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GraphEx: visualizing and managing customer experience in its

multidimensionality

Article in Journal of Service Theory and Practice · November 2023

DOI: 10.1108/JSTP-03-2023-0077

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JSTP
33,7 GraphEx: visualizing and
managing customer experience
in its multidimensionality
94 Yasin Sahhar and Raymond Loohuis
Department of Entrepreneurship and Technology Management,
Received 7 March 2023
Revised 3 July 2023
Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences, University of Twente,
20 August 2023 Enschede, The Netherlands, and
22 September 2023
Accepted 8 October 2023 J€org Henseler
Department of Design, Production and Management, University of Twente,
Enschede, The Netherlands and
NOVA Information Management School, Universidade Nova de Lisboa,
Lisbon, Portugal

Abstract
Purpose – Customer experience has become a vital premise in service theory and practice. Despite researchers’
and managers’ growing interest, the customer experience remains a complex and multidimensional concept
that is challenging for service providers to understand. This study aims to graph the experience in its
multidimensionality by categorizing and proposing matching practices for service marketing managers to
channel and foster customer experiences in customer journeys.
Design/methodology/approach – To support the predominantly conceptual nature of the study, an
abductive approach underpinned by the authors’ vast experience in academia and practice, real-life
autohermeneutic phenomenological experience tales and theory on customer experience and its management
by providers is deployed to craft a model that addresses and highlights the multidimensionality of experience.
Findings – This study introduces the “GraphEx” (Graph Experience) hip-pocket model, which expresses
customer experience in a simple yet multidimensional fashion and offers managerial practices to foster the
customer’s experience. The model contains three dimensions (valence, type of experience and visceral intensity)
and five managerial practices (urgent patchwork, restoring, activating and stimulating desire, bolstering and
safeguarding appreciation).
Originality/value – This study contributes to the service literature by creating granularity in the
multidimensionality of customer experience. This study advances customer experience management in
practice by providing service managers with novel possibilities for understanding and managing customer
experiences intelligently. This can help service providers streamline and innovate customer experience
strategies during customer journeys and foster customer loyalty.
Keywords Customer experience, Multidimensionality, Customer experience management, Practices,
GraphEx
Paper type Research note

1. Introduction
Business leaders and marketing managers argue that creating a relevant and reliable
customer experience is fundamental for a company’s overall business performance (De
Keyser et al., 2020). Managing customer experience and offering compelling experiences

© Yasin Sahhar, Raymond Loohuis and J€org Henseler. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This
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Vol. 33 No. 7, 2023
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2055-6225
DOI 10.1108/JSTP-03-2023-0077 Editage English editing services edited the final manuscript for enhanced readership.
skillfully can reap massive benefits such as enhanced customer satisfaction and reduced Visualizing
churn (Williams et al., 2020; Dhebar, 2013; Rawson et al., 2013), thereby ramping up financial and managing
results (Bueno et al., 2019; Silva et al., 2021). Customer experience management has been
regarded as a promising approach to, and even the future of, marketing (Newman, 2015;
customer
Homburg et al., 2017), given its central position in business landscapes and vast potential for experience
value creation and customer well-being. Hence, understanding and managing the customer
experience has become a top priority for service firms (Witell et al., 2020) and a key source of
competitive advantage (Keiningham et al., 2020). 95
Customer experience is the subjective, instinctive and spontaneous response and reaction
to particular stimuli (Becker and Jaakkola, 2020). The concept is not static but is continuously
subject to change over time. For this reason, the nature of the customer experience is often
referred to as dynamic, fluid and temporal (Ellway and Dean, 2016; Helkkula, 2011; Helkkula
et al., 2012). Accordingly, experience is liable to circumstances across and beyond the phases
and touchpoints of customer journeys (Lemon and Verhoef, 2016; Gr€onroos, 2017) mediated
by advanced and emerging technologies (Teixeira et al., 2016; Kabadayi et al., 2019). To shape
customer experience for their favorite ends, marketing managers resort to tools (Table 1
presents an overview) to diagnose and monitor customers’ experiences and (re)design their
service offerings to improve customer experience across the customer journey.
Despite its prominence in marketing and service discourse, the field of customer
experience continues to face difficulties in maturation (Forrester Research, 2019; Lemon and
Verhoef, 2016) and the concept of customer experience is often managed without proper
understanding (De Keyser et al., 2020; Thompson, 2018). Although customer experience is
increasingly understood as multifaceted, the central discourse considers experience on a
spectrum between “universally good” and “universally bad” (Becker and Jaakkola, 2020),
indicating a preference for a dichotomic rather than multidimensional construct (Williams
et al., 2020). This simplification of the concept is problematic because wrong interventions in
the customer journey to facilitate favorable experiences may only lead to negative
experiences and even value destruction (Sahhar and Loohuis, 2022). In addition, the premise
that customer experience results from interventions on behalf of service providers is still
prevalent (Becker and Jaakkola, 2020), implying that service providers are the “orchestrators”
of customer experience (Pine and Gilmore, 1999, 2011). We consider this control bias
problematic, as it downplays the role of the human agency (Emirbayer and Mische, 1998) of
customers, which purports that experience emerges in the customers’ lifeworld and revolves
around their interpretations, informed by their past, individual, collective and situational
filters (Sandstr€om et al., 2008; Heinonen, 2023). Given the customer agency in shaping their
own experience, customer experience cannot always be formed as the service provider
intends (Lemon and Verhoef, 2016; Heinonen et al., 2019). In sum, little room is left for
customer agency and the emergence of customer experiences in the customer journey. This
results in a state that is essentially monolithic or dichotomous, leaving facets of dynamic
experience and agency out of the equation. Therefore, marketing and service managers can
benefit from a more nuanced picture of what it means to understand and manage customer
experience by respecting adequate interventions to recover, anticipate and influence the
experience.
To support this managerial quest, a more complete understanding of the concept of
customer experience is necessary (Becker and Jaakkola, 2020; Homburg et al., 2017; De Keyser
et al., 2020), its multidimensionality must be simplified (Jain et al., 2017; Lemon and Verhoef,
2016; Williams et al., 2020) and its agentic dimensions highlighted, that is, customer-centric
dimensions that define the experience of and by the customer. Thus, the purpose of this study is
to graph experience in its multidimensionality and create fitting practices for marketing
managers to anticipate and influence experience for positive outcomes.
JSTP Through an abductive approach involving the integration of empirical observations and
33,7 extant theory (Dubois and Gadde, 2002; Nenonen et al., 2017), we developed the “GraphEx”
(Graph Experience) hip-pocket model (see Figure 2) as an approach that addresses and
highlights the multidimensionality of experience. We propose three core dimensions that
render an intricate view of the customer experience: (1) valence, (2) type and (3) visceral
intensity. These dimensions are simultaneously comprehensive, detailed and mutually
exclusive, and express experiences in their phenomenological nature from the subject’s point
96 of view. First, valence expresses whether experience is perceived on a continuum (i.e. different
“shades”) of positive, neutral or negative (De Keyser et al., 2020; Kranzb€ uhler et al., 2020)
across all its qualities – for example, cognitive, behavioral, sensory, emotional and social
(Williams et al., 2020; Stead et al., 2022). Second, the type of experience is either reflective or
unreflective. The former refers to the subject’s aware/conscious experience, whereas the latter
invokes the subject’s unaware/unconscious experience (Sahhar and Loohuis, 2022). Finally,
visceral intensity assesses whether an experience is sensorially perceived as “superficial” or
“profound.” These dimensions are illustrated through lively tales (Table 3) and
complemented by five managerial practices (Figure 2).
This study contributes to service theory and practice by offering a fine-grained
perspective on the multidimensional premises of customer experience based on customer
agency and matching interventions on behalf of service providers. The GraphEx hip-pocket
model enriches managers with a simple, multidimensional overview of experience. It can
guide them in assessing, redesigning and innovating the service process to improve customer
experiences both ad hoc and strategically, for instance, in the creation of strategies to boost
customer loyalty over time.

