Introduction

This report is based on analysing the customer experience of Mac Book, a product of Apple. Apple MacBook is MacOS laptop. The laptop is powered by a Core i5 processor and has 12GB RAM. This report will investigate the experience of UK customers who are using MacBook. The report will provide insight into the importance of customer experience and the role of consumer persona in devising customer experience strategy. Furthermore, this report will also include the stages of the customer journey and the importance of interaction in onmi marketing. Additionally, the use of the customer performance matrix and customer experience process in different industries will also be highlighted in this report.

The Importance of Customer Experience

Customer experience can be defined as the sum of all interactions that a customer has with a particular brand. Its main focus is on developing a relationship between the customer and the brand over the life of the relationship between the two.  Abbreviated as CX, it can be best defined as the affective, cognitive, behavioral, and sensory responses during different stages of the journey of the customer. Customer experience includes all the interactions no matter how long or brief they may be and also includes the interactions that have not ended up in purchases. It sums up the impact of customer has on him/herself as a result of such experiences (Becker and Jaakkola., 2020)

Customer experience is important as it is the feeling of a customer that leads towards making brand perception and therefore, plays a significant role in customer retention, brand loyalty, and lifetime value. The companies struggle hard to provide their customers with a seamless effective customer experience in order to ensure customer retention. MacBook Apple is operating in a highly competitive market in UK. With the emergence of new cutting-edge technologies every day the players of the IT industry are bound to come up with innovative solutions and techniques to maintain their place and to retain their market share (Hoyer et al, 2020). There are many competitors of MacBook, including Lenovo Yoga Slim 91, Asus Zenbook 15 OLED Asus Zenbook Pro 14 OLED, etc. There are many products that are being offered in the industry every few months that compete with MacBook. Apple places customer experience at the heart of its products. For Apple, creating a customer experience ensures brand loyalty for their products. Apple, therefore, focuses on product design, quality, and customer experience to ensure customer retention. Devising a good customer experience strategy is necessary for Apple to retain customer loyalty and retain the market share of its MacBook (Lee et al, 2018).

Consumer Persona Creation

Customer Persona is the fictional representation of the ideal customer of any brand and is defined on the basis of research and data. The main aim of customer persona is to understand the needs of the customers, their preferences, pain points, and goals in order to ensure a better customer experience for them. Customer persona plays a significant role in designing customer experience. It helps in mapping out the customer journey and identifying their pain points. It further helps to get insight into the channels where better customer engagement can be created and helps in defining the emotions and outcomes that are desired of a customer at every stage (An et al., 2018) 

Apple uses customer persona to create and develop new products. MacBook is also the product of customer persona. The company conducts in-depth and extensive research of customers` needs and wants and then designs its product efficiently. Due to the extensive work of designing a product, MacBook not only fulfills youngsters` needs but is a desirable product for every age group (Lehnert et al., 2021)

Consumer Persona

The above graphics represent the customer persona that has been created for MacBook, a product of Apple. The said persona is created to trace the customer journey of a person aged above 65, living in the UK and his need to use a MacBook.  

Mapping the Customer Journey 

Customer Journey can be defined as the series of interactions of the customer with the product, brand, or business in their quest to make purchase decisions. It serves as a tool for the marketer to understand the series of experiences that a customer has experienced to fulfill his/her desires or needs. The customer journey is the complete interaction and road map of customers from the point of discovery to the purchasing and after-use experience (Micheaux and Bosio., 2019)

Mapping out customer journeys in Apple allows the CX team to get insight into the pain points of the customers of UK and helps them identify the elements that are helpful in influencing the customers to make purchase decisions. Without mapping out the customer journey, it can be challenging for companies like Apple to understand and connect to the market of UK and to understand customers` wants and needs at the right time and communicate with them to satisfy their needs and wants using appropriate communication channels (Klink et al, 2020)

