Customer Experience Management: A Report on Thomas Cook

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Managing the Customer Experience
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Task 1 -LO1 and LO2......................................................................................................................5
Introduction..................................................................................................................................5
Explaining why the organisation carries out market segmentation and customer profiling
activities to determine its ‘target market’....................................................................................6
Examine the different ways in which customers can be profiled, and how the wants, needs and
expectations of the ‘target market’ drive the products and services offer of the organisation....7
Evaluating the drivers of customer engagement across a broad range of different target
customer groups.........................................................................................................................10
Conclude by reviewing the different strategies that are employed for on-boarding these diverse
customers...................................................................................................................................14
2. Customer experience map for Thomas Cook........................................................................17
Optimisation of the customer touch points................................................................................20
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................21
Part 2- LO4....................................................................................................................................22
Introduction................................................................................................................................22
Evaluation of customer service strategies in Thomas Cook......................................................22
Demonstration of creation of customer service strategies and development of customer
experience for meeting their needs............................................................................................23
Recommendations for developing quality customer service at Thomas Cook..........................23
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................24
Part 3- LO3....................................................................................................................................25
Introduction................................................................................................................................25
Specific examples on employment of digital technology in managing customer experience...25
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Evaluation of advantages and disadvantages of CRM system in business of Thomas Cook....26
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................27
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................28
Reference list.................................................................................................................................29
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Introduction
A number of external and internal factors affects organisational functions and strategies. The
study, in the broader context, will elucidate the involvement of the consumers in augmenting the
sales of Thomas Cook. Further, it will highlight the importance of market segmentation with
consumer profiling. Along with this, strategies will be designed to improve customer
management services. In this context, it would also be highlighted the importance of
communication in enhancing the customers' experiences. In addition to this, the role of digital
technology, in regards to management will also be assessed.
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Task 1 -LO1 and LO2
Introduction
The study will highlight the requirement of market segmentation along with the needs and ways
to do customer profiling. In addition to this, the study will also help to evaluate the diverse
drivers of customer engagement along with the strategies that will help to on-board the diverse
types of consumers. Apart from this, a customer experience map will be framed to analyse the
customer touch points.
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Explaining why the organisation carries out market segmentation and customer profiling
activities to determine its ‘target market’
Market segmentation is a common activity carried out by all organisations in order to create
groups according to the perception of the consumers (Venter et al., 2015). Market segmentation
helps the marketing team of Thomas Cook in creating a customised marketing mix for the
identified groups. It makes easier for the organisation to meet the demands of the target market
easily. For instance, the consumers of the services provided by Thomas Cook can be divided
chiefly into two categories. One comes in the economic class while others are in the category of
business class. Henceforth, by segmenting the market, it would be possible for Thomas Cook to
target the entire mass. In addition to this, it will also help the organisation to use its resources
effectively.
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Customer profiling is one of the most essential marketing tools that aid the organisation to
understand the consumers so that they are able to make better decisions (Sturari et al.,2016).
With the help of profiling, it becomes possible for Thomas Cook to obtain a description of the
consumers on the grounds of certain attributes. In addition to this, it helps the firms to analyse
the profile as per the product type, frequency and spending patterns. This would immensely help
the organisation to identify the most profitable customer group. This, in turn, will help the
company to look for the prospects and target them effectively.
Examine the different ways in which customers can be profiled, and how the wants, needs
and expectations of the ‘target market’ drive the products and services offer of the
organisation
The customers can be profiled based on a number of elements such as-
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Demographic: it helps in the profiling of the consumers on the basis of age, gender, ethnicity
and education.
Socioeconomics: This element of customer profiling is based on attributes such as the household
income, occupation and so on of the consumers. This will help Thomas Cook to know the type of
service that should be provided to the group (Walters and Bekker, 2017).
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Psychographics: it helps to profile the consumers on the grounds of their beliefs and behaviour.
In addition to this, hobbies, personality and so on are also considered. This information plays a
vital role in helping the organisation to decide the way by which the firm needs to relay its
message to the target group without hurting their sentiments.
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The customer profiles along with collecting feedbacks from the consumer play a crucial role in
helping Thomas Cook in gathering information related to the needs and wants of the consumers.
This plays an important role in helping the organisation to determine its strategies and the
services that they need to serve the target group. For instance, all the consumers will not prefer a
stay at a 5-star hotel on their vacation trip. Henceforth, it is crucial that the company needs to
have vacation services that meet the demand of all the group of the people.
Evaluating the drivers of customer engagement across a broad range of different target
customer groups
Customer engagement is described as the willingness that the consumer shows in interacting as
well as communicating with the organisation for obtaining their services as well as products. It is
vital for all the organisations to take into consideration certain strategies so that the firms are able
to attract consumers to buy their products and services. The drivers that will help in improving
customer engagement are the following:
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Learning: It is one of the key drivers of consumer engagement as it is involved in the process of
acquisition of the cognitive competencies in relation to the consumption, which affects the
engagement of the consumers. As per the study conducted by Jaakkola and Alexander (2014)
firms can engage the consumers with the help of learning. Along with this, the exchange of
information, as well as the information environment, plays a vital role in affecting the
engagement level of the consumer.
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Sharing: The sharing behaviour of the consumer is one of the most important driver of consumer
engagement. This is because of the involvement of the consumers in the process of sharing the
information, knowledge as well as experiences (Brodie et al., 2013). It may be in the form of
sharing reviews on social media. This adversely influences the other consumers in making their
decision to opt for the services of the organisation.
Advocating: This driver indicates the role of the consumer’s expression in recommending the
services of Thomas Cook to others. The loyal customers play a crucial role in improving
customer engagement.
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