Marketing Chapter: Customer Perceptions of Service

Customer Perceptions of Service Marketing

• Customer perceptions of services, assessment of service quality, and customer satisfaction are the focus of this chapter.

Satisfaction vs. Service Quality

• Satisfaction is considered a broader concept, while service quality assessment focuses on specific dimensions of service.
• Perceived service quality is a component of customer satisfaction.

Customer Perceptions of Quality and Satisfaction

• The quality of a product depends on reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibles.
• Customer satisfaction is influenced by perceptions of service quality, product quality, price, situational factors, and personal factors.

What is Customer Satisfaction?

• Customer satisfaction is the customer's evaluation of a product or service in terms of meeting their needs and expectations.
• Satisfaction can be related to feelings of fulfillment, pleasure, delight, relief, and ambivalence.

What Determines Customer Satisfaction?

• Determinants of customer satisfaction include product and service features, consumer emotions, attributions for service success or failure, perceptions of equity and fairness, and other consumers, family members, and co-workers.

Outcomes of Customer Satisfaction

• Increased customer retention, positive word-of-mouth communications, and increased revenues are outcomes of customer satisfaction.

Service Quality

• Service quality is a critical element of customer perceptions, especially in pure services and cases where customer service is offered in combination with a physical product.
• The customer's judgment of overall excellence of the service provided in relation to the quality that was expected is crucial.
• Process and outcome quality are both important.

The Five Dimensions of Service Quality (RATER)

• Reliability: ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately.
• Assurance: employees' knowledge and courtesy, and their ability to inspire trust and confidence.
• Tangibles: appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel, and written materials.
• Empathy: caring, individualized attention given to customers.
• Responsiveness: willingness to help customers and provide prompt service.

Service Encounters or "Moments of Truth"

• Service encounters or moments of truth are the most vivid impressions of service, occurring when the customer interacts with the service firm.
• Every encounter is important in building relationships, and certain encounters are key to customer satisfaction.

Types of Service Encounters

• Remote encounters: occur without direct human contact, e.g. ATM, online shopping, billing statements.
• Phone encounters: occur through phone interactions.
• Face-to-face encounters: occur through in-person interactions.

Opportunities of Service Encounters

• Build trust, reinforce quality, build brand identity, and increase loyalty.

A Service Encounter for a Hotel Visit

• Check-in, bellboy service, restaurant meal, request for wake-up call, and checkout are all service encounters that can impact customer satisfaction.

Common Themes in Critical Service Encounters Research

• Recovery: employee response to service delivery system failure.
• Adaptability: employee response to customer needs and requests.
• Coping: employee response to problem customers.
• Spontaneity: unprompted and unsolicited employee actions and attitudes.
• Contact: employees, people, and other customers.
• Operational flow of activities and process.
• Flexibility vs. standardization of services.

This chapter focuses on how customers perceive services, assessing quality service and satisfaction. We'll explore the perceived service box in the gaps model and how expectations shift over time.