Thomas Cook: Managing Customer Experience in the Travel Industry

This report analyzes customer experience management within Thomas Cook, a travel and tourism company. It begins by identifying the target market, emphasizing its benefits and importance, and explores factors influencing customer engagement across various customer groups, including bu...Read More

MANAGING CUSTOMER
EXPERIENCE

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................1
Target market, its benefits and importance.................................................................................1
Factors influence customers engagement ...................................................................................2
Determine on-boarding strategies for customer engagement factors .........................................2
Evaluate different target customers groups in terms of customers engagement.........................3
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................3
Create customer experience map and chart customer journey ...................................................3
Touch point of create opportunities throughout customer experience .......................................6
Creates charts customers journey model and examine activities ...............................................7
Analysis customer touch point to influence behaviour and action ............................................8
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................8
Digital technologies employed in managing customers experience ..........................................8
Use of digital technology in customer relationship management ..............................................9
Advantages and disadvantages of CRM system ........................................................................9
LO 4 ..............................................................................................................................................10
Customer services strategies(CSS) outline policies and objectives .........................................10
Customers services creates customers experience ...................................................................11
Recommendation for application of customer services strategies............................................11
Delivery customer services strategies and making recommendation for improvement ...........12
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Customer experience is the product of an interaction between company and customers
over duration of their relationship. It implies customer involvement and different levels such as
rational, emotional, physical etc. Customer experience management is designing and reacting
customer interaction to meet exceed their needs and wants(Lemon and Verhoef, 2016).This study
is based on Thomas Cook. Company deals in travel and tourism sectors. This assignment will
explain target market, its benefits and importance of understanding needs and wants, preferences
of target customer groups for travel industry. It will explore different factors influences
customers engagement of various target group of customer in travel organization.
LO 1
Target market, its benefits and importance
Target market:
Target market is group of customers within business's serviceable available market that
business has decided to its marketing efforts towards. It involving breaking market into segments
and then concentrating marketing efforts on one or few key segments consisting of customers
whose needs and desires most closely match with offering of products and services. It is key of
attracting business, increasing sales and making business success(Homburg, Jozić and Kuehnl,
2017).
Benefits and Importance of target market:
Target market is important for identifying customers loyalty for products and potential
growth of Thomas Cook in travel and tourism industry. Target market is essential or
understanding customers needs, expectation, taste and preferences for Thomas Cook. Such as:
Identifying potential growth: Manager of Thomas cook target small group of
consumers that offers firm large possibility to grow sales. Therefore, they are identifying
customer needs and wants towards this product and services.
Creating brand loyalty: With the help of target market, manager of Thomas Cook
creating brand loyalty towards customers(Tung, Chen and Schuckert, 2017). It is also possible by
identifying customers needs and wants for products and services of Thomas Cook.
1

Refine segmentation: With the help understand needs and wants of customers, manager
needs to refine their selecting segmentation for customers satisfaction. This assists in customers
demand and their expectation towards products and services of Thomas Cook.
Factors influence customers engagement
Customers engagement:
It is communication connection relating to business between consumers as well as
company through many channels of correspondence. This relation can be reaction, interaction,
effects or overall customers experiences that takes place online and offline(Srivastava and Kaul,
2016).This assists in increasing loyalty of customers towards product and services of Thomas
Cook.
Factors influencing customer engagement:
There are many factors that are influencing customer engagement with organization.
Such as follows:
Effective communication: It is big factor that effective communication with the
customers by organization. If Thomas cook operators are not effectively intercaste with their
customers, so that this decrease customer engagement with company. Through this factor
consumers are dissatisfied with organization(Yates, 2017).
Proper attention: It is necessary to give proper attention of each of customers those are
travelling. It is responsibility of operators of Thomas Cook for taking care of each and every
person who are purchased their services. If operators does not provide proper attention during the
travel, so that this decreases engagement with customers from organization.
Customer requirement: Every person have different requirements, needs and wants, so
that every companies make sure that providing products and services according to customers
requirements, needs and wants. In this context, Thomas Cook provides services according to
customers needs(Ordenes and et.al., 2014).
Determine on-boarding strategies for customer engagement factors
Customer on-boarding strategies:
2

