Recommendations Development of Customer Experience Optimization through Social Media Tools: the Case of Sberbank's Project for Youth

Nowadays studies of consumer experience and its optimization possibilities are more relevant than ever: modern generations Y and Z are characterized by high degree of digitalization and pursuit of innovations, which greatly affects their expectations from the total consumer experience. Social networks are one of the most accessible, convenient, and innovative digital marketing channels for a business. Moreover, this tool is one of the most effective in communication with young people. However, in academic literature there are no studies illustrating the possibility of optimizing consumer experience via social networks at each stage of the consumer path within a single project. In this paper, we conducted an empirical study to develop recommendations for optimizing consumer experience through social networks for Sberbank’s youth project. As a result of desk research, expert interviews, interviews with consumers and an online survey, we complied a generalized consumer portrait and a consumer journey map (CJM), visualizing the process of building aggregated consumer experience. Currently, the first product for youth in Sberbank is a youth debit card, on the example of which CJM was prepared. The key feature of the customer journey is the merge of first and second stages (pre-purchase and purchase), and the key problem of the customer journey that negatively affects the consumer experience is dissatisfaction with the basic complementary service - the bonus system SPASIBO. Taking into account the peculiarities of Sberbank, on the basis of academic literature and practical cases, recommendations for optimizing the customer experience through social networks were formed. The recommendations were visualized via the Customer Journey Proposition map, which represents all the proposed optimizations as the customer journey “to be”.