Key Points

• Knowing your customers—who they are, where they live, what interests them—provides an important context for understanding the drivers of their experience and behavior.

• Thought about the linkages between employees and customers has evolved substantially in recent years. There has been a movement from relatively simple and not very well supported notions that positive employee attitudes make for high-spending customers to more refined ideas about the importance of the system of human capital practices that drive both employee and customer outcomes.

• Customers’ experience is an important stepping-stone on the path to understanding their behavior. Organizations can influence but not fully control that experience through implied brand promises and through their human capital management practices.