It must be part of plan which is shared and agreed upon by all relevant teams included in
customers on-borading process. This includes initial contact, kick -off, training, adopting and
retention. There are two types strategies such as high tech, high touch on-borading.
High touch on-boarding: It includes two types of strategies such on-site, virtual,
champion based on-borading. In this context, company also offer high touch on-boarding
experience virtually through webinar or video call.
High tech on-borading: It involves various kinds of strategies like self services,
Milestone customers on-borading. In this context, it is directly interactions with the customers'
success team are infrequent(Lee, Lanting and Rojdamrongratana, 2017).
Segment Based on-boarding: It involves many types of strategies such as tiered, role
based customers on-borading. In this context, creating distinct on-borading paths based on roles
users have inside their organization.
Evaluate different target customers groups in terms of customers engagement
There are different types of customers group in travel and tourism organization such as
follows:
Business tourists: It is type of customers group in travel and tourism sector. During
business tourism, individual are still working and being paid, but are doing so away from both
their workplace and home. For example, sales who makes trips to different place to attend trade
fair for displaying their products. Therefore, Thomas Cook operators are providing business
travel package according to their needs and expectation.
Adventure tourists: It includes various trips such as river rafting, skydiving, shark cave
diving, rock climbing etc(Baker, 2016). Therefore, Thomas Cook operators are provided
adventure package for customers requirement. This assists in increasing customers' engagement
towards their product and services. There are many people who have passionate for adventure
trips like river rafting, shy-driving etc. so that, selected tour operator provide adventure trip for
these people that help in increasing customer engagement and sales of business.
Leisure Tourists: These tourists are travelling only for fun, entertainment, rest,
relaxation according weather. Therefore, Thomas Cook operators are providing holiday packages
3

according requirements of these people. This assists in increasing customers' attraction towards
their product and services.
LO 2
Create customer experience map and chart customer journey
Customer experience map:
Customer experience mapping is the process of strategically and visually laying out and
mapping all customer interactions and experience according to their story with brand. This helps
in improving customers experience towards product and services of Thomas Cook in travel and
tourism industry.
Customers journey mapping:
Customers journey mapping is the action of creating customers journey map or mapping
out customer journeys. It is visual representation of the whole consumers journeys that is action
and engagements of users across all touch points(Customer Journey Map, 2018).
4

5

Customer journey mapping:
Customer experience manager of Thomas Cook often struggle with creating customer
journeys maps. It is ideal to have well-designed customer journey map share with whole
company. There are some steps are included in map such as follows:
Explore Itineraries: It includes touchpoints such as tour detail, booking page, pre sales
support etc. User personas are often starting point for creating customers journey maps. It
focuses on drives customers to take action and critical moments of truth for customer across
channels.
Book Tour: It involves touchpoints such as tour booking and company apps. Once
manager of Thomas Cook have user personas, creating model for all stages of the customer
journey. They make sketch with all touch points customers is likely to interact with.
Pre Tour: It includes touchpoints such as tickets and tour detail page etc. Once manager
of Thomas Cook have basic minimum of customers journeys map, they are outlined customer
actions at each of these different stages.
During Tour: It includes touchpoints such as tour guide etc. Manager of Thomas Cook
find out drives customer to interact with brand and buy from them. These driving forces behind
customers motivations.
Post Tour: It involves touchpoints like photo album. Manager of Thomas Cook find out
stopping along their customer journey by know about customers motivation.
Touch point of create opportunities throughout customer experience
Touch points:
A touch point is any of time a potential customers' or consumers comes in contact with
brand-before, during after they purchase something from company. There are various touch
points that are creating opportunities throughout customers experience(Customer Touch Points,
2018). Such as email, customers services, mobile phones, websites, post order, invoicing blog
etc. There are another classical type of touch points like awareness, discover, purchase, use of
product and services, bonding with product etc.
6

Awareness: It includes customer as well as organization awareness towards product and
services. In terms of customer awareness involves quality, pricing, experiences etc. In order to
that organization awareness includes providing effective quality services, improving online
presences etc.
Discover: It includes review of available phones and costs, trial of potential phones at
stores, reviews of phones and options. Through websites, store, web forums, company are
discover customer experience towards their product and services, their journey and other things.
Purchase: It includes purchase at store. This step is taken by trial and reviews from
website of company.
Use of product and services: It includes utilizes of product and services of Thomas
Cook form social media platforms.
Bonding with product: It includes customer attraction and bonding with products and
services of Thomas Cook. This increases experience and expectation of consumers.
7
Illustration 1: Customer Touch Points
Source: (Customer Touch Points, 2018)

Creates charts customers journey model and examine activities
Customer journey model:
There are many activities and steps includes in customers journey mapping to creating
opportunities of company. Such as follows:
Customer persona: The first step is creating journey map for understanding customers
of company by customer experience manager of Thomas Cook. It is not sufficient to have just
one buyer characters. With the help of interaction from different people, identify buying stages
of consumers.
Understand buyer goals: Once manager have to built buyers personas, they take next
step is to understand each of them hopes to achieve as they go through customers journey. It is
necessary to know about their customers ultimate goals in each phase (Pansari and Kumar,
2017). It involves identify the paths regarding visitors take sites. Other activities involves
browsing, searching for products etc.
Map out consumer touchpoints: A touch point refers to any time customer comes into
contact with their brand. This includes moments that happen on online or offline through
marketing in person or over the phone.
Identify customers pain points: It is step when manager is identifying pain points in
consumer journey. They are also noted down areas where currently doing thing rights and figure
out ways to improve.
Update and improve: Due to customer are constantly changing and evolving, manager
customer journey map is doing same as well. It is necessary to grow and development this
document.
Analysis customer touch point to influence behaviour and action
Customer experience manager identify different touch points of customers towards
product and services of Thomas Cook(Torres, Fu and Lehto, 2014). But, these points influences
on behaviour, action, responses of consumers to enhance customer experience. Such as follows:
Dynamic influences: It is essential to consider experience at each stage of customer
experiences in which pre purchase, purchase and post purchase that influences current
experiences. Dynamic effects on customer experience can increase within customer as consumer
8

