This course is part of the Entrepreneurship & Innovation and Leadership & Management track.
Introduction to Transforming Customer Experiences

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Transforming Customer Experiences

$1,850
Next 4-week session starts July 30th
Gain a systematic approach for delivering standout services and experiences that provide a competitive edge and build customer loyalty.
4
weeks
5-6
hours per week
4
modules
Self-Paced

 This course earns you a Certificate of Completion from HBS Online. What you earn.

Overview
Syllabus
Enrollment
Stories
FAQs

Key Concepts

Design a defined, service-driven value proposition
Understand sustainable pricing, the service-profit chain, and customer journeys
Motivate employees to deliver exceptional, mission-aligned services by leveraging operational transparency
Engage consumers by exploring their varied preferences and enhancing customer compatibility
Balance being proactive and reactive to consumer needs while understanding cost and customer satisfaction implications
Overcome barriers to change and adapt to new technologies, changing service competencies, and shifting customer needs

Who Will Benefit

Elevate your employees and create the conditions for them to thrive and deliver standout service aligned with your mission, vision, and values.
"I found the content of the course to be extremely informative and applicable to the real challenges of being a leader. I loved the frameworks and the case study model of the course, and I thought the course was very manageable on top of a full-time job."
Abby Katz
Senior Marketing Manager at Mavrck
Deliver exceptional service and engage customers in ways that turn them into loyal fans.
"The real-world examples were the best part of the courses. While going through the examples, I thought a lot about how I would have handled it if I were them. That plays a big role in how I do things now."
Riya Dashoriya
Engineering Manager at Quizlet
Master a proven approach for delivering exceptional customer experiences, whether you’re building or advising service companies.
"I'm applying things I learned from the courses every single day."
Fabian Ibekwe
Founder, Angelus Consulting and Research Limited at Angelus Consulting and Research Limited
MSc, Business Administration

What You Earn

Certificate of Completion

Certificate of Completion

Boost your resume with a Certificate of Completion from HBS Online

Earn by: completing this course

Certificate of Specialization

Certificate of Specialization

Prove your mastery of leadership and management or entrepreneurship and innovation

Earn by: completing any three courses within either subject area to earn a Certificate of Specialization

Syllabus

4 Modules, 20-25 Hours
Download full syllabus
5-6
hrs
Module 1

Design

Understand the service-profit chain and the differences between augmentation and curation in service design. Evaluate sustainable pricing strategies and discover how operational transparency builds customer trust.

Highlights

Cost, Market, Value Lens
Adapting to External Changes
Getaway’s First Cabin
ShowHide Details

Concepts

  1. Minimum Viable Products and Small Tests in the Marketplace
  2. Sustainable Pricing
  3. The Cost, Market, and Value Lens
  4. Designing for Service Excellence
  5. Attribute Mapping

Featured Exercises

  • Create an attribute map for your organization
  • Build a journey map for a key customer in your organization
  • Analyze employee journeys to enhance service experiences
5-6
hrs
Module 2

Elevate

Define a performance death spiral, learn how to motivate service excellence by elevating your employees, and navigate between top-down prescriptions and bottom-up solicitations in leadership.

Highlights

The Death Spiral
Building Trust With Employees
The Capability, Motivation, License  Framework
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Concepts

  1. Workforce Adjustments
  2. The Performance Death Spiral
  3. Gaining Employees’ Perspective
  4. Creating Conditions for Employees to Thrive
  5. Instituting Change That Lasts

Featured Exercise

  • Diagnose your organization’s gaps using the capability-motivation-license framework
5-6
hrs
Module 3

Engage

Explore customer variability’s role in influencing satisfaction and loyalty and the importance of enhancing customer compatibility as a way to manage it.

Highlights

Service Customization
The Oberoi Group
Testing and Experimenting
ShowHide Details

Concepts

  1. Service Interaction Exercise
  2. Addressing Customer Compatibility
  3. Aligning with Customer Needs
  4. Experimenting with Transparency
  5. Customizing Service to Meet High Expectations

Featured Exercises

  • Identify the five types of customer variability
  • Reflect on a service interaction where you introduced variability
  • Apply two proactive strategies for enhancing customer compatibility: customer selection and service customization
5-6
hrs
Module 4

Transform

Prepare for the challenges and opportunities of scaling a service business. Distinguish between rules- and principles-based organizations and develop strategies to transition from one to the other.

Highlights

Funding and Timing
The Bermuda Triangle
Creating a Guiding Coalition
ShowHide Details

Concepts

  1. Managing Growth: Scaling Up and Avoiding Bottlenecks
  2. Navigating Technological Change in the Age of AI
  3. Leading a Turnaround
  4. Creating a Principles-Based Organization

Featured Exercises

  • Analyze and apply the Bermuda Triangle of Growth framework to navigate change
  • Apply organizational transformation’s key considerations to analyze how service organizations can align with their vision and adapt to future changes
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Your Guide to Online Learning Success

If you’re interested in exploring online education but aren’t sure where to start, this guide is for you.

