Comparing And Contrasting Customer Experience Concepts Practiced In Toyota Yaris Sedan And Mazda 2 Sedan

Proto-persona diagram (Poor experience component)

Compare and Contrast the emerging concepts and practice that underpin the Customer Experience.

I have purchased a Mazda 2 Sedan recently and my family has purchased recently a Toyota Yaris. Therefore, I have got the experience of service delivered by these two cars.

Toyota Yaris Sedan has 1.3L regular unleaded petrol engine. In Australia, Yaris Sedan costs approximately $16,500 and it has 4-speed automatic transmission systems. Yaris provides mileages of 17.1 km/l and it runs in petrol.On the other hand, Mazda 2 Sedan has the engine capacity of 1,496 cc with 4-cylinder. Mazda 2 Sedan provides the 19.8 km/l mileage and it provides transmission of 6-speed with manual shift. In Australia, I paid approximately $17,690 for Mazda 2 Sedan.

According to me, Toyota Yaris is good with fuel economy and it is easy to park as it can squeeze into cramped parking spots at our garage with ease. Yaris is roomy enough with optional sports-tuned suspension. I find Toyota Yaris is a reliable vehicle as transmission and engine can withstand the test of time. On the contrary, the Mazda 2 Sedan emits less smoke and it has good safety feature also with six airbags, traction control and hill hold control. I find that driving position of the car can be adjusted and the overall performance of the car is good.

I want mainly four major things from a car and the automotive companies need to meet the criteria of the customers. I think the first ‘pain point’ of Mazda 2 Sedan is the security as I face the issue of keeping and feeling safe during the driving. Kerb weight of the car is 1027 kg and Mazda 2 Sedan has a front airbag, belt pretension; however, Mazda 2 lacks the knee airbag for drivers, passengers and rear. I find that Mazda 2 does not have the front airbag for the rear passengers. I found this car smooth while test driving; however, lack of airbags and off-bit steering made me panic while driving.In addition, Mazda 2 does not have the active bonnet and AEB City as additional safety systems.Inside the car, I cannot listen to the honking of other vehicles in case air-conditioner is on.

According to me another ‘pain point' of Mazda 2 Sedan is the wellbeing of the riders and the passengers. The wellbeing of the passengers and riders are related to the comfortable seats, control system, protection of health and sense of relaxation (Fritzsche et al., 2014). I face the car controlling issue in Mazda 2 as the ‘check engine' dashboard warning light remains on sometimes. This light may on for the loose fuel cap, low fuel and ignition coils or spark plugs. While driving Mazda, I face the common control issue of low sense of relaxation in rear seats as the seats are quite higher than the normal.

Two ‘Pain ‘Points and CEM approach

Customer Experience Management (CEM) has one aspect of customer experience as it is the total of all interactions with customers and prospects as they engage an encounter with the company (Lemon & Verhoef, 2016). I feelthe safety of the cars increases the experiences of the customers as better safety differentiates the customer experience. I called several times to the Customer Executives of Mazda; they did not pick up the calls and did not give me a reply to emails. Customer centricity is about creating positive engagement after the sale by understanding the customers and Mazda has been failing to do so. I love long driving during the weekend and I found the car engine is getting warmer after a few hours in Mazda 2.The wellbeing of the customers focus on the customer centricity issue as the customer centricity places want, needs, expectations at the core of the business. Customer centricity helps to create the positive engagement before and after selling of the cars (Homburg, Jozic & Kuehnl, 2017). Business decisions are informed by the data of the customers and not the speculation.

Toyota Yaris has the ‘touch point' by giving extra space for the passenger as Yaris looks after for both rear and front seats of the passengers as well. My family members easily manage them in Toyota Yaris as it provides enough leg space and place for baggage as well. I find out that Toyota Yaris provides decent leg rooms and small transmission tunnel provides space for the three people can sit abreast. Interior and passenger space provides excellent agronomics, SE trim has the sporty accents and it has a quality cabin at the quality price (Toyota.com, 2018). I observe that it does not have any notable interior feature which one is new as it follows the tradition and it makes the car looks traditionalist for my family.

Toyota Yaris provides the advantage of a manual transmission and this one is quicker than the automatic transmission. I think the EPA system of the car provides the one extra mpg on the road. Fuel economy of Yaris is good and it uses the cruise control of many possibilities for many drivers using long trips. As I like long drive and distance travelling, Yaris' 11.1-gallon fuel tank helps me. My family also loves travelling and the Toyota Yaris is the perfect companion for us in a long weekend.

Customer Experience Management (CEM) has the aspect of a customer journey which explains the collective stories of the interaction of the particular target (Peppers & Rogers, 2016). The customer journey is about standing by the customers in needs from encountering the salesperson to subscribing the loyalty programme. Toyota Yaris provides us good customer journey as it gives good mileage to the customers to embody the interaction in the prospect of the customers. Additionally, the customer lifecycle is structured to explain the steps of engaging the customer in making the purchase decision to make them loyal (Zolkiewski et al., 2017). My father called Toyota Customer Care Department and the executives answered all the queries. The customers can be loyal when the customers include awareness, selection, action, consideration and retention.

Mazda 2 comes with the standard kit, includes 16-inch alloy wheels, Bluetooth, USB and CD player. Mazda 2 Sedan has its connect system and it has decent voice recognition. I found that Mazda 2 Sedan gives a negative trait in riding with add-on G-Vectoring control. I face the issue in long driving and I cannot control the car at ease. On the other side, the Toyota Yaris provides the brakes that will not easily fade and it has plenty of leg rooms. My father also found Toyota Yaris does its function well in urban roads and it has speed manual transmission smoothly shifts. I as youngster found that Toyota Yaris is more tuned with a user-friendly interface. Toyota Yaris has easy entrance and it has a good exit. Toyota Yaris is better as it provides extra mileage and a good amount of frontal visibility. As per my opinion, the steering of the car is smooth and it has good precision handling.

Conclusion

It has been observed that a CEM strategy requires process change and it requires many technologies. For me, Toyota Yaris provides a better experience as Toyota maintains the IT, supply chain and marketing technology to become the service provider leader in Australia. Customers' perspective depends on mainly customer centricity, customer lifecycle, customer experience, customer journey and customer journey mapping. The organisation needs to maintain good technology and system so that the business tactics can be maintained in order to meet the demands of the customers.

Reference List

Fritzsche, L., Wegge, J., Schmauder, M., Kliegel, M., & Schmidt, K. H. (2014). Good ergonomics and team diversity reduce absenteeism and errors in car manufacturing. Ergonomics, 57(2), 148-161.

Homburg, C., Jozi?, D. & Kuehnl, C., (2017). Customer experience management: toward implementing an evolving marketing concept. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 45(3), 377-401.

Lemon, K. N., &Verhoef, P. C. (2016). Understanding customer experience throughout the customer journey. Journal of Marketing, 80(6), 69-96.

Mazda.com.au. (2018). Mazda2 | Australia's Best Small Hatchback & Sedan. Retrieved from https://www.mazda.com.au/cars/mazda2/

Peppers, D., & Rogers, M. (2016). Managing customer experience and relationships: A strategic framework. John Wiley & Sons.

Toyota.com. (2018). 2018 Toyota Yaris Subcompact Car | A to B refined from A to Z. Retrieved from https://www.toyota.com/yaris/

Zolkiewski, J., Story, V., Burton, J., Chan, P., Gomes, A., Hunter-Jones, P., .& Robinson, W. (2017). Strategic B2B customer experience management: the importance of outcome-based measures. Journal of Services Marketing, 31(2), 172-184.