Page 73 - DMGT510_SERVICES_MARKETING

Services Marketing

Notes deliver the service through explicit means such as personal selling and advertising, and implicit
means such as price of the service and appearance of the service facilities.

Reliability

Customers give importance to reliability over the other four dimensions of service. Firms that
fail to deliver reliable products or services tile first time, fail their customers directly. Studies
show that the service expectations of customers increase at tile time of service recovery. When
there is a service failure the first time, a customer’s zone of tolerance decreases. Hence, during
service recovery, customers’ expectations of desired and adequate service increase for both the
outcome dimension of reliability and process dimensions of tangibility, assurance, responsiveness
and empathy.
Service organisations should therefore practice to deliver the promises made to the customer,
correctly the very first time. Further, they should emphasize and design their service operations
in a way that they reflect the outcome dimension of reliability during tile customer’s first
service encounter.

Communicate Effectively

Companies should communicate effectively with customers to keep track of their expectations
and views about the services provided. Communication can be initiated in two ways, either
from the company or from the customer. A service organisation can initiate proactive
communication to inform customers about the latest developments in the organisation that will
help it serve them better.

Example: Consider a situation in which a hotel has introduced an online booking facility
enabling customers to reserve a room through the Internet. The hotel can use its customer
database to communicate the information regarding the new facility to all its customers,
irrespective of the number of times they have stayed at the hotel. ‘This action would delight the
customers who stayed at the hotel only once or twice and increase the trust of their regular
visitors.
Service organisations can also manage customer expectations by seeking their suggestions or
complaints about the service.

Exceeding Customer Service Expectations

Exceeding service expectations of customers is possible only when companies make an effort to
know their customers’ expectations. Companies should know what their customers would expect
from them after their service encounters in the past. Companies can make efforts to exceed the
service expectations of their customers by surprising the customers with their exemplary service.
Every customer has some level of expectation from the product and its performance. It is up to
the firm to reach at least the lowest point of this level. This concept can be explained in terms of
zone of tolerance, which is the level of performance (Refer to figure 4.1). Anything below this
level is unacceptable. On the other hand, if the firm can provide a degree of service that is above
the desired level, this will result in customer delight (close to the high end of the continuum in
figure 4.1) and it typically ensures that the customer will return again and again.
Customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction largely depends on how the service is delivered.
Therefore, service companies, which aim to exceed customer expectations, should find ways to
delight their customers with their service delivery process. Service companies have an

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