# Introduction anaging customer experience has become one of the critical factors that influence companies' success. Companies that wish to become successful and keep surviving within the competitive environment need to adopt new ways of thinking. However, it should be noted that the most successful companies are the ones who give much attention to their customers when planning their activity and provide them with an excellent value. In addition, raising customer satisfaction levels has become one of the main objectives of any company that provide its customers with services or products. Every country is highly concerned with improving its economy to become stronger. In the same time, it is also known that banks and companies play an essential significant role in any country's economy. However, in order for those companies and banks to survive in the contemporary business environment that is highly competitive, they need to give much attention to customer experience and relationship managements. That is because such managements shall participate in satisfying customers which shall lead to having more loyal customers. During the recent decades, customer experience management has attracted the attention of the companies providing their customers with financial services. This is because customers nowadays are only concerned with dealing with the companies that provide them with excellent experiences (Shaw &Ivens, 2005). # II. # Statement of the Problem Due to the significance of customers experience management and its impacts upon companies' success One of the modern marketing trends includes focusing on managing customer relationships and experiences and providing them with excellent memorable experiences. That is done to encourage customers to keep buying the concerned products or services and turn them into loyal customers. That is also done to gain more profits. In order to achieve such goals, companies need to provide customers with products or services of excellent value and high quality. All of that can be done through having a high quality of customer experience management (CEM) processes. Thus, such management is considered highly significant in the world of business and companies' managers and employees should be aware about the significance of such management. Thus, the current study aimed to shed a light on marketing managers' degree of awareness about the significance of such management. and profits, the current study shall investigate the significance of this management from marketing managers' point of view in the Jordanian banking, insurance and financial services sectors. # III. # The Study's Hypotheses The hypotheses of the current study include the following: 1) Marketing managers are highly aware about the significance of customer experience management (CEM) in the Jordanian banking, insurance and financial services sectors. 2) There are statistically significant differences -at the significance level of 0.05 -between marketing managers' degrees of awareness about the significance of customer experience management (CEM) in the Jordanian banking, insurance and financial services sectors which can be attributed to the type of sector. IV. # The Study's Questions The current study shall provide answers for the following questions: 1) Are marketing managers highly aware about the importance of customer experience management (CEM) in the Jordanian banking, insurance and financial services sectors? 2) Are there any statistically significant differences -at the significance level of 0.05 -between marketing managers' degrees of awareness about the significance of customer experience management (CEM) in the Jordanian banking, insurance and financial services sectors which can be attributed to the type of sector ? V. # Review of Literature During the 1980s, the concept of customer experience was proposed. It was also used by Holbrook and Hirschman (1982) who propose a new experiential approach regarding consumers' behavior. This concept has been attracting much attention by researchers and writers since the late 1990s. For instance, such attention can be seen through the book that was written by Pine and Gilmore (1999) that is titled Experience Economy and the book that was written by Schmitt (1999) that it titled Experiential Marketing: How to Get Customers to Sense, Feel, Think, Act, Relate to Your Company and Brands. Due the amount of attention given to this concept, several studies were conducted to provide several definitions for the concept "customer experience". For instance, Gentile et al. (2007) defines customer experience through saying "The customer experience originates from a set of interactions between a customer and a product, a company, or part of its organization, which provoke a reaction. This is strictly personal and implies the customer's involvement at different levels (rational, emotional, sensorial, physical, and spiritual)" Furthermore, Meyer and Schwager (2007) define customer experience as being customers' internal subjective responses when having direct or indirect contact with company. Verhoef et al. (2009) have also provided a definition for such concept through saying it is customer's response that has cognitive, affective, emotional, social and physical aspects and it is holistic in its nature. As for Schmitt (1999), he believes that experiences involve sensing, feelings, thinking, acting and relating them. As for involving senses, the latter believes that such experiences possess aesthetics and sensory qualities. Such experiences are related