Customer Journey: Literature Review and Research Agenda

DOI: https://doi.org/10.62517/jbm.202609411

Author(s)

Ping Liao, Qingxuan Lin, Yiqing Wang*

Affiliation(s)

School of Business, Guangzhou College of Technology and Business, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China *Corresponding author

Abstract

Previous consumer behavior research focuses on single-touchpoint interactions and mechanisms in shaping purchase decisions. However, consumer decision-making is influenced by cumulative effects across multiple touchpoints and multilayered factors rather than isolated encounters, making single-touchpoint studies insufficient for understanding complex decision processes. In the era of transformative marketing, customer journey research that integrates all touchpoints and omnichannel management holds substantial theoretical value and practical relevance. This study systematically reviews the international literature, synthesizes conceptual connotations and core research themes, and proposes an integrative framework encompassing the customer journey, customer experience, and customer well-being. We further outline promising directions for future research to advance theoretical development in this field.

Keywords

Customer Journey; Touchpoint; Omnichannel; Customer Experience.

References

[1]Kumar V. Transformative Marketing: The Next 20 Years[J]. Journal of Marketing, 2018, 82(4): 1‑12. [2]Shostack G L. How to Design a Service[J]. European Journal of Marketing, 1982, 16(1): 49‑63. [3]Carbone L P, Stephan H H. Engineering customer experiences[J]. Marketing Management, 1994, 3(3): 8‑19. [4]Pine B J, Gilmore J H. Welcome to the experience economy[J]. Harvard Business Review, 1998, 76(4): 97‑105. [5]Shaw C, Ivens J. Building great customer experiences[M]. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. [6]Siebert A, Gopaldas A, Lindridge A, et al. Customer experience journeys: loyalty loops versus involvement spirals[J]. Journal of Marketing, 2020, 84(4): 45‑66. [7]Lemon K N, Verhoef P C. Understanding customer experience throughout the customer journey[J]. Journal of Marketing, 2016, 80(6): 69‑96. [8]Stickdorn M, Schneider J. This is Service Design Thinking[M]. Amsterdam: BIS Publishers, 2010. [9]Court D, Elzinga D, Mulder S, et al. Consumer Decision Journey[J]. McKinsey Quarterly, 2009(6): 96107. [10]Nichita M E, Vulpoi M, Toader G. Knowledge management and customer relationship management for accounting services companies[A]//Proceedings of the European Conference on Knowledge Management. MA: Academic Publishing International, 2012. [11]Puccinelli N M, Goodstein R C, Grewal D, et al. Customer experience management in retailing: Understanding the buying process[J]. Journal of Retailing, 2009, 85(1): 15‑30. [12]Vollrath M D, Villegas S G. Avoiding digital marketing analytics myopia: revisiting the customer decision journey as a strategic marketing framework[J]. Journal of Marketing Analytics, 2021: 1‑8. [13]Barwitz N, Maas P. Understanding the omnichannel customer journey: Determinants of interaction choice[J]. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 2018, 43: 116‑133. [14]Lee L, Inman J J, Argo J J, et al. From browsing to buying and beyond: The needs‑adaptive shopper journey model[J]. Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 2018, 3(3): 277‑293. [15]Hamilton R, Ferraro R, Haws K L, et al. Traveling with companions: The social customer journey[J]. Journal of Marketing, 2021, 85(1): 68‑92. [16]Schau H J, Akaka M A. From customer journeys to consumption journeys: a consumer culture approach to investigating value creation in practice‑embedded consumption[J]. Academy of Marketing Science Review, 2021, 11(1): 9‑22. [17]Witell L, Kowalkowski C, Perks H, et al. Characterizing customer experience management in business markets[J]. Journal of Business Research 2020, 116:420‑430. [18]Court D, Elzinga D, Finneman B, et al. The New Battleground for Marketing‑Led Growth[J]. McKinsey Quarterly, 2017(2):1-5. [19]Belch G E, Belch M A. Advertising and promotion: An integrated marketing communications perspective(10th ed.)