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The purpose of this paper is to identify the patterns of customer exposure to touchpoints by segmenting consumers based on the frequency of their exposure, and to understand the relationship of patterns of exposure with customer loyalty intentions (relationship commitment, self-disclosure and positive word-of-mouth) and demographic characteristics.

An online survey of almost 4,000 customers was employed in a supermarket retail setting. Customers were segmented based on their frequency of recalled exposure to multiple touchpoints, by means of a latent class cluster analysis, while considering the role of demographic characteristics. Afterwards, loyalty intentions variables were regressed on the resulting customer segments.

Based on the touchpoint exposure, six customer segments emerge. The main differences across segments relate to the intensity of frequency of exposure and the types of touchpoints customers have been exposed to. Sex, age, shopping role and geographic area of residence are related to segment membership. The identified patterns of exposure explain relationship commitment, self-disclosure and positive word-of-mouth: clusters displaying higher exposure to touchpoints display higher loyalty intentions than clusters displaying lower exposure.

The study offers actionable implications for brands and retailers on how to manage touchpoints for implementing omnichannel strategies.

As far as the authors know, this study is the first to identify exposure to multiple touchpoints and understand the role of demographics as far as touchpoint exposure is concerned. It also provides interesting findings on the relationship of different combinations of touchpoints with customer loyalty.

The purpose of this paper is to identify patterns of medium preference for loyalty programs (LPs) among members to support the case for segmenting customers based on their medium preference.

A survey of nearly 2,000 customers who are enrolled in at least one supermarket LP was employed. LP members are segmented based on a latent class clustering model and then profiled in terms of socio-demographic variables by means of a multinomial logit regression model.

Medium preference is heterogeneous and differs at the customer segment and at the LP touchpoint level. Five segments emerge which display different medium preference patterns. LP medium preference is associated with age, gender, affluency and number of different LPs the customer is enrolled in.

Retailers, e-tailers and brands can benefit from this customer segmentation when faced with the challenges of adding online features or migrating their LPs online. Marketers should differentiate their investment in online and offline LP touchpoints according to the medium preference for each LP touchpoint of the customer segments of interest.

Retailers, e-tailers and brands are today introducing online marketing strategies and tactics, such as LPs, that have been traditionally used offline. So far, however, they have failed to answer the question whether online and offline LPs and related touchpoints have the same preference among consumers. Literature on LPs has not explored customer preference for the LP medium or the consumer characteristics related to medium preference. This work is unique in providing an overview of medium preference for LPs and their touchpoints.

Social causes increasingly rely on omni-channel touchpoints involving personal discussions and grassroots digital marketing efforts to engage individuals via social referrals. This paper aims to examine digital natives’ perceived effectiveness of omni-channel touchpoints for increasing social cause engagement including social media, digital media, traditional and interpersonal communications, along with an individual’s social/digital media behaviors.

The paper reports empirical results from an online survey of 924 digital natives. The paper uses multivariate and multiple regression analyses to examine the differential effects of a diverse range of media influencing the perceived effectiveness of social cause referrals from a family member versus a close friend.

The results identify the combination of omni-channel touchpoints most likely to be effective for enhancing organ donation support and registration efforts as part of social referral campaigns. The findings suggest differences exist based on whether the campaign targets family members or friends.

The research focuses on digital natives and does not address differences that may vary by specific messages shared across generational groups or ethnicities. More research is also necessary, which examines the effects of digital consumption versus content creation behaviors.

The paper includes implications for social marketers looking at increasing viral reach and engagement via social referral campaigns. Marketers should integrate the omni-channel touchpoints deemed to be most effective for each target based on specific campaign goals.

This paper addresses a gap in marketers’ understanding of how digital natives perceive social referral campaigns targeting their social circle via various omni-channel touchpoints.

Many companies struggle with the assessment of customer experience. This chapter aims to demonstrate how mobile ethnography tackles this issue by assessing data in a holistical way, in-situ, and in real-time.

The chapter describes the implementation of a mobile ethnography project in a tourist destination, including participant recruitment, data collection, data analysis, and the derivation of insights.

