ارتقا تجربه‌های مشتریان در نقاط تعامل پیش از خرید: کاربرد تئوری گراف-ارزش ماتریسی ‏برای شناسایی و تحلیل روابط مولفه‌های تاثیرگذار

در دهه‌های اخیر بازارهای مصرفی با چالش‌های هم‌گرایی روز‌افزون برندها، درک‌نکردن تمایز‌ها بین پیشنهاد‌های رقیب و کاهش هزینه‌های جایگزینی محصول همراه بوده است که این امر، بازنگری در شیوه‌های سنتی مشتری‌مداری و فراتر‌رفتن از الزام‌های فنی را اجتناب‌ناپذیر می‌‌کند و به‌دنبال آن سازمان‌ها را به خلق رویدادهای متمایز و تجربه‌های ویژه برای مشتریان سوق می‌دهد. بر این اساس، هدف از پژوهش حاضر شناسایی عوامل موثر بر تجربه‌های شناختی، احساسی و رفتاری مشتریان در نقاط تماس پیش از خرید است که به‌طور خاص، اولویت‌ها و انتظار‌های مشتریان صنایع دستی در طراحی راهبردهای تجربه‌محور بررسی می‌شود. پژوهش حاضر با رویکرد آمیخته و در قالب دو فرآیند متوالی طرح‌ریزی شده است. بدین صورت که در فاز نخست مولفه‌های تاثیرگذار بر تجربه‌های پیش از خرید مشتریان با رویکرد فراترکیبِ پیشینه و مطالعات موجود شناسایی شد. بدین منظور، 1268 مقاله با محوریت موضوعی تجربۀ مشتری به‌ترتیب در فرآیند غربال‌گریِ عنوان، چکیده و محتوا وارد شد و در‌نهایت، 26 مقاله با ضریب کاپای 73/0 و نسبت روایی محتوایی بیش از 75/0 مبنای استخراج کدها قرار گرفت. در فاز دوم، با تکیه بر رویکرد ترکیبی تئوری گراف-ارزش ماتریسی، روابط درونی حاکم میان مولفه‌های پژوهش تعیین و سطح‌های اهمیت آنها سنجیده شد. برای دستیابی به این مقصود، مطابق با قضاوت ارزشی گروه ارزیاب (انتخاب‌شده از‌میان جامعۀ آماری مشتریان صنایع‌دستی) نوع روابط حاکم میان مولفه‌های پژوهش در‌سطح زیر‌سیستم تعیین و سپس ارزش‌های فرضی و میزان نزدیکی هر عامل به حد ایده‌آل خود در‌سطح سیستم ارزیابی شد. نتایج حاکی از آن است که پنج مولفۀ اصلی اقدام‌های ترویجی، اطلاعات، محصول، برند و تعاملات اجتماعی می‌توانند تجربه‌های پیش از خرید مشتریان را به‌نحو موثری هدایت کنند. نتایج حاصل از تحلیل روابط درونی گراف‌ها نشان می‌دهد که در‌میان مولفه‌های مذکور، تعاملات اجتماعی (با ضریب نزدیکی 482/0 به ارزش فرضی ایده‌آل) در صنعت هنرهای سنتی بیشترین سطح اهمیت را دارد.

improving customers’ experiences in pre-purchase interaction points: graph theory- ‎matrix permanents approach to identify and analyze the relationships of influential ‎factors

