Crafting the Service Environment

Click to edit4 Mudie: Chapter Master subtitle style

Lovelock: Chapter 10
I would sincerely request you all to go through the chapters in the book, when you study.

What is the Purpose of Service Elements?

Service environments, also called servicescapes, relate to the style and appearance of the physical surroundings and other experiential elements encountered by customers at service delivery sites. Designing the service environment is an art that takes considerable time and effort, and can be expensive to implement. Once they are built, service environments are not easy to change.

Shaping Customers Experiences and Behavior

For high-contact services, the design of the physical environment and the way in which tasks are performed by customer-contact personnel jointly play a vital role in creating a particular corporate identity and shaping the nature of customers experiences. The servicescape affects buyer behavior in 3 ways:

Message-creating Medium: symbolic cues to communicate the distinctive nature and quality of the service experience. Attention-creating Medium: to make the servicescape stand out from other competing establishments, and to attract customers from target segments. Effect-creating Medium: colors, textures, sounds, scents and spatial design to enhance the desired service experience, and/or to heighten an appetite for certain goods, services or experiences

Helps the firm to create a distinctive image & positioning that is unique.

Image, Positioning and Differentiation

Services are often intangible, and customers use the servicescape as an important proxy for quality, and firms take great pains to signal quality and portray the desired image. Many servicescapes are purely functional. Firms that wish to project the image of being low-price set up shop in inexpensive neighborhoods, have simple appearance, and minimize waste of space.

Servicescape as Part of Value Proposition

Servicescape help to shape appropriate feelings and reactions in customers and employees. Example: Disneyland, Las Vegas

Facilitate Service Encounter and Enhance Productivity

Servicescapes are usually designed to aid the service encounter, as well as improve productivity. place

Means to reduce failures are in

Color-coded keys on cash registers Mirrors for front-line staff Tray-return stands and notices in fast-food shops

Understanding Consumer Responses to Service Environments

Feelings are a Key Driver

There are two models that help us better understand consumer responses to service environments:

Mehrabian-Russell Stimulus-Response Model Russells Model of Affect

Mehrabian-Russell StimulusResponse Model

The model holds that the environment, its conscious and unconscious perception and interpretation, influence how people feel in that environment. Peoples feelings in turn drive their responses to that environment. The model states that feelings, rather than perceptions or thoughts, drive behavior.

We dont avoid an environment simply because there are a lot of people around us; rather we are deterred by the unpleasant feeling of crowding, of people being in our way, of lacking perceived control, and of not being able to get what we want as fast as we wish to.

Mehrabian-Russell Stimulus-Response Model

Environmenta l Stimuli & Cognitive Processes

Dimension s of Affect: Pleasure and Arousal

Russell Model of Affect

It is widely used to help understand feelings in service environments and suggests that emotional responses to environments can be described along two main dimensions. Pleasure is a direct, subjective response to the environment, depending on how much the individual likes or dislikes the environment. Arousal refers to how stimulated the individual feels, ranging from deep sleep (lowest level of internal activity) to highest levels of adrenaline in the bloodstream for example, when bungee jumping. Arousal quality of an environment is dependent on its information load, i.e., its degree of

Novelty (unexpected, surprising, new, familiar) and Complexity (number of elements, extent of motion or change)

Russell Model of Affect Arousin

g

Distressi ng

Exciting

Unpleasa nt

Boring

Relaxing

Pleasan t

Sleep y

Drivers of Affect

Affect can be caused by perceptions and processes of any degree of complexity. Simple Cognitive Processes, Perception of Stimuli

cognitive

tangible cues (of service quality) consumer satisfaction affective charged schemata processing attribution processes

Complex Cognitive Processes

Drivers of Affect

Affect can be caused by perceptions and cognitive processes of any degree of complexity. However, the more complex a cognitive process becomes, the more powerful is its potential on affect.

Example: Bad food in a restaurant cannot be compensated by good music.

We usually have routine service encounters, where we tend to function on auto-pilot mode. Most of the time, its the simple cognitive processes that determine how people feel in the service setting. Those include the conscious and even the unconscious perceptions of space, colors, scents and so on.

Behavioral Consequences of Affect

At the basic level, pleasant environments tend to draw people in, unpleasant environments drive us out. Arousal acts as an amplifier of the basic effect of pleasure on behavior. For example: loud, fast-beat music would increase the stress levels of shoppers when they are trying to make their way through crowded aisles on a pre-Eid evening. When customers have a strong affective expectation from services (candle-lit dinner, spa visit, etc.), managers need to make sure that the servicescape is designed to match those expectations. If customers feel positively about the environment, their loyalty increases.

Bitners Servicescape Model

Identifies the main dimensions in a service environment and views them holistically Customer and employee responses classified under, cognitive, emotional and psychological which would in turn lead to overt behavior towards the environment Key to effective design is how well each individual dimension fits together with everything else

Bitners Servicescape Model

Environmental Dimensions Moderators Holistic Environment Internal Responses Behavior

Ambie nt Conditi ons Space/ Functio n

Employee Response Moderator Perceived Servicescape Customer Response Moderator

Cognitive Emotional Psychological

Employee Responses

Approac h or Avoid
Social Interactions between Customers and Employees

Customer Responses

Cognitive Emotional

Approac h or Avoid

Dimensions of the Service Environment

Dimensions of the Service Environment

Servicescapes are complex and have many design elements Ambient Conditions

Music (e.g, fast tempo and high volume increase arousal levels) Scent (strong impact on mood, affect and evaluative responses, purchase intention and instore behavior) Color (e.g, warm colors associated with elated mood states and arousal but also increase anxiety, cool colors reduce arousal but can elicit peacefulness and calm) Lighting (creative use of light can bring an interior to life the interaction of light and shadow can sculpt, expand, scale, highlight, silhouette, sparkle, and most importantly can

