IDENTIFYING HOW ORGANISATIONS CAN ACHIEVE

POSITIVE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE THROUGH THEIR

DIGITAL TOUCH POINTS: A CASE STUDY OF A MAJOR

BANKING INSTITUTION IN SOUTH AFRICA

by

Vedaanta Devar

15060650

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Submitted in full fulfilment of the requirements for the degree
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M Com Informatics
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in the

FACULTY OF ECONOMIC AND MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

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at the

UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA

Study leader:

Prof. M. Hattingh

Date of submission

November 2022

© University of Pretoria
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF APPENDICES............................................................................................... I
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ......................................................................................... I
LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................... I
LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................... II
DECLARATION REGARDING PLAGIARISM ........................................................... IV
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................... V
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................... VI
KEYWORDS ............................................................................................................ VII
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE RESEARCH........................................... 2
1.1 BACKGROUND INFORMATION .................................................................. 2
1.2 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY ......................................................................... 3

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1.3 PROBLEM STATEMENT .............................................................................. 4
1.4 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND QUESTIONS ............................................ 6
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1.5 ASSUMPTIONS ............................................................................................ 7
1.6 LIMITATIONS................................................................................................ 7
1.7 BRIEF CHAPTER OVERVIEW ..................................................................... 7
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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................. 10

2.1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... 10
2.2 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND .................................................................... 11
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2.3 UNDERSTANDING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE ....................................... 12

2.4 TOUCH POINTS ......................................................................................... 14
2.4.1 Categories of Touch Points .................................................................. 15
2.4.2 Touch Point Attributes .......................................................................... 16
2.5 CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR ......................................................................... 16
2.6 CUSTOMER JOURNEYS ........................................................................... 22
2.6.1 Understanding Customer Journeys ...................................................... 22
2.6.2 Stages of Customer Journeys .............................................................. 24
2.6.3 Summary of Customer Journeys .......................................................... 27
2.7 CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS .................................................................. 28
2.8 SEVEN PHILOSOPHIES OF CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE ......................... 32
2.9 DIMENSIONS OF CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE .......................................... 36
2.10 PROPERTIES OF CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE ...................................... 38
2.11 CHALLENGES WITH IMPROVING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE ............ 40
2.12 CONCLUSION ......................................................................................... 41

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CHAPTER 3: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ..................................................... 43
3.1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... 43
3.2 UNDERSTANDING THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS ................................ 43
3.3 DEWEY’S THEORY OF EXPERIENCE ...................................................... 44
3.3.1 Principle of Continuity ........................................................................... 46
3.3.2 Principle of Interaction .......................................................................... 47
3.4 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................ 47
CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ...................................................... 49
4.1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... 49
4.2 RESEARCH MODEL .................................................................................. 49
4.3 RESEARCH DESIGN ................................................................................. 50
4.3.1 Research Philosophy ............................................................................ 51
4.3.2 Research Approach .............................................................................. 54
4.3.3 Research Strategy ................................................................................ 55

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4.3.4 Research Choice .................................................................................. 61
4.3.5 Time Horizon ........................................................................................ 62
4.3.6 Techniques and Procedures ................................................................. 63
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4.4 SAMPLING.................................................................................................. 63
4.4.1 Target Population ................................................................................. 63
4.4.2 Sampling Method .................................................................................. 64
4.4.3 Sample Size ......................................................................................... 65
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4.5 DATA COLLECTION ................................................................................... 65

4.5.1 Interviews ............................................................................................. 66
4.6 DATA ANALYSIS ........................................................................................ 69
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4.7 ETHICS ....................................................................................................... 71

4.8 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................ 72
CHAPTER 5: ANALYSIS OF FINDINGS ............................................................. 74
5.1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... 74
5.2 DATA ANALYSIS ........................................................................................ 74
5.3 DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILES OF PARTICIPANTS ..................................... 76
5.4 PRESENTATION OF RESULTS ................................................................. 77
5.4.1 Raw Data .............................................................................................. 77
5.4.2 Critical Success Factors ..................................................................... 103
5.5 DISCUSSION OF RESULTS .................................................................... 105
5.5.1 Functionality ....................................................................................... 106
5.5.2 Navigation........................................................................................... 110
5.5.3 Help Functions.................................................................................... 112
5.5.4 Security............................................................................................... 114
5.5.5 Digitalisation ....................................................................................... 116
5.5.6 Information Content ............................................................................ 118

