REPORT PREPARED FOR:

REPORT TITLE:

Customer Experience Model Analysis (Report & Presentation)

BY – Shriram Krishnan

POSTGRADUATE DIPLOMA IN BUSINESS:

APMG 8119: DIGITAL ENTERPRISE

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR: DR. NITIN SETH

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Vodafone

Author Contact 3

Executive Summary 4

Telecommunication Industry

5

Vodafone Business 5

Vodafone Customer Experience Map 6

Consumer Real Virtual Experience 9

Theoretical Implications 11

Managerial Implications 11

Appendices 12

Reference List 15

content

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Author Contact:Name : Shriram KrishnanMobile : 02102919198Email : Shriram.x.krishnan@gmail.comStudent ID : 1446629

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE MODEL ANALYSIS

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Executive Summary:

Though slow, digital revolution has caught the retail world like a storm. Retailers who

reinvent their business model and leverage technology to augment their in store

customer experience and are able to provide a smooth transition between brick and

click store are the one who will survive. Customers now expect to shop 24*7 and

want hyper personalization. According to Forbes today’s technology would give rise

to “C-Commerce” (Creative Commerce). We will see an advent of dynamic market

place where customers create, buy and sell (2012).

Keeping the above background in mind this report starts with looking at New Zealand

telecom industry before understanding Vodafone’s business & market in which it

operates. It covers details of its stakeholders and shareholding.

Report goes on to develop a Customer Experience Map of Vodafone and examines

the same in context of the theoretical frame of OCE (Online Customer Experience).

In order to understand the real virtual experience semi-structured interview were

conducted on 5 existing consumers of Vodafone from diverse Value Segments.

At theoretical level it can be concluded that antecedent conditions impacts

consumer’s decision making. As far as Vodafone is concerned it has managed to

gain customers trust but is it enough to satisfy customers from different value

segment is a big question.

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Telecommunication Industry:

According to Annual Telecommunication Monitoring report total retail

telecommunication revenue for New Zealand stood at 5.17$bn (Total mobile revenue

2.49$bn) , while the fixed line numbers remained static at 1.85 million, mobile

connection increase from 4.9million to 5.3 million resulting in a figure of 118 mobile

connections per 100 population. Most critical aspect is, in 2014 average monthly

data consumed increased from 26GB to 32GB & mobile data consumption jumped

from 130MB to 229MB when compared to 2013 (Commerce Commission, 2015).

Vodafone Business:

Vodafone New Zealand is subsidiary of UK listed Vodafone Plc. and is present in

more than 30 countries. It’s listed on NASDAQ and has 686 Institutional Holders. It

has revenue of $42.23Billion (NASDAQ, 2015). It arrived in New Zealand in 1998 by

purchasing Bellsouth. At the time of switch over it had 138,000 customers, today it

has >2.3Million customers and revenue of $2.06Billion (Vodafone, 2015). Its

products are Mobile, Broadband and TV.

It has a distinct advantage over its competitors given its global presence but in 2014

it suffered its first loss in 13 years ($27.9 million) (New Zealand Herald, 2015) due to

increasing competition. To attract more customers it has initiated a network

guarantee campaign where it is refunding the money if customer is not happy with

Vodafone network in first 30 days.

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Customer Experience:

As rightly pointed out by Hoffman and Novak 1996 cited by Seth relevant

communication in today’s many to many computer-mediated environment is critical.

Figure 1: A Model of Marketing Communications in a Hypermedia CME (Seth, 2015, Class presentation, Topic 2, Slide 4)

It’s especially true in case of Vodafone given the increasing dependency on mobile

technology. As highlighted by Rose, Hair and Clark each time a customer interacts

with an organization a customer experience takes place. These take away

impressions add up to form customer satisfaction (2011). In case of Vodafone since

its customers use their services every day to call, surf or watch television it’s

important to ensure that a positive perception is developed. It also needs to cater to

different value segments.

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Vodafone Promised Experience:

- Uninterrupted mobile, data and TV service.

- Differentiated data services

- Great Customer experience

- Competitive Value

- Customized packages catering to the requirements of every customer

(Vodafone, 2015)

Antecedent Conditions:

Information Processing: As rightly pointed out by Rose, Hair and Clark prior

knowledge of the product can be a starting point for a customer search (2011). In

case of Vodafone since it has its presence in more than 30 countries it gives them

distinct advantage over its competitor especially in New Zealand.

Perceived Ease-of-use & Usefulness: Since Vodafone is a data provider

themselves, customer’s perception starts developing as soon as they use the data

service. After which customer expect to easily log on to the site and choose a plan

which suits their needs, it also provides for family and business plans to suit the

needs of variety of customers. It has an app which helps customers recharge, pay

and select across various plans.