Dimensions of the Service Environment

Spatial Layout and Functionality

Layout refers to size and shape of furnishings and the ways it is arranged Functionality is the ability of those items to facilitate performance Explicit or implicit signals to communicate the firms image, help consumers find their way and to convey the rules of behavior Customers become disoriented when they cannot derive clear signals from a servicescape

Signs, Symbols and Artifact

Dimensions of the Service Environment

People are part of the service environment, too

The appearance and behavior of both service personnel and customers can reinforce or detract from the impression created by a service environment Termed as aesthetic labor

Impact of Music on Restaurant Diners

Restaurant Patron Behavior
Consumer time spent at table Spending on food Spending on beverages Total spending Estimated gross margin

Fast-beat Music Environment

Slow-beat Music Environment

56min

Difference between Slow and Fast-beat Environments

Absolute Difference +11min % Difference +24%

45min

$55.12 $21.62 $76.74 $48.62

$55.81 $30.47 $86.28 $55.82

+$0.69 +$8.85 +$9.54 +$7.20

+1% +41% +12% +15%

The Effects of Scents on the Perceptions of Store Env

Evaluation Store Evaluation Negative/positive Outdated/modern Store Environment Unattractive/attractive Drab/colorful Boring/Stimulating 4.12 3.63 3.75 4.98 4.72 4.40 +0.86 +1.09 +0.65 4.65 3.76 5.24 4.72 +0.59 +0.96 Unscented Environment Mean Ratings Scented Environment Mean Ratings Difference

The Effects of Scents on the Perceptions of Store Env

Evaluation Unscented Environment Mean Ratings Merchandise Outdated/up- to-date style Inadequate/adequate Low/high quality Low/high price 4.71 3.80 4.81 5.20 5.43 4.65 5.48 4.93 +0.72 +0.85 +0.67 -0.27 Scented Environment Mean Ratings Difference

Aromatherapy: The Effect of Fragrance on People

Fragrance Orange Aromatherap Aromatherapy Traditional y Class Use Citrus Calming Soothing agent, astringent Muscle relaxant, soothing agent Potential Psychological Impact on People Calming and relaxing effect esp. for nervous people Relaxing and calming, helps create a homey and comfortable feel

Lavender

Herbaceous

Calming, balancing, soothing Uplifting, balancing

Jasmine

Floral

Emollientsoo Helps makes people feel thing agent refreshed, joyful, comfortable Increase attention level and boosts energy

Peppermint

Minty

Energizing, Skin cleanser stimulating

Color

Color has a language of its own. Much like music, it can evoke moods and emotions excitement, happiness, serenity, sadness. Color is composed of 3 elements:

Hue the name of the color, e.g. red, blue, green Value the lightness or darkness of a color Chroma the intensity of strength or purity of color

Color can only be measured in relation to other colors. Large spaces are better balanced by using a scheme of soft, low-intensity color with strong, vibrant hues reserved for accent or highlight value. Colors have both optical and emotional values.

Common Associations and Human Responses to Colors

Color Degree of Warmth Warm Nature Symbol Common Association and Human Responses to Color High energy and passion; can excite, stimulate, and increase arousal and blood pressures Emotions, expressions, and warmth Nurturing, healing and unconditional love Relaxation, serenity and loyalty Disturbing, the most disliked color in terms of environmental settings

Red

Earth

Orange

Warmest

Sunset Grass and Trees Sky and Ocean

Green Blue Purple

Cool Coolest Difficult

Lighting

When considering lighting design for a service setting, the following factors must be taken into account:

Daylighting the way in which it is controlled influence heat, glare, penetration, visibility and the perception of color. Most schemes take into account of the orientation of the building to the sun. Color the direction and strength of daylight affect the perception of color. The nature of the activity to be performed in the space accuracy, speed, safety, recognition, etc.

Lighting

The service providers perception of the task is it to sell visual satisfaction, or is it to sell hamburgers? Is it to indicate the conservative solidity of a bank, or is it to reassure people about to board a plane? Levels of vision if the task required detailed work from the customer or service provider then strong light is required. If the background setting is well lit, then even greater intensity of light will be required for the detailed work as the eyes become accustomed to the relative lessening of the contrast. Ambience the desired mood a church or library would generally exude a peaceful calm, while a fast-food diner or music store would wish to create a youthful, exciting, gregarious atmosphere.

Selection of Environmental Design Elements

There is a multitude of research on the perception and impact of environmental stimuli on behavior, including:

People density, crowding Lighting Sound/noise Scents and odors Queues

No standard formula to designing the perfect combination of these elements.

Design from the customers perspective Design with a holistic view!

Tools to Guide in Servicescape Design

Keen Observation of Customers Behavior and Responses to the service environment by management, supervisors, branch managers, and frontline staff Feedback and Ideas from Frontline Staff and Customers using a broad array of research tools ranging from suggestion boxes to focus groups and surveys. Field Experiments can be used to manipulate specific dimensions in an environment and the effects observed. Blueprinting or Service Mapping - extended to include the physical evidence in the environment.

I would sincerely request you all to go through the chapters in the book, when you study.