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SM
Part 1

FOCUS ON THE CUSTOMER

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SM The Customer Gap

Expected
Service

GAP

Perceived
Service

Part 1 Opener
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SM The Customer Gap

• The customer gap is the difference between customer expectation and

Customer perception.
• Customer expectations are standards or reference point that customers
bring into services experience.
• Customer expectations often consist of what customer believes should
or will happen.
• Perception is derived from the customer’s satisfaction of the specific
product or service and the quality of service delivery.

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SM Gaps Model of Service Quality

CUSTOMER Expected
Service

Customer
Gap
Perceived
Service

External
COMPANY Service Delivery Communications
GAP 4 to Customers
GAP 1 GAP 3
Customer-Driven Service
Designs and Standards

GAP 2
Company Perceptions of
Consumer Expectations
Part 1 Opener
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Gaps Model of Service
SM
Quality

• Customer Gap:
• difference between expectations and
perceptions
• Provider Gap 1:
• not knowing what customers expect
• Provider Gap 2:
• not having the right service designs and
standards
• Provider Gap 3:
• not delivering to service design and standards
• Provider Gap 4:
• not matching performance to promises
Part 1 Opener
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SM

• Provider Gap 1:
• Not knowing what customers expect
a. Inadequate marketing research
b. lack of Upward communication.
c. Insufficient relationship focus.
d. inadequate service recovery
• Provider Gap 2:
• not having the right service designs and standards
a. Poor Service design
b. Absence of customer driven standards.
c. Inappropriate Physical evidence and service scape

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• Provider Gap 3:
• not delivering to service design and standards
a. Inefficient in HR policies.
b. Customers who do not fulfill roles.
c. Problems with service intermediaries.
d. Failure to match supply and demand.
• Provider Gap 4:
• not matching performance to promises
a. Lack of integrated service marketing communication
b. Ineffective management of customer expectations.
c. Overpromising
d. Inadequate horizontal communication.

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SM
Chapter 2

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
IN SERVICES

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SM Consumer Evaluation
Processes for Services
• Search Qualities
– attributes a consumer can determine prior to
purchase of a product
• Experience Qualities
– attributes a consumer can determine after purchase
(or during consumption) of a product
• Credence Qualities
– characteristics that may be impossible to evaluate
even after purchase and consumption

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Figure 2-1
SM Continuum of Evaluation for
Different Types of Products

Most Most
Goods Services

Easy to evaluate
Difficult to evaluate
Clothing

Jewelry

Furniture

Houses

Automobiles

Restaurant meals

Vacations

Haircuts

Child care

Television repair

Legal services

Root canals

Auto repair

Medical diagnosis
{
{
McGraw-Hill
High in search
qualities
High in experience High in credence
qualities qualities
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SM Consumer Behavior in
Services
Need Recognition
• Information search
Personal and Non personal sources
Perceived risk(Financial risk, performance risk etc.)
Services are non standardized so the consumer will
feel some uncertainty about the outcome and
consequences.
• Evaluation of service alternatives
• Service purchase and consumption

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Consumer experience
SM

• Service as process.
• Service Provision as Drama
• The metaphor of a theatre is a useful framework for describing and
analyzing service performances.
• Both the theatre and service organizations aim to create and maintain a
desirable impression before an audience and recognize that the way to
accomplish this is by carefully managing the actors and the physical setting
of their behavior.
• The service marketer must play many drama – related roles including
director, choreographer and writer – to be sure the performances of the
actors are pleasing to the audience.
• First, service actors are critical when the degree of direct personal contact is
high

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• The second condition where service actor’s skills are critical is when
the services involve repeat contact.
• The third condition in which contact personnel are critical is when
they have discretion in determining the nature of the service and how
it is delivered. Example of such services is medical and legal services,
the professional is the key actor in the performance.
• The drama metaphor offers a useful way to improve service
performances. An actor’s personal appearance, manner, facial
expression, gestures, personality and demographic profile can be
determined in large part in the interview or audition.

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• Service Roles and Scripts

• Roles are combinations of social cues that guide and direct behavior in
a given setting. Just as there are roles in dramatic performances, there
are roles in service delivery.
• Eg : The role of a hostess in a restaurant is to acknowledge and greet
customers, find out how many people are in their group and then lead
them to a table where they will eat.
• The success of any service performance depends in part on how well
the role is performed by the service sector and how well the team of
players – the "role set" of both service employees and customers – acts
out their roles.

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• Service employees need to perform their roles according to the

expectations of the customer; if they do not, the customer may be
frustrated and disappointed.
• The customer’s role must also be performed well. If customers are
informed and educated about their roles,
• Service scripts consist of sequences of actions associated with actors
and objects that, through repeated involvement define what the
customer expects. Receiving a dental checkup is a service experience
for which a well-defined script exists.

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• Receiving a dental checkup is a service experience for which a well-

defined script exists. For a checkup the consumer expects the
following sequence: enter the reception area, greet a receptionist, sit in
a waiting room, follow the dental hygienist to a separate room, recline
in a chair while his teeth are cleaned by the hygienist, be examined by
the dentist, then pay for the services.
• When the service conforms to this script, there is feeling of confirmed
expectations and satisfaction. Deviations from the service script lead
to confusion and dissatisfaction.
• Some services are more scripted than others. We would expect very
expensive, customized services like spa vacations to be less scripted
than mass – produced services such as fast food ("Have a nice day!)
and airline travel.

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SM The Compatibility of
Service Customers

•If we focus on the role of other customers receiving service at the same
time.
• Eg : Other customers is in churches, restaurants, dances, bars clubs and
spectator sports: If no one else shows up, customers will not get to
socialize with others, one of the primary expectations in these types of
services. However, if customers become so dense that crowding occurs,
customers may also be dissatisfied. The way other customers behave with
many services such as airlines, education, clubs and social organizations
also exerts a major influence on a customer’s experience.
•

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• Customers can be incompatible for many reasons – differences in

beliefs, values, experiences, abilities to pay, appearance, age and
health, to name just a few. The service marketer must anticipate,
acknowledge and deal with heterogeneous consumers who have the
potential to be incompatible.
• The service marketer can also bring homogeneous customers together
and solidify relationships between them, which increases the cost to
the customer of switching service providers. Customer compatibility is
a factor that influences customer satisfaction, particularly in high –
contact services.

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SM

• Customer Coproduction
• Emotion and mood

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SM Post Experience
Evaluation

• Word of Mouth
• Attribution of Dissatisfaction.
• Positive and Negative biases
• Brand Loyalty

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Global Feature:
SM Differences in the Service
Experience in the U.S. and Japan

 Authenticity
 Caring
 Control Courtesy
 Formality
 Friendliness
 Personalization
 Promptness
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