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 5.5.7 User-Friendly ...................................................................................... 120
5.5.8 Competitive Advantage....................................................................... 122
5.5.9 Aesthetics ........................................................................................... 124
5.5.10 Ease of Access................................................................................ 126
5.5.11 Error Handling ................................................................................. 127
5.5.12 Loyalty Programmes ....................................................................... 129
5.5.13 Innovation ........................................................................................ 131
5.5.14 Communication ............................................................................... 132
5.5.15 Geographic Expansion .................................................................... 134
5.5.16 Customisation.................................................................................. 135
5.5.17 Customer Memory Retention........................................................... 136
5.5.18 Visibility ........................................................................................... 137
5.6 CONCLUSION .......................................................................................... 138
CHAPTER 6: A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE . 140
6.1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 140
6.2 PRINCIPLE OF INTERACTION: CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE.................. 142

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6.2.1 Internal Conditions .............................................................................. 142
6.2.2 External Conditions ............................................................................ 144
6.3 PRINCIPLE OF CONTINUITY: CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE .................... 147
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6.3.1 Past Experiences ................................................................................ 147
6.3.2 Future Experiences ............................................................................ 148
6.4 EVALUATION OF THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ................................... 150
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6.4.1 Demographic Profile of Participants ................................................... 151

6.4.2 Participant Evaluation ......................................................................... 152
6.4.3 Recommendations .............................................................................. 156
6.4.4 Closing Comments ............................................................................. 157
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6.5 CONCLUSION .......................................................................................... 158

CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSION ............................................................................. 160
7.1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 160
7.2 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS ........................................................................ 160
7.2.1 ANSWERING RESEARCH QUESTIONS........................................... 161
7.3 SUMMARY OF CONTRIBUTIONS ........................................................... 164
7.4 FUTURE RESEARCH ............................................................................... 166
7.5 CONCLUDING REMARKS ....................................................................... 166
REFERENCES ....................................................................................................... 167
APPENDICES ........................................................................................................ 174

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LIST OF APPENDICES
APPENDIX A: RESEARCHER DECLARATION .............................................................. 174
APPENDIX B: PARTICIPANT CONSENT FORM ............................................................ 175
APPENDIX C: PARTICIPANT DEMOGRAPHIC FORM .................................................. 177
APPENDIX D: INTERVIEW AND FOCUS GROUP GUIDE ............................................. 178
APPENDIX E: FRAMEWORK EVALUATION QUESTIONNAIRE ................................... 180
APPENDIX F: ETHICAL CLEARANCE............................................................................ 181
APPENDIX G: LANGUAGE EDITING CERTIFICATION ................................................. 183

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
ATM : AUTOMATED TELLER MACHINE
CRM : CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
CSF : CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

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CX : CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
HCI : HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION
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ICT : INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

LIST OF FIGURES
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Figure 1: Factors that influence consumer decision-making (Adapted by Gajjar (2013)) ... 21
Figure 2: Model of the consumer decision-making process (Stankevich, 2017) ................ 25
Figure 3: Virtuous cycle of the seven philosophies for building great customer experiences
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(Shaw & Ivens, 2002) ........................................................................................ 32

Figure 4: Dimensions of customer experience (Gentile et al., 2007) ................................. 36
Figure 5: Dewey’s theory of experience (Dewey, 1938) .................................................... 46
Figure 6: Research onion (Saunders et al., 2009) ............................................................. 50
Figure 7: Case study research model (Yin, 2008) .............................................................. 59
Figure 8: Forms of qualitative and quantitative research choices (Saunders et al., 2009) . 61
Figure 9: Forms of interviews (Saunders et al., 2009) ....................................................... 68
Figure 10: Range of digital touch point utilisation of research participants ........................ 78
Figure 11: Critical success factors ................................................................................... 104
Figure 12: Structure of CSF ............................................................................................. 105
Figure 13: Functionality.................................................................................................... 106
Figure 14: Tasks identified by participants ....................................................................... 107
Figure 15: Navigation ....................................................................................................... 110
Figure 16: Help Functions ................................................................................................ 112
Figure 17: Security ........................................................................................................... 114
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Figure 18: Digitalisation ................................................................................................... 116
Figure 19: Information Content ........................................................................................ 118
Figure 20: User-Friendly .................................................................................................. 120
Figure 21: Competitive Advantage ................................................................................... 122
Figure 22: Aesthetics ....................................................................................................... 124
Figure 23: Ease of Access ............................................................................................... 126
Figure 24: Error prevention .............................................................................................. 127
Figure 25: Loyalty programmes ....................................................................................... 129
Figure 26: Innovation ....................................................................................................... 131
Figure 27: Communication ............................................................................................... 132
Figure 28: Geographic expansion .................................................................................... 134
Figure 29: Customisation ................................................................................................. 135
Figure 30: Customer memory retention ........................................................................... 136
Figure 31: Visibility ........................................................................................................... 137
Figure 32: Theoretical framework for customer experience ............................................. 141

