SERVICE MARKETING

Customer Dissatisfaction – Gap

Theory of Service Quality
Zeithaml, Bitner, Gremler and
Pandit – Chapter 2
Lesson 02

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Quality - Zeithaml - Lesson 02
 Customer Dissatisfaction
In spite of the so called customer orientation,
many customers do remain dissatisfied.
Moreover, it has been found by research studies
that across countries, people are generally less
happy with “service” vis-à-vis “goods” available
in that country.
Why is it so?
To some extent this can be explained by what is
known as “Gap Theory” or “Gap Model”.

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Quality - Zeithaml - Lesson 02
Gaps Between Expectation and Service Delivery
Word of Mouth Personal Needs Past Experience
Communication

Expected Service

GAP 5 = Customer gap = Gap 1+ Gap 2+ Gap 3 + Gap 4

Perceived Service*
GAP 1

External
Service Delivery Communications
GAP 3 GAP 4 to Customers
Service Quality
Specifications
GAP 2 (*After experiencing
Management Perceptions the service)
of Customer Expectations
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Quality - Zeithaml - Lesson 02
 Gaps Between Expectation & Service
Delivery
• Gap 1 : Not knowing what customers expect.
• Gap 2 : Not selecting the right service designs
and standards.
• Gap 3 : Not delivering to Service Standards.
• Gap 4 : Not matching performance to promises.
• Gap 5 = customer gap: Over promising - under
delivery, not understanding customer’s
expectation and general deterioration of service
compared to earlier standards = Gaps 1+2+3+4

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Quality - Zeithaml - Lesson 02
The Customer Gap

EXPECTED
SERVICE

CUSTOMER GAP

PERCEIVED
SERVICE

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Quality - Zeithaml - Lesson 02
 Provider Gap 1
Customer
expectations

Perceived
CUSTOMER Service

COMPANY

Gap 1:
The Listening Gap Company
perceptions of
customer
expectations

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Quality - Zeithaml - Lesson 02
 Provider Gap 1: Not Knowing What
Customers Expect – (1/2)
• Inadequate marketing research orientation
– Insufficient marketing research
– Research not focussed on service quality
– Inadequate use of marketing research
• Lack of upward communication
– Lack of interaction between management and
customers
– Insufficient communication between contact
employees and managers
– Too many layers between contact persons and top
management.

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Quality - Zeithaml - Lesson 02
 Provider Gap 1: Not Knowing What
Customers Expect – (2/2)
• Insufficient relationship focus
– Lack of market segmentation
– Focus on transaction rather than relationship
– Focus on new customers rather than
relationship customers.
• Inadequate service recovery (i.e. actions
taken after a service failure)

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Quality - Zeithaml - Lesson 02
 Provider Gap 2

CUSTOMER

COMPANY Customer-driven
service designs and
standards
Gap 2: The Service
Design and Standards
Company Gap
perceptions of
customer
expectations
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Quality - Zeithaml - Lesson 02
 Provider Gap 2: Not Having the Right
Service Quality Designs and Standards
– (1/2)
• Poor service design
– Unsystematic new service development
process
– Vague, undefined service process
– Failure to connect service design to service
positioning #

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Quality - Zeithaml - Lesson 02
 Provider Gap 2: Not Having the Right
Service Quality Designs and Standards
– (2/2)
• Absence of customer-defined standards.
– Lack of customer-defined service standard
– Absence of process management to focus on
customer requirements
– Absence of formal process for setting service
quality goals
• Inappropriate physical evidence and
servicescape.

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Quality - Zeithaml - Lesson 02
 Provider Gap 3

CUSTOMER

COMPANY Service delivery

Gap 3: The
Service
Performance Gap
Customer-driven
service designs and
standards

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Quality - Zeithaml - Lesson 02
 Provider Gap 3: Not Delivering to
Service Standards – (1/3)
• Deficiencies in human resource policies
– Ineffective recruitment
– Role ambiguity and role conflict
– Poor employee-technology job fit
– Inappropriate evaluation and compensation
systems
– Lack of empowerment, perceived control and
teamwork

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Quality - Zeithaml - Lesson 02
 Provider Gap 3: Not Delivering to
Service Standards – (2/3)
• Failure to match supply and demand
– Failure to smoothen peaks and valleys of
demand
– Inappropriate customer mix
– Over-reliance on price to smoothen demand.
• Customers not fulfilling roles.
– Customer ignorance of roles and
responsibilities
– Customers negatively affecting each other

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Quality - Zeithaml - Lesson 02
 Provider Gap 3: Not Delivering to
Service Standards – (3/3)
• Problems with service intermediaries.
– Channel conflict over objectives and
performance
– Channel conflict over cost and rewards
– Difficulty in controlling quality and
consistency
– Tension between empowerment and
control

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Quality - Zeithaml - Lesson 02
 Provider Gap 4

CUSTOMER

Gap 4: The Communication Gap

External
COMPANY Service delivery
communications to
customers

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Quality - Zeithaml - Lesson 02
 Provider Gap 4: When Promises Do
Not Match Performance – (1/3)
• Lack of Integrated Service Marketing
Communications
– Tendency to view each external
communication as independent
– Not including interactive marketing in
communication plan
– Absence of strong internal marketing
programme.

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Quality - Zeithaml - Lesson 02
 Provider Gap 4: When Promises Do
Not Match Performance – (2/3)
• Ineffective Management of Customer
Expectations
– Not managing customer expectations through all
forms of communication
– Not adequately educating customers
• Over-promising
– Over-promising in advertising
– Over-promising in personal selling
– Over-promising through physical evidence cues

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Quality - Zeithaml - Lesson 02
 Provider Gap 4: When Promises Do
Not Match Performance – (3/3)
• Inadequate Horizontal
Communications
– Insufficient communication between
sales and operations
– Insufficient communication between
advertising and operations
– Differences in policies and procedures
across branches or units
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Quality - Zeithaml - Lesson 02
 Closing the Gaps
• The key to closing the ‘customer gap’ is to
close the provider gaps 1 to 4 and keep
them closed. To the extent that one or
more provider gaps 1 through 4 exists,
customers will perceive shortfall in service
quality. The Gap model of service quality
serves as a framework for organisations
attempting to improve quality of service
and service marketing.##
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Quality - Zeithaml - Lesson 02