What is customer experience?
As indicated by Lemon and Verhoef (2016), the notion of experience was introduced by Abbot (1955) and Alderson (1957) who stipulated that “what people really desire are not products but satisfying experiences.” Later, in the 1980s, Holbrook and Hirschman (1982) and Hirschman and Holbrook (1982) conceptualized and integrated the experiential approach into consumer behavior theory. They mainly focused on the emotional aspects of decision making.
From a marketing perspective, Carù and Cova (2003) define experience as a distinctive offering comparable to the products/services. This distinctive marketing offer is directed towards consumer senses with an objective to provide them a way to emotionally, mentally, socially, spiritually and physically engage in the consumption of a product or service. However,
What is brand experience?
Brakus, Schmitt, and Zarantonello (2009) define brand experience as: “as subjective, internal consumer responses (sensations, feelings, and cognitions) and behavioral responses evoked by brand-related stimuli that are part of a brand‘s design and identity, packaging, communications, and environments.” They also stipulate that this multidimensional construct varies in intensity (weak vs. strong/ordinary vs. extraordinary/non-memorable vs. memorable), valence (negative vs. positive), length (short-lived vs long-lasting), occurrence (spontaneous vs deliberative). The long-lasting brand experiences are stored in consumer memory and have an effect of consumer behavior. They occur whenever there is a direct or indirect interaction (touchpoint) with the brand. Consumers experience brands by coming in contact with them through a number of mediums, including the internet (Chattopadhyay and Laborie, 2005).
The main distinction between the notion of brand experience and customer experience is that the former refers to the touchpoints with the organization wherein the brand is present. In other words, an organization that propose an experiential offering without being branded it would be providing a customer experience rather than a brand experience. Thus, customer experience is broader than brand experience.
From the brand management viewpoint, an experience is a takeaway impression (Carbone and Haeckel, 1994) that is formed in the mind of consumers as a result of the encounter with the holistic offer of a brand (Klaus and Maklan, 2007).
What is not brand experience?
Brand experience is not an emotional relationship concept. Brand experience does not presume a motivational state.
The dimensions of brand experience:
Sensory: refers to visual, auditory, tactile, gustative and olfactory stimulations provided by a brand.
Affective: includes feelings generated by a brand
Intellectual: refers to the ability of the brand to engage consumers’ convergent and divergent thinking
Behavioral: included bodily experiences, lifestyles, and interactions with the brand.
Brand experience in different contexts
Place:
Beckman, Kumar, and Kim (2013) indicate that place brand experience implies the physical environment experienced by consumers. This “scape” can be created or co-created to encourage visitors to get unique experiences (Hall, 2008; Julier, 2005). For instance, the authors explain that the downtown of Leavenworth, Washington, offers a Bavarian theme in its architecture and business mix, creating staged experiences to visitors who may feel like they are in the Austrian Alps (Runyan and Huddleston, 2006).
References:
Beckman, E., Kumar, A., & Kim, Y. K. (2013). The impact of brand experience on downtown success. Journal of Travel Research, 52(5), 646-658.
Brakus, J. J., Schmitt, B. H., & Zarantonello, L. (2009). Brand experience: what is it? How is it measured? Does it affect loyalty?. Journal of Marketing, 73(3), 52-68.
Carù, A., & Cova, B. (2003). Revisiting consumption experience: A more humble but complete view of the concept. Marketing Theory, 3(2), 267-286.
Hirschman, E. C., & Holbrook, M. B. (1982). Hedonic consumption: emerging concepts, methods and propositions. Journal of Marketing, 46(3), 92-101.
Holbrook, M. B., & Hirschman, E. C. (1982). The experiential aspects of consumption: Consumer fantasies, feelings, and fun. Journal of Consumer Research, 9(2), 132-140.
Lemon, K. N., & Verhoef, P. C. (2016). Understanding customer experience throughout the customer journey. Journal of Marketing, 80(6), 69-96.
PhD. Richard Huaman-Ramirez 