Broadway Circuit Vs. United Artist: A Comparison on their Online Shopping Experience

This case study is contributed by the master degree students of e-Commerce and Internet Computing, Master of Science of the University of Hong Kong.

Is there any 'best practice' which could be applied universal, such as Amazon's, No Service Is The Best Service, in the domain of online customer experience? The authors show you some different perspectives. Starting from knowing who are your target customers, what are their critical needs, what are your brand values; then end up in creating an experience which delivers your brand value at the pleasure peaks, at the same time satisfies the critical needs of your target customers. This is the alternate 'best practice' suggested in this case study. To beat competition, every company should have its own unique branded experience (illustrated by different shape of Emotion Curves* inside the case study). One size doesn't fit all, with no exception in web experience, demonstrated by Broadway Circuit (BC) and United Artist (UA).

Who are your target customers
For example, BC targets at two types of customers - the movie lovers and the more general movie watchers.

What are their critical needs
For example, the critical needs of BC customers are to select a cinema that can provide a variety of movies with reasonable pricing through a convenient online portal, and an enjoyable environment to watch the movie.

What are your brand values
For example, the brand value of BC is promotion of movie culture, diversity and unique range of international movies, convenient movie-watching and social responsibility.

The CEM sub-processes
The following sub-processes are identified as the measuring items to determine how a customer experience during online ticket-booking for movies: (Those marked in asterisk * are the major items in general)

1. Website Design
2. Service Offering and Variety
3. Website Navigation (*)
4. User interface
5. Searching for Movie/Cinema (*)
6. Information Provided For ticketing
7. Seat Selection (*)
8. Pricing (*)
9. Order Processing (*)
10. Registration
11. Payment (*)
12. Confirmation of the booking
13. Help/FAQ/Customer Service
14. Other Information for Movie-watching
15. Value-added Services
16. Incentive Programme/Membership
17. Ticket Delivery (*)
18. Ending of Ticketing Service

What amazed me is the introduction of Needs-Performance Quadrant (NPQ) by the authors. It clears the smokes and paves the way in formulating the competitive strategy, by priortizing the critical needs and brand values: price, varieties, location, usability, membership, and payment. NPQ is the director behind the scene to design the best possible customer experience to be delivered. Good job.

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Enjoy.

*Emotion Curve is invented and first put into applications by Mr. Sampson Lee, president of G-CEM, in 2006. It is one of the experience assessment and management tools of the U.S. patent-pending Branded Customer Experience Management Method registered by G-CEM. Emotion Curve maps the customer emotions generated at each touch-point or sub-process, and links them to form a curve in reflecting the perceived experience across the entire customer lifecycle (covers all touch-points at stages of pre-purchase, at-purchase, and post-purchase), or at a specific touch-point (e.g. retail, call center, website, etc.). Unlike the conventional approaches focus on enhancing efficiency and are process-centric; emotion curve represents the genuine customer feeling by addressing emotions and five senses, in a natural time sequence from an experience perspective. It is a truly [customer-centric] experience assessment and management method. The statistic data of emotion curve is derived through substantial X-VOC surveys, from the experience ratings on each touch-point or sub-process, evaluated by different target customer segments. The definition and selection criteria of touch-points and sub-processes are based on vigorous and scientific research, method, and sequential steps. An Emotion Curve shows how customers perceive experience. It is an innovative and powerful tool for creating a branded customer experience strategy. Furthermore, through a simple curve, from CEO to receptionist, no matter in boardroom or post room, all people in a company could easily understand and communicate the customer experience levels, by using a common graphical language.