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Figure 33: Factors that constitute internal conditions of digital touch points .................... 143
Figure 34: Factors that constitute external conditions of digital touch points ................... 146
Figure 35: Factors that constitute past experiences of digital touch points ...................... 148
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Figure 36: Factors that constitute future experiences of digital touch points.................... 149
Figure 37: Framework for achieving positive customer experience within digital touch points
........................................................................................................................ 151
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Figure 38: Results for factors that influence past experiences......................................... 153
Figure 39: Results for factors that influence internal conditions ....................................... 154
Figure 40: Factors that influence external conditions ....................................................... 155
Figure 41: Results for factors that could positively influence future experiences ............. 156
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Role of information processing in consumer decision-making (Adapted by Jacoby
et al. (1998))...................................................................................................... 18
Table 2: Role of attitudes in consumer decision-making (Adapted by Jacoby et al. (1998)
and Lake (2009))............................................................................................... 19
Table 3: Role of affect in consumer decision-making (Adapted by Jacoby et al. (1998) and
Lake (2009))...................................................................................................... 19
Table 4: Role of choices in consumer decision-making (Adapted by Jacoby et al. (1998))20
Table 5: Interpretation of customer journeys from existing literature ................................. 22
Table 6: Customer journey scorecard (Maechler et al., 2016) ........................................... 24
Table 7: Stages in the customer relationship management process (Adapted from (Nykamp,
2001)) ............................................................................................................... 31
Table 8: Stages of the research onion (Adapted from Saunders et al. (2009)) .................. 50
Table 9: Research strategies ............................................................................................. 56
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Table 10: Categories of case study research (Adapted from Saunders et al. (2009) and
Creswell (2012))................................................................................................ 59
Table 11: Summary of data collection methods (Adapted from Adams et al. (2007) and
Kothari (2004)) .................................................................................................. 65
Table 12: Types of interviews (Adapted from Walliman (2011) and Kothari (2004)) .......... 67
Table 13: Six phases of thematic data analysis (Adapted from Braun and Clarke (2012)) 71
Table 14: Summary of research methodology ................................................................... 72
Table 15: Demographic profile of participants.................................................................... 76
Table 16: Participant responses for IQ2............................................................................. 82
Table 17: Participant responses for IQ3............................................................................. 85
Table 18: Participant responses for IQ4............................................................................. 88
Table 19: Participant responses for IQ5............................................................................. 90
Table 20: Participant responses for IQ6............................................................................. 94
Table 21: Participant responses for IQ7............................................................................. 97
Table 22: Participant responses for IQ8............................................................................. 99
Table 23: Participant responses for IQ9........................................................................... 100

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Table 24: Participant responses for IQ10......................................................................... 103
Table 25: Summary of critical success factors ................................................................. 138
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Table 26: Demographic profile of framework evaluation participants ............................... 151
Table 27: Interview and focus group questions ................................................................ 179
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DECLARATION REGARDING PLAGIARISM
The Department of Informatics emphasises integrity and ethical behaviour with regard to the
preparation of all written assignments. Although the lecturer will provide you with information
regarding reference techniques, as well as ways to avoid plagiarism, you also have a responsibility
to fulfil in this regard. Should you at any time feel unsure about the requirements, you must consult
the lecturer concerned before submitting an assignment. You are guilty of plagiarism when you
extract information from a book, article, web page or any other information source without
acknowledging the source and pretend that it is your own work. This doesn’t only apply to cases
where you quote verbatim, but also when you present someone else’s work in a somewhat amended
(paraphrased) format or when you use someone else’s arguments or ideas without the necessary
acknowledgement. You are also guilty of plagiarism if you copy and paste information directly from
an electronic source (e.g., a web site, e-mail message, electronic journal article, or CD ROM), even
if you acknowledge the source. You are not allowed to submit another student’s previous work as
your own. You are furthermore not allowed to let anyone copy or use your work with the intention of

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presenting it as his/her own. Students who are guilty of plagiarism will forfeit all credits for the work
concerned. In addition, the matter will be referred to the Committee for Discipline (Students) for a
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ruling. Plagiarism is considered a serious violation of the University’s regulations and may lead to
your suspension from the University. The University’s policy regarding plagiarism is available on the
Internet at http://upetd.up.ac.za/authors/create/plagiarism/students.htm.
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I (full names & surname): Vedaanta Devar

Student number: 15060650

Declare the following:

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1. I understand what plagiarism entails and I am aware of the University’s policy in this regard.

2. I declare that this assignment is my own, original work. Where someone else’s work was used
(whether from a printed source, the Internet or any other source) due acknowledgement was
given and reference was made according to departmental requirements.

3. I did not copy and paste any information directly from an electronic source (e.g., a web page,
electronic journal article or CD ROM) into this document.

