The customer journey: a proposal of indicators to evaluate integration and customer orientation

ABSTRACT

Digitalization and social media are transforming company–consumer interactions, opening new communication avenues. Companies are thus adopting an omnichannel strategy to offer multiple media and channels for use before, during, and after purchase – that is, during the customer journey. The success of this journey requires both effective integration of the company’s offline and online channels and strong consistency in communication terms. In this context, offering a smooth transition between touchpoints along the consumer journey to optimize consumers’ experience requires appropriate omnichannel integration. However, little is known about how to assess customer journey, despite the implications therein for companies’ performance and consumer reactions. To fill this gap, the present paper proposes and validates indicators to measure the extent to which controlled touchpoints are really integrated and oriented toward the consumer and provide a satisfactory customer journey. Focusing on corporate website, brand pages on social network sites, apps, and physical stores as fully controlled touchpoints, we offer an instrument to assess integration and customer orientation, as well as avenues for further extension. Application of the indicators comprising the instrument reveals that integration is improving and customer-centric approach is gaining attention, but still has room for improvement. Theoretical and managerial contributions are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Omnichannel
• IMC
• integration
• customer oriented
• customer journey
• indicators
• content analysis

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support received from Fundación Ramón Areces. The authors also thank Fundación CajaMurcia for supporting the copy editing of the paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fundación Ramón Areces [not available].

Notes on contributors

Mariola Palazón

Mariola Palazón is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of Murcia, Spain. She received her PhD Degree in Marketing from the same institution. Her current research interests include communication on social networks, consumer behavior, marketing communication and corporate social responsibility.

Manuela López

Manuela López is an Assistant professor of Marketing at the University of Murcia. She received her PhD Degree in Marketing from the same institution. She has been a visiting scholar at the School of Communication Research at the University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands) and Assistant professor at Universidad Católica del Norte (Chile). Her research interests are focused on the influence of eWOM in consumer behaviour, WOM marketing and social media.

María Sicilia

Maria Sicilia is an associate professor of Marketing at the University of Murcia, Spain. She received her PhD Degree in Marketing from the same institution. She has been a visiting scholar at Columbia Business School (New York) and at King’s College Business School (London). She is currently lecturing in advertising, digital consumer behaviour and market research. Her research interests are focused on social media, advertising and consumer behaviour.

Inés López

Inés López-López is an Associate Professor at the University of Murcia, Spain. She received her PhD Degree in Marketing from the same institution. Her current research interests include social networks, consumption-related emotions, service failure and recovery, and corporate social responsibility.