key touch-points
that significantly influence and inspire the purchase decisions of the customers which in turn
can create a positive customer experience.
Customers have been seen to evaluate their experiences from a longitudinal
perspective (Klaus and Maklan 2013). They tend to judge a firm even before they have had
any actual experience with the firm considered. Such an approach initiates from presentations
of advertisements, promotional strategies and from the word-of mouth (Verleye 2015). It is
therefore extremely important for the marketing officials to measure the experience quality of
the customers both before as well as after encountering with customers in matters regarding
to the service. However, this may pose challenges for the marketing officials. If the time
frame used for assessing customer experience is too long it would make it difficult for the
marketing officials to differentiate the customers’ experiences form the strategic perceptions
of the brand. However, a too short time-frame would result in a faulty and less elaborate
measurement of the experience quality of customers. Moreover, a quantifying approach to the
measurement of customer experience must have a more empirical and direct impact on the
customers’ behavior for improving the relationship between customer satisfaction and the
business outcomes.

10THE CONSUMER EXPERIENCE
Literature Gap
Although customer experience and enhancement of customer experience is a widely
researched topic, there is still scope for conducting more extensive research on the context.
As mentioned earlier, there is no strong empirical approach to conduct effective measurement
of customer experience. Studies must be conducted and theories must be developed to
provide ways to measure customer satisfaction and the quality of experience of customers in
a more effective manner. With the advancement of technology and the emergence of Web
2.0, it is necessary that firms establish web-based approaches in strategies involving customer
experience. However, there is not much research conducted on how a web-based approach
can differ from the traditional approach towards customer experience and how can it be
different in affecting the business growth. Research must also be conducted on developing
new tools, preferably web-based, to effectively manage and measure customer experience
and its impact on the development of the firms.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be said that consumer experience is a rising issue in
understanding the extent of a company’s success. Customer satisfaction, brand loyalty of the
customers, the firm’s service quality, strategies adopted by the firm for the sake of Customer
Relationship Management (CRM) are just a few factors among the ones that determine a
customer’s experience with an association. It has also been seen that effective customer
experience management and effective customer experience measurement are essential
requirements to ensure enhanced and highly positive customer experience.

11THE CONSUMER EXPERIENCE
References
Eichorn, F.L., 2017. Internal customer relationship management (IntCRM) a framework for
achieving customer relationship management from the inside out. Management (open-
access), 2, p.1.
Fatma, S., 2014. Antecedents and consequences of customer experience management-a
literature review and research agenda. International Journal of Business and Commerce, 3(6),
pp.32-49.
Homburg, C., Jozic, D. and Kühnl, C., 2013. Customer Experience Management. IMU
Research Insights, 19.
Jaakkola, E. and Alexander, M., 2014. The role of customer engagement behavior in value
co-creation: a service system perspective. Journal of Service Research, 17(3), pp.247-261.
Jozic, D., 2015. Customer experience management (Doctoral dissertation).
Klaus, P. and Maklan, S., 2013. Towards a better measure of customer experience.
Lemon, K.N. and Verhoef, P.C., 2016, November. Understanding customer experience
throughout the customer journey. American Marketing Association.
Miquel-Romero, M.J., Caplliure-Giner, E.M. and Adame-Sánchez, C., 2014. Relationship
marketing management: Its importance in private label extension. Journal of Business
Research, 67(5), pp.667-672.
Nasution, R.A., Sembada, A.Y., Miliani, L., Resti, N.D. and Prawono, D.A., 2014. The
customer experience framework as baseline for strategy and implementation in services
marketing. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 148, pp.254-261.