Abstract

Business-to-business (B2B) suppliers need to develop specific capabilities to successfully manage digitalized touchpoints in B2B customer journeys. As digitalization leads to shifts in touchpoints, new demands arise regarding a supplier’s ability to manage these touchpoints. Developing capabilities for managing digitalized touchpoints is becoming a key aspect for suppliers in designing and managing attractive B2B customer journeys. Although extant research has highlighted the importance of managing touchpoints in the form of capabilities, this area has received surprisingly little research attention. Similarly, the B2B context in customer journeys remains under-researched. The present study investigates supplier capabilities for the management of digitalized touchpoints in B2B customer journeys. Through an exploratory in-depth case study, this research identifies seven key supplier capabilities for the management of digitalized touchpoints in B2B customer journeys: preparing customer resources, integrating customer resources, enabling collective actions, supporting customer actions, balancing activation levels, hybridizing environments, and merging digital environments. These capabilities are structured around a theoretically derived conceptualization of touchpoints as consisting of resources, actions, and environments. From a capability perspective, this study also demonstrates the key role of touchpoint control, as well as approaching touchpoints as sequences to ensure consistency across, and seamlessness between transitions of, touchpoints.

Introduction

The concept of customer journeys is increasingly recognized as a central element in marketing ( Homburg & Tischer, 2023 ; Steward, Narus, Roehm, & Ritz, 2019 ; Witell et al., 2020 ). A key building block in a customer journey is the notion of touchpoints, considered here as the interactions, or engagements, between a supplier and a customer ( Homburg, Jozić, & Kuehnl, 2017 ; Lemon & Verhoef, 2016 ). Because touchpoints are pivotal for, and embedded in, customer journeys, it becomes important for a supplier to be able to manage these ( Durmusoglu, McNally, & Chen, 2022 ; Hodgkinson, Jackson, & West, 2021 ). Poorly managed touchpoints can, for example, lead to excessive resource usage as well as bad customer experiences. A supplier’s ability to manage touchpoints becomes especially challenging in business-to-business (B2B) contexts, where customer journeys are characterized by greater complexity, a broader array of stakeholders and touchpoints, as well as longer engagement timelines ( Meyer & Schwager, 2007 ; Witell et al., 2020 ; Zolkiewski et al., 2017 ). These characteristics put added demands on the management of touchpoints but also highlight the need for further insights into B2B customer journeys ( Purmonen, Jaakkola, & Terho, 2023 ; Rusthollkarhu, Toukola, Aarikka-Stenroos, & Mahlamäki, 2022 ).

While existing research underscores the significance of touchpoints within the customer journey, and the competitive edge that can be gained through their effective management in the form of capabilities (e.g., Aichner & Gruber, 2017 ; Dhebar, 2013 ; Gao, Fan, Li, & Wang, 2021 ; Homburg et al., 2017 ), there is a notable lack of studies delving into the specific supplier-oriented capabilities necessary for managing these touchpoints ( Homburg & Tischer, 2023 ; Lemon & Verhoef, 2016 ; Maechler, Sahni, & van Oostrum, 2016 ). This is especially so in the face of advancing digitalization. Digitalization, describing the process by which digital technologies are influencing business processes (see, e.g., Li, Kannan, Viswanathan, & Pani, 2016 ), not only introduces new opportunities but also compounds the complexity of managing touchpoints ( Marino & Lo Presti, 2018 ; McColl-Kennedy et al., 2015 ). For example, both the diversity and number of touchpoints in a customer journey typically tend to increase as firms introduce digital technologies ( De Keyser, Verleye, Lemon, Keiningham, & Klaus, 2020 ; Larivière et al., 2017 ). This leads to an additional emphasis on understanding suppliers’ touchpoint management capabilities related to a new digital reality ( Ritter & Pedersen, 2020 ; Volberda, Khanagha, Baden-Fuller, Mihalache, & Birkinshaw, 2021 ).

Implications and future research

This study provides insights into the management of digitalized touchpoints in B2B customer journeys by operationalizing it as a set of capabilities. We add to existing literature by taking a supplier perspective on touchpoints, identifying seven capabilities to manage digitalized resources, actions, and environments, which together frame the management of digitalized touchpoints. We also provide guidance as to future research in the field of B2B customer journeys as well as for B2B managers in strategizing for customer journeys.