4. I did not make use of another student’s previous work and submitted it as my own.

5. I did not allow and will not allow anyone to copy my work with the intention of presenting it as
his/her own work.

V.Devar 20 July 2020

SIGNATURE DATE

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© University of Pretoria
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would firstly like to thank God for giving me the strength, patience and willpower to make
this possible.

Firstly, a huge thank you to my language editor for your assistance, support and positivity.

To my supervisor, Dr. M.J. Hattingh, thank you for the constant support and encouragement
throughout this journey. I truly appreciate your kindness and patience. This would have not
been possible without you and I am sincerely grateful for the guidance that you have
provided to me.

Lastly to my amazing parents and brother, who are my complete strength and my greatest
inspiration. Thank you for always inspiring me to follow my dreams; I would not have been
the person I am nor reached this stage without your sacrifices, unconditional love and

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support. For always being the bearer of my mental health and for being my greatest
supporter, nandri.
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Thank you.
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© University of Pretoria
IDENTIFYING HOW ORGANISATIONS CAN ACHIEVE POSITIVE
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE THROUGH THEIR DIGITAL TOUCH
POINTS: A CASE STUDY OF A MAJOR BANKING INSTITUTION
IN SOUTH AFRICA

ABSTRACT
Over the years, the improvement of customer experience has become one of the highest
priorities for businesses, as it is essential for establishing happy and loyal customers which,
in the long run, signifies higher revenues. Customer experience (CX) represents the holistic
interactions of a customer with a particular organisation. It reflects a customer’s entire
perception, responses and behaviours based on their interaction with a product or service
of the business through particular points of contact or ‘touch points’. These touch points

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could exist in the form of physical or digital platforms. By understanding how to achieve
positive customer experience through organisational touch points, businesses can
additionally attain customer satisfaction and loyalty, competitive advantage and other
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favourable business outcomes. Therefore, this study focuses on investigating how customer
experience can be improved by evaluating the digital touch points of a well-known banking
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institution in South Africa.

A qualitative research approach was chosen in order to conduct this study where eight
individual semi-structured interviews and one focus group of four participants were carried
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out. The data collected from both the individual interviews and focus group were analysed
by following thematic analysis. The findings from the study enabled the development and
review of eighteen critical success factors for achieving positive customer experience within
digital touch points. These critical success factors include functionality, navigation, help
functions, security, digitalisation, information content, user-friendly, competitive advantage,
aesthetics, ease of access, error handling, loyalty programmes, innovation, communication,
geographic expansion, customisation, customer memory retention and visibility. Dewey’s
theory of experience, which focuses on the various concepts that are significant in shaping
experience across several disciplines, was adopted as a theoretical framework for this study.
Dewey’s theory comprises of four components, namely past experiences, internal
conditions, external conditions and future experiences distinctive from a principle of
continuity and a principle of interaction. The eighteen critical success factors along with

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Dewey’s theory of experience were used in order to develop a theoretical framework for
achieving positive customer experience within digital touch points.

This theoretical framework was further evaluated by two focus groups comprising of six and
four research participants respectively, in order to determine its correctness and validity.
Despite its focus on one particular case study, this framework may be adapted and
potentially serve as a foundation for future research for achieving positive customer
experience through digital touch points across other businesses.

KEYWORDS: Customer experience, touch points, CX, critical success factors, customer
journeys, customer satisfaction, evaluation, digital.

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 CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION TO THE RESEARCH

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

CHAPTER THREE

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

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CHAPTER FOUR

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
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CHAPTER FIVE
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ANALYSIS OF FINDINGS

CHAPTER SIX

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

CHAPTER SEVEN

CONCLUSION

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE RESEARCH

1.1 BACKGROUND INFORMATION

What was once merely the art of small divisions of organisations to perform research on
customers, has now become a colossal part of businesses globally in order to strengthen
company performance as a whole (Puccinelli et al., 2009). It has become increasingly
difficult to compete in global markets, especially in the rapidly changing times that we are
currently living in, and the only apparent possibility for survival is a long-lasting competitive
advantage (Stein & Ramaseshan, 2016). Therefore, businesses have acknowledged the
need to embrace the responsibility to study (Jain, Aagja, & Bagdare, 2017) and understand
consumers in order to obtain a competitive advantage (Stein & Ramaseshan, 2016). By
acquiring insight into customers, businesses are able to create and develop unique and
exceptional interactions, experiences and the connection between a customer and an

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organisation over the course of their business relationship. This is more commonly referred
to as a principle known as “Customer Experience” (Bolton et al., 2018).
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The concept of customer experience (CX) deals with a customer’s response to their
experience and interaction (both direct and indirect) with a business or part of a business
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(Verhoef et al., 2009). A direct interaction is generally introduced by the customer and can
occur during the course of use, purchase or service. Indirect interaction can include
unexpected encounters with representatives of a business’s brand, product and services
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and makes use of word-of-mouth criticisms, reviews or marketing (Stein & Ramaseshan,
2016). Customer experience is a holistic theory that entails every element of an
organisation’s offering and encompasses the physical, social, emotional and cognitive
responses of customers (Bilgihan, Kandampully, & Zhang, 2016).