to customers' feelings because they are connected with their moods and emotions. They also involve thinking, because customers assess their experiences through thinking about the value provided by the concerned product or service. As for acting, experiences refer to behavioral aspects and actions. As for relating, experiences refer to social aspects. According to the definitions provided by Verhoef et al. (2009) and Schmitt (1999), customer experience includes three aspects; sensory, emotional, and social. The sensory aspect refers to the perceptions that the customer possess about the value and aesthetic characteristics of the concerned products or service. As for the emotional aspect, customer experience involves his moods and emotional that are felt during and after buying the product. Customer experience also includes a social aspect because it involves customer's relationships with others and society. Furthermore, many studies showed that consumers usually shop to provide themselves with pleasure which shall provide them with positive feelings. Furthermore, Hedonic-oriented goals refers to the pursuit of fun and enjoyment rather than the ability of the product to fulfill customer's needs. As for the utilitarianoriented goals, they are described as being the ability of the product to fulfill the coroner's needs through the outcomes obtained through the product (Babin et al., 1994). Gentile et al. (2007) described that the concept "customer experience" as being a mental journey because it involves the customer's memory because when the customer uses the product or receives the service that shall provide either with special memorable memories or a lesson to keep in his mind. In other words, customer's experiences might be favorable or unfavorable. They also described such experience as having several aspects; cognitive, emotional and behavioral. It should be noted that customer experience is highly related to the quality of the provided service or product. Such quality may be measured through # Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XVII Issue I Version I Year ( ) comparing customers' expectation before using the product with their perceptions after using it. Thus, measuring quality highly depends upon identifying customers' perceptions about the received service or product Many of the studies that were conducted about customer experience have shed a light upon the cognitive aspect of such experiences. Such aspect is highly concerned with the customers' perceptions about the product or the service. Other studies focused on the emotional aspect of such experience. For instance, Holbrook (2006) believes that this emotional aspect include emotions and feelings that are generated when customers interact with the company's employees. Walter et al. ( 2010) define customer experience as being the customer's direct and indirect interaction with the company, its representatives, services, products, or other customers. The latter idea is emphasized by Biedenbach and Marell (2010) who believe that customer experience is customer's assessment for the value of the service / product and the way he / she interacts with the company or its representatives. In order for companies to differentiate their products from others, they have been exerting many efforts to improve the quality of the customers' experiences to create memorable special memories. Such efforts are exerted to raise the number of their loyal customers and turn them into advocates. Such developments have also included developing the matters related to instruments and methods used for measuring the quality of the company's service, product or customers experience In other words, companies must measure the quality of their customer experience in order to improve themselves and increase their profits. However, the quality of the experience must be measured through adopting certain scientific criteria. Such criteria have been provided by many theorists and researchers to help companies in obtaining accurate results in order to satisfy customers. According the modern marketing approaches, companies must provide customers with major attention as being their priority when making plans for their operations and implementing them. That is because customers are the ones who provide companies with their profits. In addition, companies should also exert efforts to improve the quality of their products / or services. They should also set effective marketing strategies to attract customers. The significance of adopting a customer-focused approach rises when implementing business operations and planning for them. For instance, Blumenthal (2008) believes that if the company provides its customers with services of excellent quality, then that shall participate in differentiating its services from others. It shall also help it in creating a competitive advantage. Schmitt (2003) believes that the customer focus approach is significant factor for differentiating the company and its services from other. He also believes that adopting this approach shall help any company in achieving much success and gaining many profits. Despite the significance of customer experience and its major impact upon companies' success, many companies are still unable to provide customers with experiences of excellent quality. According to Schmitt (2003), many companies are still treating customers as people who do not matter much to them and do not take them into consideration when setting their business plans or implementing them. However, the customer is