Journal of Electronic Commerce in Organizations, 6(2), 1-10, April-June 2008 1 Copyright © 2008, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. absTRaCT The service encounter occurs whenever a customer interacts with a company personally or through tech- nology through, for example, the Internet, e-mail, or telephone. Nowadays, customers frequently initiate the encounter as, for example, inquiries, information searches, and complaints are conveniently performed online. This article explores the role of digital service encounters on customer perceptions of companies. Digital service encounters in this article denote remote customer-company interactions via the Internet or e-mail. The focus is on active customers initiating interactions and on customer perceptions of company responses to these interactions. A conceptual framework that captures customer perceived service encounter value on two dimensions (responsiveness and personalization) is proposed. An empirical study exploring the value of company responses to digital contacts indicated that many contacts are responded to promptly and satisfyingly. However, there are also signiicant differences in the value of the service encounter. Some service encounters are perceived as unpersonalized, and some are even left without response. Keywords: customer interface; customer perceptions; customer relationship management; customer service; digital channels; remote interactions; service encounter The Role of Digital service encounters on Customers’ Perceptions of Companies Kristina Heinonen, Hanken Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration, Finland inTRoDUCTion The service encounter or the “moments of truth” (Normann, 1991) occurs every time a customer interacts with a company. Customers can interact with companies in many ways, personally or through technology. Customer interaction and participation in the delivery of services has increased with the use of self-service technolo- gies, such as online banking, automated iling of legal claims, or self-scanning at retail stores. The service encounter represents a building block from which the customers form their perceptions of the product or service and the company as a whole. There are different types of service en- counters, and traditionally the service encounter denoted the personal interaction between the service employee and the customer. In the personal service encounter, the service delivery process was highly controllable by the service employee. Nowadays, when customers contact the company through different technology IGI PUBLISHING This paper appears in the publication, Journal of Electronic Commerce in Organizations, Volume 6, Issue 2 edited by Mehdi Khosrow-Pour © 2008, IGI Global 701 E. Chocolate Avenue, Suite 200, Hershey PA 17033-1240, USA Tel: 717/533-8845; Fax 717/533-8661; URL-http://www.igi-global.com ITJ4192