In order to strengthen customer experience, businesses aim to create efficient service

encounters through multiple touch points in which they interact with their consumers
(Bilgihan et al., 2016). However, according to Bilgihan et al. (2016), this is not a simple task.
There remains a challenge with understanding the behaviour of customers (Melero, Sese,
& Verhoef, 2016); it is an indefinitely shifting variable which causes it to become more refined
(Verhoef & Lemon, 2016). As a result, organisations need to become more attentive in their
pursuit of developing their customer research and understanding (Verhoef & Lemon, 2016).
Organisations, consequently, need to attempt to understand the experiences and journeys
of a customer in order to keep up with the complexities of customer behaviour and company
advancements (Melero et al., 2016) such as touch points (Leva & Ziliani, 2018). According

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to Leva and Ziliani (2018), touch points are gaining increasing importance for businesses
and their brand; they have the ability to enhance customer satisfaction, affect expectations,
maintain customer loyalty and word of mouth (Bilgihan et al., 2016), support the brand and
create an emotional bond between the customer and the business. As a result, positive
customer experiences through touch points are instrumental to a company’s business brand.
According to Bilgihan et al. (2016), given the significance of technological expansion,
organisations have been primarily utilising digital platforms in order to interact with their
customers more effectively and proficiently. However, it still remains difficult for businesses
to integrate their business operations through these touch points whilst maintaining positive
customer experiences due to the complexity and variety that exists within digital touch points
(Jain et al., 2017). The challenge towards the integration of CX is supported by Becker and
Jaakkola (2020) who state that there are considerable challenges towards developing
theories that are devoted to CX due to a lack of a unified view on CX in research. Therefore,

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this study will focus on investigating how customer experience can be achieved successfully
through the evaluation of digital touch points.
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1.2 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

Based on an analysis of existing literature, there is a body of research on understanding

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customer experience, however, there is a lack of research on specific frameworks or models

for achieving positive customer experience. Additionally, Becker and Jaakkola (2020) argue
that there is a lack of research devoted to CX which results in major challenges in developing
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CX theories and strategies. This is supported by Verhoef and Lemon (2016), who argue that
there is a ‘significant gap’ in research on how organisations can best manage customer
experiences and journeys. Verhoef and Lemon (2016) further state that organisations
require new and flexible models given the complexity of customer journeys and the rate at
which customer behaviour and technology are changing. However, it still remains important
for organisations to have insight into how to achieve positive customer experience within
their business, as it constitutes the enhancement of their business, brand, processes and
operations (Leva & Ziliani, 2018). Therefore, this study seeks to (1) determine how
organisations can positively achieve customer experience within their digital touch points,
(2) identify the components that contribute to positive customer experience when utilising a
digital touch point, and (3) identify the critical success factors to achieving positive customer
experience within digital touch points.

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1.3 PROBLEM STATEMENT
Customer experience (CX) refers to a consumer’s perception of a company based on the
value obtained by the utilisation of the company’s products or service. It has the ability to
influence a customer’s overall impression, behaviour and attitude towards an organisation
(Verhoef & Lemon, 2016). By achieving positive customer experience, organisations will be
able to develop a greater understanding of how to effectively implement CX within their
business and subsequently, enhance customer satisfaction, product or service
differentiation, brand image, consumer loyalty and other beneficial business outcomes
(Andajani, 2015).

Verhoef and Lemon (2016) enforce the notion that “what people really desire are not
products but satisfying experiences”. Essentially, organisations should supply their
customers with unique experiences, rather than merely low prices in order to sustain a
position in competitive markets. Bilgihan et al. (2016) state that weak online customer

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experiences result in a 24% loss to annual profits. Fortunately, we live in a new age of
technologies where businesses are able to interact with their customers through a number
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of touch points across various channels and media (Leva & Ziliani, 2018). The
advancements in technology have created a dependency for customers to make use of
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online and digital platforms as their primary source to perform daily activities such as
shopping and banking; making it crucial for organisations to place emphasis on restructuring
their consumer interactions and service delivery elements to cater to the needs of
customers. However, this comes with the complexity for organisations to integrate multiple
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business functions to effectively carry out organisation goals whilst simultaneously delivering
positive customer experience (Jain et al., 2017). Therefore, in order to create favourable
business outcomes, organisations have to recognise the critical success factors for
improving customer experience.