Mapping Customer Journey

Customer Journey: Buyer’s Journey	Awareness Stage	Consideration Stage	Purchase Stage	Retention Stage	Advocacy Stage
What are Customer Activities	Working tirelessly No proper work schedule	Looking for many options for a laptop to buy. Having difficulty finding a laptop with the desired features	Came to the Apple store to purchase a MacBook.	After purchase, Jack  finds out that this is the best product so far with the desired features	Suggested the MacBook to other small business owners
What is the customer thinking or feeling?	Overwhelmed Bounded and Tied	Feeling hopeful	He is feeling happy and relieved	Feeling satisfied	good
Potential opportunities for improvement	Use of a small laptop	Extend his search for laptops to know his options	Finding any other products that can offer him more benefits.	A little more internal storage for the backup	Looking to increase storage options

 

Omni-channel marketing  

Omni-channel marketing can be defined as the customer-centric approach that includes all the channels for delivering a consistent and unified brand experience to customers across websites, apps, and physical stores. It ensures that customer experience remains the same across different platforms of the same brands thus enhancing the overall brand experience of the customers. Interaction is an important aspect of Omni channel marketing as it helps in creating interactive engagement. Interaction with the customers enables the business to have a personalized tapestry of experiences. This helps the business to collect and analyse individual customer data and find patterns to categorise different groups of customers. Interaction helps the business identify customer preferences, previous interactions, and habits to devise a strategy that can specially fulfill the needs of the target customer segment (Hayes, and Kelliher., 2022)

Apple has put great emphasis on its Unique Value Proposition (UVP). The company has priced its product MacBook at its value. For MacBook, Apple has researched and marketed its UVP. The company has evaluated how this product can improve customers` lives and then has priced the product accordingly. The company has a loyal customer base and therefore, they are ready to pay the price for the company’s offerings (Tien et al, 2019)  

Their main marketing strategy for Macbook was focused on two different areas. Firstly, their emphasis was more on product placement with celebrity endorsement. Additionally, the company has also created buzz for its MacBook through positive reviews in the media. The company has further strategically designed its digital marketing strategy for marketing its MacBook. Apple has used Social media marketing, email marketing, SEO, mobile marketing, and online advertisement for marketing MacBook (Ferrell., 2021)

The marketing and sales strategy of Apple is very carefully designed. The company Most of the sales are generated from indirect channels which include third-party dealers, resellers, and retailers. The company Apple works closely with retailers and resellers to amplify its sales. The company has adopted the same strategy for MacBook. By entering into contracts with wholesalers, dealers, and resellers, the company increases its sales and makes sure that its product reaches to maximum number of people.

Apple has positioned its product MacBook in the premium, cutting-edge, high-quality segment, thus differentiating its product from the competitors. The MacBook of Apple offers unique features, a seamless user experience, and sleek designs for creating a perception of innovation and exclusivity (Yun et al, 2019)

CX Performance Metrics 

Customer Experience Metrics are certain KPIs that the business follows. These KPIs are devised on the basis of the company’s offerings and customers` input. These KPIs help in providing insight to the business regarding customer satisfaction and loyalty. Some of the most popular metrics include Net Promoter Score, Customer Effort Score, and Customer Satisfaction. These metrics help the customer to track the customer experience and get insight into the factors that need improvement (Suwelack et al., 2022)

NPS

There are many metrics that companies adopt to measure customer experience. NPS and LTV are two of the most common metrics, amongst others. NPS was established by Bain and Company in 2003. This metric allows the customer to check their customer loyalty. This is an alternative to long-form customer surveys of yesteryear. The main focus on NPS is on one question which is how likely are you to recommend this product/service to a colleague or friend?  Usually, the customers are provided with a scale of 1 to 10 to respond to this question with zero being unlikely to recommend the product or service and 10 being the most likely to recommend the product/service. The responses collected are then categorized into three different categories that is promoters (9-10), Passive (7-8), and Detractors (0-6), The NPS is then achieved by subtracting the percentage of detractors from the promoters. Responses greater than 0 are considered good and results greater than 50+ are considered excellent (Golovacheva, and Makarova., 2022)

NPS = % promoters - % detractors.