Perceived benefits & Enjoyment: Vodafone provides deals both for post-paid and

prepaid plans and handset bundling. It also provides customized offers to customers

based on their usage. It helps create one account for entire family or business giving

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larger benefits. Bouquet of mobile, land line, broad band and television helps

generating customer satisfaction and retention of customers.

Perceived Control & Skills: Given that all smart phone users are tech savvy and

are comfortable using internet services and applications Vodafone assumes that

customers would be comfortable navigating through their web site and use their

services comfortably.

Trust Propensity: Given its global presence, it gives customer a level of comfort as

far as reliability and trust are concerned.

Perceived Risk: Vodafone has initiated a network challenge in order to nullify the

risk of choosing a service provider with inferior network. Similarly all critical data

regarding customer usage is stored in secured manner.

Consequence:

Vodafone expects to create secured, risk free environment where customers can

trust the brand and enjoy interacting with them both online and offline. Antecedent

condition’s combined with bouquet of services i.e. mobile, broad band and TV

Vodafone has managed to un-complicate and ease out customer’s life resulting in

close to 42% market share in mobile market and 32% share of broadband market

(Commerce Commission, 2015).

Consumer Experience Map:

FLOW

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Consumer Real Virtual Experience:

In order to compare planned customer experience with real experience 5 Semi-

structured interviews were conducted. 5 existing Vodafone consumers who have

been using the service for more than 6 months were selected. As highlighted by Roy

Morgan Research Value Segments play a critical role in decision making (2015).

Given the fact that Vodafone needs to cater to diverse segment customers from

diverse value segments were selected. Refer to Appendix for profile of the

customers, detailed questionnaire & their responses.

What Vodafone means to the customer:

In order to understand what Vodafone means to every customer they were asked to

mention few key words that define Vodafone. It’s pertinent to note that none of the

customers mentioned television or fun or enjoyable. For them Vodafone means

contract, internet and mobile.

Word Cloud of Vodafone:

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Reason for selecting Vodafone in all the cases was the fact that it was an existing

well-known brand. It leads to an assumption that their network is of best quality.

Family or business packages have helped retaining a customers coupled with the

lack of competing brand (which is changing slowly).

Web Design & App:

Surprisingly all but one customer don’t regularly visit the site or use the application.

They thought that the screen layout could have been better while menus were self-

explanatory. None of the customers found the site to be enjoyable or pleasurable.

Merchandise:

Customers gave a below average score to the Vodafone site as they found it difficult

to navigate and struggled to search for their plan. Once they found the product

information seemed to be ok but they felt it could have been better as it was not easy

to understand.

Promotion:

Customers who have opted for the family package seemed to be satisfied with the

offer but the newer generation who were not satisfied as they felt that they need

more data packages as they hardly make any calls.

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Order Fulfillment:

This aspect could not be tested fully as no one seemed to have ordered products

online. Each one of them had visited the Vodafone store or called the call centre to

but their products. But testing the ordering process gave a positive result.

Communication & Customer Service:

Once again the younger generation seemed to be dissatisfied with the products as

they don’t get any great deals. Fact that every interaction creates a positive or

negative perception is evident from the fact that long queue at stores and difficulty in

getting through the call centre seems to have created a negative perception. Every

customer feels that they are treated as a number and not as a customer which is a

serious concern.

Security & Privacy:

This is one aspect where Vodafone seems to have gained advantage from its global

presence.

Theoretical Implication:

The findings indicate that the customers evaluates the online customer service

experience at an overall level, antecedent conditions play an important role in

customers decision making and information processing; which in turn is driven by the

value segment and the prior interactions with the brand. In an online scenario

website design, order fulfillment, communication, merchandise, security/privacy and

promotion are the important aspects.

The OCE model highlights the importance of individual dimensions and expands our

knowledge of online experience and how customer perceives their online customer

experience and how it affects their behaviour.

Thus companies can understand their customer in a much better way by comparing

the OCE model with the actual customer experience.

Managerial Implication:

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“Consumer trust positively influences consumer loyalty (Jin & park, 2006)”, study

clearly reveals that Vodafone as a brand is trusted by its customers which has

helped garnering a higher market share. At the same time trust has a positive

influence on customer satisfaction ((Jin & park, 2006) but to what extent is the

question. Brand cannot survive purely on Trust as Satisfactions also is important to

gain customer loyalty.

