Customer expectations in services - mMARKETING OF SERVICES

Service Marketing: A Small Presentation on Customer Expectation of Services for Marketing Specialization Students

1. CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS OF SERVICE

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3. Customer Expectations of Service Customer Expectations Beliefs about service delivery. Serve as standards or reference points against which performance is judged. Customers compare their perceptions of performance with these references points when evaluating service quality.

4. Possible Levels of Customer Expectations

5. Expectation Levels Desired Service: Level of service that customer hopes to receive. Adequate service: Level of service the customer will accept. Zone of tolerance: 1.The extent to which customer recognize and are willing to accept this variation. 2.Range or window in which customers do not notice service performance. 3.When service falls outside this range [either very high or very low],the service gets the customer’s attention in either a positive or negative way .

6. Different customers posses different zone of tolerance .

7. Factors that Influence Customer Expectation of Service

8. Internal Factors: 1.Individual needs: if customer feel lack of something ,he motivated to take action to fulfill it. Maslow explain , needs exist in a hierarchy. Lower order needs- Physiological needs, security needs Higher order needs- Social needs, Esteem needs , self actualization need. 2.Level of involvement : if customer is more involved, his expectations will be more & consumers become very particular about the type of service they expect. 3. Past experience: the experience that a customer has with the following are all important: Service provider A related service in a different industry A competing service in the same industry 4.Personal philosophy of the individual : We all have our own standards and we vied the word according to these standards which are developed because of our hereditary and our environment. 5.Demographical reason: Expectations may vary according to the demographic group one belongs to. For eg : Men may have different expectations from women when they go for hair cut.

9. External factors: Competitive options available: Consumer’s expectations ar often impacted when they compare one service provider with another. Social Setting: people’s expectation often increase when they are with others or in socially crucial situation. Word-of-mouth-communication: Generally we ask our friends, their opinion about a new movie which has just released . We then go into the hall with a certain level of experience. Cultural context and norms regarding the service: Expectations differ from country to country.

10. Situational factors: Type of service and industry : Customer expectations will also vary from one industry to another reflecting industry reputations and past very low expectation. In some countries, people may have very low expectations from government services providers but may have very high expectations from private service providers. Reason for purchase : The reason why a service is purchased can have an impact upon consumer expectation. Consumer’s mood : Individual in a good mood may be more tolerant of delay or inadequate service than a consumer who is in a bad mood, therefore service providers have to pay a lot of attention to setting the mood. Weather : Imagine a situation where an aero plane is a caught up in a thunderstorm .The consumers will focus their expectations on getting back on land safety with no thought to delay .Thus, even the weather can influence consumer expectations. Time constraints : If a company has approached a placement agency to fill up a post and needs to do so really quickly, It may compromise on the qualifications if the individual selected because of time shortage to find the suitable person who fulfills all the required criteria. Thus, time constraints can influence consumer expectation.

11. 6. Critical positioning : Emergencies and catastrophes do influence consumer expectations. Under normal circumstance may have very high expectations from hospital staff but if there is a disaster like a fire or earthquake which has meant that the hospital is overflowing with patients consumers may become more tolerant. 7 . News in media : Any publicity positive or negative or any report in media may have an impact upon the consumer expectations.

12. Supplier-Controlled Factors Supplier controlled factors such as advertising , price & the physical appearance of the service facility and its employees will greatly influence consumer expectations. 1. Promotion : The promise that service providers may make in advertisement & sales promotions will create a certain level of expectations in the customers. 2. Pricing : The Higher the price of a service, the higher will be the consumer expectations. 3. Positioning : If the airlines has positioned itself as a no- frills, low cost airline then consumer expectations will be low but if the airlines has position itself as a premium airlines, then consumer expectations will be very high . 4. Distribution : When a service provider has many outlets then a consumer who has used the service one, forms a certain level of expectations. If the service is the single unit, consumers may not know what to expect .

13. 5. Service personnel : The attitude and behavior of employees as well as what they say will influence consumer expectations. 6 . Accompanying tangibles : The tangibles cues in the service facility like décor, furniture, equipments used, level of hygiene and cleanliness ,etc. 7. Other customers : A customer who goes to a gym may observe how the instructors treat and instruct other consumers. Their expectations will therefore be formed according to that. 8. Image of the firm : The goodwill And the image that a firm created for itself also influences the expectations of the consumers .

14. Factors Influencing Desired Service

15. Factors That Influencing Adequate Service

16. Factors That Influence Desired and Predicted Service

17. MANAGING CUSTOMER SERVICE EXPECTATION It is a critical component in the marketing plan of a service business. Consumer expectation must be managed during the following:

18. Pre purchase phase: 1. Learn what customer expect :- Learning customer expectation during the pre purchase phase requires communication. 2. Tell customer what they expect : Advertising , sales personnel , tangible cues , point of purchase display and sales promotions some of the methods that can be used. 3. Consistently provide the service that customer expect- Past experiences and word of mouth are two critical variable used by consumers in making purchase decision.

19. Service encounter Service personnel must communicate with the customer during the service encounter. If possible , service providers should modify the service to meet the customer's expectation. If the service cannot be modified , the service personnel should explain why the customer’s expectations cannot be met. The goal during this phase is to ensure the service being provided matches the customer’s expectations.

20. Post-purchase phase Managing consumer expectations do not stop after the service is performance .

21. Exceeding customers service expectations This strategy is appropriate for those organizations which define service quality as delighting the customers. It is concerned with trying to ensure that there will no negative experiences faced by users.

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