LTV

Lifetime Value (LTV) is the simplest form of metric. It is the cost of the product/service multiplied by the average amount of time that a particular product/service can be sold to the customer. It is usually used for business which has a recurring nature as these businesses usually can track the number of times a customer has purchased their product/service. The main formula of LTV

LTV= “(Average Value of a Sale) X (Number of Repeat Transactions) X (Average Retention Time in Months or Years).”

The CX metrics are important for businesses to track their customer experience strategy. In the case of MacBook Apple, LTV is not very helpful as MacBook can be sold to one customer at a time and can be sold to the same customer a few times and only in cases, where the product is upgraded or is being stolen or broken. However, NPS is best for metrics for products like MacBook. MacBook is likely to be recommended by the customer to his/her friends and colleagues for use. This can help Apple to analyse the performance of the MacBook in the market and to revise its strategy to further the promotion and sales of its product (Madhwacharyula, and Ramdas., 2023)

CX Processes in Different Industries

There are different CX Critical success factors that are necessary to incorporate while devising a successful CX strategy. These factors play a greater role in achieving successful results. It also helps in ensuring the efforts of customer experience are aligned with the business goals (Gerea et al, 2021). CSFs in the context of culture, governance, and customer experience strategy may include

Governance:

To ensure effective governance, clear Leadership is needed. Clear leadership helps to ensure that CX initiatives have been taken correctly and priorities are set accordingly. Assigning clear responsibilities for CX outcomes at different organisations level is also important. It ensures that coordinated efforts are being made and that progress is being monitored on a regular basis. The business is also required to put in place performance measurements by defining set KPIs and metrics for tracking the CX initiative`s effectiveness and to ensure taking data-driven decisions (Ferrell., 2021)

Culture:

The culture should be customer-centric. The needs of the customers should be placed at the heart of devising the strategy. Special value should be given to customers` feedback and their needs. This can help the employees to understand the necessity of CX. The employees in such cultures should be empowered so that they can make their own decisions (Gerea., 2021)

Customer Experience Strategy Design

To design effective CX strategy data data-driven insights are important. This strategy can help in analysing data and helps in gaining insights about the pain points and the opportunities that are present for further improvement. Furthermore, the integration of omni-channel integration segmentation and personalization can further help in creating a tailored experience for different categories of customers (Dew., 2018)

Implementation Process

It includes executing the CX strategy. This requires proper allocation of resources, training employees, integrating technological based solutions and monitoring continuously the customer experience and improving it.

	Apple Apple has a reputation in the industry for having excellent customer experience. It is driven by a user-friendly interface, sleek design, and seamless integration between hardware and software.	Instagram It is a social media platform. The main focus of this platform is to provide a medium to users for publishing visual content sharing and to encourage community engagement.
Governance	Clear leadership. Extreme focus on user experience and design (Dew, 2018)	The governance structure includes cross-functional teams that work on  app and user engagement (Becker and Jaakkola., 2020)
Culture	The main focus of the culture is on simplicity, innovation, and customer delight	The culture is creativity-driven and ensures to foster a sense of belonging
CX Strategy	Focus on product design and after-sales services through integrating intuitive and user-centric approach	Providing a platform for users to help them express themselves through images and videos.
Implementation	Integration between hardware and software and with retail environment.	Regular updates of the algorithm, app updates, and different features to ensure user engagement

 

Conclusion

Apple has a very effective CX strategy. The company is user-centric and considers the needs of the customers at the heart of its design process. This strategy helps the company to enhance customer experience and work towards driving customer loyalty. Due to its effective CX strategy, the company has a good customer retention rate. The culture of the company ensures that the customer`s feedback is listened to and is valued. It further ensures that it is being integrated into every aspect of the company from product design to delivery of the product.