Correspondence: Pennie Frow, Discipline of Marketing, Faculty of Economics and Business, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. Tel +612 9351 6523; Fax: + 612 9351 6732; E-mail: p.frow@econ.usyd.edu.au

¹is Senior Lecturer in Marketing at the University of Sydney, Australia, and a Visiting Fellow at Cranfield School of Management, Cranfield University, UK. Her research is focused on managing customer relationships, employee commitment, customer retention and internal marketing. Her publications have appeared in the Journal of Marketing, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Marketing Management and the International Journal of Bank Marketing. Before joining Academia, she was Chief Marketing Officer of a major British charity and Managing Director of a US distribution company.

²is Professor of Marketing at the University of New South Wales, Australia, and an adjunct Professor at Cranfield School of Management, Cranfield University, UK. His research interests include customer retention and relationship marketing. His publications have appeared in the Journal of Marketing, Long Range Planning, Industrial Marketing Management, European Management Journal and Journal of Marketing Management. He is an author of many books including: The Handbook of CRM: Excellence in Customer Management and Creating a Company for Customers.

Received 7 August 2007; Revised 7 August 2007.

Abstract

The aim of customer experience management is to enhance relationships with customers and build customer loyalty. Research suggests, however, that service quality and customer satisfaction may actually be declining as customers often receive service and quality that falls well below their expectations. This paper examines the concept of customer experience and considers how an 'outstanding' or 'perfect' customer experience might be achieved at an affordable cost. Case studies from two leading companies are used to illustrate their approaches to creating the 'perfect' customer experience. Managerial insights from the case studies are discussed.