the one who raise the company's value. For instance, his experience with the company's service or product shall differentiate it from others because customers' perceptions and assessments are targeted when producing the product or delivering the service. Marketing researchers have been highly concerned with the matters related to customer experience followed by the matters related to quality. However, both subjects are highly connected to each other. For instance, having an excellent quality shall provide customers with memorable experiences. Researchers have been highly concerned with defining customer experience and improving its quality level. Furthermore, such experiences have been attracting the attention of researcher more than quality. Researchers believe that customer experience is generated through a process in which the customers interact with the company. They also believe that such experiences have functional and emotional aspects. Customer experience is one of the things that help companies to create a competitive advantage (Johnston and Kong 2011; Pine and Gilmore 1998). Gilmore (1998, 1999) believe that experience is one of the most important things in the field of marketing and it is able to differentiate the company and its companies from others. Furthermore, Ostrom (2010) believes that companies need to understand that each customer thinks in different way and they provide him / her with an excellent value in order to create a completive advantage. Lanning (1998) believes that providing customers with an excellent value shall participate in providing them with a memorable experience. According to Haeckel et al. (2003), due to the significance of customer experience and its management, many companies have been focusing on making good comprehensive plans for providing customers with an excellent value to have memorable experiences. In addition, Kim et al. (2008) believe that it is important for companies to create memorable experiences and provide them with greater value. In order for companies to achieve a competitive advantage, they must focus on creating a memorable customer experience and innovations instead of focusing on traditional aspects that are not up to date, such as: price. Sirapracha and Tocquer (2012) believe that in order for companies to differentiate their brands and services from others, they should create special memorable experiences that shall turn customers into loyal ones. The concept "customer experience" has been gaining much attention by researchers and businessmen. For instance, a shift has occurred in the world business from having a service-based economy to an experience -based economy (Kim et al. 2008;Verhoef et al. 2009; Pine and Gilmore 1999).Customer experience management (CEM) is a group of processes implemented by the company to track, control and organize every interaction that occurs between its customers and employees throughout the purchasing lifecycle (i.e. before, during and after purchasing the product or receive the service). Such processes aim at improving such interactions to increase the number of the loyal customers. In other words, customer experience management consist is an approach adopted for improving customer experience. Customer experience management is significant because it shall achieve a competitive advantage in various sectors, such as the service, hotels, hospitality, and public transportation sectors (Clatworthy, 2012 ).Such management is considered a business strategy adopted in many business organizations. Such strategy usually aims at helping the organizations in capturing, assessing, analyzing, and understanding the customer experience, when he /she interacts with them or with their product or services. Enforcing such management shall enable the firms to attract customers, and turn them into loyal ones or even advocates. Such management also aims at providing customers with and excellent value and have the customers satisfied about their interaction with the company. Such management also seeks at creating the best customer. Through adopting this strategy, a service company can gain many benefits, such as like: constantly positive customer experiences, achieving differentiation, increasing sales, customer retention and referrals. Despite the fact that such management has many benefits, implementing it is not an easy thing. In fact, many companies fail to implement it in an efficient manner. Thus, companies' manager should be aware that to implement such effective management, they must adopt the following tools: 1. See through the customer's eyes. 2. Listen to the customer. # Empower all employees. Customer experience management has become a crucial element for achieving and maintaining customer satisfaction and loyalty. Companies need to find ways to ensure that the customer is satisfied about the product or the service he has received. Reichheld (2006) believes that extraordinary customer experience creates a five (5 %) increase in customer's feelings of loyalty. Kakabadse et al. (2006) claim that a 1% increase in customer care programs has the potential to increase customer loyalty and sales by 10%. In contrast Luo (2007) found a harmful and robust impact of high current consumer negative voice on firms' future idiosyncratic stock returns from longitudinal real-world data from the airline industry. Furthermore, more than 85% of senior business managers surveyed believe that customer experience management will be the next battleground for sustainable competitive advantage (Shaw & Ivens, 2005). Rowland