Customers' perceptions of the service
how customers assess whether they have experienced quality service and whether they are satisfied with the service they received.
Customer Satisfaction
a broader concept; more inclusive, it is influenced by perceptions of service quality, product quality, and price, as well a situational factors and personal factors.
Determinants of customer satisfaction
product and services features, customer emotions, service attributes, perception of equity or fairness, and other customers
Product and service features
any features that are addition to the product or service given. example: hotel has pools, restaurants, gyms, access to golf amenities, etc. most firms determine through some means about what is important features and attributes are for their service and then measure perceptions of those features as well as overall service satisfaction.
Customer emotions
can affect their perceptions of satisfaction with products and services. these emotions can be stable, preexisting emotions or specific emotions can be induced by the consumption experience itself, influencing the customer's satisfaction with the service.
Service attributes
the perceived causes of events influences perceptions of satisfaction. when a customer is surprised by the out come of the service (better or worse than expected) customers tend to look for reasons, or assessments of the reasons can influence their satisfaction.
Perceptions of equity or fairness
customers ask themselves if they have been treated fairly compared with other customers? did other customers get better treatment? better prices? better quality of service? Customers only want what is fair to them.
Other customers, family members, and coworkers
customer satisfaction is often influenced by other people. family decisions, coworkers, friends often influence customer's satisfaction, dissatisfaction, perceptions and emotions, leading them to them to skew their own perceptions.
National Customer Satisfaction Indexes
measures and tracks customer satisfaction at a macro level. evaluating the the health of a nation's economy , along with traditional measures of productivity and price.
The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI)
measures the satisfaction of good and services. tracks on a quarterly basis, customer perceptions across 200 firms representing all economic sectors including government agencies.
Outcomes of customer satisfaction
higher customer satisfaction results in customer loyalty and more profits.
Outcomes of customer dissatisfaction
when customers are dissatisfied with a service customers become disloyal and customer defection which is the loss of customers because of dissatisfaction.
Outcome quality
the process by which outcomes are delivered, and the quality of the physical surroundings where the service is delivered.
Process quality
interaction quality and physical environment quality example: lawyer.
Interaction quality
the interactions that the service provider does,includes factors as the lawyer's timeliness in returning phone calls, his empathy for the client, and his courtesy and learning skills.
Physical environment quality
the surroundings and the decor of the environment that the customer is when receiving the service.
Service quality dimention
reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibles.
Reliability
ability to perform the promised service dependability and accurately. (outcome quality)
Responsiveness
willingness to help customers and provide prompt service. (interaction quality)
Assurance
employees' knowledge and courtesy and their ability to inspire trust and confidence. (interaction quality)
Empathy
caring, individualized attention given customers. (interaction quality)
Tangibles
appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel, and communication materials. (physical environment quality)
E-service quality
consumers evaluated service quality on the web whether the criteria are different from those used to judge the quality of non-internet services.
Service encounters
"moments of truth". when the customer interacts with the service firm. in these encounters, customers receive a snapshot of the organization's service quality, and each encounter contributes to the customer's overall satisfaction and willingness to do business with the organization again.
Importance of service encounters
if the customer is interacting with a firm for the first time, that initial encounter will crate a first impression of the organization.
Types of service encounters
remote encounters, technology-mediated encounters, and face-to-face encounters.
Remote encounters
encounters that can occur without any human interaction such as when a customer interacts with an ATM.
Technology-mediated encounters
the most frequent type of of encounter, between an end customer and the firm either on the telephone, live chats, or other technology based communication with a real person in real time.
Face-to-face encounters
occurs between an employee and the customer in direct personal contact.
Sources of pleasure/ displeasure in service encounter
recovery, adaptability, spontaneity, and coping.
Recovery
the employees response to service delivery system failures.
Adaptability
the employees response to the customer's needs and requests.
Spontaneity
the unprompted and unsolicited employee actions.
Coping
the employees response to problem customers.
Technology based service encounters
customers interacting with internet based services, automated phone services, kiosk services, and services delivered via DVD or video technology. one of these systems are referred to self service technologies because the customer provides his or her own service.