Online Customer Experience’s
Customer service is a highly important and influential part of any retail businesses. A study conducted by Walker (2017) shows by 2020, customer service will be a business’s key tool in differentiating their brand and creating competitive advantage. Therefore, creating brand trust and a loyal customer base is even more important. For e-businesses, a customer’s ability to trust and be loyal to a brand, can only truly be experienced, post-purchase. However, a framework provided by Rose and Hair (2011 cited in Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick, 2016) suggests a way for an e-business to understand how to motivate online purchases and create a positive online customer experience. This week, I will critically evaluate the concepts associated with this model and provide an evaluation of my own on the model.
Rose and Hair (2011) propose that there are nine ‘Antecedents’ that will influence a customer’s experience. These factors will influence the customer’s thoughts (cognitive) and feelings (affective). If the customer has a positive experience, it will motivate them to engage with the e-business and increase the likeliness of the customer repurchasing from the retailer.
Evaluation
1. Information Processing
The antecedent; ‘Information Processing’ proposes that when purchasing, a customer’s cognitive and affective state are influenced by their past, present experiences and knowledge (Rose, Hair & Clark, 2011). When applied in a marketing context, information processing is also referred to as Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT). This is where a customer researches a product before finding out it exists (Hanington, 2012). This is important as it enables a marketer to understand the world their target market inhabits.
2. Perceived Ease-of-Use
This term pertains to a customer’s perception of how easy an e-business’ website is and the positive online experience of the customer, which has been found to influence and encourage the use of online shopping (Rose, Hair & Clark, 2011). The perception of ease can be seen in with mobile applications or well-designed websites in an everyday setting.
3. Perceived Usefulness
This element refers to the usefulness of the website to a customer also in an everyday setting. Perceived Usefulness and Perceived Ease-of-Use are similar and often linked. Logical, organised and structured websites determine a customer’s perception of ease of use. The usefulness of a business’ goods or services appeals to the customer’s affective state and it will further develop their positive online experience (Huttley-Jackson, 2016). This can be a very effective element as its applicability to a customer’s life, can show how it can also benefit them.
4. Perceived Benefits
Perceived Benefits is the sense of reward a customer experiences when engaging with the online offer of a good or service. This corresponds directly with the affective state of the individual an enables the e-business to encourage future purchases from the customer (Rose, Hair & Clark, 2011).
5. Perceived Control
The concept of Perceived Control is as simple as it reads. If the customer is a skilled digital user and the site be used on various digital devices, the customer will experience a sense of control of the e-business’ site (Rose, Hair & Clark, 2011). This will appeal to the cognitive state of the customer, which will therefore build upon the customer’s past knowledge and experiences.
6. Skill
The antecedent referring to Skill is the customer proficiency of using the internet (Klein & Ford, 2002 cited in Rose, Hair & Clark, 2011). The more an individual uses the internet, the more confident they will be to navigate and interact with an e-business’ site.
7. Trust and Risk
Trust and Risk are very important and interlinked factors, as e-businesses require higher levels of trust in comparison to traditional retail outlets due to fear of the unknown (Corbitt et al, 2003; van der Heijden et al, 2003 cited in Rose, Hair & Clark, 2011). For unskilled internet users, in short, their trust concerns lie with the ‘Internet Merchant’ as well as the ‘Internet Shopping Medium’ (Rose, Hair & Clark, 2011). The risk customer’s avoid are factors such as financial risk, website performance risks, personal information risks, physical risks, time loss risks and so on. Therefore, by creating trust, it removes the risk factors for the customer.
8. Enjoyment
In the simplest terms, Enjoyment is the positive online experience a customer has while engaging with a business’ site.
My Critical Evaluation
The consequences shown within the Rose and Hair framework suggest that re-purchase intentions are more so reliant on the customers satisfaction as the ultimate signal of marketing success. As we are pursuing technologies such as Augmented Reality and Big Data, there is an even greater need for integrated technological and personal analysis of marketing systems in place to better respond to these changing environments.
References
Chaffey, D & Ellis-Chadwick, F 2016, Digital Marketing, Pearson, London
Hanington, J 2012, ‘The Zero Moment of Truth: What Is It & Why Should You Care?’, SalesForce.com, Online, viewed 31 August 2017, http://www.pardot.com/blog/moment-truth-care/
Huttley-Jackson, M 2016, ‘The online customer experience’, Digital
Communications, Online, Viewed 30 August 2017, http://www.digitalcommunications.net.au/2016/08/28/the-online-consumer-experience/
Rose, S Hair, N & Clark, M 2011, ‘Online Customer Experience: A Review of the Business‐to‐Consumer Online Purchase Context’, International Journal of Management Reviews, vol. 13, no. xx, pp. 24–39, viewed 2 September 2017, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227897116_Online_Customer_Experience_A_Review_of_the_Business-to-Consumer_Online_Purchase_Context
Walker 2017, ‘The Future of B-TO-B Customer Experience’, Walker, Online, viewed 30 August 2017, https://www.walkerinfo.com/customers2020/