Mémoire-projet

Abstract

The focus of this master's thesis is the optimisation of the customer experience as part of a sales strategy requiring the co-creation of value between customers and a complex services company. This research analyses Verisure, the market leader in Europe and Belgium for monitored alarm systems. Although Verisure sells alarm system components, it is primarily a service company. Its customers benefit from a wide range of services, the most important of which is 24/7 remote monitoring with the Verisure alarm centre. Furthermore, Verisure wants to maintain its status as an innovative company, improve its operating costs, especially due to the current inflation, entice customers to use its alarm system and provide the best possible customer experience. The company is therefore proposing a new project which is at the heart of this master thesis, and which involves implementing a new sales strategy for alarm system components. Contrary to Verisure’s usual way of working which installed products by its own expert technicians, the core idea lies now in the fact that it will cater solely the portfolio of existing customers, who will be able to install themselves the components at home. This will also give customers the flexibility to add components to their Verisure alarm system. The theoretical part of the thesis then follows. This part consists of a review of the scientific literature on relating studied topics, such as co-creation of value, DIY, customer experience and journeys, design and complexity of services, the importance of information, education, empowerment, consumer knowledge and quality of service. Recognition of consumer complaint behaviour, the concepts of the blue and the red ocean, and a final review are also included in order to have a clear understanding of safety systems. The methodological part and the research plan are based on a quantitative approach. This descriptive study is carried out in the form of a questionnaire among Verisure customers. Based on hypotheses, the aim is to confirm and to describe how to optimise the customer experience in a product’s sales strategy to be implemented by customers themselves. The main results and key findings of this research concern customer interest in the self-installation service, the barriers and advantages of such a service, the sales channels to favour and the media to choose to improve the customer experience when installing components. The purpose of the discussion is to interpret the implications of the results from the point of view of the mobilised theories and managerial practices at Verisure. In addition to that, limitations and possible extensions of the study are discussed as well. Moreover, seven key recommendations are provided to answer the study’s research question: ‘How can the customer experience be optimised in a sales strategy requiring the co-creation of value between customers and a complex services company?’ Lastly, although this research deals specifically with the case of Verisure, the issue studied is of more general interest and can be transposed to many companies seeking to co-create value with their customers. This study provides a valuable perspective on the marketing aspects of the value co-creation strategy.