Nowadays interactions between firms and customers are constant and take place through a series of traditional, as well as, digital touchpoints. The crafting of positive interactions through touchpoints management allows companies to capture customers’ lifetime value, turning them from unaware potential buyers to loyal advocates. In reason of the changing customer behaviour and their unique characteristics, a growing number of companies are devoting increasingly consistent amounts of resources to digital touchpoints. However, still limited empirical work has been conducted around their uptake by companies and their role throughout the Customer Decision Journey. To be more precise, the circular economy represents an interesting context of research for three main reasons: 1) the implementation of circular business models requires the effective communication of circular value propositions and the active involvement of customers overtime. Consequently, touchpoints are multiplied; 2) circular ventures tend to make an extensive use of digital technologies; 3) despite being highly valuable for circular companies, marketing and communications practices are still largely unexplored. Therefore, the research question can be expressed as “How are circular SMEs leveraging digital touchpoints to communicate and interact with customers throughout the customer decision journey?”. To gain insights about the topic of research, a qualitative research methodology has been used. More precisely, a multiple case study design involving a purposeful sample of five Italian circular SMEs has been chosen. Data have been collected through in-depth interviews with knowledgeable informants and triangulation with secondary sources. Afterwards, single and cross-case analysis have been run. Empirical findings show that circular SMEs have a positive attitude towards digital touchpoints. Indeed, they manage a combination of social, functional, corporate and, at a lesser extent, community digital touchpoints to connect with customers and even plan to increase their implementation in the future. Overall, search engines, websites, social media and digital advertising allow to drive brand awareness and knowledge in the pre-purchase phase of the journey. The purchase phase is apparently the one in which digital touchpoints are the least able to influence customers’ decisions, as most of the companies highlight their limited communication effectiveness compared to brick-and-mortar stores. However, all case companies have successfully created online stores, while the relationship with e-commerce retailers entails some complications. Finally, social media, e-newsletters and emails are the most frequently mentioned post-purchase digital touchpoints. The implementation and active management of a variety of digital touchpoints allows circular SMEs to effectively communicate their circular value propositions to broad audiences. However, the opportunities that these touchpoints bring along are seized only partially. More precisely, innovative touchpoints designs have not been explored yet, while companies devote most of their efforts to the one-way broadcasting of contents. In this sense, circular firms prove not to exploit to the fullest the potential these touchpoints hold in terms of customer engagement and communities building. KEYWORDS: customer decision journey; digital marketing; digital touchpoints; small-and-medium-sized enterprises; circular economy; circular entrepreneurship.
Al giorno d’oggi le interazioni tra le aziende ed i loro clienti sono costanti ed avvengono attraverso una serie di punti di contatto. La gestione di questi ultimi consente di aumentare la soddisfazione dei clienti, trasformandoli in fedeli sostenitori del marchio. In questo contesto, un numero sempre maggiore di imprese investe in touchpoints digitali che, in ragione delle loro caratteristiche uniche, sono in grado di soddisfare le nuove aspettative della clientela. Tuttavia, gli studi empirici afferenti il ruolo di tali touchpoints lungo le varie fasi del Customer Decision Journey (o “viaggio del cliente”) sono ancora ridotti. Nello specifico, l’economia circolare rappresenta un interessante contesto di ricerca, per tre ragioni principali: 1) in primo luogo, il successo dei modelli di business circolari risiede nell’abilità di comunicare in modo efficace complesse proposte di valore e di coinvolgere attivamente i clienti. In conseguenza, i punti di contatto tra aziende e clienti tendono ad essere moltiplicati; 2) le tecnologie digitali vengono diffusamente utilizzate; 3) nonostante il loro riconosciuto valore, le pratiche di marketing e comunicazione sono ancora largamente inesplorate. La domanda di ricerca può essere perciò sintetizzata come: “Come vengono sfruttati i touchpoints digitali da parte delle PMI circolari, per comunicare ed interagire con i clienti lungo il customer decision journey?”. La ricerca empirica, basata sul ricorso ad una metodologia qualitativa, ha coinvolto un campione di cinque aziende circolari Italiane, selezionate con la tecnica del purposeful sampling. Interviste semi-strutturate e la triangolazione con fonti secondarie hanno consentito la raccolta di dati e la successiva analisi, volta a far emergere similitudini e divergenze significative tra i casi oggetto di studio. Le evidenze raccolte mettono in luce l’attitudine positiva delle PMI circolari verso i touchpoints digitali. Infatti, oltre a combinare insieme touchpoints sociali, funzionali, aziendali e, in misura minore, di community per entrare in contatto con i loro clienti, le aziende intervistate stanno progettando di incrementare i loro investimenti. Prevalentemente, i motori di ricerca, i siti web aziendali, i social media e le inserzioni consentono di creare un primo punto di contatto e far conoscere il brand. La fase di acquisto è quella in cui apparentemente i touchpoints digitali ricoprono il ruolo meno rilevante, in quanto la maggior parte delle aziende ne sottolinea la limitata efficacia comunicativa rispetto ai negozi fisici. Tuttavia, tutte le aziende hanno creato negozi online, mentre le relazioni commerciali con rivenditori e piattaforme nascondono delle complessità. Infine, i social media, le newsletters digitali e le email ricoprono un ruolo rilevante nella fase successiva all’acquisto. L’implementazione di una varietà di touchpoints consente alle PMI circolari di communicare efficacemente le loro proposte di valore ad una vasta platea di acquirenti potenziali ed attuali. Tuttavia, le aziende dimostrano di non cogliere tutte le opportunità che questi offrono. Infatti, i tentativi di creazione di touchpoints innovativi sono ancora ridotti, mentre le aziende sono ancora fortemente concentrate sulla trasmissione unilaterale di contenuti. In tal senso, esse dimostrano di non sfruttarne a pieno il poteziale in termini di coinvolgimento del cliente e di creazione di communities di sostenitori del brand e delle sue iniziative.
The Role of Digital Touchpoints throughout the Customer Journey: Cases from Italian Circular SMEs.
ANDREOZZI, CHIARA
2019/2020
Abstract
Nowadays interactions between firms and customers are constant and take place through a series of traditional, as well as, digital touchpoints. The crafting of positive interactions through touchpoints management allows companies to capture customers’ lifetime value, turning them from unaware potential buyers to loyal advocates. In reason of the changing customer behaviour and their unique characteristics, a growing number of companies are devoting increasingly consistent amounts of resources to digital touchpoints. However, still limited empirical work has been conducted around their uptake by companies and their role throughout the Customer Decision Journey. To be more precise, the circular economy represents an interesting context of research for three main reasons: 1) the implementation of circular business models requires the effective communication of circular value propositions and the active involvement of customers overtime. Consequently, touchpoints are multiplied; 2) circular ventures tend to make an extensive use of digital technologies; 3) despite being highly valuable for circular companies, marketing and communications practices are still largely unexplored. Therefore, the research question can be expressed as “How are circular SMEs leveraging digital touchpoints to communicate and interact with customers throughout the customer decision journey?”. To gain insights about the topic of research, a qualitative research methodology has been used. More precisely, a multiple case study design involving a purposeful sample of five Italian circular SMEs has been chosen. Data have been collected through in-depth interviews with knowledgeable informants and triangulation with secondary sources. Afterwards, single and cross-case analysis have been run. Empirical findings show that circular SMEs have a positive attitude towards digital touchpoints. Indeed, they manage a combination of social, functional, corporate and, at a lesser extent, community digital touchpoints to connect with customers and even plan to increase their implementation in the future. Overall, search engines, websites, social media and digital advertising allow to drive brand awareness and knowledge in the pre-purchase phase of the journey. The purchase phase is apparently the one in which digital touchpoints are the least able to influence customers’ decisions, as most of the companies highlight their limited communication effectiveness compared to brick-and-mortar stores. However, all case companies have successfully created online stores, while the relationship with e-commerce retailers entails some complications. Finally, social media, e-newsletters and emails are the most frequently mentioned post-purchase digital touchpoints. The implementation and active management of a variety of digital touchpoints allows circular SMEs to effectively communicate their circular value propositions to broad audiences. However, the opportunities that these touchpoints bring along are seized only partially. More precisely, innovative touchpoints designs have not been explored yet, while companies devote most of their efforts to the one-way broadcasting of contents. In this sense, circular firms prove not to exploit to the fullest the potential these touchpoints hold in terms of customer engagement and communities building. KEYWORDS: customer decision journey; digital marketing; digital touchpoints; small-and-medium-sized enterprises; circular economy; circular entrepreneurship.È consentito all'utente scaricare e condividere i documenti disponibili a testo pieno in UNITESI UNIPV nel rispetto della licenza Creative Commons del tipo CC BY NC ND.
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https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14239/306