Managing the customer experience has become a top priority for marketing managers and researchers. Research on customer experience management (CEM) has traditionally adopted a customer’s viewpoint. Few studies have explicitly embraced an organizational perspective, and existing research focuses mainly on business-to-consumer settings. The present study espouses the utility of CEM in business-to-business (B2B) settings on the grounds that interactions in B2B contexts are also “experienced”. It explains how B2B firms can design and manage the customer experience to influence the customer at different touchpoints. The paper develops a comprehensive framework that characterizes CEM in B2B. The paper articulates key challenges for B2B CEM; relationship ex- pectations (mismatches in customer relationships, siloed customer experiences); actor interaction issues (mis- matches across the customer’s journey, lack of touchpoint control); and temporal challenges (dynamics of the customer experience). The paper draws out the theoretical implications and develops managerial implications for B2B firms.

Characterizing customer experience management in business markets / Witell, Lars; Kowalkowski, Christian; Perks, Helen; Raddats, Chris; Schwabe, Maria; Benedettini, Ornella; Burton, Jamie. - In: JOURNAL OF BUSINESS RESEARCH. - ISSN 0148-2963. - STAMPA. - 116:(2020), pp. 420-430. [10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.08.050]

Characterizing customer experience management in business markets

Ornella Benedettini;
2020-01-01

Abstract

Managing the customer experience has become a top priority for marketing managers and researchers. Research on customer experience management (CEM) has traditionally adopted a customer’s viewpoint. Few studies have explicitly embraced an organizational perspective, and existing research focuses mainly on business-to-consumer settings. The present study espouses the utility of CEM in business-to-business (B2B) settings on the grounds that interactions in B2B contexts are also “experienced”. It explains how B2B firms can design and manage the customer experience to influence the customer at different touchpoints. The paper develops a comprehensive framework that characterizes CEM in B2B. The paper articulates key challenges for B2B CEM; relationship ex- pectations (mismatches in customer relationships, siloed customer experiences); actor interaction issues (mis- matches across the customer’s journey, lack of touchpoint control); and temporal challenges (dynamics of the customer experience). The paper draws out the theoretical implications and develops managerial implications for B2B firms.
2020
Characterizing customer experience management in business markets / Witell, Lars; Kowalkowski, Christian; Perks, Helen; Raddats, Chris; Schwabe, Maria; Benedettini, Ornella; Burton, Jamie. - In: JOURNAL OF BUSINESS RESEARCH. - ISSN 0148-2963. - STAMPA. - 116:(2020), pp. 420-430. [10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.08.050]
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11589/190673
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