AMN401 Checklist For Assessment 2

IMC STRATEGY

Your task is to develop a report detailing the current customer experience and offer at least three insightful, justified recommendations for the future management of customer experience.  This involves:

• Identification of IMC problem
• Qualitative research into customers and CX
• One persona
• CX journey map
• IMC Objectives
• IMC Strategy
• Professional communication

PURPOSE AND OUTCOMES OF THE ASSESSMENT TASK

IMC Strategy solves the client problem and launches IMC tactics. But like all IMC, it is customer-centric.  This makes research, consumer insight and an understanding of the touchpoints and pain points along the purchase journey essential for strategy development.

This assessment piece also adds another two capabilities (developing a persona and constructing the journey map) to your skillset.

DETAILS

• DUE WEEK 13 – CHECK CANVAS FOR DETAILS.
• 50%.
• 2,500 WORDS (TABLES AND REFERENCES NOT INCLUDED)
• PRESENTED IN A REPORT FORMAT
• SUBMITTED VIA CANVAS
• You are not to contact the client for any additional information.

You need to present this assignment in a report format. You are not required to include an introduction or executive summary, but you can do so if you wish and if it fits within your word count.

Write this report as if the client was reading it. The look and tone of the report is professional.

Be mindful of the word count.  Write succinctly and use dot points where appropriate. Tables are also acceptable.

IMC PROBLEM 5 MARKS

• Start with the client brief. But don’t just accept what it says. Challenge it.
• Identify the issues and think about them. What can IMC solve?
• Use research to explore these issues. Revisit your secondary research and Recommendations from Assessment 1.
• Understand the product, the target market, the business and competitive environment.
• Make sure it is a problem and not just the symptoms.
• Your job is to identify the real IMC problem that your strategy can solve and your client can benefit from.
• This problem, and how to solve it, then becomes the focus of your assignment.

PRIMARY RESEARCH 10 MARKS

• Draw from the secondary research you conducted in Assessment 1 and find out whatever you can about the customer, the product and the experience.
• Then conduct some quick, easy, qualitative research.
• This could include any of the following – observations of the CX, interviews or a focus group with customers.
• Typically, most people conduct three interviews – either face-to-face or via zoom.
• Do not use surveys. It must be “rich” data that describes the multi-dimensionality of the experience – the thoughts, feelings, actions, senses and social relatedness.
• You can use direct quotes from de-identified participants as evidence for your research.
• You must comply with the requirements of ethical clearance. There are clear instructions on our CANVAS site. Submit your Student Declaration form through the link under Assessment 2.
• Make sure that you reference where you got your information from. If you are discussing a particular website, make sure that you include the link.  If you are referring to your interview results, then you need to reference your research such as “Interview with Customer 2, May 29, 20XX”.  If the reader is unclear of where the information came from then you haven’t referenced correctly.

PERSONA DEVELOPMENT  10 MARKS

• Use the Five-Step process you practiced in your Tutorial to develop your persona.
• Make sure you provide a written description of the five steps - Who are they? What do they do? What are their needs or goals? What’s stopping them? What are their burning questions?
• Then use that description to build your Persona template. The template used in your Tutorial is available on Canvas under Assessment 2.
• While there are a number of different types of personas for our client, you are to develop only one persona.
• Make sure that you paint a complete picture of the customer, including who they are, what they aspire to, how they connect with the product and what their pain points are.

CUSTOMER JOURNEY MAP 10 MARKS

• Map the Customer Journey for your Persona.
• This journey should extend from pre-purchase to experience to post-purchase.
• Use the process practiced in your Tutorial. This eight-step process is: 1. Start with research; 2. Define behavioural stages from the customer’s perspective; 3. Capture customer considerations; 4. Detail every touchpoint; 5. Map out the customer pain points; 6. Chart the changing customer emotions; 7. Consider what other detail can be added to the map; 8. Outline any opportunities for improvement.
• The journey map can be whatever shape or style you like. A number of alternatives are provided in the Tutorial slides. These are available on Canvas under Assessment 2.

IMC OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGY 10 MARKS

• Two things here. First, the IMC objectives.
• Reflect on the IMC problem, the persona and their pain points and touchpoints across the IMC journey. And think about what can IMC achieve for the client.
• Develop no more than three objectives that capture the aims of the IMC plan.
• Like all good objectives, they should be measurable with a timeframe and concrete outcomes.
• While the Objectives tell us what we want to achieve, the strategy tells us how we will achieve it.
• Using the strategy template practiced in class, state how you will use IMC to solve the client problem.
• You are to justify your objective and strategy using the findings from your research, your persona and especially the customer journey map. There must be a link between the research you conduct, the persona you develop, the journey map you chart and the objectives and strategy for the way forward.

PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATIONS 5 MARKS

• Is your report within the 2500-word limit? Tables and the reference list are not included in the word count.
• At least six references, including academic journals and industry reports, are required in this assessment piece.
• Make sure you reference any secondary research sources or supporting evidence you include.
• If you used AI, have you critically evaluated the information provided? It is not acceptable to cut and paste text generated by AI.
• Does your report read well and have you checked spelling and grammar?
• Consider the ‘so what’ rule. If you mention something in this report there must be a reason so don’t just make a statement, tell us why this is relevant or important to know.
• Have you included page numbers?
• Please upload this as PDF as this is a more professional format and you will avoid any formatting issues.

SUBMITTING YOUR ASSIGNMENT

• Check the due date and time on Canvas in Assessment 2.
• A 48-hour late submission period is available if you’re unexpectedly unable to complete an assignment on time. This replaces the previous automatically approved 48-hour assignment extension. You do not need to apply for this type of extension and no supporting documentation is required. For more details, click here. https://qutvirtual4.qut.edu.au/group/staff/teaching/course-and-unit-design/assessment/late-assignments
• Assignments submitted after 48 hours and without an approved longer extension will not be marked and will receive a grade of 0%.
• If you don't have an approved extension, you should submit the work you have done by the due date and it will be marked against the assessment criteria.
• Please don’t leave uploading your assignment until the last minute. Assignments might take a long while to upload if there is high demand in the system.
• If you do have issues uploading your assignment, email your Assessment to your tutor or to me (r20.mitchell@qut.edu.au) before the submission time, otherwise we cannot accept it and you get a 0 for the assignment. Keep trying to upload it after you have emailed your tutor so it’s in the system.
• If you have any submission dramas, capture a screen shot and contact the people at IT services straight away. That way you will have evidence that you have attempted to submit it before the due time.
• If you have an extension, you MUST include your approval for late submission form.