Experience Marketing: Concepts, Frameworks and Consumer Insights
By Bernd Schmitt, Columbia Business School, Columbia University, USA, bhs1@columbia.edu
Abstract
Experience is a new and exciting concept marketing academia and practice. This monograph reviews the various meanings of experience as the term is used in philosophy, psychology, and in consumer behavior and marketing. I will discuss the key concepts of experience marketing such as experiential value, different types of experiences, the distinction between ordinary and extraordinary experiences and experience touchpoints. I will also review the empirical findings that provide consumer insights on experiences — such as how experiences are remembered, whether positive and negative experiences can co-exist, how experiential attributes are processed and whether experiences are rational. Practical frameworks for managing and marketing experiences will be discussed. I will conclude with an exploration of how experience marketing can contribute to customer happiness.
Experience Marketing
Experience Marketing examines a new and exciting concept this is of interest to academics and marketing practitioners who have come to realize that understanding how consumers experience brands, and how to provide appealing brand experiences for them, is critical for differentiating their offerings in a competitive marketplace. Understanding consumer experiences is a core task for consumer research, but consumer and marketing research on experience is still emerging. Experience Marketing reviews and discusses experience research conducted in various disciplines and in sub-disciplines of marketing. The author begins with an exploration of the experience concept itself. What do we mean by "experience"? What are consumer experiences? How are they different from other established constructs in our field? Next, this monograph reviews the key concepts of Experience marketing and provides empirical research findings that shed light on consumer insights on experiences. It also examines the strategic management and marketing literature on customer experience and the practical frameworks for managing experiences. Finally, it explores an exciting emerging area of research-the interface of consumer experience and happiness.
