Understanding Customer Experience

Interactive value formation stipulates that value is co-created during the interaction between the provider and the customer. Non interactive value formation means that the value is created in the product or service in manufacturing(Ercheverri & Skålen, 2011). I believe that in hospitality most of the value of both the product (food and drink) and service is created very much interactively, how the guest and the waiter interact. Most of the value of the visit to a restaurant comes from the sense of total experience, not only food, service or visual environment or ambience. That is why the co-creation the value becomes so important. If value in service is co-created, how much difference does it make if the customer is happy, in a good mood, hungry, angry, sad, late etc? If the value is co-destructed, what is a waiter to do to co-restore the value? Compensation, listening to the customer making a wrong right are some of the ways to ce-restore destructed value. Misunderstanding...

In this blog I am to reflect the tutorial videos on the course website. In one of the videos, Per Erchevelli talks about the non-verbal communication in service encounters. Non-verbal interaction is a major part of communication. According to researcher Albert Mehrabian, only 7 % of our communication is the actual words we speak. 38% is the tone of our voice, and 55% is body language. ( https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kroppsspråk ) Erchevelli describes using non verbal communication as tools in our toolbox, some small, some bigger. He mentions gestures, posture, touching behaviour, facial expressions, eye behaviour and vocal behaviour. These tools of non verbal communication have 3 functions, according to Erchevelli: it adds information to what is already expressed, it gives a new direction to the conversation, and it reinforces a specific communicative content. In my personal opinion, non verbal communication is a powerful tool and therefore so often misunderstood. The interp...

In the coming blogs and in the course we will dive into the exciting world of customer interactions. This I believe really is the core of any business: the customer and the service provider interracting with each other. I’m looking forward to learn about the theories connected into customer interraction.  Having worked in customer service my whole life (since I was 14, and still going strong!) I have decades of emiprical experience on the subject. I absolutely love meeting and talking to my customers. My style of service is personal, engaging and preferably humoristic, when applicable.  Although I consider myself being a person who gets along with everyone, I still meet an angry or dissatisfied customer every now and then. The challenge is to try to change their perspective, and make things right. 99 times out of 100 it works out well. I’m looking forward to read about the academics point of view when it comes to good practises in customer interraction, and what to do ...

Here is a couple of ways we could use the principles of persuasion to improve customer experience in our restaurant: Authority: the chef could present the menu, preferably in person by the table in and tell something about for instance how the food is prepared. Or if the chef is not available in person e could write a description or a story about the menu composition in the menu for the customer to read about. Our sommelier can organize wine/beer/spirit tasting and tell about the products qualities. This engages the customer and at the same time educates/gives new information about the product while offering a pleasant customer experience. Scarcity: We can offer menus or drinks for limited time only. For instance special menu for Easter, Mother´s day, midsummer or Christmas. Also in the bar we can offer beer of the month, cocktail of the month or other special limited time offers. Food or drinks can also be offered on season, for instance fresh berries during the summer or m...

Being in Finland I chose two advertisements from a Finnish magazine to analyze. These ads come from a lifestyle magazine for women, and the target group seems very clear when you see the ads. The first advertisement is about toothpaste. This is usually a product that doesn’t wake very much emotions or engage the consumer. So many toothpaste manufacturers try to engage the consumer to the product by using science and experts like dentists. There is a well-known television ad for a toothpaste where the “expert” (an actress) says: “I’m not only a dentist, I’m a mother, too.” This uses the influence principle of Authority, using a role model with authority to persuade us that the product is good. Experts such as dentists or mothers for that matter are an efficient way of making us believe that the product is of higher quality or has better effects than a different brand. In this advertisement they use a dentist giving good advice and tips how to keep your teeth clean, using color and...