themselves change over time after repeated experiences with product and after specific
experience.
External influences: It includes customers' dynamic external environment can have
significant influences on customer experience. Extreme crises have strong, negative and
enduring effect on customer actions. It also includes economic conditions such as recession etc.
influences customer behaviour across firm.
LO 3
Digital technologies employed in managing customers experience
Customer relationship management system(CRM):
There are different types of CRM system such as operational, analytical, collaborative
customer relationship management system. This assists in tracking and sharing data of customer
towards product and services of Thomas Cook. In this context, these types are such as follows:
Operational CRM: This system helps in better manage operations on daily basis such as
marketing, sales and customer services.
Analytical CRM: This system assists in tracking customers interaction and improving
customers acquisition and retention processes of organization.
Collaborative CRM: This system is strength for engagement across different
departments, suppliers, stakeholder of organization.
In order to that, digital technology is employed in travel and tourism industry for
enhancing consumer experience. It includes travel websites, apps, tour system, smartphone
communication apps (Torres, Fu and Lehto, 2014). These digital technologies have potential to
give tourism business in emerging destination direct access to global market of travel consumers.
In the travel websites and apps involves research, booking, travel update, loyalty points,
boarding passes etc.
Use of digital technology in customer relationship management
Customer relationship management is the business practice of fostering and maintaining
relationship with customers through different various platforms, practices and technologies. In
practices tool to organize, automate, make more efficient and improve such as sales, marketing,
customers support and technical support.
9

Customer relationship management helps in businesses acquire new customers, capture
customer data for marketing purpose and retain customers for greater return on investment.
Digital interface and smartphones: With the help of digital technologies, people are
using smart devices to monitoring everything. It helps in potential for linking smart devices to
new systems is continuing to grow customer to business agreement.
Social Media: With the help of digital technologies, every person uses social media. It
has enabled business to collect feedback and implement appropriate changes for better customers
services(Homburg, Jozić and Kuehnl, 2017). This helps in increasing customer relationship
management by Thomas Cook.
Company websites: Thomas Cook's manager make sure that update information about
company. With the help of this, customers are taking more information about organization, its
products and services etc.
Advantages and disadvantages of CRM system
Customer relationship management:
It is an approach to manage organization's interaction with current and potential
customers. It utilises data analysis about consumers' history with firm to improve business
relationship with customers. Therefore, customers experience manager of Thomas Cook focusing
on customer retention and ultimately increasing sales growth of organization.
Advantage of CRM:
CRM is very essential and advantageous for knowing about their experience, improving
their existing customers, finding new customers. There are other many advantages of customer
relationship management in the organization. Such as follows:
Increase customer services: With the help of CRM, customer experience manager of
Thomas Cook. It is capability to add personal touch to existing relationship between business
and customers (Tung, Chen and Schuckert, 2017). This reduces customers agitation and build on
their loyalty to the business.
Increase customers loyalty: CRM is beneficial in measuring customer loyalty in less
costly manner. With the help of customers loyalty, business promote their services to new
prospect based on approval.
10

Optimizing marketing: CRM enables business understand needs and behaviour of their
customers. This allows business to identify correct time to market their products to customers.
Disadvantages of CRM:
There are many potential drawback of customers relationship management in the
organization. Such as follows:
Maintenance: CRM support and maintenance is not by installing open sources CRM can
be easy. The proper up keeping of open sources CRM requires lot of technical
expertise(Srivastava and Kaul, 2016).
Limited functionality: Open sources CRM almost cater to all basic needs of
organization but it is not suit business, if managers are looking for full fledged CRM solution.
The functionality of open sources CRM is limited to an extent and comes with its their
shortcoming.
LO 4
Customer services strategies(CSS) outline policies and objectives
Various customer service strategy is been taken in consideration by the firm that will help
the organisation to carry out the business activities and operations to a greater extent. This
strategies will not only help the firm to have a good growth and development but will lead the
organisation to enhance their service qualities and having a good customer satisfaction level.
Other than this, it will help the organisation to meet the business operations and activities in
much suitable manner. Some of the major CSS are:
 Giving the customers excellent product knowledge. This will help in promoting better
services and thus will help in placing the selected hospitality firm in much effective and
significant manner.
 Training the employees to understand and meet the customers’ requirements in much
effective manner. A frustrated customer and an in effective employee will impact the
growth and development of the firm in more effective manner(Yates, 2017),
 Having a good infrastructure is also important as its absence can make the customers
reluctant to purchase and have the services from the selected travel and tourism firm,
Thomas Cook.
11