2. Conceptual foundation: customer experience and its complexities

Customer experience has not only become a dominant key performance indicator for
marketing managers but also appears on strategic agendas in the boardroom. Businesses
that successfully understand and manage customer experience profit from customer
retention, loyalty and above-normal margins (Bueno et al., 2019; Stein and Ramaseshan,
2020). The starting point lies in understanding customer experience, which is not as simple as
it may sound. To understand this concept better, we propose an interpretation of the
experiences that entail and address their complexities.

2.1 Independent character of customer experience

Firms seeing themselves as “orchestrators” of customer experience typically driven by firm-driven
stimuli (Pine and Gilmore, 1999; Becker and Jaakkola, 2020), adopt a myopic view and fall prey to
the complex reality of experience. The phenomenological nature of experience in the customer’s
lifeworld underscores customers’ agency and the emergence of their experience in the customer
journey over time (Car u and Cova, 2003; Emirbayer and Mische, 1998). Service providers do not
always influence the customer experience and can behave independently (Lemon and Verhoef,
2016; Becker and Jaakkola, 2020; Heinonen et al., 2010, 2019). Firms can influence interactions that
enable customer experience (Zomerdijk and Voss, 2010). The service provider’s intention for that
experience and what customers experience are two different things; customers’ experiences also
depend on their circumstances. Sandstr€om et al. (2008) called these individual and situational
filters, and Heinonen (2023) referred to individual sense making and collective social interactions.
Similarly, Kahneman (2011) noted a gap between the experiencing and the remembering selves,
pointing to the subjective nature of experience. Thus, customers do not always experience the
offering as intended by the firm (Heinonen et al., 2019; Schembri, 2006), but according to their
perspective, which is influenced by individual and situational circumstances.
2.2 Customer experience as dynamic and temporal Visualizing
Traditionally, the customer experience has been viewed as a static and stable construct and managing
consisting of needs and perceptions known prior to or during any encounter with service
providers, services or products. Essentially, perceptions of service quality determine
customer
customers’ service experiences (Gr€onroos, 1984; Parasuraman et al., 1988; Woodruff, 1997). experience
Such a perspective creates snapshots of what the customer experiences at a specific moment
the perception of the experiencing self-consisting of experiences that are continually
reshaped and accumulated in memory (Kahneman, 2011). Over time, customer experience has 97
evolved into a more complex dynamic and temporal concept. Customer experience is defined
as subjective, nondeliberate and spontaneous responses and reactions to particular stimuli
residing in managerial efforts or consumption processes (Becker and Jaakkola, 2020). To
detail this rather broad definition, experience is fluid in nature, phenomenologically
determined by the beneficiary, and accumulated over time in the lifeworld of the subject (i.e.
the customer) (Caru and Cova, 2003; Helkkula, 2011) as the perception of the remembering self
(Kahneman, 2011). “Ex situ” value can emerge off-site in the subject’s lifeworld through
individual sense making and collective social interactions (Heinonen, 2023). Experience
manifests not only as lived in the “now” but as imaginary in the past and future (Helkkula
et al., 2012; Verhoef et al., 2009). Consequently, a customer journey converges with customer
experience, enabling us to better understand the temporality of experience in terms of how
and what customers experience in the phase of their journey (Jain et al., 2017; Lemon and
Verhoef, 2016; Silva et al., 2021).