There exists abundant literature that examines customer experience and its importance in
organisations and its brand. For example, existing literature such as Meyer and Schwager
(2007), Verhoef et al. (2009), Puccinelli et al. (2009), Jain et al. (2017) and Andajani (2015)
mainly focus on developing a greater understanding of customer experience. Aicher and
Gruber (2017) and Roto, Vaataja, Law, and Powers (2016) study the integration of touch
points on customer experience. Verhoef and Lemon (2016) focus on understanding the role
of customer journeys within CX. Additionally, Homburg, Jozić, and Kuehnl (2017) discuss
the concept of customer experience and how it should be managed. Rosenbaum, Otalora,
and Ramirez (2017) formulate approaches to creating customer journeys by analysing

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consumer behaviours. Kong and Johnston (2011) evaluate the methods in which
organisations currently implement customer experience. Stein and Ramaseshan (2016)
discuss the orchestration of touch points in order to ensure positive experience. However,
this existing research fails to identify a specific framework for achieving positive customer
experience successfully.

This provides the motivation behind this research. In spite of the existence of literature that
demonstrates how the implementation of customer experience within an organisation can
improve its business, there is a deficiency of experiential research that defines a framework
for achieving positive customer experience successfully (Giraldi, Mengoni, & Bevilacqua,
2016). Through the findings from this research, a framework on implementing and improving
customer experience within organisations can be developed. According to Jain et al. (2017),
customer experience is being conceptualised due to existing literature. However, traditional
systems are becoming obsolete as experiences are unique to each individual. But,

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contemporary theoretical research can be used as a foundation for organisations to discuss,
validate and adapt according to their business applications.
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Therefore, this study seeks essentially to:
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(1) determine how organisations can achieve positive customer experience through digital
touch points,
(2) identify the components that contribute to positive customer experience when utilising a
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digital touch point, and

(3) identify the critical success factors to achieving positive customer experience within
digital touch points.

In order to accomplish this, this research focuses on a well-recognised financial institution

in South Africa that utilises a wide range of touch points. By evaluating the digital touch
points of this organisation, it became possible to determine how to achieve positive customer
experience through digital touch points. Therefore, this research aims to effectively target
this banking organisation as well as other organisations with a similar discipline that can
utilise the guidelines established in this study in order to address customer experience with
their business.

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1.4 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND QUESTIONS

The primary research objective of this study is to investigate how companies can achieve
positive customer experience within their digital touch points successfully. This will enable
companies to improve their customers’ journey with their business and brand i.e. customer
experience within a company. Therefore, a primary research question was formulated in
order to best satisfy the research objective. Through this investigation, this research study
defines the primary research question to be:

PRIMARY RESEARCH QUESTION (PRQ): How can organisations achieve positive

customer experience through their digital touch points?

Furthermore, this research study addresses a set of secondary questions that will aid in

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answering the primary research question. This research study defines Secondary Research
Question 1 to be as follows:
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SECONDARY RESEARCH QUESTION 1 (SRQ1): What are the components that
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contribute to positive customer experience when utilising a digital touch point?

Based on existing literature, it is evident that customer experience is vital for the success of
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a business. There are a variety of determinants of successful customer experience within

digital touch points. Therefore, the objective of SRQ1 is to understand the reasons as to why
customers enjoy, prefer or dislike certain elements along their customer journey when
utilising digital touch points.

Subsequently, this research study defines Secondary Research Question 2 to be as follows:

SECONDARY RESEARCH QUESTION 2 (SRQ2): What are the critical success

factors to achieving positive customer experience within digital touch points?

In order to achieve positive CX within digital touch points, it is important to identify what
customers enjoy, prefer or dislike when utilising digital touch points which is the objective of
SRQ2.

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1.5 ASSUMPTIONS
An assumption to this study is that positive customer experience can successfully be
achieved through a set of finite components and factors.

1.6 LIMITATIONS
This study examines how positive customer experience can be achieved through digital
touch points; this means that other channels through which organisations interact with their
customers will be disregarded. Additionally, another limitation is that this study follows case
study research, which means that the study examines how positive customer experience
can be achieved by focusing on a major banking institution in South Africa. This means that
the framework developed within this study cannot be entirely generalised for improving
customer experience across other organisations or industries and the findings from this
study will have to be retested and revalidated for banking institutions or other types of
businesses in different countries in the future.

1.7 BRIEF CHAPTER OVERVIEW

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This study aims to investigate how positive customer experience can be achieved and is
presented across seven chapters:
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Chapter One introduces the study by presenting a background into the research topic. It
defines the motivation behind the study, the research objectives, the research questions, as
well as the assumptions and limitations associated with this study.
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Chapter Two discusses existing literature surrounding the topic of customer experience. It
explores the concept of customer experience and various components within it, in order to
gain a better understanding on the research topic. By examining existing literature, the gaps
within the research area can be identified, which essentially validates the necessity for this
study.

