Managing the online customer experience and subsequent consumer responses across the customer journey: A review and future research agenda

• Published in: Electronic commerce research and applications 2023-03, Vol.58, p.101242, Article 101242
• Main Authors: Koronaki, Eirini, Vlachvei, Aspasia, Panopoulos, Anastasios
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Consumer response; Customer journey; Literature review; Online customer experience; TCCM; Website
• ISSN: 1567-4223; 1873-7846
• DOI: 10.1016/j.elerap.2023.101242

•This paper synthesizes the literature regarding website elements, online customer experiences and subsequent consumer responses.•The studies are classified into the customer journey stages and linked to cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses.•Our literature review underlines the crucial role of websites in customer experience management.•Managerial implications focus on online customer experiences design across the customer journey through website elements. The rise of the “post-pandemic new digital consumer” who cherishes personalization, demands trust and expects immersive online experiences has led brands to reexamine their online presence. Brand-driven, experiential and consistent online customer experiences are critical in this context, and it is a brand’s website that operates as a hub for its online presence. Understanding how websites can offer online customer experiences that will lead to the desired consumer responses is fundamental. Even though significant research exists regarding online customer experiences on websites, it is highly fragmented across the business and IT literature. Most studies either separately examine the stages of the customer journey or simultaneously examine more than one stages. There have been no attempts to critically review and synthesize the existing body of knowledge regarding how online customer experiences are constructed on websites and their subsequent consumer responses in each separate stage of the customer journey. The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap by synthesizing existing knowledge through a systematic literature review method and providing an overall direction for managing such online customer experiences. The findings indicate under-explored areas and serve as a resource for future studies and practice.