2.3 Customer experience as seemingly multidimensional yet conceptualized unidimensionally

Experience is often categorized to facilitate efforts to understand and manage it. Current studies
have focused on the qualities of customer experience, involving customers’ experiences in
response to the consumption of products and services. Examples include cognitive (what people
think), behavioral (how people (inter)act), sensory (what people experience via their senses),
emotional (how people feel) and social (how people share) (De Keyser et al., 2020; Williams et al.,
2020; Brakus et al., 2009; Schmitt, 1999; Schmitt et al., 2015). Similarly, experience can be qualified
as cognitive, affective, physical, sensorial and social (Becker and Jaakkola, 2020; Lemon and
Verhoef, 2016). Although these dimensions are helpful in bracketing experience (i.e. “how”
subjects perceive), they miss out on the nature of experience itself (i.e. “what” experience is
composed of) from a customer-centric point of view.
Valence, including its links to other dimensions, is a largely ignored dimension that
reflects the nature of the experience. It refers to whether customers perceive the experience as
positive, indifferent or negative (De Keyser et al., 2020; Kranzb€ uhler et al., 2020). This positive,
indifferent or negative experience can then be further qualified as cognitive, behavioral,
sensory, emotional and social (De Keyser et al., 2020; Williams et al., 2020). Valence is
discerned on a continuum (Brakus et al., 2009); that is, it contains different shades and can be
useful in comprehending what specific experiences mean to customers. Thus, a detailed view
of valence seems to push the multidimensionality of experience against all odds. The
dominant narrative postulates experience as something between “universally good” and
“universally bad” (Becker and Jaakkola, 2020), which hints at managers’ preference for simple
unidimensionality (Williams et al., 2020).
These considerations indicate that the monolithic discourse creates serious concerns.
Marketing managers’ efforts to understand and manage customer experiences often result in
poor judgment, as their comprehension does not mirror the complexity of the customer
experience in real life. Hence, we call for more nuances in the customer experience debate by
exposing and involving customers’ agency and the multidimensionality of their experience,
which seriously impacts thinking about customer experience.
JSTP 3. Introducing GraphEx: combining multidimensionality with simplicity
33,7 3.1 An overview of existing tools and frameworks
Over the past decade, multiple tools have been developed to grasp customer experience or its
underlying or adjacent processes. Table 1 delineates these studies according to their focus,
functionality and differences from those of the present study. The current tapestry of tools
and frameworks, predominantly stemming from service design, offers valuable insights into
the diagnosis and tracking of customer experiences when designing service offerings.
98 Overall, the tools offer strong processual insights into customer-provider relationships and
service systems, leading to ample potential for improvement in service design and
architecture. However, a framework that encapsulates the multidimensionality of the
customer experience while ensuring normative guidance for managers is lacking, as has been
called for in previous research (Jain et al., 2017) (see Table 1).

Tool or Differences from the present Exemplary

framework Focus Functionality study references

Service Firm focus on Maps front- and  Service design focus Bitner et al.
(experience) service backstage processes  Process focused (2008),
blueprinting encounters helping to innovate  Leaves out Patrıcio et al.
structured processes multidimensionality and (2008)
granularity of customer
experience
 Lacks normative power in
terms of managerial
practices or interventions
Customer Primarily Maps the service  Maps customer experiences Lemon and
journey customer focus process, typically across phases, steps and Verhoef
mapping described in phases, touchpoints (2016),
steps, touchpoints and  Places the customer at the Rosenbaum
experiences, from the heart of service system et al. (2017)
customer’s viewpoint – design
thereby placing the  Leaves out
customer at the heart of multidimensionality and
service system design granularity of customer
experience
 Lacks normative power in
terms of managerial
practices or interventions
Management Multiple levels Integrates  Service design focus Patrıcio et al.
and interaction of aggregation. understanding the  Involves multiple (2011),
design for (customer, customer experience hierarchical levels and levels Teixeira et al.
service customer- with designing the of aggregation (2016)
(MINDS) provider, service offering at three  Leaves out
multiple actors) hierarchical levels: the multidimensionality and
firm’s service concept, granularity of customer
the service system and experience
the service encounter.  Lacks normative power in
Built further on terms of managerial
Table 1. multilevel service design practices or interventions
Overview of exemplary and interaction design
tools and frameworks models
related to customer
experience (continued )
Tool or Differences from the present Exemplary
Visualizing
framework Focus Functionality study references and managing
customer
Customer Firm focus Capturing the rich and  Integrative view of involved Teixeira et al.
experience based on complex elements activities, actors, artifacts, (2012) experience
modeling customer input (activities, actors, technological systems
artifacts, technological  Multilevel activity centric
systems) that shape view for service design 99
customer experiences across three levels: the firm’s
helping service design service concept, the service
and orchestration system and the service
amongst multiple encounter
elements  Leaves out
multidimensionality and
granularity of customer
experience
 Lacks normative power in
terms of managerial
practices or interventions
Service Dyadic and Maps actors that are  Leaves out Tax et al.
delivery network responsible for the multidimensionality of (2013)
networks focused provision of a connected customer experience
overall service  Focuses mainly on the
experience by taking a mapping of actors and their
holistic view of service relationships
delivery networks  Focuses on the dyadic
customer – provider
relationship in a bigger
network
 Leaves out
multidimensionality and
granularity of customer
experience
 Lacks normative power in
terms of managerial
practices or interventions
GraphEx Focus on the Visualizes customer N/A
[present study] customer experience in its
experience that multidimensionality yet
feed into in a simple way, creating
management insight into (viewing)
practices customer experience and
managing it accordingly
with concrete practices Table 1.