 Resolving the customer’s issues in most effective manner is the best way to meet the
needs and requirements of their troubled customers in the most effective manner.
Customers services creates customers experience
The Thomas Cook will undertake the effective business operations and activities that will
help them to have a good rise in the meeting of the effective business operations and activities.
This will also assist the organisation to hear the complaints and feedback for their services and
get the proper solution of the issues faced to maintain the customer satisfaction level. Other than
this, the effective and timely resolution of the issues that are related to the organisation will help
the firm to maintain the quality standards that are been set by them(Ordenes and et.al., 2014).
This will also lead the organisation to have the suitable growth and action plans that will help the
firm to carry out the business activities in much effective manner.
Recommendation for application of customer services strategies
The customer service strategies that are been set will help the firm to carry out the
business activities and operations in much effective and suitable manner. The development of a
good infrastructure, enhancing the business activities and leading the organisation to have a
better management of customer complaints will help the organisation to enhance their service
quality and thus will help in setting up of effective operations and services that will help the
organisation to manage the business operations in much effective and suitable manner(Lee,
Lanting and Rojdamrongratana, 2017). It will also help in improving the customer satisfaction
level, enhancing the overall customer satisfaction level and meeting the set standards.
Delivery customer services strategies and making recommendation for improvement
There are many customers services strategies that are useful to business for increasing
customers experience, loyalty towards their product and services, pricing to their organization.
Such as identifying customers types, conduct internal and external customers' satisfaction,
measures current state performance of each customers services process, process map customer
services process requiring improvement etc.
Recommendation:
 Customers experience manager should follow these strategies for improving their
consumers experience towards services of company.
 They should adopt strategies for identifying needs and wants of customers.
12

 With the help of strategies, manager should improving customer services process relevant
to each customer types.
 Through this, manager should identifying opportunities for business and achieving targets
as well as performance of business (Ordenes and et.al., 2014).
 With the help of this, manager increases productivity, capability and performance of
Thomas Cook.
CONCLUSION
This report has summarised that understand customer needs and wants by target
customers group in Thomas Cook. It can be concluded that effective communication, proper
attention, customer requirement that are affecting customer engagement. It can be discussed that
customer experience map and customer touch points are beneficial for customer experience
during travelling.
13

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Baker, M. A., 2016. Managing customer experiences in hotel chains. The Routledge handbook of
hotel chain management, pp.240-250.
Homburg, C., Jozić, D. and Kuehnl, C., 2017. Customer experience management: toward
implementing an evolving marketing concept. Journal of the Academy of Marketing
Science. 45(3). pp.377-401.
Lee, K. W., Lanting, M. C. L. and Rojdamrongratana, M., 2017. Managing customer life cycle
through knowledge management capability: a contextual role of information
technology. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence. 28(13-14). pp.1559-1583.
Lemon, K. N. and Verhoef, P. C., 2016. Understanding customer experience throughout the
customer journey. Journal of Marketing. 80(6). pp.69-96.
Ordenes, F. V. and et.al., 2014. Analyzing customer experience feedback using text mining: A
linguistics-based approach. Journal of Service Research. 17(3). pp.278-295.
Pansari, A. and Kumar, V., 2017. Customer engagement: the construct, antecedents, and
consequences. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. 45(3). pp.294-311.
Srivastava, M. and Kaul, D., 2016. Exploring the link between customer experience–loyalty–
consumer spend. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services. 31. pp.277-286.
Torres, E. N., Fu, X. and Lehto, X., 2014. Examining key drivers of customer delight in a hotel
experience: A cross-cultural perspective. International Journal of Hospitality
Management. 36. pp.255-262.
Tung, V. W. S., Chen, P. J. and Schuckert, M., 2017. Managing customer citizenship behaviour:
The moderating roles of employee responsiveness and organizational
reassurance. Tourism Management. 59. pp.23-35.
Yates, J., 2017, March. Managing service quality in a software defined network. In Optical Fiber
Communication Conference(pp. M2H-4). Optical Society of America.
14

Online
Customer Journey Map, 2018. [ONLINE]. Available through. : <https://www.adgo.io/blog/how-
to-create-a-customer-journey-map-from-awareness-to-conversion>.
Customer Touch Points, 2018. [ONLINE]. Available through. :
<http://company.daniellemacinnis.com/customer-centric-marketing/>.
15