Page 53 - DMGT510_SERVICES_MARKETING

Services Marketing

Notes comes out of suggestions through friends, colleagues, advertising, etc. Service brands that come
under the former set have more marketing advantages.
If a customer is not able to find the required information during his search – and if the process
entails high involvement – then a certain offer will not be part of his decision making and the
marketer loses out and suffers from lost opportunity.

Did u know? Thus such marketing initiatives like call centres, websites and Customer
Relationship Management (CRM) have been undertaken to give all possible information
to the current and potential customer.
The service marketer should take care to be a part of the consideration set, too, so as not to miss
out on the benefits.
If the customer is allowed to compare, he becomes empowered and takes a more rational
decision. Therefore many service marketers try for settings that will prevent the customer from
making a comparison. Exclusive authorized retail stores are one such example, which will make
comparison between offers difficult for the consumer. Similarly, direct marketers get the
advantage from the customer’s inability to compare their offer during a service product
demonstration and personal selling. The customer might end up paying higher prices for the
service offer without knowing that a cheaper alternative was available. The flip-side to of this
strategy is that the customer might have negative feelings for such retailing initiatives and may
not patronize such outlets. The service marketer might lose out on the customer who might
prefer multi-brand outlets.

3.3.5 Evaluation of Alternatives

The customer for the service starts making a comparison of the attributes of the alternatives
based on his criteria of decision making. The criteria could be features of the offer like price,
benefits - core and peripheral – reputation, and performance expectations. He then makes the
comparison based on such subjective parameters as perception of brands and his own attitudes.
The customer ranks his preference among the alternatives which tend to satisfy both functional
and rational needs related to the performance of the product as well as psychological or emotional
needs that goes with his self-image.

At this stage, the customer has almost made a decision from the information gathered, to buy
the service offer, decline or delay the purchase.

Example: With the end of the fiscal year, an income-tax payee would search for different
alternatives of tax-saving instruments. He would then rank his preference of such alternatives as
insurance, home loans whose interest components are eligible for tax deductions, Infrastructure
Bonds, Unit Linked Insurance Plans (a product of Unit Trust of India), National Savings Certificates,
etc. He would then buy a particular service offer, decline any of them or delay the purchase,
hoping to come across better instruments.

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