Customer Experience Management Plan Assignment Sample

Customer Experience Management Plan

Queensland Performing Arts Centre

Preliminary Analysis of Queensland Performing Arts Centre

The Queensland Performing Art Centre (QPAC) is one of the famous cultural centres in Brisbane. It was designed in the mid-1970s by one of the local architects Robin Gibson. It was initially planned with a concert hall, a lyric theatre, and a cremorne theatre. In 1998, the State Cabinet decided to open the ‘Playhouse’ and last year, the construction of the fifth theatre was initiated as part of its extension plan that would be opening in the year 2022 (Annual Report, 2018).

In 2018, QPAC conducted over 1200 performances along with the hosting of over 1.5 million visitors. Talking about the siting capacity, the Lyric Theatre can accommodate 2000 people, the concert hall can have 1800 people at a time, and the Playhouse can engulf 850 people and the Cremorne Theatre can have 300 people at a time. The majority of the visitors belong to Brisbane only and only 32% of them are from other part of Australia (Annual Report, 2018). The management of QPAC is aiming at hosting 1.6 million visitors every year and for that purpose, it has started the construction of the fifth hall.

Form the competition point of view, QPAC is doing well as it is well connected with public transport facilities, such as bus, train, and taxi. People from all over Australia do not face much hassle in reaching to the venue and attend the event. In addition to this, to avoid long queues at the centre, the management has started online ticketing system. This would enhance people’s experience and convenience (Annual Report, 2018). In addition to this, artistic events organised by QPAC are considered to be the best live performances and are loved by the community. The main motive of QPAC is to improve the engagement and participation of the communities living in Brisbane.

The audience feels the vibes of relationships, inclusion, connectedness, and acceptance. This is the major factor behind the success of the events hosted by QPAC. The venue is highly recommended by the fans of live music and movies as the sound system and seating arrangement are appreciable. In addition to this, the volunteers and staff members are well learned and hospitable. They are trained to be friendly and guide the guests. The USP of the QPAC is that the performances have a variety that entertains people from all age group (IBISWorld, 2017). This is one of the objective of inclusion goal of the Trust. The food court provides the standardised and high quality foods (Annual Report, 2018). All such facilities make it a multi-faceted, multi-day holiday venue that aims to provide a better customer experience than the other event venues in the city. The events are organised based on the multidimensionality in customer preferences and changing paradigm of the music taste.For that purpose, QPAC announced a five year ground breaking deal with Hyundai to add new possibilities and new thinking in the performing art. The new partnership would help QPAC to become even more innovative, progressive, and deliver global experiences to the audience and help them to connect with culture and arts (IBISWorld, 2017).

For obtaining some preliminary information, online surfing and observatory research was carried out for knowing consumer characteristics and their experiences. This was a part of the qualitative research that would help in getting a clear picture of customer needs and expectations from an event hosting venue. This would help in preparing the customer journey map based on the experience. It is important to note that the research was done from two sources. One was through noting down the customer reviews posted by the visitors on Google Reviews. It was noted that most of people are quite happy with the venue’s connectivity with nearby area via public transportation system. Furthermore, some of them praise the sound system and seating area. While a few also mentioned the high-quality food served in the food court in the premises. The second method was observatory research that was conducted on weekends due to high footfall at the venue and that too in the evening 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. The parameters for observations are inspired from demographic characteristics. These are age group of people, marital status, family size, and group size.

It was determined that the audience has diversified segment wherein people from all age group were present. However, number of adults and teenagers were more than the aged people. They came in groups of an average size of 4 members and their average spending was higher than the people belonging to age of 45 years or more. This was noted down from the food they order in the food court and the shopping they did from the merchandise stores. All this is a part of preliminary analysis and outlines the target customer of QPAC. This is the foundation for the customer journey mapping that puts customers and audience at the hinge point of experience strategies with a motive of developing better relationships with customers and gain their loyalty for a longer duration (Karimi, 2013).

