RG

Services 2

What is Service Quality?

  • Customer service is a strategic tool for managing the entire customer relationship.
  • Reliability: Ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately.
  • Responsiveness: Willingness to help customers and provide prompt service.
  • Assurance: Employees must be knowledgeable, courteous, and convey trust and confidence.
  • Empathy: Providing caring, individualized attention to customers.
  • Tangibles: Appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel, and communication materials.

Managing Service Quality

  • Effective marketing of services requires managers to understand customer wants and expectations during service encounters.
  • A gap exists when expectations do not equal experience.
  • EXPECTED SERVICE - PERCEIVED SERVICE = GAP ANALYSIS

Quality Specifications: The Gap Model of Service Quality

The Gap Model of Service Quality consists of:

  • Expected Service

  • Service Delivery

  • Management Perception

  • Communication with Customers

  • Customer

  • Provider

  • Perceived Service

  • GAP 1: Knowledge Gap - Difference between customer expectations and management perceptions of those expectations.

  • GAP 2: Standards Gap - Difference between management perceptions of customer expectations and service quality specifications.

  • GAP 3: Delivery Gap - Difference between service quality specifications and the actual service delivery.

  • GAP 4: Communications Gap - Difference between actual service delivery and what is communicated about the service to customers.

  • GAP 5: Service Gap - Difference between customer expectations and perceived service.

The Service Gap: Disconfirmation Paradigm

The Disconfirmation Paradigm:

  • Expectations: Customer's anticipations about the service.

  • Performance: The service actually delivered.

  • Positive Disconfirmation: Performance exceeds expectations, leading to satisfaction.

  • Negative Disconfirmation: Performance falls short of expectations, leading to dissatisfaction.

  • Satisfaction: Result of positive disconfirmation.

  • Dissatisfaction: Result of negative disconfirmation.

  • Satisfaction may, or may not equal loyalty. Satisfaction is not the only determinant of loyalty.

Marketing Mix: The 4 P's

The traditional 4 P's of the marketing mix:

  • Product: The offering to the target market.
  • Price: EFEN - Amount charged for the product.
  • Place: Distribution channels to reach the target market (390).
  • Promotion: Communication activities to inform and persuade the target market (0.1mm, 22,5).

The Services Marketing Mix: The 7 P's

The expanded 7 P's of the services marketing mix:

  • Product
  • Price
  • Place (390)
  • Promotion (0.1mm, 22,5)
  • People: Employees and customers involved in service delivery.
  • Process: Procedures, mechanisms, and flow of activities in service delivery.
  • Physical Evidence: The environment in which the service is delivered and any tangible goods that facilitate performance or communication of the service (0.1mm, 390, 22,5).

Physical Evidence: Managing the Servicescape

  • Servicescape refers to the use of physical evidence to design service environments.
    • Ambient conditions
    • Inanimate objects
    • Other physical evidence