Running head: SERVICE EFFORTS 1
Apple Inc.’s Service Efforts
Questions Three and Four
Abigail Armstrong
Liberty University
SERVICE EFFORTS 2
Question Three: Describe post-sale service arrangements the firm does or should provide.
Post-sale service arrangements help a company determine that the customers are satisfied
with the product or service that the company offers. It is important that companies offer a
variety of arrangements to ensure that this information can be collected and that the customer
remains satisfied even after receiving the product. Feedback from customers suggests that this
can be done by making sources available to register their complaints, receiving installation
support, and enabling immediate exchange for damage to the product or service (Chen, 2018).
Not only does offering a source for consumer to register their complaints benefit the
consumer, but it benefits the company as well. By offering such a source, “companies have been
shown to achieve higher revenues and greater profits than companies without a systematic
approach for addressing service failures” (Kotler & Keller, 2016). One easy way to do this is
through a customer forum. According to Nick Bradbury, Owner of Bradbury Software,
“customer forums help create a community of loyal customers and are also a source of crucial
market research” (Lehoczky, 2005). In today’s digital world, it is important to offer ways for
consumers to provide feedback and submit complaints through the format of an online forum. It
is also helpful for the business to have this feedback so that the company can collect ideas about
product improvements. In a simple internet search, it is easy to see that Apple has capitalized on
this opportunity for a post-sale service arrangement for a wide variety of the company’s products
and services.
Installation support is a service arrangement that is highly desired by those who are
making high-dollar purchases, especially for those purchases within the technology industry. If
consumers spend their money on Apple products and services, they expect that the products and
services will work properly. This is a rather general customer desire, but in the technology
SERVICE EFFORTS 3
world, it becomes more of a need or expectation for the use of the product or service rather than
solely a desire. If a consumer purchases a laptop from Apple, it would come with the necessary
operating system (iOS) software already installed; however, depending on the shelf-life of the
specific product, the iOS could be outdated. This is why Apple offers 24-hour support in order to
provide the necessary service arrangements to meet the needs of their customers and to ensure
that the installation of the software offered for their products runs smoothly for all consumers
(Apple, 2019). Lastly, if an Apple product is received as damaged it is eligible to be exchanged at
any Apple Store within the United States. This is a great post-sale service arrangement to ensure
a quick fix and allows room for the unexpected, but inevitable, errors.
Question Four: Explain how the firm’s repair/service efforts impact customer satisfaction.
Service arrangements made by a company are designed specifically to positively impact
customer satisfaction. The post-sale services offered by a company often give the impression
that the branding of the products and services can be easily retained (Chen, 2018).
Well-managed service companies that achieve marketing excellence have systems for
monitoring service performance and customer complaints (Kotler & Keller, 2016). Making
sources available to register complaints may have a larger impact than what most would think.
On average, 40 percent of customers who experience poor service stop doing business with the
company, but if the customer is provided a source to complain to first, the company can often
salvage the consumer if the complaint is handled well (Kotler & Keller, 2016). The key here is
first providing the source for the consumer to complain to. If the consumer is not provided this
outlet, then the company may not ever be aware of the dissatisfaction experienced by the
consumer in the first place.
SERVICE EFFORTS 4
Additionally, consumers value convenience in services. Having access to installation
support and a flexible return policy for damaged products and services are two ways to provide
convenience to consumers and results in high satisfaction. Customers feel that their expectations
are exceeded when installation support is offered as an in-house service of a company, rather
than having to seek additional support from a third party (Taylor, 2019). Consumers do not want
to buy products that they will not know how to functionally operate, and they do not want to be
locked into the product if it is not what they expected, which is why a flexible return policy is
also a positive driver for high customer satisfaction.
SERVICE EFFORTS 5
References
Apple, Inc.. (2019). Contacting Apple. Retrieved from https://www.apple.com/contact/
Chen, J. (2018 April 28). After-sales support. Investopedia. Retrieved from
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/aftersales-support.asp
Kotler, P., & Keller, K. L. (2016). Marketing management. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.
Lehoczky, E. (2005 August 1). Need help? Don't call us: Online peer forums boost customer
satisfaction while cutting costs. Mansueto Ventures, LLC, 41(5). Retrieved from
https://go-gale-com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=vic_liberty&id=GALE|
A208505121&v=2.1&it=r&sid=summon
Taylor, M. (2019 September 5). Customer expectations: how to meet (and exceed) expectations.
SuperOffice. Retrieved from https://www.superoffice.com/blog/exceed-customer-
expectations-2014/
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