In Vodafone’s case satisfaction seems to be dwindling which in a long run is a

concern. With increasing competition from Spark, 2 Degree and Skinny in telecom

market and numerous brands in broad band and television market Vodafone should

consider improving their overall customer experience and online customer

experience specifically if it needs to remain competitive. It needs to market

customized plans and start a loyalty program which makes the customer feel special

and wanted. It can use OCE model to study their customer perception and generate

customer centric products to cater to the needs of diverse value segments in today’s

world of hyper customization.

APPENDICES

Profile of Customers:

Particulars 1 2 3 4 5

Name Shane Ryan Hemal Jashil Hemant

Roy Morgan Segmentatio

n

Something

better

Conventiona

l Family Life

Visible

Achievement

Look At

Me

Real

Conservatism

Age 26-30 30-35 30-35 20-25 45-50

Member Since

6

Months3+ Years 5+ Years

5+

Years5+ Years

Work Type Part Full Time Full Time Part Full Time

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Time Time

Family No Yes Yes Yes Yes

1. What does Vodafone signify to you? – Word Cloud

Known brand, Telecom, Data, Text, Contract, Land line, Customer Centric,

Ease of use, Customized products, Better Offers, Differentiated products,

Calling, Inter Group Calling, Innovative Products,

2. Please indicate how satisfied are you with the following attributes of the Web Design and App

a. Screen Design & layout

b. Convenience and ease of use of menus

c. Enjoyment

3. Please indicate how satisfied are you with the following attributes of the Merchandise

a. Easily found the product

b. Detailed merchandise information is provided

c. Easy to understand product description

4. Please indicate how satisfied are you with the following attributes of the Promotion

a. Online Discounts

b. Loyalty Programs

c. Free offers if any

5. Please indicate how satisfied are you with the following attributes of the Order Fulfillment.

a. Error free ordering and delivery

b. Information about price, fee etc.

c. Delivers products without defect

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6. Please indicate how satisfied are you with the following attributes of the Communication & Customer Service

a. Personalized products

b. After Sale services and dispute resolution

c. Appreciates your business

7. Please indicate how satisfied are you with the following attributes of the Security / Privacy

a. Personal Information is confidential

b. Credit card information is secured

1 - Very Satisfied 7 - Very Dissatisfied

AttributesCustomer

1Customer

2Customer

3Customer

4Customer

5Question 2 Web Site Design & App

Screen Design & Layout 6 4 3 4 4

Convenience & Ease of use of menus 4 2 2 3 2

Enjoyment 7 7 6 7 6

Question 3 MerchandiseEasily Found the

Product 6 4 4 4 4

Detailed Merchandise Information

4 3 3 4 3

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Easy to understand Product Information 5 3 4 6 3

Question 4 PromotionOnline Discounts 7 2 2 6 2Loyalty Programs 7 7 7 7 7

Free Offers 7 2 2 7 2

Question 5 Order FulfillmentError Free Ordering 2 1 1 2 1Information about fees, charges etc. 2 3 2 2 2Deliver product without defect 2 1 2 2 1

Question 6 Communication & Customer ServicePersonalized

Products 6 3 2 6 3

After Sale service & Dispute Resolution 7 3 2 6 2

Appreciates your business 7 6 6 7 6

Question 7 Security & PrivacyPersonal Information

is Confidential 2 2 1 3 1

Credit Card Information is

secured2 1 1 1 2

Reference List:

Commerce Commission. (2015). Annual Telecommunications monitoring Report 2014. Retrieved from http://www.comcom.govt.nz/regulated-industries/telecommunications/monitoring-reports-and-studies/monitoring-reports/

Forbes. (2012). The Next Wave of E-Commerce Innovation. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/techonomy/2012/06/11/the-next-wave-of-e-commerce-innovation/

Jin, B. and Park, J.Y. (2006). The Moderating Effect of Online Purchase Experience on the Evaluation of Online Store Attributes and the Subsequent Impact on Market Response Outcomes. Advances in Consumer Research, 33.

NASDAQ. (2015). Vodafone Group Plc. Retrieved from http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/vod/institutional-holdings

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New Zealand Herald. (2015). Vodafone reports dip in NZ revenue. Retrieved from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11451860

Rose, S., Hair, N., and Clark, M. (2011). Online Customer Experience: A Review of the Business-to-commerce Online Purchase Context. International Journal of Management Reviews, 13, 24-39. Doi 10.1111/j.1468-2370.2010.00280.x

Roy Morgan Research. (2015). About Values Segments. Retrieved from http://www.roymorgan.com/products/values-segments/about-values-segments

Vodafone. (2015). About Us. Retrieved from http://www.vodafone.co.nz/about/

Vodafone. (2015). Vodafone Annual Report. Retrieved from www.vodafone.com/content/annualreport/annual_report13/downloads/strategy.pdf