Upskill Your Team, Transform Your Organization

Whether you represent a large multinational corporation or a small local business, we have a solution for your learning and development needs.

Our Difference

Transforming Customer Experiences will equip you with tools to develop effective service and customer experience strategies and frameworks for elevating employees, engaging consumers, and adapting to changing competitive landscapes.
Stay active by engaging in a new activity every three to five minutes, including a service interaction exercise.
Stay active by engaging in a new activity every three to five minutes, including a service interaction exercise.
Get social by collaborating and networking with a global community of peers before, during, and after the course. Learners who successfully complete an HBS Online program are added to the HBS Online Community's Official Networking Group and gain exclusive access to events and other networking opportunities.
Get social by collaborating and networking with a global community of peers before, during, and after the course. Learners who successfully complete an HBS Online program are added to the HBS Online Community's Official Networking Group and gain exclusive access to events and other networking opportunities.
Immerse yourself in real-world, case-based service examples brought to life by experts at world-class organizations like Getaway, Tessei, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, Oberoi Hotels, Seven Starling, and Zameer Kassam Fine Jewelry.
Immerse yourself in real-world, case-based service examples brought to life by experts at world-class organizations like Getaway, Tessei, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, Oberoi Hotels, Seven Starling, and Zameer Kassam Fine Jewelry.

About the Professor

Ryan Buell
Transforming Customer Experiences

C.D. Spangler Professor of Business Administration
"If you’re in a position to make a difference in your company, and you have a desire to improve customer experiences, this is the course for you."

Dates & Eligibility

Starting
Jul
30
4 Weeks  $1,850 + applicable international taxes
Payment deadline July 24
View weekly calendar
Enroll Now
Starting
Sep
24
4 Weeks  $1,850 + applicable international taxes
Payment deadline September 18
View weekly calendar
Enroll Now
Starting
Nov
12
4 Weeks  $1,850 + applicable international taxes
Payment deadline November 6
View weekly calendar
Enroll Now
  • No documentation required

All learners must be at least 18 years of age, proficient in English, and committed to learning and engaging with fellow participants throughout the course.

Learn about bringing this course to your organization.

HBS also offers an executive education version of this program for individuals with extensive work experience interested in on-campus programming.

Learner Stories

84%
have more confidence making business decisions
HBS Online courses are excellent for anyone who wishes to learn more about a particular subject area or further develop their career.
Corina Cristea Lavoie
Corporate Services Manager at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
I got promoted to a senior project coordinator role just weeks after finishing the course, so I've had the chance to apply many of the topics covered.
Aranzazú Martínez Galeana
Senior Project Coordinator, Social Performance Division at ERM
* Source: 2022 surveys and course data
 
All FAQs

Transforming Customer Experiences FAQs

Participants in Transforming Customer Experiences are eligible for a Certificate of Completion from Harvard Business School Online.

Participants are expected to fully complete all coursework in a thoughtful and timely manner. This means completing each course module and fully answering questions posed therein by the required deadline. This course also features recommended weekly deadlines to help ensure your cohort proceeds through the course at a similar pace and can take full advantage of social learning opportunities. In addition to module completion, we expect participation in the social learning elements of the course by offering feedback on others’ reflections and contributing to conversations on the platform. Participants who fail to complete the course requirements will not receive a certificate and will not be eligible to retake the course.

More detailed information on course requirements will be communicated at the start of the course. No grades are assigned for Transforming Customer Experiences. Participants will either be evaluated as complete or not complete.

You will have access to the materials in every prior module as you progress through the program. Access to course materials and the course platform ends 60 days after the final program deadline.

At the end of each course module, you’ll be able to download a PDF summary highlighting key concepts introduced in the course. At the end of the program, you’ll receive a PDF compilation of all the module summary documents. We hope these serve as a helpful resource after you finish the course.

Once you've earned your Certificate of Completion, list it on your resume along with the date of completion:

Harvard Business School Online

Certificate in Transforming Customer Experiences

[Cohort Start Month and Year]

List your certificate on your LinkedIn profile under "Education" with the language from the Credential Verification page:

School: Harvard Business School Online
Dates Attended: [The year you participated in the program]
Degree: Other; Certificate in Transforming Customer Experiences
Field of Study: Leave blank
Grade: "Complete"
Activities and Societies: Leave blank
Description:

Transforming Customer Experiences is a 4-week, 20-25-hour online certificate program from Harvard Business School. It equips professionals from diverse backgrounds, with a systematic approach to delivering standout service that provides a competitive advantage.

The Service Interaction Exercise helps learners observe how they, as customers, engage with service organizations. In this exercise you will reflect on a recent interaction with a service organization or visit one to evaluate your experience. As part of your reflection, you’ll think about any variability you may have introduced that required the service provider to deviate from standard operating practices.

 

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