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Unit 4: Customer Expectations and Perceptions of Services through Marketing Research
The desired service expectations of a customer may also depend on the service expectations of an Notes
associated party. The associated party may be a customer of the customer himself.
Example: In the case of supply of food by a hotel to an airlines company, the airlines
demands superior quality food to be delivered by the hotel because customers of the airlines
expect to be served food of superior quality on the flight. In this case, the hotel is the service
provider, the airlines company is its customer and the passengers travelling by the airlines
comprise the associated party.
The associated party may also be someone superior to the customer and to whom he is
answerable.
Example: Consider the case of an HR manager hiring the services of a particular
consultancy to take care of recruitment in the company. In this case, the service provider is the
consultancy and the customer is the HR manager. The desired service expectations of the HR
manager are based on the service expectations of the top management of the company, since he
is answerable to them regarding the quality of recruitment in the company.
However, it does not always happen that the desired service expectations of a customer are met
or exceeded by the service delivered by a service provider. Often, customers have to compromise
on their service expectations and accept an adequate level of service, which is slightly lower
than the desired level.
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Caution Sometimes customers also enter into a SLA with the service providers. An SLA
(Service Level Agreement) is a document that describes the minimum performance criteria
a provider promises to meet while delivering a service.
SLA typically also sets out the remedial action and any penalties that will take effect if performance
falls below the promised standard. It is an essential component of the legal contract between a
service consumer and the provider.
Adequate Service
Adequate service is the minimal level of service that a customer is willing to accept from a
service provider and is based on the customers perception of what level of service is acceptable
to him. Customers are dissatisfied if the service provided by a service provider does not meet
the adequate service level expectations.
A customers expectations of adequate service change with his perception of the available
alternatives for the particular service. Customers expectation of adequate service increases in
situations of an emergency.
Example: Train commuters in large cities such as Mumbai; tend to get frustrated at even
the slightest delay in the arrival of local trains when they need to move fast. However, when
there is a service failure during heavy rains, the commuters are willing to accept even the
minimum service that is available. That is, when there is a service failure, the adequate service
level decreases or comes down.
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