[M]. New York: McGraw‑Hill Education, 2015. [20]Edelman D C, Singer M. Competing on customer journeys[J]. Harvard Business Review, 2015, 93(11): 88‑100. [21]Solomon M R. Consumer Behavior: buying, having, and being(11th ed.)[M]. Boston: Pearson, 2015. [22]Chernev A. Strategic Marketing Management(8th ed.)[M]. Chicago: Cerebellum Press; 2014. [23]Kotler P, Armstrong G. Principles of Marketing(14th ed.)[M]. Boston: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2012. [24]Richardson A. Using Customer Journey Maps to Improve Customer Experience[J]. Harvard Business Review, 2010‑11‑15. [25]Howard J A, Sheth J N. The Theory of Buyer Behavior[M]. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1969. [26]Tax S S, McCutcheon D, Wilkinson I F. The service delivery network (SDN) a customer‑centric perspective of the customer journey[J]. Journal of Service Research, 2013, 16(4): 454‑470. [27]Herhausen D, Kleinlercher K, Verhoef P C, et al. Loyalty formation for different customer journey segments[J]. Journal of Retailing, 2019, 95(3): 9‑29. [28]Kranzbühler A, Kleijnen M H P, Verlegh P W J. Outsourcing the pain, keeping the pleasure: Effects of outsourced touchpoints in the customer journey[J]. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 2019, 47(2): 308‑327. [29]Bolton N R, Gustafsson A, McColl‑Kennedy J, et al. Small details that make big differences: A radical approach to consumption experience as a firm’s differentiating strategy[J]. Journal of Service Management, 2014, 25(2): 253‑274. [30]Rudkowski J, Heney C, Yu H, et al. Here Today, Gone Tomorrow? Mapping and modeling the pop‑up retail customer journey[J]. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 2020, 54: 101698. [31]Xu L Z, Duan J A, Whinston A. Path to Purchase: A Mutually Exciting Point Process Model for Online Advertising and Conversion[J]. Management Science, 2014, 60(6): 1392‑1412. [32]Li H S, Kannan P K. Attributing conversions in a multichannel online marketing environment: An empirical model and a field experiment[J]. Journal of Marketing Research, 2014, 51(1): 40‑56. [33]Märtin C, Bissinger B C, Asta P. Optimizing the digital customer journey: Improving user experience by exploiting emotions, personas and situations for individualized user interface adaptations[J]. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 2021. [34]Anderl E, Becker I, von Wangenheim F, et al. Mapping the customer journey: Lessons learned from graph-based online attribution modeling[J]. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 2016, 33(3): 457‑474. [35]Rigby D. The Future of Shopping[J]. Harvard Business Review, 2011, 89(12): 65‑76. [36]Hu T, Tracogna A. Multichannel customer journeys and their determinants: Evidence from motor insurance[J]. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 2020, 54: 102022. [37]Li J, Abbasi A, Cheema A, et al. Path to Purpose? How Online Customer Journeys Differ for Hedonic Versus Utilitarian Purchases[J]. Journal of Marketing, 2020, 84(4): 127‑146. [38]Verhoef P C, Neslin S A, Vroomen B. Multichannel customer management: Understanding the research‑shopper phenomenon[J]. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 2007, 24(2): 129‑148. [39]Gensler S, Leeflang P, Skiera B. Impact of online channel use on customer revenues and costs to serve: Considering product portfolios and self‑selection[J]. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 2012, 29(2): 192‑201. [40]Terblanche N S, Kidd M. Exploring an in‑store customer journey for customers shopping for outdoor apparel[J]. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 2021, 63: 102722. [41]Følstad A, Kvale K. Customer journeys: A systematic literature review[J]. Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 2018, 28(2): 196‑227. [42]Kimbell L. Designing for service as one way of designing services[J]. International Journal of Design, 2011, 5(2): 41‑52. [43]Bridge C. Citizen‑centric service in the Australian Department of Human Services: The department’s experience in engaging the community in co‑design of government service delivery and developments in e‑government services[J]. Australian Journal of Public Administration, 2012, 71(2): 167‑177. [44]Trischler J, Zehrer A. Service design: suggesting a qualitative multistep approach for analyzing and examining theme park experiences[J]. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 2012, 18(1): 57‑71. [45]Zomerdijk L G, Voss C A. NSD processes and practices in experiential services[J]. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 2011, 28(1): 63‑80. [46]Steen M, Manschot M, De Koning N. Benefits of co‑design in service design projects[J]. International Journal of Design, 2011, 5(2): 53‑60. [47]Patrício L, Fisk R P, Cunha J F, et al. Multilevel service design: from customer value constellation to service experience blueprinting[J]. Journal of Service Research, 2011, 14(2): 180‑200. [48]Clatworthy S. Service innovation through touch‑points: Development of an innovation toolkit for the first stages of new service development[J]. International Journal of Design, 2011, 5(2): 15‑28. [49]Kankainen A, Vaajakallio K, Kantola V, et al. Storytelling Group‑‑a co‑design method for service design[J]. Behaviour & Information Technology, 2012, 31(3): 221‑230. [50]Miettinen S, Rontti S, Kuure E, et al. Realizing design thinking through a service design process and an innovative prototyping laboratory: Introducing Service Innovation Corner (SINCO)[A]//Proceedings of the Design Research Society. Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University, 2012. [51]Kuehnl C, Jozic D, Homburg C. Effective customer journey design: consumers’ conception, measurement, and consequences[J]. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 2019, 47(3): 551‑568. [52]De Keyser A, Verleye K, Lemon K, et al. Moving the Customer Experience Field Forward: Introducing the touchpoints, context, qualities (TCQ) nomenclature[J]. Journal of Service Research, 2020, 23(4): 433‑455. [53]McColl‑Kennedy J R, Zaki M, Lemon K N, et al. Gaining customer experience insights that matter[J]. Journal of Service Research 2019, 22(1): 8‑26. [54]Mende M, Bolton R N. Why attachment security matters: How customers’ attachment styles influence their relationships with service firms and service employees[J]. Journal of Service Research, 2011, 14(3): 285‑301. [55]Berry L L, Wall E A, Carbone L P. Service clues and customer assessment of the service experience: Lessons from marketing[J]. Academy of Management Perspectives, 2006, 20(2): 43‑57. [56]Klaus P, Maklan S. EXQ: A multiple‑item scale for assessing service experience[J]. Journal of Service Management, 2012, 23(1): 5‑33. [57]Becker L, Jaakkola E, Halinen A. Toward a goal‑oriented view of customer journeys[J]. Journal of Service Management, 2020, 31(4): 767‑790. [58]Grewal R, Sridhar S. Commentary: Toward formalizing social influence structures in business‑to‑business customer journeys[J]. Journal of Marketing, 2021, 85(1): 98‑102. [59]Bradley C, Oliveira L, Birrell S, et al. A new perspective on personas and customer journey maps: Proposing systemic UX[J]. International Journal of Human‑Computer Studies, 2021, 148: 102583. [60]Santana S, Thomas M, Morwitz V G. The Role of Numbers in the Customer Journey[J]. Journal of Retailing, 2020, 96(1): 138‑154. [61]Steinhoff L, Zondag M M. Loyalty programs as travel companions: Complementary service features across customer journey stages[J]. Journal of Business Research, 2021, 129: 70‑82. [62]Hollebeek L D, Clark M K, Andreassen T W, et al. Virtual reality through the customer journey: Framework and propositions[J]. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 2020, 55: 102056. [63]Romano B, Sands S, Pallant J I. Augmented reality and the customer journey: An exploratory study[J]. Australasian Marketing Journal, 2021, 29(4): 354‑363. [64]Nam H, Kannan P K. Digital environment in global markets: Cross‑cultural implications for evolving customer journeys[J]. Journal of International Marketing, 2020, 28(1): 8‑47.