Chapter Three discusses the theoretical framework that was selected by this study which
serves as a rationale for presenting the findings of the study. The importance behind
theoretical frameworks as well as the reasoning behind choosing the selected theoretical
framework are discussed in this chapter.

Chapter Four describes the methodologies used to conduct this study. The research
methodology is defined by describing the research design, data collection and analysis
techniques, sampling methods, as well as ethical considerations of the study, and the
reasoning behind choosing these particular methodologies.

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Chapter Five fulfils the objectives of the study. In this chapter the results of the findings
obtained through the research investigation, the manner in which the selected research
methodologies were utilised to collect data, and the manner in which the findings satisfy the
research objectives are described.

Chapter Six presents an adapted theoretical framework based on the framework chosen in
Chapter Three, as well as the findings from this research study. In this chapter, the manner
in which this theoretical framework relates to the findings from the study and how it fulfils the
research objectives are discussed. Lastly, this chapter presents the results of an evaluation
of the theoretical framework performed by the research participants.

Finally, Chapter Seven presents an overview and conclusion to the study findings. This
chapter comprises of a summary of the study findings, how these findings contribute to
existing literature and the research domain, and lastly suggestions for future research

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studies. IE
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 CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION TO THE RESEARCH

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

CHAPTER THREE

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

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CHAPTER FOUR

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
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CHAPTER FIVE
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ANALYSIS OF FINDINGS

CHAPTER SIX

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

CHAPTER SEVEN

CONCLUSION

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 INTRODUCTION

With the existence of an increasingly competitive market, organisations need to provide their
customers with much more than merely just products, services or low prices. Customers
seek engagement with a brand and interact with businesses that provide superior
experiences (Bolton et al., 2018). Organisations should find ways in which to appeal to their
customers by creating unique interactions and relationships between the company and
customers, in a way that compels customers to become loyal to the brand (Bilgihan et al.,
2016). Over the past few years, organisations have globally recognised the increased need
to improve the customer experience within their business (Giraldi et al., 2016). According to
Homburg et al. (2017), researchers define the implementation and management of customer
experience to be one of the most favourable approaches to promoting an organisation’s

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business within consumer industries.

In the effort to design and deliver unique customer experiences, organisations can shape
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markets as well as create a competitive advantage, customer loyalty and other favourable
company outcomes for their business (Bolton et al., 2018). However, the increased focus
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spent on improving customer experience stems from the difficulty faced by organisations to
attempt to create and manage the experiences and journeys of each customer. Additionally,
complexity remains within the various channels through which organisations interact with
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their customers (Verhoef & Lemon, 2016). According to McColl-Kennedy et al. (2015), in
spite of customer experience being greatly explored in literature, customer experience
research remains fragmented with relatively little still known about the phenomenon. McColl-
Kennedy et al. (2015) further argue that the theories and concepts that are the “antecedents
and consequences” of customer experience should be thoroughly evaluated, rather than
merely placing focus upon the actions and outcomes from an organisational perspective.

Therefore, in this chapter, existing literature surrounding the concept will be examined in
order to better understand the concept of CX, as well as to identify the gap within this
research area. Firstly, this chapter will further explore the concept of customer experience
more comprehensively. Thereafter, the various components, properties and other elements
that are attributed to customer experience will be identified and discussed. Finally, the
challenges of customer experience and why it still remains a challenge within organisations
to understand and implement customer experience will be considered.

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2.2 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Customer experience can be dated back to the 1960s during the development of the first
marketing and consumer theories. However, this historically dated literature does not
consider the concept of customer experience to be a construct on its own, but focuses rather
on accomplishing service quality and customer satisfaction (Verhoef et al., 2009).

The concept of what we know today to be customer experience was only formulated during
the 1980s when a new experimental methodology or approach was developed that provided
a different perspective to customer behaviour (Gentile, Spiller, & Noci, 2007). The terms
“customer experience” or “experience” were considered to be revealed by Holbrook and
Hirschman (1982), which state that consumption encompasses experimental elements and
components such as emotion, pleasure, symbolism and creativity, which play an important
role in understanding consumer behaviours and were strongly rooted within the field of
marketing and consumption (Andajani, 2015).

