By:Saugata Palit

1

• Meaning and Types of Expected Service

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• Factors That Influence Customer Expectations of Service

Meaning and Types of Expected Service

Customer Expectations of Service

Customer Expectations

•Beliefs about service delivery

•Serve as standards or reference points againstwhich performance is judged.

•Customers compare their perceptions ofperformance with these reference points whenevaluating service quality.

•Thorough knowledge about customer expectationsis critical to services marketers.

Expected Service: Levels of Expectations

Possible Levels of Customer Expectation

Ideal Expectations or Desires

Normative “Should” Expectations

Experience Based Norms

Acceptable Expectations

Minimum Tolerance Expectations

Dual Customer Expectation Levels

Desired Service:

Level of service that customer hopes to receive

Adequate service:

Level of service the customer will accept

The Zone of ToleranceRange or window in which customers do not notice service performance

When service falls outside this range(either very high or very low), the service gets the customer’s attention in either a positive or negative way

Zones of Tolerance forDifferent Service Dimensions

Most Important Factors

Adequate Service

Desired Service

Zone ofTolerance

Zone

of

Tolerance

Desired Service

Adequate Service

Least Important factors

Factors That Influence Customer Expectations of

Service

Factors That Influence Desired Service

Factors That Influence Adequate Service

TABLE 4.1: (Continued) How Services Marketers Can Influence Factors

Factor Possible Influence Strategies

Perceived service alternatives Be fully aware of competitive offerings, and where possible and

appropriate, match them.

Self-perceived service role Educate customers to understand their roles and perform them

better.

Word-of-mouth communications Simulate word of mouth in advertising by using testimonials and

opinion leaders.

Identify influencers and opinion leaders for the service and

concentrate marketing efforts on them.

Use incentives with existing customers to encourage them to say

positive things about the service.

Past experience Use marketing research to profile customers’ previous experience

with similar services.

Situational factors Use service guarantees to assure customers about service recovery

regardless of the situational factors that occur.

Predicted service Tell customers when service provision is higher than what can normally be expected so that predictions of future service encounters will not be inflated.

Frequently Asked Questions About Customer Expectations

What does a service marketer do if customer expectations are “unrealistic”?

How does a company exceed customer service expectations?

Do customer service expectations continually escalate?

What does a service marketer do if customer expectations are “unrealistic”?

•Under promise

•Reality check after purchase

How does a company exceed customer service expectations?

Honor promises don’t work on exceeding expectations

How does a service company stay ahead of competition in meeting customer expectations?

• Meet customer’s expectations better than the competition

Do customer service expectations continually escalate?

Desired service expectations are relatively stable

Adequate service expectations rise as quickly as service delivery or promise rise