Page 103 - DMGT308_CUSTOMER_RELATIONSHIP_MANAGEMENT

Customer Relationship Management

Notes 4.3 Customer Expectation

Customer expectations are beliefs about service delivery that serve as standards or reference
points against which performance is judged. Because customers compare their perceptions of
performance with these reference points when evaluating service quality, thorough knowledge
about customer expectations is critical to services marketers. Knowing what the customer expects
is the first and possibly most critical step in delivering good quality service. Being wrong about
what customers want can mean losing a customer’s business when another company hits the
target exactly. Being wrong can also mean expending money, time and other resources on
things that do not count to the customer. Being wrong can even mean not surviving in a fiercely
competitive market.
Among the aspects of expectations that need to be explored and understood for successful
services marketing are the following: what types of expectation standards do customers hold
about services? What factors most influence the formation of these expectations? What role do
these factors play in changing expectations? How can a service company meet or exceed customer
expectations?

Meaning and Types of Service Expectations

To say that expectations are reference points against which service delivery is compared is only
a beginning. The level of expectation can vary widely depending on the reference point the
customer holds. Although most everyone has an intuitive sense of what expectations are, service
marketers need a far more thorough and clear definition of expectations in order to comprehend,
measure and manage them.

Let us imagine that you are planning to go to a restaurant. Figure 4.6 shows a continuum along
which different possible types of service expectations can be arrayed from low to high. On the
left of the continuum are different types or levels of expectations, ranging from high (top) to low
(bottom). At each point we give a name to the type of expectation and illustrate what it might
mean in terms of a restaurant you are considering. Note how important the expectation you
held will be to your eventual assessment of the restaurant’s performance. Suppose you went
into the restaurant for which you held the minimum tolerable expectation, paid very little
money and were served immediately with good food. Next suppose that you went to the
restaurant for which you had the highest (ideal) expectations, paid a lot of money and were
served good (but not fantastic) food. Which restaurant experience would you judge to be best?
The answer is likely to depend a great deal on the reference point that you brought to the
experience. Because the idea of customer expectations is so critical to evaluation of service, we
start this unit by talking about the levels of expectations.
Expected Service: Levels of Expectations

As we showed in Figure 4.6, customers hold different types of expectations about service. For
purposes of our discussion in the rest of this unit, we focus on two types. The highest can be
termed desired service: the level of service the customer hopes to receive – the ‘wished for’ level
of performance. Desired service is a blend of what the customer believes ‘can be’ and ‘should be’.
For example, consumers who sign up for a computer dating service expect to find compatible,
attractive, interesting people to date and perhaps even someone to marry. The expectation
reflects the hopes and wishes of these consumers; without these hopes and wishes and the belief
that they may be fulfilled, consumers would probably not purchase the dating service. In a
similar way, you may use an online travel-planning and flight-booking site such as Expedia to

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