CHAPTER 2
Understanding Service
Consumers
3-Stage model of service consumption
Pre-purchase
stage
Service-encounter
stage
Post-encounter
stage
Three Stage Model
Stages of Service Consumption Key Concepts
Awareness of need Need arousal
• Information search Evoked set
• Clarify needs Consideration set
• Explore solutions
• Identify alternative service products and suppliers
Evaluation of alternatives (solutions and suppliers) Multi-attribute model
Pre-purchase Stage
• Review supplier information Search, experience, and credence attributes
(e.g. advertising, brochures, websites) Perceived risk
• Review information from third parties
(e.g. published reviews, ratings, comments on web,
blogs, complaints to public agencies, satisfaction
ratings, awards)
• Discuss options with service personnel
• Get advice and feedback from third-party advisors
and other customers
Formation of expectations: desired service level,
Make decisions on service purchase and often predicted service level, adequate service level, zone of
make reservations tolerance
3
Stages of Service Consumption Key Concepts
Post-encounter Stage Service Encounter Stage Request service from a chosen supplier or Moments of truth
initiate self-service (payment may be upfront or Service encounters
billed later) Servuction system
Theatre as a metaphor
Service delivery by personnel or self-service Role and script theories
Perceived control theory
Evaluation of service performance Confirmation/ Disconfirmation of expectations
Dissatisfaction, satisfaction and delight
Future intentions Service Quality
Word-of-mouth
Repurchase
Loyalty
Pre-purchase Stage
(#1 of The Three Stage Model)
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Need Arousal
• Decision to buy or use a service is triggered by need
arousal
• Triggers of need:
• Unconscious minds (e.g., personal identity and aspirations)
• Physical conditions (e.g., hunger )
• External sources (e.g., a service firm’s marketing activities)
• Consumers are then motivated to find a solution for
their need
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Information Search
• Need arousal leads to attempts to find a solution
• Evoked set – a set of products and brands that a
consumer considers during the decision-making
process – that is derived from past experiences or
external sources
• Alternatives then need to be evaluated before a final
decision is made
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How Product Characteristics Affect Ease
Of Evaluation
Adapted from Valarie A. Zeithaml, “How Consumer Evaluation Processes Differ Between Goods and Services,”
in J. H. Donnelly and W. R. George, Marketing of Services (Chicago: American Marketing Association, 1981).
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Evaluating Alternatives –
Service Attributes
• Search attributes help customers evaluate a product
before purchase
• E.g., type of food, location, type of restaurant and price
• Experience attributes cannot be evaluated before
purchase
• The consumer will not know how much they will enjoy the food, the service,
and the atmosphere until the actual experience
• Credence attributes are those that customers find
impossible to evaluate confidently even after purchase
and consumption
• E.g., hygiene conditions of the kitchen and the healthiness of the cooking
ingredients
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Multi-Attribute Model
Current Dry Campus Dry New Dry Importance
Cleaner Cleaner Cleaner Weight
Quality of Dry 9 10 10 30%
Cleaning
Convenience of 10 8 9 25%
Location
Price 8 10 8 20%
Opening Hours 6 10 9 10%
Reliability of On- 2 9 9 5%
time Delivery
Friendliness of 2 8 8 5%
Staff
Design of Shop 2 7 8 5%
Total Score 7.7 9.2 9.0 100%
Table 2.1 Modeling Consumer Choice – Susan Munro’s
Multiattribute Model for Choosing a Dry Cleaner
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Perceived Risks of Purchasing and Using Services
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How Might Consumers Handle Perceived Risk?
• Seeking more information
• Surf the Internet to compare
• Search for independent reviews and ratings
• Explore discussions on social media
• Relying on a firm that has a good reputation.
• Look for guarantees and warranties.
• Visit service
• Ask knowledgeable employees about competition’s offerings
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Strategic Responses to Managing Customer
Perceptions of Risk (1 of 2)
• Encourage prospective customers to preview the service through
their company websites and videos.
• Encourage prospective customers to visit the service facilities before
purchase.
• Offer free trials suitable for services with high experience attributes.
• For services with high credence qualities and high customer
involvement, advertising helps to communicate the benefits, usage
and how consumers can enjoy the best results.
