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Valarie A Zeithaml | Mary Jo Bitner

6E
Dwayne D. Gremler | Ajay Pandit

Integrating Customer Focus Across the Firm

SERVICES MARKETING
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CUSTOMER PERCEPTIONS OF
SERVICE
44
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 Customer Perceptions
 Customer Satisfaction
 Service Quality
 Service Encounters: The Building Blocks
for Customer Perceptions

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Objectives for Chapter 4:
Consumer Perceptions of Service
 Provide a solid basis for understanding what influences
customer perceptions of service and the relationships
among customer satisfaction, service quality, and
individual service encounters.
 Demonstrate the importance of customer satisfaction—
what it is, the factors that influence it, and the
significant outcomes resulting from it.
 Develop critical knowledge of service quality and its
five key dimensions: reliability, responsiveness,
empathy, assurance, and tangibles.
 Show that service encounters, or the “moments of
truth” are the essential building blocks from which
customers form their perceptions.

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The customer is . . .

Anyone who receives the company’s

services, including:
 external customers (outside the organization,
business customers, suppliers, partners, end
consumers)
 internal customers (inside the organization,
e.g., other departments, fellow employees)

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4-6
Customer Perceptions of Quality and
Customer Satisfaction
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Factors Influencing
Customer Satisfaction
 Product quality
 Service quality
 Price
 Specific product or service features
 Consumer emotions
 Attributions for service success or failure
 Perceptions of equity or fairness
 Other consumers, family members, and
coworkers
 Personal factors
 Situational factors
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4-8
ASQI and Market Value Added
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Outcomes of Customer Satisfaction

 Increased customer loyalty

 Positive word-of-mouth communications
 Increased revenues
 Increased return to shareholders

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4-10
Satisfaction and Loyalty in Competitive
Relationship between Customer

Industries
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Top Box Scores – A Higher Standard
Overall Satisfaction Definitely Will Definitely Would
with XYZ Repurchase from Recommend XYZ
(% of customers) XYZ

TOP BOX
Very Satisfied =96% =91%
(64%)

44-point drop 55-point drop

All SECOND BOX

Somewhat Satisfied =52% =36%
Customers (29%)

BOTTOM 3 BOXES
Neutral to Very Dissatisfied
(7%) =7% =4%

Source: Technical Assistance Research Bureau (TARP), 2007.

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What is Service Quality?
The Customer Gap

EXPECTED SERVICE

Customer Gap

PERCEIVED SERVICE

Service quality is the customer’s judgment of overall excellence of the

service provided in relation to the quality that was expected.
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Service Quality

 The customer’s judgment of overall

excellence of the service provided in
relation to the quality that was expected.
 Service quality assessments are formed
on judgments of:
 outcome quality
 interaction quality
 physical environment quality

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The Five Dimensions of
Service Quality
Ability to perform the promised service
RELIABILITY dependably and accurately.

Knowledge and courtesy of employees and their

ASSURANCE ability to inspire trust and confidence.

Physical facilities, equipment, and appearance

TANGIBLES of personnel.

Caring, individualized attention the firm

EMPATHY provides its customers.

Willingness to help customers and provide

RESPONSIVENESS prompt service.

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4-15
Geek Squad’s Focus on
Responsiveness
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4-16
How Customers Judge the Five
Dimensions of Service Quality
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SERVQUAL Attributes
RELIABILITY EMPATHY
 Providing service as promised  Giving customers individual attention
 Dependability in handling customers’  Employees who deal with customers in a
service problems caring fashion
 Performing services right the first time  Having the customer’s best interest at
 Providing services at the promised heart
time  Employees who understand the needs of
 Maintaining error-free records their customers
 Convenient business hours

RESPONSIVENESS TANGIBLES
 Keeping customers informed as to  Modern equipment
when services will be performed  Visually appealing facilities
 Prompt service to customers  Employees who have a neat, professional
 Willingness to help customers appearance
 Readiness to respond to customers’  Visually appealing materials associated
requests with the service

ASSURANCE
 Employees who instill confidence in customers
 Making customers feel safe in their transactions
 Employees who are consistently courteous
 Employees who have the knowledge to answer
customer questions 4-17
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Exercise to Identify Service Attributes
In groups of five, choose a services industry and
spend 10 minutes brainstorming specific
requirements of customers in each of the five
service quality dimensions. Be certain the
requirements reflect the customer’s point of view.

RELIABILITY

ASSURANCE

TANGIBLES

EMPATHY

RESPONSIVENESS
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The Service Encounter
 is the “moment of truth”
 occurs any time the customer interacts with the
firm
 can potentially be critical in determining
customer satisfaction and loyalty
 types of encounters:
 remote encounters, phone encounters, face-to-face
encounters
 is an opportunity to:
 build trust
 reinforce quality
 build brand identity
 increase loyalty
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4-20
A Service Encounter Cascade for a
Hotel Visit
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A Service Encounter Cascade for an
Industrial Purchase

Sales Call

Delivery and Installation

Servicing

Ordering Supplies

Billing

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4-22
Service Encounters: An Opportunity to
Build Satisfaction and Quality
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Common Themes in Critical
Service Encounters Research

Recovery: Adaptability:
employee response employee response
to service delivery to customer needs
system failure and requests

Coping: Spontaneity:

employee response unprompted and

to problem customers unsolicited employee
actions and attitudes

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4-24
Recovery
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4-25
Adaptability
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4-26
Spontaneity
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Coping
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Technology-Based Service Encounters
 Themes for satisfying SSTs
 The technology solved an intensified need
 The technology was better than the alternative
 The technology did its job

 Themes for dissatisfying SSTs

 The technology itself failed
 The process failed
 The technology was poorly designed
 The customer did not use the technology
properly
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