Improving customer experience through advocacy and morphing : a Web application for Suruga Bank

Abstract

After the rise of the internet, the relationship between customer and company has changed so that customer power increased. Companies have had to change their marketing activity from mass media based to internet based. At the same time, if the company successfully established web-based communication with the customer, it would be able to expand its business without being constrained by the existing order of market standing. In other words, effective customer-based web solution is critical for companies at present day. Professor Glen Urban propounded two ideas to improve customer experience through web site- one is the "Customer advocacy", which leads to build a trust-based relationship with the customer, and the other is the "Morphing web site" which enable customers to have an optimal web site which fit to their own cognitive or cultural style automatically without customizing the page. The research created a practical web site based on those two ideas, and conducted a market research in order to make clear the effectiveness of advocacy and morphing. Data shows that both advocacy and morphing are effective to improve customer experience, and that the web site based on those ideas has a potential power to change the position of the company in that industry. This research will be a useful reference for companies who need effective web communication with customers.