Satisfying and Dissatisfying Experiences in Services - Essay Example

?Topic: Service Marketing- A report analysing each diary entry. Identify drivers that account for i) satisfaction or dissatisfaction with services; and ii) loyalty and repeat purchase. Expectations from a service need to be clear. As customers, we should have clear indications of our expectations from the service provider. Services need to be experienced first to document a list of expectations. A university’s customer care needs to meet the students’ expectations from the service. Service cues are not similar for various industry sectors such as hotel and restaurant service experience is totally different from an educational organisation. Dividing the various services encounters into two sections of “satisfying” and “dissatisfying” experiences, let’s start with the first encounter experience at the Ice Bar in London. Our experience at the Ice Bar in London was average because we were kept waiting for 20 minutes. Once entered in the specified area, we got the feeling of cramped in an overcrowded space without any seating arrangement. Staff strength was minimal to attend to the large crowd although their smiling faces reduced our level of dissatisfaction. The management should add more aesthetic elements to the bar so that it does not remain a one-time visit. Overall, the experience at Ice Bar was disappointing, as it failed on the parameters of prompt service. The queues were long to get entry in the Ice Bar, leading to dissatisfaction. Assaf and Magnini (2012) have conducted statistical analysis of customer satisfaction in hotel efficiency, which indicates that if customer satisfaction is not given due importance, it can lead to huge difference in the mean and ranking of hotel efficiency scores. Efficiency measures can help a hotel in attaining its objective of providing satisfaction to customers, which is minutely related to planning, organizing, decision-making and information seeking by managers. Customer satisfaction has been used as an output variable in the modelling of hotel efficiency. In the past, critical variable used to be revenue and number of rooms rented out. It is derived from the gathered data of American Customer Satisfaction Index that a firm’s efficiency level among its competitors can be affected if customer satisfaction as an indicator is excluded from the modelling. This fact is proved in the case of Wyndham Hotel and Resorts, which stood on the fourth rank out of eight competitors in an efficiency model that did not include customer satisfaction data but came on seventh number when the model included satisfaction as an output. The concept that customer satisfaction can have a great impact in efficiency modelling has robust theoretical underpinnings in the marketing literature. It derives that satisfaction has a powerful connection with loyalty, which transforms into reduction in the cost of future dealings, diminishes price elasticity, builds a service failure stock, and cuts down on the negative publicity through word-of-mouth (Assaf and Magnini, 2012). The study by Assaf and Magnini (2012) can help hotel businesses to decide drivers of efficiency by analyzing both inputs and outputs of the model, the inputs being the number of outlets, number of full time employees, and operational expenses while customer satisfaction, income, and occupancy rate are taken as outputs. On the lines of Hotel Marriot, other hotels should organize cross-training of their employees to reduce a model input such as staff strength and boost the output in the form of customer satisfaction. It proves the effectiveness of efficiency model at managerial level, focusing on the capacity of a hotel firm to cross-train to enhance customer satisfaction level besides other outputs such as income and occupancy rates. Writing on my dissatisfying experiences, the transportation encounter with the EasyJet was not satisfying because the personnel at the airport were not fully informed about situations and their handling. Additional time was wasted unnecessarily. Seats were small and uncomfortable. Decision making was cumbersome, competence of the men on duty being the leading issue. Correlating our experience of the flight in Easy Jet, it came to our notice that the Easy Jet has increased the fare but cut back on the number of flights. It shows that market concentration level is not high otherwise the number of flights had not been reduced by the airline. Already, we were not entertaining any high expectations as we knew it well that food and luggage were charged extra by the airline. The problem that me and my friend underwent while check-in over the missing corner of the passport, which took 30 minutes clearly was a case of inefficiency on the part of airport staff but the airline cannot be blamed for it. Our flight from Luton to Paris was not relaxing as the seat size was not enough to add to the comfort level of the passengers. Dong et al. (2012) research the connections between customer service, customer satisfaction and firm in the context of US airline industry. It is observed that market density and firm’s market power particularly impress the service, satisfaction and performance level in a limited way. Therefore, it can be stated that a connection can be established among these three elements. The leading impact of the connection is seen in the reduction of customer satisfaction and profit margins of the airlines if market is highly concentrated. It derives the outcome of better customer care by airlines if market is competitive. It points out the significance of regulatory bodies in looking at airlines’ business strategies related to acquisition and merger activity that greatly enhance market concentration, which reduces the level of customer satisfaction. Another important out come of the modelling of service -satisfaction-performance linkages in the airline industry is that customer satisfaction enhances with customer service but at a reducing marginal rate. My other encounter with the Sheffield Hallam University was over the phone to inquire about the facilities provided to disabled students. The executive attending my call was very soft-spoken and patiently answered all my queries on the phone. The phone calling services support of the university impressed me a lot, particularly the care, competence, communication and friendly attitude of the executive (Sheffield Hallam University, 2012). Service quality indicators, according to Johnston & Clark (2008) can be varied for different organisations but at least 18 quality indicators have been specified on the basis of wider usage of the quality standards. These indicators, which are identifications of past expectations, include: Access. Service provision address should be easily located and the road leading to the address should be approachable. Aesthetics. The service offering should be agreeable and comforting to the customer; it covers the view of the building, its surrounding region and services including products and staff. Willingness to help. The contacted person should be willing to help the customer and show interest in facilitating to customer needs. Availability. It means availability of not only service facilities, staff and products to the customer but the balanced ratio of staff to the requirements of the customers. Products and services provision should also be enough in numbers and range to be exhibited to the customer. Care. The customer hopes for an impartial and sympathetic treatment and additional patience of the staff to make the customer comfortable emotionally. Cleanliness. The facilities the customer avails need to be well maintained for effective cleanliness. All material parts of the service including goods and personnel come in the circumference of cleanliness. Comfort. It comes with the measures taken by the management for the comfortable visit and stay of the customer. Dedication. The attending personnel’s perceived sincerity in fulfilling the customers’ needs and doing their job earnestly, actively and whole-heartedly. