Academic context
Five doctoral studies on how experience across multiple touchpoints gets evaluated
The OMMMICX maturity model is the final chapter of a doctoral thesis that started by asking how user experience is measured in Latin America and ended by proposing an instrument to manage omnichannel experience. This page summarizes the earlier studies behind it.
The thesis project
One objective, four questions and an iterative methodology
The thesis set out to propose a methodological framework for evaluating user experience in the interaction with brands in an omnichannel context, including methods, tools and metrics. It used Design-Based Research (Collins et al., 2004), an iterative methodology that requires collaboration between research and practice — which is why each study feeds the next one.
- Main research question
- How can user experience with multiple touchpoints in services be evaluated from an omnichannel perspective in a way that informs continuous improvement processes?
- Specific objectives
- Understand the challenges of measuring experience across multiple touchpoints; provide methodological recommendations for using findings over time; and help bridge the gap between academia and industry.
- Sector focus
- Services: banking, insurance, telecommunications, airlines, education and digital commerce — the area least covered by omnichannel literature.
- Overall methodology
- Design-Based Research, with five chained studies between 2015 and 2026.
The studies
From measuring UX in the region to a maturity model
Each chapter answers a different question. Read in order, they show how the focus moved from user experience with a single interface to the organizational management of experience along the customer journey.
- Study 1Published in conference proceedings
Measuring user experience in Latin America: an exploratory survey
- Question
- How do regional practitioners and researchers understand and measure user experience?
- Method
- Online survey with 112 responses from Chile, Argentina, Peru, Mexico and other countries (40 fully completed), preceded by interviews and a survey with 40 Chilean practitioners. Instrument adapted from the User Experience Measurement Attitude Survey.
- Finding
- Four stated obstacles: lack of a shared language with other areas of the company, lack of time, difficulty recruiting users on an ongoing basis, and uncertainty in design decisions. Several participants were skeptical about the very idea of measuring experience.
Stated practical obstacles to measuring experience
- Cost of the study50%
- Lack of time in product development26%
Adapted from Figure 1 of the discussion chapter, based on fully completed survey questionnaires.The other stated obstacles — recruiting users on an ongoing basis and the lack of measurement knowledge and experience — were reported without a percentage. - Study 2Published in a peer-reviewed journal
New paths in small manufacturing: digital transformation between designers and craftspeople
- Question
- How does digital transformation reshape collaboration between designers and craftspeople?
- Method
- Three-phase qualitative study in the SaberHacer community: 12 semi-structured interviews, analysis of eleven months of WhatsApp group conversations, and a co-design session with 17 participants. Thematic analysis with Atlas.ti.
- Finding
- Everyday digital tools sustain collaboration during a project but fall short of holding the community together afterwards. The transferable lesson: continuity of an experience depends on intentional channel orchestration, not on channel availability.
Themes of communication within the community
517 statements coded
- Business opportunities
- Activities and events
- Communication channels
- Everyday conversation
- Specific knowledge
- Projects
- Product design
Adapted from Figure 4: seven groups of codes identified while coding the group conversations. - Study 3Published in Sustainability, 2021, 13, 2824
Omnichannel customer experience and management: an integrative review and research agenda
- Question
- What is the general state of the omnichannel customer experience research field?
- Method
- Systematic literature review across seven databases (ACM, IEEE Xplore, ProQuest, ScienceDirect, Scopus, SpringerLink, Web of Science). From 1,657 initial results down to 164, then 80, and finally 50 peer-reviewed empirical studies published between 2008 and May 2020.
- Finding
- The review identified the dominant research streams and theoretical perspectives and showed that service industries were underrepresented compared with retail. The resulting research agenda defined the gaps addressed by the following two studies.
Systematic literature review process
- Initial results across seven databases11.657
- After removing duplicates and applying inclusion criteria2164
- After abstract screening380
- Peer-reviewed empirical studies included450
Adapted from Figure 1: from all results across seven databases to the studies finally included. - Study 4Published in a peer-reviewed journal
From multichannel to omnichannel in service-based companies: challenges and coping strategies
- Question
- What enables and what blocks the transition from multichannel to omnichannel experience management?
- Method
- Two-phase qualitative research, before and during the pandemic: 11 in-depth interviews and group sessions with 13 practitioners from telecommunications, banking, insurance, retail, airlines, education and consulting. Thematic analysis.
- Finding
- A framework of the transition process emerged, with its enablers and obstacles: strategy and sponsorship, culture and organizational structure, data, technology and processes. That framework supplied the management vocabulary that later became the model's dimensions.
Conceptual framework of the multichannel to omnichannel transition
Transition from multichannel to omnichannel management
- Strategy and sponsorship
- Organizational culture
- Organizational structure
- Data
- Technology
- Processes
Business and social context (the pandemic acted as an accelerator)Adapted from Figure 3: factors shaping the evolutive process, with context acting as an accelerator. - Study 5Manuscript ready for submission
Omnichannel customer experience management: a maturity model
- Question
- What actionable indicators reflect the level of experience management across touchpoints?
- Method
- Criteria extracted from the 50 reviewed studies and from the qualitative research, grouped through concept mapping, consolidated for synonyms, and validated with eight managers from four organizations.
- Finding
- Eight dimensions and 60 criteria, with six maturity levels. This chapter became OMMMICX, the self-assessment tool on this site.
Dimensions of the omnichannel CX management maturity model
- Channel management
- Customer Experience
- People and culture
- Data and analytics
- Processes
- Technology
- Brand management
Business strategy (foundational dimension)Adapted from Figure 2: the eight dimensions that emerged, with business strategy as the alignment foundation.
The through-line
From a user in front of a screen to an organization in front of a journey
The project began by studying user experience and its measurement, and widened towards customer experience once it became clear that the hard part was not evaluating an interface but sustaining consistency and continuity across touchpoints over time. Evaluating channel by channel — the common corporate practice — mirrors the company's internal structure rather than the person's actual journey. Hence the decision to build an instrument aimed at the people who manage experience, complementary to voice-of-customer metrics such as NPS or satisfaction surveys.
Scope and limits
The studies are mostly qualitative and were conducted in a Latin American context, concentrated in banking, insurance and telecommunications. Samples are small and do not support statistical generalization: their value lies in depth and in the transferability of the proposed frameworks. The maturity model in particular is a structured starting point for self-assessment and gap detection, not an inferential instrument.
The model that came out of this research
Eight dimensions, 60 criteria and six maturity levels, applied to your organization in 10 to 12 minutes.
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