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 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 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 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 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 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.