International Journal of Market Research Vol. 53 Issue 6 771 © 2011 The Market Research Society DOI: 10.2501/IJMR-53-6-771-792 Customer experience Are we measuring the right things? Stan Maklan Cranfield School of Management Philipp “Phil” Klaus ESCEM School of Business and Management Marketing theory and practice evolved dramatically through a series of transformations from products to services and, recently, customer experiences. Each stage has its own perspective on marketing’s purpose, the nature of customer value, and measurements that calibrate performance and guide managerial decisions. The latter is of particular interest to market researchers. Measurement (research) typically lags behind changes in marketing theory due to institutional factors and the time it takes for new practices to diffuse. The authors posit that firms still measure customer experience against criteria more suited to evaluating product and service marketing. Research practice seems rooted in 1990s notions of service quality, itself an outgrowth of total quality management (TQM) originating in manufacturing during the 1980s. The authors argue that market researchers will serve their organisations and customers better if they take an active role in updating the customer experience measurement commensurate with advances in the conceptualisation of that which firms offer customers. A rapid evolution from product to service to experience Marketing practice and research have undergone a series of large-scale transformations over the past 25 years, shifting focus from (1) creating fast- moving consumer product brands to (2) building customer relationships through service marketing, and now to (3) creating compelling customer experiences. The authors propose that marketing research has not kept up with these changes (Gordon 2006), generating a mismatch between what marketers are now trying to achieve and what market research measures. The first marketing ‘paradigm shift’ – the change from product brand to service-based relationship marketing – was acknowledged in the Received (in revised form): 16 May 2011