Page 75 - DMGT510_SERVICES_MARKETING
P. 75
Services Marketing
Notes Service Encounters
Customer perception of service quality is primarily influenced by the service encounter. A
customer estimates the quality of service throughout his/her interaction with a service provider.
Example: a bank customers service encounter begins when he approaches the bank
officials with queries, and is influenced by aspects such as the time taken to meet the senior
officer, or to deposit or withdraw cash, the courtesy of the bank officials and so on. During these
interactions, a customer would assess the quality of service offered by the service provider.
Every incident in the service encounter sums up the customers satisfaction and his intention to
repeat business with the service provider.
Generally, researchers believe that the first encounter can be critical in a transaction. If a customer
is not satisfied in the first encounter, he may never return to do business with that particular
service provider.
Example: if a person who visits an insurance company for settlement of his claim is not
received properly by the employees of the company, he may not like to take any more insurance
coverage from the company.
However, in a series of service encounters, any encounter can be a critical encounter and will
have an effect on the customers satisfaction or dissatisfaction.
Often, customers evaluate a service encounter on the basis of the amount of care and concern
shown by the employees of the service company during the transaction. The speed at which
employees respond to customer problems, has a direct impact on customer satisfaction. Further,
there is an increase in customer satisfaction if employees of the service company show flexibility
in service delivery.
Types of Service Encounters
There are three types of service encounters: Remote encounters, Phone encounters and Face-to-
face encounters.
1. Remote Encounters: Remote encounters do not involve any direct human contact.
Example: ATM machines, telephone answering machines, voice mail service, automated
mail order service, and obtaining billing information on an automated service/line.
Customers can estimate the quality of a remote encounter with the help of tangible clues
of the service (for example, the air-conditioning and piped music being played in the ATM
enclosure or the length of the queue outside it) and the quality of technical processes and
systems. Service providers should ensure that the quality of these systems is maintained
consistently to avoid the reputation of the company from being adversely affected.
Example: A lot of people book flight tickets on internet on websites like Cleartrip.com
and Makemytrip.com. These companies should ensure that the process is not complicated and
the process takes lesser time. As the customers have to make inputs individually, proper
instructions should be there to help them. The same goes for internet banking and E-commerce
websites.
70 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY
