Summarizing the Mental Customer Journey

60 Pages Posted: 13 Jan 2023 Last revised: 14 Apr 2023

See all articles by Julian De Freitas

Julian De Freitas

Harvard University - Business School (HBS)

Ahmet Kaan Uğuralp

Bilkent University

Zeliha Uğuralp

Bilkent University

Pechthida Kim

Harvard University

Tomer D. Ullman

Harvard University

Date Written: January 9, 2023

Abstract

How do consumers summarize and act on their experiences, as when deciding whether an interaction with a firm was satisfying and whether to buy from it? Previous work on the summary of continuous experiences has tended to focus on a handful of experience patterns and features of those patterns, such as the area under the curve, peak value, and end value. Here, we consider a wider array of possible experience patterns and features of those patterns (27 patterns and 21 features) and quantitatively assess which features are most tied to consumer satisfaction and choice. Contrasting with theories that say fluctuating journeys are most effective, we find that consumers are most satisfied by journeys that stay consistently positive or improve over time, especially toward the experience’s end. Furthermore, we find that several features of the experience predict these outcomes. These features include the end value, slope, integral, peak, and a sentiment score of the words people use to describe the experiences, although the consistently best predictor is the end value. The findings have theoretical implications for summarization, architecting customer journeys, and predicting the success of content, as well as practical implications for return on investment in customer experience optimization.

Keywords: customer experience, customer journey, customer satisfaction, natural language processing, summarization

Suggested Citation

De Freitas, Julian and Uğuralp, Ahmet Kaan and Uğuralp, Zeliha and Kim, Pechthida and Ullman, Tomer D., Summarizing the Mental Customer Journey (January 9, 2023). De Freitas, Julian, Ahmet Uğuralp, Zeliha Uğuralp, Pechthida Kim, and Tomer Ullman. "Summarizing the Mental Customer Journey." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 23-038, January 2023., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4323837 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4323837

Julian De Freitas (Contact Author)

Harvard University - Business School (HBS) ( email )

Soldiers Field Road
Morgan 270C
Boston, MA 02163
United States

Ahmet Kaan Uğuralp

Bilkent University

Bilkent, Ankara 06533
Turkey

Zeliha Uğuralp

Bilkent University

Bilkent, Ankara 06533
Turkey

Pechthida Kim

Harvard University

1875 Cambridge Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Tomer D. Ullman

Harvard University

1875 Cambridge Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

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