Lecture 1: Introduction, Digital Marketing & Customer Journeys
Knowledge Clip: Customer Journeys
Customer journey: the process a customer goes through, across all stages and touch
points, that makes up the customer experience
- Touch points: interactions between customers and firms that involve any
transitional or informational exchange, online and offline, including customer-to-
customer interactions occurring at distinct points in the customer journey
o Owned media: touchpoints in channels that are owned and controlled by the
firm à e.g., firm’s social media page, website, emails à firm initiated
o Paid media: touchpoints in channels that are not owned by the firm, but they
are paid for by the firm à e.g., online and offline ads à firm initiated
o Earned media: touchpoints in channels that are not owned and controlled by
the firm, unpaid by the firm à e.g., customer reviews, social media
engagement à customer initiated
Customer journey analysis: identify where customers interact with a firm and which
touch points most strongly determine whether they continue or exit the journey
- Customers now interact with firms through myriad touch points in multiple channels
and media à more complex customer journeys
- Firms are confronted with accelerating media and channel fragmentation
- Firms also have much less control, overall, over the customer experience and the
customer journey
- Thus, it has become increasingly complex for firms to manage the experience and
journey of each customer
Digital Marketing and Customer Journey
Digital marketing: an adaptive and technology-enabled process by which firms
collaborate with customers and partners to create, communicate, deliver, and sustain
value for all stakeholders
- Impact of digital technologies is reflected in:
o More information channels and ways to interact
o More personalization of advertising
o Changing buying patterns and consumer needs
o The rise of digital platforms
o Increasing competition
o Increasing marketing expenditures and need for accountability
o Good metrics inform good management
Customer journey framework (Lemon & Verhoef, 2016): takeaways
- Customer experience: dynamic, ongoing process, the customer journey is not a
single event but unfolds over time
- Journeys span online and offline environments
- 3 main customer journey stages
, o Prepurchase: all interactions before
buying à includes need recognition,
information search, and
consideration
o Purchase: interactions during the
transaction itself à includes choice,
ordering, and payment
o Postpurchase: interactions after the
transaction à includes product
usage, consumption, engagement,
service request, reviews, etc.
- Customers encounter multiple touchpoints
at each stage
- Past experiences influence future journeys
Zero moments (of truth)/ZMOT: moments in
between seeing a marketing stimulus and going to the
store / point of sale à usually to get more
information, look for discounts, compare brands, et.
PAPER: Herhausen et al. (2019)
Objectives:
- Identify customer segments based on
the touchpoints used in the customer
journey
- Understand how the increasing
importance of mobile devices affects
these customer segments
- Understand the relationships between
product satisfaction, journey
satisfaction, customer inspiration, and
customer loyalty vary across the
different customer journey segments
Takeaways:
- Customer journey segments with very different characteristics: store-focused
journey, multiple touchpoint journey, online-to-offline journey, pragmatic online
journey, and extensive online journey
- No ‘showrooming’ segment: the threat of showrooming may be overrated
- Mobile devices do not lead to creation of a ‘mobile-only’ segment à they are used
as an additional search channel that complements other touchpoints rather than
replacing them
- Importance of physical stores despite increased usage of online and mobile à the
retailer’s own touchpoints are rated as the most important for making the purchase
decision
- Different levers should be use to increase loyalty across different segments
, Lecture 2: Omnichannel, Digitalization & Platforms
Knowledge Clip: Omnichannel
Omnichannel shoppers: customers that search in one channel and purchase in
another
- Webrooming: where search occurs online and purchase occurs offline
- Showrooming: where search occurs offline and purchase occurs online
Omnichannel: refers to the design, deployment, coordination and evaluation across
the different channels through which the marketer acquires, retains and develop
customers
- Focus: integrating marketing activities across channels to correspond to how
consumers shop, rather than optimizing individual channels in isolation
Omnichannel retailer: recognizes that consumers differ in how they prefer to:
- Search for information
- Make purchases
- Receive or collect products
- These activities may occur online, offline or in integrated online-offline
combinations
Omnichannel strategy: fulfilment options are flexible and interconnected (e.g., home
delivery, click-and-collect, in-store returns
- The online and offline channels are coordinated, not managed in isolation à
contrasts with single-channel or simple multichannel approaches, where channels
operate independently
Channel stage association: aligning customers needs with online and offline channels
à specific channels are better suited for different stages of the customer journey,
depending on customer needs and the advantages each channel offers
- Example: pre-purchase stage à offline channels: physical experience (trying
product), online channels: price or product comparisons
Channel lock-in: facilitating seamless switching between channels à how easy or
difficult it is for customers to switch between online and offline channels during their
journey
- High channel lock-in: switching between channels is difficult
o Example: product seen online cannot be found in store
- Low channel lock-in: switching between channels is easy
o Example: online product pages show accurate in-store inventory
Attribution Problem and Online Distribution
Attribution problem: challenge of determining how much credit each marketing
touchpoint or channel should receive for a customer’s conversion or purchase, given
that customers typically interact with multiple touchpoints during their journey