3.2 Abductive approach to the GraphEx development

To meet our objective of visualizing experience in its multidimensionality and providing a
managerial grip on customer experience management, we adopt an abductive approach
(Dubois and Gadde, 2002, 2014) in our design process of the GraphEx hip-pocket model.
Abductive thinking is suitable for developing a theory that is simultaneously novel and
practical (Nenonen et al., 2017), as it is consistent with the novel fashions of knowledge
creation (Dunin-Woyseth and Nilsson, 2011) that aim to tackle real-world problems (Jonas,
2012). The process of abduction involves the systematic combining of multiple resources
(Vink and Koskela-Huotari, 2022; Dubois and Gadde, 2002), which in our case were three
mutually complementary sources: (1) the broad experience of the three authors, who are
JSTP academic experts and have knowledge of customer experience management in practice;
33,7 (2) the literature on customer experience and its management; and (3) empirical data
collected by the first author using an autohermeneutic phenomenological approach, in
which the experience as a consumer (and customer) was carefully documented by the
author. In line with the abductive approach (Dubois and Gadde, 2002, 2014), we went back
and forth between the three sources. Eventually, the invention process toward the
GraphEx hip-pocket model consisted of an exploratory search over a complex problem
100 space (i.e. customer experience’s dimensionality visualization) that required creativity,
insight and knowledge of multiple realms of inquiry (i.e. the sensemaking and
combination of the three sources used in our study) to find feasible solutions (Gregor
and Hevner, 2013).
Autohermeneutic phenomenology is an introspective approach to data collection and
interpretation that pierces the essence of a phenomenon. This approach allows one to carry
out observant participation in one’s life and understand how experience is constituted
(Denzin, 2014; Gould, 1995, 2012; Hackley, 2016; Sahhar et al., 2022). Experience tales serving
as illustrations for the GraphEx hip-pocket model were gathered through eclectic techniques
of systematic self-observation (e.g. interval, event-contingent and free-format narrative
recording and in situ self-interviews) (Gorichanaz, 2017; Rodriguez and Ryave, 2002) for a
period of nine months. As these techniques reduce the distance between occurrence
(i.e. experience) and data collection, we enjoyed data that were more accurate, vivid and free
from the transformations of faulty memory (Gorichanaz, 2017; Sahhar et al., 2022). All data
were gathered according to ethical principles in order to protect the interests of the people
involved. For example, in-situ self-interviews were conducted with the service provider when
they were not directly involved in our own practice (e.g. working out at a gymnasium
independently of an instructor). In addition, with free-format narrative recording, we ensured
not to interrupt the actors’ practices that were involved in the scene (e.g. walking through a
shopping mall and freely recording one’s experience). The other techniques were performed
in the absence of a service provider.
Data were written in text, recorded in audio or captured in pictures to ensure detail and
richness. This resulted in 83 lively tales covering the entire experience spectrum, from
mundane to extraordinary experiences and from experiences emerging in interaction with
service providers to those arising independently from them. This allowed us to create a broad
yet in-depth overview, breach the taken-for-granted and illuminate the everyday
intelligibility of the customer experience. For the purposes of this study, we include three
rich illustrations that capture a wide array of different experiences across multiple service
settings involving intensive provider–customer interaction.
Table 2 illustrates how the GraphEx hip-pocket model was developed over six cycles.
While a full-fledged design process consists of multiple iterations to build a “fuzzy model” to a
complete application, our study focuses on building an initial model that provides granularity
in service theory and guidance for service managers. This creates a pathway for future
research and engagement in practice to validate and refine the GraphEx hip-pocket model in
further iterations. To accommodate practical replicability for researchers and practitioners,
we used generally accessible visualizing software to plot the customer experience, in our case,
a combination of Adobe Illustrator and Microsoft PowerPoint. The cyclical process of
visualizing the customer experience involved sketching and refining throughout the six
cycles. The so-called thinking and talking sketches were used to connect our individual and
collective thinking processes, and prescriptive sketches were wielded to eventually arrive at a
design that was understandable to persons outside the development process (van der Lugt,
2005). Throughout, figures evolved from preliminary sketches to refined designs and
eventually to a detailed design representing the final artifacts (Seitamaa-Hakkarainen and
Hakkarainen, 2000).
 Visualizing
and managing
Cycles in the
customer
abductive experience
1 2 3 4 5 6
process

101
Activities Searching, gathering, and Co-creating building blocks Sharpening and advancing the
making sense of literature in multiple interactive GraphEx model, including
in customer experience. sessions, involving thinking adjacent charts depicting the
Discussing core literature and talking sketches. experience snippets and the
amongst authors, followed managerial practices, while
by bracketing the paper’s keeping close track of our
focus. fundamentals in literature and
empirical data. Multiple
iterations of individual work
and joint interactive co-
creation sessions are used.
Table 2.
Outcomes Clear overview of core Principle building blocks of Final – and detailed – Description of the
literature; distilled key the GraphEx hip-pocket GraphEx hip-pocket model development of the
learnings; definition of model leading to its and supporting figures and GraphEx hip-pocket
research focus. preliminary and refined tables. model through six
design. cycles

3.3 Laying out the GraphEx fundamentals

We created a chart (see Figure 1) of the previously mentioned development cycles to illustrate a
simple overview of the multiple dimensions of the customer experience: (1) valence, (2) type and (3)
visceral intensity. We briefly elaborate on the dimensions that form the fundamentals of GraphEx.
First, valence is differentiated on the y-axis into positive, neutral (or indifferent) and negative
experiences (De Keyser et al., 2020; Kranzb€ uhler et al., 2020). Positive and negative experiences
are straightforward: the former “does good” to the customer, while the latter does the opposite
and causes customers to undergo destructive experiences. The valence of experience is placed
on a continuum and we thereby oppose the view that experience is monolithic, good or bad. This
means that, for example, with a positive experience, one can experience “good” experiences or
more positive “excellent” or “extraordinary” experiences. In addition, subjects can experience
indifference, a state in which they experience neutral feelings (De Keyser et al., 2020). These are
typically referred to as ordinary experiences (Heinonen and Lipkin, 2023). Different qualities can
be manifested interchangeably within the valence of experience. For example, subjects can
undergo cognitive, behavioral, sensory, emotional and social experiences (De Keyser et al., 2020;
Williams et al., 2020) that can be positively, indifferently or negatively valenced. For example,
subjects pushing themselves to the limits during a gymnasium workout can experience
negatively valenced sensorial aspects (e.g. muscular pain or acidification) and positively
valenced emotional aspects (e.g. the pleasure of taking care of one’s health). Therefore, different
qualities exist interchangeably in how one experiences them (the valence dimension). Although
these qualities are valuable for categorizing customer experiences, a managerial perspective
primarily provides insights into the valence dimension for two reasons. First, it identifies the
appearance of an experience. Second, the valence dimension is clearly linked to the type of
experience and visceral intensity.
Second, customers are not always aware of their own experiences. Therefore, in the second
dimension, we distinguish between reflective and unreflective experiences (Ellway and Dean,
2016; Helkkula and Kelleher, 2010; Sahhar and Loohuis, 2022; Heinonen, 2023). This entails
JSTP
33,7