et al. ( 2016) believe that organizations must change the criteria they have been adopting for measuring quality which are not considered up to date any more. They believe that taking that into consideration shall be reflected positively upon the degree of customers' satisfaction. That shall also increase the number of loyal customers. Thus, Rowland et al. ( 2016) believe that if companies adopt a modern flexible model to apply such management that shall lead to achieving an efficient customer's experience management which shall lead to increasing the number of loyal customers. Johye & Soobin (2016) have proposed several recommendations regarding the subjects that should be tackled in future researcher. Such topics include: exceptional customer experience, transformational customer experience, reliable customer experience, co-co-creation process that create the experience. # VI. # Methods and Procedures a) Methodology The current study adopted the descriptive and analytical approaches. The current study is considered quantitative. For instance, the researcher designed a questionnaire and distributed the forms to collect the required data from the respondents. # b) Population and Sampling The population of the study consisted of all the marketing managers working in the Jordanian banking, insurance, and financial services sectors. As for the sample, it was chosen randomly and consisted of 48 marketing managers chosen from the study's population. shows the demographic characteristics of the respondents. It can be noticed that 75% of the respondents were males, whereas the rest are females. As for the educational level, most of the respondents held higher degrees (41.7 %). As for the respondents' age, 50% of them were between (30-40) years. In addition, 31.3 % of the respondents had 10 -15 years of experience. In addition, 68.8% of the respondents were working in companies that apply CEM. # c) Data Collection Methods The researcher of the current study used the following types of resources: 1) Primary data resources: These resources include the questionnaire that was designed by the researcher to collect the required data. 2) Secondary data resources: They refer to the reviewed empirical and theoretical studies. # d) Statistical Analysis The data obtained through the questionnaire forms were processed statistically. Means and standard deviations were calculated for each statement. In addition, the researchers also conducted Cronbach Alpha test to identify reliability. They also tested the hypotheses and calculated the mea of each statement. # e) Reliability Test Cronbach Alpha test was conducted to identify the extent of the instrument's reliability. The value is 0.881 which means that the study's instrument and its results are highly reliable because it far exceeds the accepted value which is 0.60 according to (Sekaran, 2003). # f) Validity The instrument was viewed by a panel of experts in the field of marketing in order to make sure that it shall measure what it's meant to measure. In the light of their comments, the researchers made some modifications upon the instrument. # VII. # Results # Q18 The company is highly concerned with developing and applying its customer experience management system in order to raise the value provided for customers through its services. # 3.94 .727 # Q19 The company aims to apply a unique customer experience management system to differentiate itself from all its other competitors in the market. 4.06 .783 Q20 The company is highly concerned with measuring the degree of their customers satisfaction. 4.42 .895 Q21 The company is highly concerned with keeping their customers trust in it. 4.52 .799 The overall mean 3.895 .51671 Based on the above table, it can be noticed that there respondents believed that customer experience management is highly significant. One sample t-test was conducted to test above hypothesis. It was found that the calculated value of (t) is significant at the significance level of (0.05). That means that respondents are aware of the significance of customer experience management (CEM) in the Jordanian banking, insurance and financial services sectors. # Testing hypothesis (2) H.2) There are statistically significant differences -at significance level of 0.05 -the between marketing managers' degrees of awareness about the significance of customer experience management (CEM) in the Jordanian banking, insurance and financial services sectors which can be attributed to the type of sector. One way ANOVA was conducted to test above hypothesis. It was found that calculated value of (F) is significant at the significance level of (0.05). That mean that there are statistically significant differences -at significance level of 0.05-between marketing managers' degrees of awareness about the significance of customer experience management (CEM) in the Jordanian banking, insurance and financial services sectors which can be attributed to the type of sector. Such differences are for the favor of the marketing managers who work at the Jordanian banking. In addition, Scheffe test was conducted to identify such differences. # Normality test (K-S) test was conducted to test the normality of the data. It was found that Kolmogorov-Smirnov Z value is not significant at the significance level of (0.05). That means that means the concerned data are normally distributed. # VIII. # Conclusion a) The current study concluded: 1) The current study concluded that marketing managers are highly aware about the significance of customer experience management (CEM) in the Jordanian banking, insurance and financial services sectors. That is consistent with the results of Reichheld (2006) and Kakabads et al (2006). That shows that marketing manager in the aforementioned sectors are highly concerned with applying such management in their companies. 