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The concept of CX became more prominent during the 1990s. Schmitt (1999) presented a
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study on how organisations are shifting from conventional “feature-and-benefit marketing”
towards creating experiences for their customers. The study further examined experimental
marketing and highlighted the elements of value creation between the consumer and
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organisation, by exploring how customers sense, think, feel and relate to an organisation
and its brand. Pine and Gilmore (1999), whose study remains an important foundation for
customer experience research during its early existence, define “experiences” to be a new
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and different economic offering which occurs as the “next step” after products and services
in what is referred to as “the progression of economic value”. Thereafter, a variety of
subsequent studies, such as Schmitt (2003), Berry, Carbone, and Haeckel (2002), Caru and
Cova (2003) and Shaw and Ivens (2002), were developed to reveal how customer
experience can serve as a basis for producing value for organisations as well as their
customers (Gentile et al., 2007).

Consequently, over the course of the years to the present day, customer experience has
emerged as a notion that has become detrimental for organisations to effectively implement
in order to secure their success within markets and as a business. In the subsequent
sections of this chapter, this research will further explore more recent existing literature that
examines the concept of customer experience, as well as how and why its existence remains
so imperative for organisations.

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2.3 UNDERSTANDING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

There are many different variations of the definition of the concept of customer experience
(CX) in existing literature of recent times. Maechler, Neher and Park (2016) state that CX
involves the series of interactions that take place between a customer and an organisation.
Chatzopoulos and Weber (2018) reveal that CX entails a customer’s opinions that are
formed before, during and after the interaction with an organisation’s assets. According to
Herhausen, Kleinlercher, Emrish, Rudolph and Verhoef (2019), customer experience is
characterised according to product satisfaction, journey satisfaction, customer inspiration
and customer loyalty. Verhoef and Lemon (2016) propose that customer experience deals
with a customer’s emotional, cognitive, sensorial, social and behavioural responses to the
interaction with an organisation. Hence, this study defines customer experience as a
customer’s entire emotional and social perception, views, feelings and satisfaction that occur
through the interaction with an organisation’s resources such as a product, personnel,
services or other offering.

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A customer can be considered to be a “consumer”, “participant”, “user”, “guest”, “actor” or
“co-creator” that consumes or exploits one or more of an organisation’s products or service
offering. Customer experience is not solely supplied to provide value for customers by a
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respective organisation, but should rather be ensured to offer value to all parties involved
(McColl-Kennedy et al., 2015). The notion of customer experience provides customers with
an opportunity to receive an emotion or special memory during the course of their
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interactions with an organisation (Giraldi et al., 2016) which will, in turn, influence customer
satisfaction as well as customer loyalty, customer expectations, company brand and
emotional bonds with the customer, thus additionally creating value for business (Jain et al.,
2017). However, managing the experience of customers is the most important and difficult
element in developing customer satisfaction and customer loyalty (Jain et al., 2017).

A large number of organisations attempt to measure customer satisfaction and consequently

receive large amounts of data. However, merely measuring customer satisfaction does not
reveal how to achieve it (Meyer & Schwager, 2007). According to Meyer and Schwager
(2007), customer satisfaction is the conclusion to the series of customer experiences or the
outcome of the series of good experiences minus the bad ones. Meyer and Schwager (2007)
further state that in order to better understand how to accomplish customer satisfaction,
organisations should analyse the experiences of each component.

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 According to Giraldi et al. (2016), customer experiences can invoke an internal and
subjective reaction from customers during any type of direct or indirect interaction with an
organisation (Stein & Ramaseshan, 2016). Direct interaction is generally introduced by the
customer and occurs during the use or purchase of a product or service. Indirect interaction
includes unexpected encounters with representatives of an organisation’s brand, product or
service and make use of word-of-mouth marketing or reviews (Giraldi et al., 2016). Hence,
customer experience involves factors which organisations can control (i.e. marketing and
touch point interface, design and processes), as well as influences that are beyond the
control of the organisation (i.e. customer values, views, behaviours and interactions and
purpose of interaction) (Giraldi et al., 2016). This is due to the fact that experiences are
created by the interpretations of the interactions and encounters by the customer; which
means that customer experience is not solely dependent on the control by the organisation.
Therefore, it is important for organisations to construct and design criterions and stimuli that

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allow customers to receive desired experiences (Stein & Ramaseshan, 2016).

Merely focusing on one particular element of an organisation’s offering, such as products or

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low prices, is not enough to appeal to customers (Homburg et al., 2017); rather,
organisations should consider the aspects from the entire experience when considering their
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customers i.e. interactions, satisfaction, service, financial suitability, as well as all other
factors that play a part in the customer’s interaction with the company. Provision to address
the total experience of a customer is needed to attain a customer’s trust and achieve
business goals (Chatzopoulos & Weber, 2018). Delivering superior quality experiences to
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customers has proven to develop sustainable competitive advantage with better financial
control for organisations. Hence, organisational success rests on an organisation’s ability to
provide exceptional customer-focused services (Halvorsrud, Kvale, & Folstad, 2016).

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