in recent decades, consumer markets have faced the challenges of increasing brand convergence, a lack of understanding of the differences between competing offerings, and the reduction of switching costs. this has revised traditional customer-oriented practices inevitably and forces organizations to struggle to find and implement a component beyond technical requirements. customer experience as one of the most promising management approaches is a new solution to facing these challenges. the purpose of this study is to identify factors on the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral experiences in pre-purchase touch points and determine which of the experimental strategies leads to exceeding the standards and expectations of customers. the current research is planned with a mixed approach and in the form of two consecutive processes. in the first phase, the factors affecting the pre-purchase experiences of customers have been identified through the synthesis of existing literature and studies. for this purpose, 1268 articles focusing on customer experience were reduced to 26 final studies in the screening process. in the second phase, relying on the combined approach of graph theory (matrix permanents), the governing internal relationships between the research components and measuring their importance levels were determined. to achieve this purpose, according to the value judgment of the evaluator group (selected from the statistical population of handicrafts customers), the type of governing relationships between the research components at the sub-system level has been determined and then, the hypothetical values and the degree of proximity of each factor to the limit is evaluated. the results indicate that the five main components of promotional actions, information, product, brand, and social interactions can effectively guide customers’ pre-purchase experiences. the results of the analysis of the internal relations of the graphs show that among the mentioned components, social interactions (with a coefficient of 0.482 close to the ideal hypothetical value) have the highest level of importance in the industry of traditional and handicraft arts. introductionover the past decades, marketing activities have primarily focused on the cognitive and physical aspects of products and services, with the belief that customers make purchasing decisions based on rational cognitive analysis and avoid emotions and feelings. however, the marketing landscape is changing, and the challenges of increasing brand similarity, homogeneous consumer markets, and digitization have made it inevitable for organizations to strive to find and implement a component beyond technical requirements.customer experience, as one of the most promising management approaches, is a novel solution to address these challenges. however, the literature on customer experience is generally limited to a few industries (particularly banking, hospitality, and retail) and lacks a framework for customer experience formation in other industries. craft arts, for example, are one of the fields that have not received much attention in experiential marketing studies. today, the common meaning of craft arts (influenced by progressive concepts such as cultural freedom, individualization, and anti-commercialism) has been redefined and has taken on a symbolic and aesthetic form. the penetration of craft arts into the mainstream of the society and the increasing tendency to buy traditional products make it inevitable to adopt professional marketing strategies and approaches (including the modern customer experience-oriented approach). based on this, the present study was conducted to identify the factors affecting cognitive, emotional, and behavioral experiences at pre-purchase touchpoints and determine which of the experiential strategies leads to surpassing customer standards and expectations. methodologythe current research was conducted with a mixed approach and in the form of two studies. in the first study, the factors affecting the pre-purchase experiences of customers have been identified through the synthesis of existing literature and studies. for this purpose, 1268 articles focusing on customer experience were reduced in the title, abstract, and content screening process. finally, 26 articles with a kappa coefficient of 0.73 and a content validity ratio of more than 0.75 have been used as the basis for extracting codes. in the second study, relying on the integrated approach of graph theory (matrix permanents, the internal relationships between the research components and the measurement of their importance levels were specified. to achieve this goal, according to the value judgment of a group of evaluators (selected from the statistical population of craft arts customers), we have determined the type of relationships between the research components at the system and subsystem level. then, internal relationships and the degree of closeness to the ideal were determined. this means that the customer experience (system level) is ideal when all its components (subsystems) are in their best state. findingsthe results of the research indicate that the five main components of promotion, information, product, brand, and social interactions can guide the pre-purchase customer experience. the results of the analysis of the internal relationships of the graphs at the system level show that among such components, social interactions (with a distance of 0.482 close to the ideal value) are of the highest level of importance in the handicraft industry. other components including brand (with a distance of 0.553 close to the ideal value), product (0.587), information (0.602), and promotion (0.613) are placed in the next priorities of the organization to create unique and distinguished experiences. in addition, the analysis of the internal relationships at the sub-system level shows that personalization (with an importance level of 0.626), product pricing (0.785), information access (0.709), previous brand experiences (0.641), and recommendations (0.676) are the most preferred micro-level factors. conclusionsthe research findings show that at the system level, handicraft customers are more influenced by social interactions (recommendations, suggestions, and referrals of others to buy the product, overall evaluation of opinions in networks and social media) than other activities of the organization. moreover, the brand component is of secondary importance and the actions of the organization regarding brand awareness and recall can effectively lead to the improvement of the pre-purchase experiences of craft arts customers.  also, the analysis of the internal relationships of the product diagram shows that in the craft arts industry, product experiences are strongly influenced by the organization’s pricing policies, and the effectiveness of other factors (such as the variety of product selection, labeling, and packaging) depends on the acceptance and effectiveness of price strategies. therefore, the organization’s policies regarding special event pricing, seasonal, and extraordinary discounts can lead to an acceptable level of product experience. similarly, analysis of the internal relationships of the promotion diagram suggests that organizations with a focus on providing personalized offers and benefits (in the form of demographic filters, affinity selling, personalization of loyalty programs, etc.) achieve a higher impact compared to other promotional activities.