The mobile ethnography project allowed to gain deep insights into the customers’ journeys.

Future research will need to further investigate questions of participant recruitment, the effectiveness of incentives as well as the performance of the data collection process. Furthermore the findings of this case need to be replicated in the context of other industries, as well as in other cultural contexts.

Mobile ethnography allows companies to gain more information on customer experience in real-time, thus with reduced cognitive and emotional bias. Therefore, the method can help to improve the touristic service offering and, consequently, customer experience.

As companies are searching for new approaches to research and manage customer experience, this chapter is of high value for both academia and practice.

The purpose of this paper is to engage in the research gap regarding the missing link between retail innovation and branding by providing a brand-driven process to systematically develop retail format innovation projects. The so-called “Brand-driven Retail Format Innovation” (BRFI) approach provides a structured three-phase model that serves as a conceptual guide for the development of any type of retail format.

Longitudinal collaborative action research over a time span of 20 years plus extended case study research to develop the current BRFI approach.

BRFI is a circular three-phase framework, which integrates branding, and retail format innovation. It starts with the definition of the intended retail brand identity, which in phase 2 becomes translated into concrete touchpoint experiences along the main constituents of a retail format, finally during phase 3 materializing into the new retail format. A case study of a major food retailer is prototypically used to illustrate the application of the designed approach and to report achieved results.

Brand-driven retail format development based on translating socio-cultural meanings into touchpoint experiences to materialize format constituents is opening up new research avenues to govern retail format development. At present the approach is based on retail and services case studies in Western Austria.

The three-phase model represents a practical tool for retail managers, who want to renew and to develop their retail format in a structured way. The approach is applicable to all retail industries from small- to large-scale organizations as well as online and offline environments.

This is the first study engaging in the missing link regarding retail innovation and branding by providing a brand-driven process to systematically develop retail format innovation projects. BRFI locks into anthropological research findings where cultural meanings are considered as the main source for the construction of brand identities whereby the new retail format is transformed around brand-derived touchpoint experiences.

This research aims to identify critical brand touchpoints that generate value for customers and brands and examine their effects on two relational outcomes: relationship quality and word of mouth (WOM).

Three studies combining qualitative and quantitative research provide evidence distinguishing four different stages of customer experience in the telecom industry and develop a research model of staged customer experience; structural equation modeling analyses are used to validate the proposed model and test for the examined effects.

Customer experience in the telecom industry consists of four related but distinct stages (i.e. pre-touch, in-touch, post-touch and service failure) and these stages have direct and indirect effects on WOM. Furthermore, the effects of customer experience stages on WOM are partially mediated by relationship quality.

The research model introduced here will allow academics and practitioners to focus their efforts on important touchpoints that influence relationship quality and WOM. Future research should examine the proposed model of staged customer experience in different applications and industries.

A common myth among marketers is that firms should design a painless experience if they want a superior market position. While avoiding a drain on financial resources, the prime objective should be to provide a holistic customer experience that is valuable to customers and the brand alike. Marketers should disregard touchpoints and stages that do not provide noticeable value.

This research answers the call for a more appropriate model to elucidate the factors that link customer experience with relational outcomes.

In this invited paper, the authors aim to offer an integrated marketing communications (IMC) framework for understanding how disparate customer touchpoints impact consumer engagement and profitability in an omni-channel environment. For each aspect of the framework, the authors recommend areas for further research.

The authors review literature linking personal and electronic channels of communication in an omni-channel context to consumer engagement, with an emphasis on channel and message unity.

Five major research areas were identified: research that better links omni-channel and IMC theory and practice; conceptual and empirical research that helps operationalize the consumer-brand engagement construct, including its antecedents and consequences; Build understanding of off- and on-line consumer-brand touchpoints and how they may enhance engagement and profitability; how omni-channel IMC best monetizes buyer–seller relationships; and omni-channel IMC in other consumer decision contexts.

The emergence of omni-channel marketing is breaking down the silos across available consumer-brand touchpoints. The intersection of effective omni-channel marketing and IMC strategic and tactical initiatives offers marketers an opportunity to engage their customers and to form profitable relationships.

