What is a customer online experience ?
In general, when you ask someone on what a customer online experience is, generally the most common answer is browsing the internet for a particular product, finding the product on an online store and purchasing the item. But a customer online experience is much more in-depth as it comes down to involvement of the online store and the interacting between the consumers and the suppliers of the product.
To summarise what a customer online experience is: the result of an association between an online organisation or business and a shopper over a term of the regular relationship. This online interaction is made up of parts which are: the customer journey, the brand points in terms of the customer and their interaction and the online environment that the customer experiences throughout the journey of the company’s website or purchase (Forbes.com, 2019).
The framework shown in the figure above is a diagram which is focused on customer online experience. I’m sure a lot of people will look at this framework and might not exactly understand it. So personally I will use the framework elements prescribed from Rose and Hair’s diagram to show you how the elements intertwine with my personal customer online experience with ASOS (www.Asos.com) as I tend to be a lot of clothes.
Within the Rose and Hair Framework there is 8 antecedent’s and I will personally break each of them down in terms of my online customer experience in compliance of ASOS.com
Information Processing (IP) – This is the process of buyers comprehending the information of a particular product that either the customer has seen or personally likes (Chaffey, Ellis-Chadwick 2019). This is based off the cognitive affective elements of thoughts and feelings. Personally, when I am online shopping, I normally check my social media outlets in terms of cloth stores and designs to see if I like any of the design for example Shirts whether it has the colour I am looking for or a particular brand. I always result to the ASOS online store to see their new season of clothing, as I see recent posts on either Facebook, or Instagram which attract me to go on their website.
Perceived Ease of use – In terms of ASOS it is generally easy to access their store as you can easily swipe up on their Instagram stories or click on their Ads on Facebook which directly takes you to their online website or phone App (if you’re on your phone). The website and phone are extremely easy to use as you can scroll and click on subcategories which takes you to your point of interest on the store’s website
Perceived Benefits – ASOS provided student discounts whether you’re a high school student or a university student, which can help narrow your future product down in price. ASOS also has free shipping when your product or item is over a certain amount as well which makes me as a customer a lot happier because you don’t have to pay for shipping if you buy a lot like me (Chaffey, Ellis-Chadwick 2019).
Perceived Control – generally perceived control can relate to the consumers personal choice in whether the customer is making the right choice or not it all comes down to self-confidence (Nataraajan and Angur, 2019). If the consumer is generally confident in terms of size and online shopping, they will not a problem buying items online. As ASOS is an online store only, they target the use of either their website or smartphones to get in contact of their customers, their clothing is aimed for young adults who are digitally capable of buying products online.
Skill – As I tend to use ASOS quite often the more I use and shop on ASOS the more I get comfortable with the online environment; this means it will be easier to search for your desired product.
Trust Propensity – ASOS overall has a very large consumer target market and is a very well trusted site. In terms of delivering, they always either deliver your item before the estimated date or on the estimated date, feedback is a quality service that ASOS induces when customer have order or are just viewing the website, the ASOS online store is always looking for ways to improve their great service.
Perceived Risk – when seeking for new online shopping sites/stores there is always the thought of whether the site is real or authentic. As consumers we all tend to check whether the sites shown online are trustworthy. Since ASOS is a large consumer base, I would personally hear word of mouth whether the site is legitimate, and you can even go their website to check. The risk of theft or fraudulency on this website is very low. ASOS is a well trusted website with guaranteed refund policies and well-protected payment encryptions. I am generally always cautious of shopping online just because of the scary stories that you hear on the news or that has happened to previous customers.
Enjoyment – personally I have thoroughly had positive online experiences with ASOS even if I don’t buy anything, the website is very easy to use and is well known as I’ve seen some of my friends post and tag ASOS in there personally photos by letting the public consumer bases know that they produce quality clothing items which are authentic and for good prices.
Experience in the Rose and Hair’s Framework comes after the antecedents, these are focused on the behaviours of your online purchasing experience.
Cognitive State: is the mental state of one’s self, in terms of an online customer experience the cognitive process is reflected during the thoughts and feelings of potentially buying the overall desired item you are originally shopping for (Vocabulary.com, 2019). When I am thinking about the product that I want I normally go into a state of thought to think to myself on whether I really need this product. Generally, I always tell myself that I need the product and that I can use the product for more than just one purpose.
Affective State: whenever I finally purchase a product online I genuinely feel happy and excited for the product to come, but sometimes there’s always my personal doubt as to whether I just wasted money on buying the item or product, but generally I’m always happy when purchasing items over ASOS. Personally, I always get excited when I scroll through ASOS or just social media because it makes me happy that there is a lot of diversity which gives me such a good feeling.
Consequence then comes after the experience stage in the framework by Rose and Hair. This is broken down into two categories of customer satisfaction and Re-purchase intention.
Customer Satisfaction: As a regular customer of ASOS I always feel satisfied in terms of the whole customer experience which comes down to where I see the product at the start of my experience all the way down to when the product is delivered to my door. I also enjoy scrolling through their social media pages on Instagram and Facebook which keeps me updated.
Re-purchase Intention: So, in terms of my first purchase from ASOS at the start of 2018 I have become such a loyal customer and have the need to always buy more products and clothing items from there store as I have developed a well and strong relationship with ASOS.com. I also now recommend a lot of my friends to try and use ASOS as I think it is a great online store.
In conclusion I have evaluated my customer online experience through the Rose and Hair’s framework and elements as a positive experience. But for my audience out there online have you ever encountered a negative customer online experience and if so, how would that be different, and would there be a different framework for it?
References
ASOS. (2019). ASOS | Online Shopping for the Latest Clothes & Fashion. [online] Available at: https://www.asos.com/ [Accessed 21 Aug. 2019].
Day BUY Day. (2019). The Components of Consumer Information Processing. [online] Available at: https://daybuydayblog.wordpress.com/2016/04/21/components-of-consumer-information-processing/ [Accessed 22 Aug. 2019].
En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Customer experience. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_experience [Accessed 20 Aug. 2019].
Forbes.com. (2019). What Is Customer Experience?. [online] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemorgan/2017/04/20/what-is-customer-experience-2/#56a5f72770c2 [Accessed 21 Aug. 2019].
Liferay.com. (2019). What is Digital Customer Experience? | Liferay. [online] Available at: https://www.liferay.com/en-AU/web/guest/resources/l/digital-customer-experience [Accessed 20 Aug. 2019].
Nataraajan, R. and Angur, M. (2019). Perceived Control in Consumer Choice: a Closer Look. [online] Acrwebsite.org. Available at: https://www.acrwebsite.org/search/view-conference-proceedings.aspx?Id=11715 [Accessed 22 Aug. 2019].
Vocabulary.com. (2019). cognitive state – Dictionary Definition. [online] Available at: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/cognitive%20state [Accessed 22 Aug. 2019].
Chaffey, D & Ellis-Chadwick, F 2019, Digital Marketing, 7th edn, Pearson Education Limited,
Chaffey, D & Ellis-Chadwick, F 2016, Digital Marketing, 6th edn, Pearson Education Limited, Harlow
Rose, S, Clark, M, Samouel, P & Hair, N 2012, ‘Online Customer Experience in e-Retailing: An empirical model of Antecedents and Outcomes’, Journal of Retailing, vol. 88, no. 2, pp. 308-322, viewed 22 August 2019, < https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretai.2012.03.001 >
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