2) It was also concluded that there are statistically significant differences -at significance level of 0.05between marketing managers' degrees of awareness about the significance of customer experience management (CEM) in the Jordanian banking, insurance and financial services sectors which can be attributed to the type of sector Such differences are for the favor of the marketing managers who work at the Jordanian banking sector. This result shows that the Jordanian banking sector has exerted much efforts to improve such management and create memorable experience. IX. # Recommendations a) The researcher of the current study has recommended the following: 1) The same problem of the current study should be investigated in other Jordanian sectors. 2) Training courses should be held for employees about the methods should be adopted to improve the way they interact with customers. 3) Marketing manager in all companies should attend training courses and workshops about the significance of customer experience management and method of improving it. 4) Customer experience management should be assessed periodically in all types of companies to identify its weaknesses to improve them. 5) Companies should investigate their customers' perceptions for their experiences during their purchasing journey (before, during and after purchasing). That is done to identify the company's weaknesses and improve them. (SectorNumber of populationNumber of the distributed questionnaire formsNumber of collected questionnaire formsBanks151313Insurance231912Financial services363023Total746248Table (2): Respondents' Demographic characteristicsCategoryFrequency%GenderMale3675.0Female1225.0Total48100.0EducationHigh school48.3Diploma510.4Bachelor1939.6High studies2041.7Total48100.0Experience<51327.15-10714.610-151531.3>151327.1Total48100.0Age<301327.130-402450.041-501122.9Total48100.0Do you have CEM system in your CompanyYes3368.8No1531.3Total48100.0Table(2) (No.ParagraphMean Std. DeviationQ1Employees are trained in the marketing department about the ethics they should have when viewing the data saved in the company' database.4.04.743Q2 The latest techno technologies are provided to collect data from customers and analyze them to serve customers better.3.961.184YearQ3 Q4 Employees make use of the internet to develop the company's marketing database. Work teams are formed from various departments and they work in an efficient manner to make use of the data provided by the company's database.3.42 4.31.895 .80328 Volume XVII Issue I Version I ( )Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 Q9Employees make use of the data provided by the company's data based for activating the roles performed by direct marketing. The company save the data related to their customer's preferences regarding its products. The company is highly concerned with having complete detailed profile about each customer. The technologies used in the company's data based are adjusted to be consistent with the marketing proposed objectives. The company makes use of the latest technological developments to make wise decisions.3.79 4.46 3.98 3.53 3.92.874 1.148 1.062 .905 1.048Global Journal of Management and Business ResearchQ10 The company depends on the customer experience management system when making strategic decisions. Q11 The customer experience management system helps the companies in reaching a wise decision through analyzing the feedback of each potential decision. Q12 Marketing managers are provided with information about the company's customers through periodical reports. Q13 The customers experience management system helps the company in reaching the perfect solution for the concerned problem. Q14 The company exert many efforts to develop its database that is linked with the company's customer experience management system. Q15 The company's competitive strategy is set on the basis of its customer experience management system. Q16 The company's customer experience management system is considered one of the main factors that enables the company to create a competitive advantage.3.44 3.75 3.73 4.11 3.56 3.85 3.131.287 .887 1.180 .729 1.009 .899 1.214Adopting a customer experience management system within the company has becomeQ17a matter that concerns the company's managers and employees. It has also become3.90.751part of it mission. (One-Sample StatisticsNMeanStd. Deviation Std. Error MeanH483.8950.51671.07458One-Sample TestTest Value =95% Confidence Interval of theTDfSig. (2-tailed) Mean DifferenceDifferenceLowerUpperH12.00047.000.89500.74501.0450 (Post Hoc TestsHomogeneous SubsetsANOVASum of SquaresdfMean SquareFSig.Between Groups2.57421.2875.807.006Within Groups9.97445.222Total12.54847Post Hoc TestsMultiple Comparisons(I) Sector (J) SectorMean Difference (I-J)Std. ErrorSig.95% Confidence Interval Lower Bound Upper BoundBanksInsurance.58849 *.18847.012.11141.0656Services.09677.16336.840-.3168.5103InsuranceBanks-.58849 *.18847.012-1.0656-.1114Services-.49172 *.16765.020-.9161-.0673ServicesBanks-.09677.16336.840-.5103.3168Insurance.49172 *.16765.020.0673.9161*. The mean difference is significant at the 0.05 level. © 2017 Global Journals Inc. (US) 1 ( ) 2017 © 2017 Global Journals Inc. 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