Understanding Customer Experience and the Customer Journey

Understanding the customer experience and the customer journey over time is critical for firms. Customers now interact with firms through myriad touchpoints in multiple channels, customer experiences are more social in nature, and peer customers influence experiences as well. The explosion in potential customer touchpoints and the reduced control of the experience require firms to integrate multiple business functions, including information technology, service operations, logistics, marketing, human resources, and even external partners, in creating and delivering positive customer experiences. In this article, the authors aim to develop a stronger understanding of customer experience creation, measurement, and management in an era of increasing complex customer behavior. To achieve this goal, they conceptualize  and define customer experience and provide a historical perspective on customer experience within marketing. Next, they identify key insights, best practices, and important lessons related to customer experience, experience creation in the customer journey and customer experience management. Finally, they identify critical areas for future research on this important topic.