Customer Experience Journey in Social Networks – Analysis of Cohorts’ Behavior

Abstract

Social Networks (SN) role in the present time is changing the way information is shared among customers. In tourism, such behavior is recurrent and its impact on customers’ perceptions, expectations and preferences is understudy. In addition, SN are updated constantly by their users regarding their surroundings, events, and provide a way to be in contact with friends, relatives or service providers. During these contacts customers’ experiences during their journey are shared on SN and dynamic interactions and dialogs occur. As a result, tourism organizations adopted similar behaviors, turning SN in an important vehicle to interact with customers while promoting and communicating their products and services. However, from the customers’ perspective, not all behaviors are same, an example can be found among cohorts’ behavior, which varies regarding the information they search, share, and value. Thus, the present study intends to identify cohorts’ SN behavior and its characteristics, in order to contribute to the definition of strategies for tourism companies. The methodology employed a quantitative approach. The data was collected using a convenience sample of 1317 customers using SN when searching for information about tourism products and services. Descriptive statistics and correlation analysis were made to identify behaviors and the most relevant characteristics during SN usage. Findings revealed centennials to attach greater importance to the information shared about events in social networks, but on the other hand, it was also found that little importance is given to the dissemination of information about transports.