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Strategic Responses to Managing Customer
Perceptions of Risk (2 of 2)
• Display credentials
• Use evidence management, an organized approach where customers are
presented with coherent evidence of the company’s targeted image and its
value proposition
• Have visible safety procedures that build confidence and trust
• Give customers access to online information about the status of an order
or procedure.
• Offer service guarantees such as money-back guarantees and performance
warranties
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Factors Influencing Customer Expectations of
Service
Adapted from Valarie A. Zeithaml, Leonard A. Berry, and A. Parasuraman (1993), “The Nature and Determinants of Customer Expectations of
Service,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 21, No. 1, pp. 1–12.
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Components of Customer Expectations
Desired Service Level
• wished-for level of service quality that customer believes can and should be
delivered
Adequate Service Level
• minimum acceptable level of service
Predicted Service Level
• service level that customer believes firm will actually deliver
Zone of Tolerance
• Acceptable range of variations in service delivery
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Purchase Decision
• Purchase Decision:
Possible alternatives are compared and evaluated, whereby the best option
is selected
• Simple if perceived risks are low and alternatives are clear
• Complex when trade-offs increase
• Trade-offs are often involved
• After making a decision, the consumer moves into the service encounter
stage
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(#2 of The Three Stage Model)
Service Encounter Stage (1 of 2)
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Service Encounter Stage (2 of 2)
• Service encounter – a period of time during which a customer
interacts directly with the service provider
• Might be brief or extend over a period of time (e.g., a phone call or visit to the
hospital)
• Models and frameworks:
1.“Moments of Truth” – importance of managing touch points
[Link]/low contact model – extent and nature of contact points
[Link] model – variations of interactions
[Link] metaphor – “staging” service performances
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Distinctions between High-Contact and Low-
Contact Services
High-Contact Services Low-Contact Services
• Customers visit service facility and • Little or no physical contact
remain throughout service • Contact usually at arm’s length
delivery through electronic or physical
• Active contact distribution channels
• Includes most people-processing • Facilitated by new technologies
services
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The Servuction System (1 of 2)
Adapted and expanded from an original concept by Eric Langeard and Pierre Eiglier 22
The Servuction System (2 of 2)
• The Servuction System consists of:
• Technical core — where inputs are processed and service
elements created
• Service delivery system—where the final “assembly”
takes place and the product is delivered to the customer.
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Theatrical Metaphor:
An Integrative Perspective
Service facilities Personnel
• Stage on which drama • Front stage personnel are
unfolds like members of a cast
• This may change from • Backstage personnel are
one act to another support production team
Roles Scripts
• Like actors, employees • Specifies the sequences
have roles to play and of behavior for customers
behave in specific ways and employees
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Post-Encounter Stage (1 of 2)
(#3 of The Three Stage Model)
25
Post-Encounter Stage (2 of 2)
•The last stage of service consumption
•involves consumers’ attitudinal and behavioral
responses to the service experience
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Customer Satisfaction
• customers evaluate the service performance they have experience
• compare it with their prior expectations.
The Expectancy-Disconfirmation Model of Satisfaction
• Satisfaction is a judgment following a series of consumer
product interactions.
27
The Expectancy-Disconfirmation Model of
Satisfaction
In the model shown above,
confirmation or disconfirmation of
pre-consumption expectations is the
essential determinant of satisfaction.
Adapted from Richard L. Oliver (1997), Satisfaction: A Behavioral Perspective
on the Consumer, (New York: McGraw-Hill) 110.
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Service Quality
Excellent service quality is a high standard
of performance that consistently meets or
exceeds customer expectations.
Consumers’ repurchase intentions are influenced by
their general beliefs about the service quality of the
firm at the time of their next purchase decision.
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Customer Satisfaction
versus
Service Quality
• Customer satisfaction is an evaluation of a single consumption
experience, a fleeting judgment, and a direct and immediate response
to that experience.
• Service quality refers to relatively stable attitudes and beliefs about a
firm, which can differ significantly from satisfaction.
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Dimensions of Service Quality
Tangibles
Empathy Reliability
Assurance Responsiveness