102

Source(s): Figure created by author

Figure 1.
A chart of the
dimensions,
underpinning the
GraphEx hip-pocket
model, consisting of
snapshots of
experiences in a
journey
the possibility of living experiences as reflective (i.e. deliberate and conscious) and Visualizing
unreflective (i.e. undeliberate and unconscious). The lines of experience are gray when the and managing
experience is unreflective and black when it is reflective. Occasionally, during moments of
customer delight, most of the experience is depicted as unreflective, whereas extremes are
customer
reflective. In such instances, customers may be aware of certain service provider features experience
(e.g. brand, specific communications or essential service qualities).
To this end, we add a third dimension, visceral intensity, which describes how viscerally
intense an experience is for a subject. This occurs on a continuum of visceral intensity 103
ranging from superficial to profound. In Figure 1, the longer the lines on the flow of
experience, the more viscerally intense the experience. We identified this additional
dimension of experience based on the earlier work of Merleau-Ponty (1962) that pointed to the
importance of the body. The body grants us access to (visceral) experiences in the world in
which we live in (Yakhlef, 2015; Kuuru, 2022). We define visceral as the sensations, moods and
ways of being that emerge from sensory engagement with the environment (Longhurst, 2009;
Hayes-Conroy, 2010; Hayes-Conroy and Hayes-Conroy, 2008). Observing our visceral
experience encapsulates all of our senses: sight, sound, touch, smell and taste. Furthermore,
we can experience something on the surface that is short-lived but also very profound and
stretched over time (Longhurst, 2009; Brakus et al., 2009).
These dimensions are established over time. Time is experienced subjectively as a
phenomenological concept (Orlikowski and Yates, 2002). Hence, experience can go by without
any reflection and can be short-lived (Brakus et al., 2009); that is, “time flies.” Other
experiences last longer and are experienced more deliberately when one looks at clock
ticking. Therefore, time is not merely objectively determined by a fixed numeric scale
(i.e. Chronos) but also subjectively experienced (i.e. Kairos) (Gibbs, 1998). Furthermore,
experiences can be temporally fragmented, as shown in the chart. Therefore, experiences are
not always directly related. To illustrate this, we graph three distinct illustrative experiences
capturing different experiences.

3.4 Illustrating and connecting experiences to managerial responses

The following section illustrates the experiences presented in the GraphEx chart and relates
them to the managerial practices. We have purposively selected three real-life distinctive
experiences. Every experience uniquely spans the dimensions, demonstrating a variety of
experiences across the dimensions. We have included specific parts of these experiences (see
brackets in Figure 1) to illustrate them in further detail. For example, experience snippets 1.1
and 1.2 show a different experience than 2.1 and 2.2. The results are shown in the left column
of Table 3. In addition, we have connected the experiences with managerial practices, which
are depicted in the right column of the table and discussed in further detail in the next section.
Linking experience to managerial practices is valuable, as marketing managers can see what
kind of response corresponds to that experience. As shown in Table 3, each managerial
practice aligns with a corresponding piece of experience.

4. GraphEx hip-pocket model for marketing and service managers

GraphEx offers ample room in the marketing and service realm to foster managers’
capabilities to understand and manage customer experiences with sensitivity to agency and
multidimensionality. As a supplement to the previously detailed illustrations linking
experience to managerial practices, we provide business leaders and marketing managers
with the GraphEx hip-pocket model as a tool and heuristic to become more sensitive and
better equipped to “manage” customer experiences (see Figure 2). Management practices are
built into five layers, which are discussed in further detail.
 33,7

104
JSTP

Table 3.

with associated

GraphEx model
that underpin the
managerial practices
Illustrative experiences
Tales according to experiences in Figure 1 Managerial practice aligned with experience
1.1 Experience turned around: From delight downwards
“It has been a day packed with meetings,” Yves sighs to his girlfriend, Aude. After a
hard day of work, they decide to go to the gym to attend the intensive yoga workout at Bolster. The service provider can attempt to engage in the
20.00. The best yoga master, according to many people who visit the same gym, customer’s practices and positively influence those practices
organizes the session. Dressed in their sports outfits, Yves and Aude are on their way to solidify and further boost the customer experience.
to the gym. Yves listens with curiosity to the positive experiences Aude shares about
last week’s yoga workout, building his expectations gradually [upward movement of
experience]. Upon their arrival, the coach behind the entrance counter hands Yves the
new bracelet for checking in. “You’re the first client to receive one!” he mentions.
Previously, people used to have a credit card-like card, which was easy to slop around.
Happily surprised and looking at his new bracelet with the gym logo “Circle of Form” Safeguard appreciation. While the service provider
on it, Yves is excited for the workout and quickly descends to the locker room to store facilitated moments of delight for the customer, the service
his backpack in a locker. Shortly afterwards, he enters the yoga room, in which the provider should ensure two things. First, the customer should
yoga master has created an atmospheric vibe. The gentle lighting for the start of the be allowed to appreciate the service and the experience. This
session, typical incense and relaxing music welcome and absorb Yves in the room. can be done through engaging in the customer’s practices and
Even though his expectation had already accumulated to a certain level in advance, he creating positive temporal friction. Second, it is vital to
did not foresee this. Positively surprised and experiencing a feeling of delight with an continue to support the customer’s practices to allow him/her
additional curiosity about what the yoga master has to offer [peak experience], Yves to reach his/her goals.
installs himself at the center of the room in such a way that he can monitor the master’s
movements and positions in the mirror. Two minutes later, the session starts,
commencing with some simple warm-up movements. After five minutes, the yoga
master increases the volume of the music and brightens the lighting, indication an
acceleration in the pace, rhythm, and intensity of the session. Moments afterwards,
Yves moves from the Warrior II movement to the Triangle Pose, after which he finds Bolster. The service provider should (re)engage in the
himself in the classical plank position that toughens upper-body muscularity and customer’s processes by additional practices to attempt
strength stamina. At that moment, he notices that the woman behind him is disturbing turning the negative direction of experience by again boosting
the pleasant flow of movements [decrease in experience]. his/her experiences.

