Small Details that Make Big Differences: a radical approach to consumption experience as a firm’s differentiating strategy

This is a working paper by Ruth Bolton, Anders Gustafsson, Janet McColl-Kennedy, Nancy Sirianni, David Tse. This paper argues that service organisations have focused too much on their core service performance and too little on designing the customer journey that enhances the entire customer experience. We argue that when performance levels become too similar in an industry, then the only competitive weapon is price and that in order to break this deadlock, firms should focus on the small details that make big differences to customers.