The Process of customer engagement: an examination of segment specific differences

Traditional measures of customer satisfaction have been criticised for failing to capture the depth of consumer responses to service performance. This paper proposes an approach to overcome the limitations of these traditional satisfaction measures and will examine alternative measurement frameworks associated with customers' affective experiences. In particular, it will attempt to demonstrate that affective measures as applied to experience-based customer segments may provide a more accurate predictor of loyalty. The paper will develop a conceptual model of customer engagement as a more effective means by which to understand customers' emotive responses to consumption experiences. Specifically, the paper proposes that inexperienced (first time) customers of a service, follow a quite different pathway to engagement and loyalty compared to experienced (repeat purchase) customers. It is proposed that this conceptual model of customer engagement will assist management to develop more tailored marketing strategies with which to deal with different experience-based segments of customers.