(continued )
 1.2 Experience stabilized: From negative to positive indifferent
Struggling to find her position while her yoga mat slips away, the woman behind Yves
bumps into his yoga mat several times. This continuously disturbs him from achieving Restore. Although the service provider is not directly
proper positioning and conducting the movements in the right way. The woman seems responsible for the behavior of other customers that influences
to be unaware that she is interrupting Yves. With slight frustration, Yves attempts to the focal customer’s experience, the service provider should
move forward but struggles to do so, as the room is packed with people. To the best of identify the critical event and attempt to recover the
his abilities, Yves continues his workout but seems to be distracted and blocked from customer’s experience through becoming engaged in his/her
the pleasant flow he was hoping for. Still, shortly after the yoga session, he decides to practice.
finish his workout with his twenty-minute strength workout routine. Even though many
people are in the strength room, Yves recovers his rhythm while listening to his favorite
workout playlist [upward motion of experience]. He finishes off with a recovery in the Activate and stimulate desire. As the customer’s experience
sauna, and upon arrival at home, Yves prepares a healthy dinner and seems to disregard evolves to a phase of indifference, the service provider should
the annoying experience he lived through during the yoga session [stabilized attempt to stimulate or trigger the customer experience
experience]. without being too opportunistic or interfering with the
customer’s practices.
2.1 Experience destructed: Deep parabola opening up
Anthony has been waiting multiple days for the book he ordered at BookStock & Co. Activate and stimulate desire. The service provider should
He was disappointed not to receive any updates on his order. At some point, the actively engage in the customer’s practices to overcome the
experience of waiting for the book turned from something at the front of his mind to negative indifference in experience.
something numb [slightly negative indifferent experience]. From this point of departure,
the long wait is over, as the book surprisingly found its end destination in the mailbox.
Because of the earlier deceptive delivery process, Anthony maintains his skepticism. Restore. The service provider should take action to recover the
When he opens the package, this skepticism becomes a complete destructive customer’s experience and turn it into an upward-moving
experience, as the package does not contain the correct book. Instead of the magnum experience.
opus of one of his favorite 20th-century philosophers, it is a book on statistical data
models. “As there could not be any bigger difference,” Anthony thinks ironically. His
predominant feelings are an enormous sense of deception, frustration, and anger Urgently patch. The service provider must respond with
[ultimate depth in experience]. He blames BookStock & Co first for the faulty delivery immediate action to lift the customer out of his/her destructive
and a split-second after for the entire delivery process that was completely out of order. experience. Swift patchwork and soothing are vital.
With this feeling, Anthony reaches out via a direct phone call with the customer service
of BookStock & Co. to explain the error in delivery. The BookStock & Co. customer Restore. After having patched the experience, the service
service representative does everything in her power to curb this destructive experience
provider should ensure the upward motion of experience by
through immediate patchwork [slightly upward negative experience]. Through being
remaining engaged and stabilizing the situation
helped out in this way, Anthony’s experience recovers slowly but surely.
(continued )
experience
and managing
customer
Visualizing

105

Table 3.
 33,7

106
JSTP

Table 3.
2.2 Experience revamped: From negative to positive
After the patchwork, Anthony’s experience is neutralized. Next, the customer service
representative organizes a new delivery and promises a discount voucher as a Bolster. Due to the previous experience on behalf of the
compensation for the faulty delivery, turning Anthony’s previous negative experience customer, it is vital that the service provider continues to
into a positive one. Simultaneously, he remains slightly insecure. The fact that the strengthen the customer’s experience to fully regain the
customer service representative ensures and verifies the dispatch of the book herself customer’s confidence and trust.
reassures Anthony. His experience is revamped and over time stabilizes on a positive
continuum.
3.1 Experience increased step-by-step: From positive indifferent to delight
Jim orders a meal via food and delivery platform Deliveroo. Based on previous Activate and stimulate desire. The service provider can
experiences, he chooses one of his favorite Asian fried chicken restaurants, “Fry trigger the customer’s experience by mobilizing the
Brothers.” The ordering process goes fluently, and within a couple of minutes, Jim customer’s practice.
receives a notification via the Deliveroo app: “Your order will be delivered by Kamel”
[first increase in experience]. This (re)activates Jim’s experience and creates the feeling
of looking forward to receiving the meal. Soon, Jim is notified that Kamel is on his way
to deliver the meal and that he will be notified when the delivery is nearby. [second Bolster. The service provider should continue to facilitate the
increase in experience]. In the meantime, Jim returns to watching his documentary on customer in the upward-moving experience to surpass the
YouTube. As expected, a few minutes later, the Deliveroo app notifies Jim that Kamel regular order. In this case, repetitively triggering the customer
is nearby and instructs him to keep an eye his mobile phone for any further instructions. helps to achieve customer delight.
The doorbell rings, bolstering Jim’s experience, and fully in line with COVID-19
regulations, Kamel leaves the meal in the elevator. Happily, Jim collects the meal as
the scent of fried chicken welcomes him to start his dinner Confirming his previous Safeguard appreciation. The service provider can attempt to
experiences with Fry Brothers, the correct meal is delivered. Complementary to this, deliver an extraordinary experience by surpassing previous
the employees left a personal handwritten message on the bag: “Enjoy your meal! The efforts by, for example, positively surprising the customer to
Fry Brothers.” Jim is happy with this gesture [third stretched steep increase in exceed his/her expectations. Simultaneously, the service
experience], rewards Kamel with a small tip and enjoys his meal while immersing provider should be aware of any taken-for-grantedness on the
himself in the documentary on YouTube. customer’s part. Positive friction would breach this.
3.2 Experience settled down: Landing in positive indifference
Activate and stimulate desire. The service provider can
Shortly after the feeling of delight in the meal delivery, enjoying the meal and satisfying
trigger the customer in a positive way to set the customer’s
his appetite, Jim continues to watch the documentary on YouTube. He finds himself in
experience in motion while supporting the customer’s jobs to
the rudimentary situation of continuing his evening of watching the documentary
be done.
without recalling the meal from Fry Brothers.
Note: The tales depict real-life experiences in the daily life of a consumer (and customer) that were collected in an autohermeneutic phenomenological
study by the first author.
 Visualizing
and managing
customer
experience