Knowledge Clip: Customer Journeys
Customer journey: the process a customer goes through, across all stages and touch
points, that makes up the customer experience
- Touch points: interactions between customers and firms that involve any
transitional or informational exchange, online and offline, including customer-to-
customer interactions occurring at distinct points in the customer journey
o Owned media: touchpoints in channels that are owned and controlled by the
firm à e.g., firm’s social media page, website, emails à firm initiated
o Paid media: touchpoints in channels that are not owned by the firm, but they
are paid for by the firm à e.g., online and offline ads à firm initiated
o Earned media: touchpoints in channels that are not owned and controlled by
the firm, unpaid by the firm à e.g., customer reviews, social media
engagement à customer initiated
Customer journey analysis: identify where customers interact with a firm and which
touch points most strongly determine whether they continue or exit the journey
- Customers now interact with firms through myriad touch points in multiple channels
and media à more complex customer journeys
- Firms are confronted with accelerating media and channel fragmentation
- Firms also have much less control, overall, over the customer experience and the
customer journey
- Thus, it has become increasingly complex for firms to manage the experience and
journey of each customer
Digital Marketing and Customer Journey
Digital marketing: an adaptive and technology-enabled process by which firms
collaborate with customers and partners to create, communicate, deliver, and sustain
value for all stakeholders
- Impact of digital technologies is reflected in:
o More information channels and ways to interact
o More personalization of advertising
o Changing buying patterns and consumer needs
o The rise of digital platforms
o Increasing competition
o Increasing marketing expenditures and need for accountability
o Good metrics inform good management
Customer journey framework (Lemon & Verhoef, 2016): takeaways
- Customer experience: dynamic, ongoing process, the customer journey is not a
single event but unfolds over time
- Journeys span online and offline environments
- 3 main customer journey stages
, o Prepurchase: all interactions before
buying à includes need recognition,
information search, and
consideration
o Purchase: interactions during the
transaction itself à includes choice,
ordering, and payment
o Postpurchase: interactions after the
transaction à includes product
usage, consumption, engagement,
service request, reviews, etc.
- Customers encounter multiple touchpoints
at each stage
- Past experiences influence future journeys
Zero moments (of truth)/ZMOT: moments in
between seeing a marketing stimulus and going to the
store / point of sale à usually to get more
information, look for discounts, compare brands, et.
PAPER: Herhausen et al. (2019)
Objectives:
- Identify customer segments based on
the touchpoints used in the customer
journey
- Understand how the increasing
importance of mobile devices affects
these customer segments
- Understand the relationships between
product satisfaction, journey
satisfaction, customer inspiration, and
customer loyalty vary across the
different customer journey segments
Takeaways:
- Customer journey segments with very different characteristics: store-focused
journey, multiple touchpoint journey, online-to-offline journey, pragmatic online
journey, and extensive online journey
- No ‘showrooming’ segment: the threat of showrooming may be overrated
- Mobile devices do not lead to creation of a ‘mobile-only’ segment à they are used
as an additional search channel that complements other touchpoints rather than
replacing them
- Importance of physical stores despite increased usage of online and mobile à the
retailer’s own touchpoints are rated as the most important for making the purchase
decision
- Different levers should be use to increase loyalty across different segments
, Lecture 2: Omnichannel, Digitalization & Platforms
Knowledge Clip: Omnichannel
Omnichannel shoppers: customers that search in one channel and purchase in
another
- Webrooming: where search occurs online and purchase occurs offline
- Showrooming: where search occurs offline and purchase occurs online
Omnichannel: refers to the design, deployment, coordination and evaluation across
the different channels through which the marketer acquires, retains and develop
customers
- Focus: integrating marketing activities across channels to correspond to how
consumers shop, rather than optimizing individual channels in isolation
Omnichannel retailer: recognizes that consumers differ in how they prefer to:
- Search for information
- Make purchases
- Receive or collect products
- These activities may occur online, offline or in integrated online-offline
combinations
Omnichannel strategy: fulfilment options are flexible and interconnected (e.g., home
delivery, click-and-collect, in-store returns
- The online and offline channels are coordinated, not managed in isolation à
contrasts with single-channel or simple multichannel approaches, where channels
operate independently
Channel stage association: aligning customers needs with online and offline channels
à specific channels are better suited for different stages of the customer journey,
depending on customer needs and the advantages each channel offers
- Example: pre-purchase stage à offline channels: physical experience (trying
product), online channels: price or product comparisons
Channel lock-in: facilitating seamless switching between channels à how easy or
difficult it is for customers to switch between online and offline channels during their
journey
- High channel lock-in: switching between channels is difficult
o Example: product seen online cannot be found in store
- Low channel lock-in: switching between channels is easy
o Example: online product pages show accurate in-store inventory
Attribution Problem and Online Distribution
Attribution problem: challenge of determining how much credit each marketing
touchpoint or channel should receive for a customer’s conversion or purchase, given
that customers typically interact with multiple touchpoints during their journey
