Chapter 4 Customer Perception of Service

1. Satisfaction
a. Broader concept
2. Service Quality
a. Focuses on dimensions of service
perceived service quality component of customer satisfaction

Customer Satisfaction
1. Consumers fulfilment response
a. Service provides pleasure and fulfilment
2. Factors influencing customer satisfaction
a. Product & service features
b. Consumer emotions
i. Influence of moods, positive emotions
c. Attribution for Success & Failure
i. Perceived cause of event
d. Perception Equity and Fairness
i. Comparison with other clients
e. Other consumers, family memebers etc.
3. National Customer Satisfaction Indices
a. Tracks customer satisfaction at macro level
4. Net promoter Score
a. How likely would you XXX?
i. Promoters (9,10)
ii. Passives (7,8)
iii. Detractors (less 6)

Ensuring Customer Satisfaction

1. Be customer centric
a. Look at situation from customer POV and please them
i. Best 24/7 365 days a year
2. Have superior staf
a. Hire the best people
3. Delight the customer
 a. Over deliver (give bonus when customer buys again)
4. Keep promises
a. Do what you promise your customers
5. Sort out Service Recovery
a. Deal with failure promptly and efectively
6. Build relationship
a. Know all about your customers needs and problems

Service Quality

Types of service
1. Pure Service
a. Healthcare, financial service
i. Quality dominant element
2. Combined service
a. IT service, car repairs
i. Quality critical factor

Consumers judge quality

1. Outcome Quality
a. Final result
2. Interaction Quality
a. Delivery
3. Physical environment quality
a. Physical surrounding, servicescpae

Service Quality dimensions

1. Reliability
a. Perform promised service dependably and accurately
2. Responsiveness
a. Willingness to help
b. Provision of prompt service, flexibility, customisation
3. Assurance (important for high risk services)
a. Employee knowledge and skill
b. Inspiring trust and confidence
4. Empathy
a. Caring and understanding the customer
5. Tangibles
a. Appearance of physical facilities
b. Equipment
c. Personnel, written materials

Nordic model of service quality

1. Technical quality
a. Outcome of service
 2. Functional quality
a. Manner in which service is delivered
interaction between buyer and seller as important as outcome
3. Three component model
a. Service product
i. Service ofering and outcome
b. Service delivery
i. Process of consuming the service
c. Service environment
i. Internal culture and external physical environment of
supplier

e-service quality
1. E-SQ
a. Extent to which website facilitates efficient and efective
i. Shopping
ii. Purchase
iii. Delivery
2. 4 core dimension of websites
a. Efficiency
i. Ability to get to website
ii. Find desired product and ino
iii. Check out without efort
b. Fulfilment
i. Accuracy of service promised
ii. Products in stock
iii. Delivery on time
c. Reliability
i. Technical functioning of website
d. Privacy
i. Secure credit info
ii. Data is not sold or shared
3. 3 recovery dimensions
a. Responsiveness
i. Ability to provide appropriate info when problem occurs
ii. Handling returns
iii. Provision of online guarantees
b. Compensation
i. Customers receive money back
ii. Reimbursement for shipping
c. Contact
i. Live customer agent availability

Service encounters: The building blocks for customer perceptions

Definitions
1. Service encounter
a. moment of truth
 2. Service encounter cascade
a. Linking of moment of truth
Types of encounters
1. Remote encounter
a. No direct human contact (ATM)
i. Judgement of quality based on
1. Tangibility
2. Technical functioning
2. Telephone encounters
a. Customer service
i. Judgement of quality
1. Difers from remote encounters
3. Face to Face encounters
a. Customer and employee come in direct contact

Sources of pleasure and displeasure in service encounter

1, Critical incident technique
a. Get verbatim stories about satisfying and dissatisfying service
encounters

Themes of satisfaction and dissatisfaction

1. Service recovery
a. Response to service delivery failure
i. Booking failure upgrade to suite
2. Adaptability
a. Response to customer needs and requests
i. No appointment doctor still gives appointment
3. Spontaneity
a. Unprompted and unsolicited employee actions
i. Cleaning lady putting toys back in baby beds
4. Coping
a. Employee response to problem customer
i. Taking care of person on the flight

The Evidence of Service