Improving Customer Experience in a work machine manufacturing company

Abstract

The importance of customer experience is increasing in the business world. This thesis focuses on the customer experience that is provided by the commissioner company who is a Finnish manufacturer of work machines. The company sells their machines to Finland directly but uses distributors in exporting. The purpose of this bachelor’s thesis is to determine the current level of the customer experience that is provided by the company commissioning the thesis and to find out the current opportunities for development in the customer experience.

Customer experience is the sum of all interactions that occur between the customer and the company over time. Therefore, improving it should be viewed as a long-term process where the business approach focuses on a customer-centric perspective. Having a customer-centric approach to customer experience involves adopting a customer strategy where efforts are put into examining the customer experiences with the help of the IDIC model (Identify, Differentiate, Interact, Customize) and Customer Journey Mapping, and using the acquired insights to improve the customer experience and simultaneously increase the value of the customer base.

Two qualitative research methods were chosen for this thesis: themed interviews and observations. The themed interviews were conducted with end-customers and distributors, and they focused on semi-structured discussions where the interviewees had the possibility to openly discuss the chosen interview themes: the buying process, the experience with the product, the aftermarket, and the perceived customer experience. The observations were made from the various sales processes of the commissioner company. The results of the research were positive as the distributors thought that their provided customer experience is good, and the end-customers felt like they have had positive customer experiences. Especially the flexible product support and the reliable products were thought of as strengths in the current customer experience.

The opportunities for development mainly included making the products and product information more accessible, decreasing the delivery times of the products, optimising the warranty process, and providing additional training to the service personnel. The opportunities were illustrated and examined by creating a Customer Journey Map, and by dividing them into short- and long-term ones. The research also examined whether the distributors already utilized elements of a customer-centric approach to customer experience. It was concluded that one of the distributors was operating with some elements of such an approach while the other distributor was consciously operating with a customer-focused strategy. This thesis also suggests that the commissioner company and one of the distributors can benefit from consciously adopting a customer-centric approach to customer experience to ensure a high level of provided customer experience.