quiz
AKA-Pro
MGT354_545-Class4.pptClass 4
Customer Expectations
and Satisfaction
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Customer Expectations
- Beliefs about service delivery that serve as standards or reference points against which performance is judged
- Knowing what the customer expects is critical while consequences of not knowing expectations can be severe
Frequently Asked Questions About Customer Expectations
- What does a service marketer do if customer expectations are “unrealistic”?
- Should a company try to delight the customer?
- How does a company exceed customer service expectations?
- Do customer service expectations continually escalate?
- How does a service company stay ahead of competition in meeting customer expectations?
Possible Levels of Customer Expectations
Expectation Levels
- Desired Service: The level of service the customer hopes to receive
- “What do I wish for?”
- Adequate Service: The level of service the customer will accept
- The minimum tolerable expectation – the bottom level of performance acceptable to the customer.
Think of these as boundaries – what a customer desires and what they will accept
The Zone of Tolerance
Zone of Tolerance
- The degree to which customers are willing to accept variations in services across providers, across employees from the same provider, and with the same service employee
- A service falling within the zone gets little or no attention from customer, but falling outside (above or below) can get the customers attention in a positive or negative way
Zone of Tolerance (cont.)
- Different customers possess difference tolerance zones
- Busy
- Price conscious
- The more important the factor, the narrower the tolerance zone is likely to be
- Less tolerant of unreliable services
- Adequate service level fluctuates frequently because of situational circumstances
The Zone of Tolerance (cont.)
Adequate Service
Desired Service
Zone of
Tolerance
Delights
Desirables
Musts
FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS OF SERVICE
Factors that Influence Desired Service Expectations
- Personal Needs: essential to the phsysical or psychological well-being
- Derived Service Expectations: driven by another person or group (planning a family party)
- Personal Service Philosophy: underlying attitude about the meaning of service and proper conduct
Factors that Influence Adequate Service Expectations
- Short-term and tend to fluctuate more than factors that influence desired services
- Four factors:
- Temporary service intensifiers
- Customer self-perceived service role
- Situational factors
- Predicted service
Temporary Service Intensifiers
- Short-term individual factors that make customers more aware of the need for a service
Examples?
Customers Self Perceived
Service Role
- Degree to which a customer exerts an influence on the level of service they receive
Example?
Situational Factors
- Service performance conditions that customers view as beyond the control of the service provider
Example?
Situational factors, many times, are temporary and lower the level of adequate service, which in turn widens the zone of tolerance
Predicted Service
- Level of service customers believe they are going to get
- Prediction of what will happen in the next service encounter
- If customers predict good service, their levels of adequate service are likely to be higher
Example?
Other Sources That Can Impact Both Desired and Adequate Service
- When customers are interested in purchasing a service, they seek information from a variety of sources
- Can be both internal and external in nature
Service Promises
- Explicit
- Implicit
Explicit Service Promises
- Statements about the service made by the organization to its customers
- Option 1: Communicated by a person
- Option 2: WebPages, advertising, brochures
- Problems occur when services are overpromised
Implicit Service Promises
- Other service-related cues other than explicit promises that lead to inferences about what the service should and will be like
- These cues are often dominated by price
- Higher the price, the more the customer will expect
Implicit Service Promise
Via Word-of-Mouth
- Personal and non-personal statements made by parties other than the organization
- Perceived as unbiased
- Valuable in services that are difficult to evaluate
Implicit Service Promise via
Past Experiences
- Previous exposure to a service that is relevant
- Can be an actual service or a similar service
- Customers even compare across industries (hospitals vs. hotels)
How does a company exceed
service expectations?
- Several Options:
- Under promise, over deliver
- Position the service as unique rather than the standard
- Develop a relationship with customers
What do you do if customer expectations are unrealistic?
- Acknowledge that you have received the customers input
- If not provided, let the customer know why
- If and when service is improved to meet their standards, let the customer know
- Provide a “Reality Check”
CUSTOMER PERCEPTIONS OF, AND SATISFACTION WITH, A SERVICE
Customer Perceptions
- How customers assess whether they have experienced quality services, and whether they are satisfied
Customer Satisfaction
- A customers evaluation of a product or service in terms of whether that product or service has met the customer's needs and expectations
- Failure to meet this need results in dissatisfaction
- Satisfaction can lead to other feelings: pleasure, delight, happiness
- Satisfaction is dynamic, not static
Factors Influencing Customer Satisfaction
- Product quality
- Service quality
- Price
- Specific product or service features
- Consumer emotions
- Attributions for service success or failure
- Perceptions of equity or fairness
- Other consumers, family members, and coworkers
- Personal factors
- Situational factors
Relationship between Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty in Competitive Industries
Four Seasons Case Questions
- Provide a critique of the 7 global service culture standards.
- Do you agree with the way Four Seasons entered Paris?
- Does corporate culture play a role in Four Seasons success? How?
- What lessons does the Paris experience hold for entering other markets?
