Experience as an academic object and managerial realities

Over the last forty years, the field of customer experience has been the focus of considerable research, highly diverse perspectives, and numerous managerial applications. Hybrid contexts combining both brick-and-mortar and digital experiential contexts explain this to some degree, so gaining a better understanding of what consumers experience during their customer journeys, as well as what firms and brands can or must manage, has become indispensable. Customer experience is not only a key to understanding the individual journeys of individuals (customers, employees, and citizens in general), but also embodies a type of offer that companies, brands, and organisations seek to deliver.

Whether it concerns connected objects that metamorphose everyday uses, experiences on platforms that have revolutionised customer journeys, new experience designs in brick-and mortar contexts, employee experience as a key success factor in customer experiences, or the issue of experience indicators and measurement, each academic focal point is more fascinating than the last.

The starting point for the book was the Chair’s conference cycle (2019-2020), the 2021 workshop, and, more broadly, its research programme. Since 2017, the Chair has conducted wide-ranging research on customer experience, exploring topical and sensitive issues for firms that seek to put customer experience at the heart of their strategy.

While all the authors in this book Damien Chaney, Marc Filser, Fuat Firat, Tatiana Henriquez, Richard Huaman-Ramirez, Yacine Ouazzani, Claire Roederer, Marion Roig, Françoise Simon, and Tony Valentini, work in the academic field of customer experience and on the managerial realities linked to experience, the positions they take vary, differing not just in the choice of perspective, but also the methods used.

The book is designed to reflect the dynamic that characterises the field of customer experience, and addresses company managers who design or manage customer experiences. The different chapters will give them an overview of the current issues involved in customer experience research. The book is also useful for marketing teachers and their students, offering a useful resource for marketing courses, as well as service marketing and customer behaviour.