107

Source(s): Figure created by author

Figure 2.
The GraphEx
hip-pocket model
JSTP When the experience is most harmful, we propose an urgent patchwork to reverse the
33,7 destructive state of the customer’s experience and practice. Ideally, this should be followed by
soothing the customer. Second, when the experience is in a more generally negative state,
marketing managers should restore the customer’s experience to prevent further destruction
and return it to normal (Sahhar et al., 2021; Van Vaerenbergh et al., 2019). Third, when the
customer experience is indifferent, we propose activating customer experience and
stimulating desire. Service providers can (proactively) take action to positively set the
108 customer’s experience while supporting their goals. Fourth, when the customer experience is
generally positive, a marketing manager can consider bolstering the customer experience to
enhance it (Sahhar et al., 2021). Subsequently, customers may experience a sensation of
delight (Ball and Barnes, 2017; Guidice et al., 2020). In this situation, we propose a fifth
managerial practice that safeguards appreciation. Marketing managers can positively trigger
a customer’s experience with a practice that can act as a positive temporal friction (Sahhar
and Loohuis, 2022) facilitating customers’ curiosity and involvement (Siebert et al., 2020).
This is useful to prevent any taken-for-grantedness and make customers aware of the service
provider’s service quality in novel ways.

5. Conclusion
5.1 Implications for service researchers and managers
Customer experience is a popular topic and a promising driver of sustainable competitive
business advantage. The central premise is strategically differentiating customer
experiences (Dhebar, 2013) to ensure that customers want to return (Williams et al., 2021).
In doing so, companies are increasingly investing in managing touchpoints through
omnichannel services facilitated by emerging technologies (Silva et al., 2021; Teixeira et al.,
2016). However, customer experience remains a complex concept that is, for its majority,
understood and managed in a myopic and unidimensional way. In response, this study
delivers a comprehensive and multidimensional visualization of customer experience while
safeguarding sufficient simplicity for managerial practice. The GraphEx hip-pocket model,
supported by charts and illustrations, expresses customer experience over time in three
dimensions (valence, type of experience and visceral intensity).
We contribute to service theory (Heinonen, 2023; Helkkula et al., 2012; Silva et al., 2021) by
disclosing the multidimensional premises of customer experience and adding granularity to
this complex yet topical phenomenon. In addition, we open avenues for further research into
formalizing the nature of the customer experience and advancing epistemological and
methodological approaches to comprehend it. In practice, managers can visualize experiences
in three comprehensive dimensions throughout customer journeys through the adoption of
the GraphEx hip-pocket model. This feeds marketing and service managers with novel
insights into their task of understanding what and how customers experience, both in
interactions with offerings and outside, in the customer domain in which ex situ value can
emerge (Heinonen et al., 2019; Heinonen, 2023). It is essential to include the role of emerging
technologies in service innovation(s), enabling seamless customer experiences (Teixeira et al.,
2016). The GraphEx hip-pocket model provides five concrete managerial practices to foster a
marketing manager’s capability to anticipate customer experiences in innovative ways.

5.2 Future research agenda for customer experience

Although there is wide agreement among service researchers and managers regarding the
importance of customer experience, a more comprehensive understanding of customer
experience, including its multidimensionality, is necessary (Becker and Jaakkola, 2020; Jain
et al., 2017). This study contributes to resolving this omission by developing GraphEx, a
helpful tool and heuristic that ties customer experience and managerial interventions. Visualizing
However, the GraphEx hip-pocket model must be considered the start of a journey to enhance and managing
our understanding of the relationship between customer experience and managerial
intervention. Therefore, future empirical research is required to expand and deepen
customer
knowledge about the multidimensionality of customer experience in various business experience
(service) contexts involving a plenitude of actors. To help promote this quest, we propose a
research agenda for future research on the priorities of understanding, measuring, testing and
validating, designing and managing customer experience (see Table 4). 109