The authors proposed an omni-channel IMC Framework and a research agenda for advancing the field. As this is a new area of inquiry, the authors argue for the development of other comprehensive frameworks, both for general omni-channel IMC conceptualizations.

This article investigates the role of schemas in shaping customer experiences in new servicescapes, across the customer journey. The authors take a customer perspective that reveals how schematic information processing takes place at four pyramidal levels—event, touchpoint, encounter and concrete activities—that in turn lead to customer responses.

The study introduces a novel ethnographic schema elicitation technique (ESET), which enables unraveling schemas at the touchpoint level across the customer journey of a European grocery store that recently launched a new SST innovation. This tailored approach provides fine-grained insights into customer experiences at the moment they occur.

The conceptual framework unravels schematic information processing, as illustrated with an empirical study. The activation of different schemas and their modification is highlighted in rich qualitative data.

Innovative service offerings require customers to adapt their existing behaviors. Understanding this highly individual process, which requires schema modification, could be furthered by longitudinal in-depth research.

By understanding schematic information processing, managers and policymakers can develop better strategies for activating sustainability or health-conscious schemas that guide customer behavior in positive directions.

By applying ESET to new self-service technology, the authors provide valuable insights for service managers and retailers. They show the particular need for prudence in changing schemas in ways that avoid negative cognitive, emotional or behavioral responses.

This study aims to integrate research on customer success (CS) management with the service ecosystems perspective of selling to enhance the understanding of the CS management function and the outcomes selling firms should expect based on implementation of CS management.

The authors apply the service ecosystems perspective of selling to describe how CS management is manifested in practice by offering relevant insights and practical industry examples.

Study findings identify relevant ecosystem actors, acting on behalf of the customer, required for the delivery of desirable customer outcomes. Study findings also link the orchestration efforts of CS managers to theory-based tenets for explanation of how CS management facilitates the attainment of competitive advantages via the thickening and thinning of ecosystem crossing points.

Given that the research is conceptual, additional research that empirically examines this framework and the insights presented would lend further credence to the recommendations the authors suggest.

From a practical perspective, the authors present a “Customer Relationship and Solution Innovation Matrix” which integrates necessary value-creating activities that CS managers perform and the coordination with internal actors that CS managers rely on to create value.

Although the practice of CS management is becoming increasingly common, theoretical approaches capable of explaining the function have been lacking. Similarly, while the service ecosystems perspective redefines selling to encompass a broader set of actors than traditionally examined, practical examinations of the theory are limited. The authors address these issues, integrating both research streams for an enhanced understanding of the CS management function through the service ecosystems perspective theoretical lens.

The purpose of this study is to understand customer experience (CX) in business-to-business (B2B) markets through the perspectives of buyer–seller dyads. This study aims to evaluate how customer journey, touchpoints and digital and social media (DSM) influence CX and offer avenues for sellers to align their efforts with buyers’ requirements to create and manage CX.

Integrating insights of practicing buyers and sellers in the pharmaceutical B2B industry, this study follows the phenomenological approach to understand their experience through their perspectives on the customer journey, touchpoints and DSM.

The findings of this study include convergence in the perspectives in journey stages, journey enablers, stakeholder involvement, touchpoint preference and DSM’s use. The study findings also include divergence in perspectives in the senior management engagement, journey enablers, selling center involvement, DSM purpose and usage of DSM platforms. These offer opportunities for sellers to align with buyer journey, touchpoints and DSM to create and manage CX.

Sellers in pharmaceutical B2B markets have been dependent on traditional knowledge to influence customer journey and touchpoints and the advent of DSM has enhanced the challenge. To avoid this confusion, sellers need to have clarity of customers’ expectations on the journey, touchpoints and DSM. This enables sellers to allocate their resources better to achieve the desired outcome in CX.

This first-of-its-kind study captured the convergence and divergence perspectives of pharmaceutical B2B buyer–seller dyads from the lens of the uncertainty reduction theory and social penetration theory. The study suggests opportunities for pharmaceutical sellers to create and manage CX.