Persona

QPAC Customer Journey Map

Recommendations

From the thorough analysis of QPAC’s target customer segment, persona, and customer mapping, certain gaps have been surfaced. Some of these have been highlighted in the pain points and in the customer touchpoints (Cole, 2015). The first one was related to inability of the management to manage customers’ queries during the chaos of an upcoming event. Another was related to the costly services and food in the premises. The last issue is related to issues in online booking during peak load. Also, some customers complained about refund policy and process. In order to tackle all these challenges certain recommendations have been made for QPAC.

Recommendation 1:Strengthening customer service team

Improving customer service team and its functioning can help in enhancing customer satisfaction. For that purpose, it is advised to QPAC to hire trained and experienced professionals with right skills (Cole, 2015). In addition to this, AI-based system in customer servicing and ticket booking can be a positive move for the organisation. The teams should be provided training on regular basis along with some mock drill sessions. As some of the guests arrive from outside cities, the team has to have top-notch communication skills for better customer dealing and understanding (Shiauand Luo, 2012).

Recommendation 2:Implementation of CRM Platforms for Reducing Service Charge

QPAC is not very much good in establishing effective communication and coordination with the teams and customers. This is the major cause of customer dissatisfaction. In order to resolve this issues, it is recommended to QPAC to make use of CRM platforms. This would not only ensure high customer services but also set certain standards for them (Kotlerand Keller, 2012). There are many benefits of CRM in this field. This would help in recording and managing customers’ data and their needs and provide personalised experience to the audience. This would save operation and research cost. This can reduce the cost of services offered in the premises (Trueblood, et.al, 2013). In addition to this, this would also improve customer engagement and interaction helping in improving customer loyalty. Also, the sales & service and marketing team can work in coordination eliminating any chances disagreement.

Recommendation 3: Implementing Multi-Channel Servicing

It has been observed that nearly 70% of adults in Australia prefer booking tickets from channels that are fast, hassle-free, and guarantees smooth booking process. In case of QPAC, this can be done with the help of implementation of multi-channel services (Trainor, et.al, 2014). This would provide the customer with an omni-channel communication option. Customers can switch to multiple channels for gaining an access to a good quality of service. Also, this can boost the reputation and customer rating of QPAC along with its credibility in the market. The multichannel services can be offered through mobile devices, window service, and social media.

Apart from these recommendations, QPAC is required to keep its FAQs page updated with covering almost all the likely queries of customers and provide effective solutions to them in order to avoid poor satisfaction of customers.

References

• Cole A. (2015). The implications of consumer behaviour for marketing , Anchor academic publishing.
• Karimi S., (2013). A purchase decision making process model of online consumer and its influential factor a cross sector analysis. , PhD Thesis. Manchester Business School, faculty of humanities.
• Kotler, P and Keller, K.l. (2012), marketing management, 13th Ed. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.
• Lysonski, S. and Durvasula, S., (2013). Consumer decision making styles in retailing: evolution of mindsets and psychological impacts. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 30(1), 75-87.
• Shiau, W.L. and Luo, M.M., (2012). Factors affecting online group buying intention and satisfaction: A social exchange theory perspective. Computers in Human Behavior, 28(6), 2431-2444.
• Trainor, K.J., Andzulis, J.M., Rapp, A. and Agnihotri, R., (2014). Social media technology usage and customer relationship performance: A capabilities-based examination of social CRM. Journal of Business Research, 67(6), 1201-1208.
• Trueblood, J.S., Brown, S.D., Heathcote, A. and Busemeyer, J.R., (2013). Not just for consumers: Context effects are fundamental to decision making. Psychological science, 24(6),901-908.
• Wolny, J. and Charoensuksai, N., (2014). Mapping customer journeys in multichannel decision-making. Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice, 15(4), 317-326.
• IBISWorld. (2017). Event Parks and Centres Operation in Australia. Retrieved http://clients1.ibisworld.com.au.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/reports/au/industry/defau lt.aspx?entid=665
• Annual Report. (2018). Retrieved 19 October 2019, from https://qpac-umbraco-cdn.azureedge.net/media/17871/2018-2019-annual-report-amended.pdf