Priorities for customer Possible subthemes/

experience topics Questions

Understanding Multidimensionality What other dimensions of customer experience tap into the
nature of the phenomenon? Which dimensions of customer
experience are more dominant over others? How do the
dimensions of customer experience relate to value co-
creation and co-destruction? What role does the customer’s
agency plan in interplay with the dimensions of customer
experience? How does unreflective and reflective customer
experience relate to customer delight? What underlying
mechanisms exist between the multidimensionality of
customer experience? What role do customer emotions play
in the multidimensionality of customer experience? How can
techniques, such as autohermeneutic phenomenology, be
implemented in practice in a feasible way?
Omnichannel How do different channels shape customer experience?
What distinction can be made between on- and offline
channels in shaping dimensions of customer experience?
How do human and nonhuman-driven channels impact
customer experience? What role does the
anthropomorphizing of nonhuman channels play in
facilitating customer experience?
Touchpoints How is customer experience formed in provider-owned
touchpoints? How is customer experience formed in customer-
owned touchpoints? How is customer experience socially
constructed? How does the service encounter of the future
shape customer experience? How do the dimensions of
customer experience relate to service encounters across service
scapes?
Technology How does emerging technology (e.g. robots, AI, or smart
technologies) impact customer experience? What role does
technology play in shaping the valence of customer experience?
What ethical considerations should be made in the interplay
between technology and customer experience? What role does
the customer’s agency play in self-service technologies (SSTs)?
How do SSTs impact customer experience, both positively and
negatively? How do emerging technologies impact customer
expectations and experiences? What is the interplay between
emerging technologies and the individual and collective
customer experience? What are the unintended consequences
of emerging technologies in relation to customer experience?
What bright and dark sides of emerging technologies can be Table 4.
identified for customer experience? How does digitalization Future research
impact the customer experience? agenda for customer
experience initiated by
(continued ) GraphEx
JSTP Priorities for customer Possible subthemes/
33,7 experience topics Questions

Measuring How can multiple dimensions of customer experience be

measured? How can multiple dimensions of customer
experience be measured over time? How does customer
experience dimensions impact customer loyalty and
110 customer lifetime value? What measurement indicators can
be linked to the dimensions of customer experience? How to
measure unreflective or mundane customer experience
across the customer journey? What is the effect of
unreflective experiences on customer loyalty? What metrics
can be identified that link the multidimensionality of
customer experience and the firm’s (financial) performance?
How can subjective dimensions, such as visceral intensity,
be measured effectively?
Testing and validating Multiple service To what extent do the multiple dimensions apply across
settings service settings? How do the dimensions of customer
experience fit different levels of customer-provider
interaction? In which service settings are the dimensions
most applicable and which are not?
Efficacy of practices How do the management practices impact customer
experience? What effect do management practices have on
the multiple dimensions of customer experience?
Designing What complementary service design techniques can be
developed to the extant literature? How can service design
techniques be successfully implemented within complex
organizations? How can service design help in service
system transformation?
Managing Practices What other management practices can be identified across
dimensions of customer experience? How do practices
amongst each other differ? What nexus of practices can be
identified? What underlying mechanisms can be identified?
How do these mechanisms impact customer experience?
What typologies of customer experience management can
be identified in accordance with customer experience’s
multidimensionality? How do managerial practices relate to
service recovery practices? How can managerial practices
expand the body of service recovery literature?
Pathways What pathways can be identified to understand measure,
design and manage customer experience over time? How do
pathways relate to scenarios in customer experience
management? How can organizations orchestrate the
customer experience along these pathways?
Organizational What organization capabilities are necessary for managing
capabilities customer experience effectively? What (service)
transformation is necessary for organizations to manage
customer experience effectively? How should service
proposition, service innovation and service strategies be
adapted for customer experience? How can organizations, in
a systemic way, align their service operations with the
facilitation of customer experience?
Service culture What service culture should be in place to effectively
facilitate customer experience? What elements foster and
restrain successful ‘customer-centric’ service cultures? How
can service cultures be transformed for the well-being of
Table 4. customers and the enhancement of their experience?
5.3 Research limitations Visualizing
Although this study sparks the potential for setting a future research agenda, we also identify and managing
three main limitations. First, while the autohermeneutic phenomenological approach possesses
great potential to uncover in-depth insights into customer experience, we acknowledge several
customer
inherent challenges. For example, the approach cannot be outlined in a strict stepwise process; experience
therefore, it requires the researcher’s skills (Sahhar, 2022; Gorichanaz, 2017; Dibley et al., 2020).
Similarly, autohermeneutic phenomenological approaches may be accused of being subjective.
The challenge for managers willing to use GraphEx is to translate their experience and 111
interventions based on their own business context and understanding of customer experience.
Second, while this study offers conceptual clarity on the multidimensionality of the customer
experience and solidifies managerial footholds for managing it, it lacks evidence-based research
that can further refine and formalize the dimensions and managerial practices. A similar
argument is that managers work iteratively through interventions, thereby making the
GraphEx model sensitive to managerial practices in its own business context. Finally, we argue
that this study omits the inclusion of multiple service settings, which are especially relevant in
today’s increasingly digitalized landscapes (Silva et al., 2021).

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About the authors

Yasin Sahhar is Assistant Professor with the Entrepreneurship and Technology Management research
group at the University of Twente, The Netherlands. His research interest lies in customer experience,
value creation/destruction, customer journeys. His research is characterized by its close link to practice
and its explorative and theory-building nature in which he deploys interpretive/phenomenological
lenses. Dr Sahhar is an award-winning scholar and disseminates his research through leading
conferences and journals, such as, Journal of Service Theory and Practice and European Journal of
Marketing. Yasin Sahhar is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: [email protected]
Raymond Loohuis is senior lecturer in business service innovation and service strategies at the
Entrepreneurship and Technology Management research group at the University of Twente, The
Netherlands. Furthermore, he is appointed as senior fellow learning and teaching with a focus on
educational innovation and challenge-based learning. His research focuses on customer service
experience, business development and service strategies. Dr Loohuis published in, for example, Journal
of Supply Chain Management and Journal of Service Theory and Practice.
J€org Henseler is a professor and holds the Chair of Product–Market Relations at the Department of
Design, Production and Management at the University of Twente, The Netherlands. He is also a visiting
professor at Nova Information Management School, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal. His
research bridges behavioral and design science and focuses on the management of products, services
and brands. Web of Science/Clarivate has repeatedly distinguished him as a highly cited researcher.

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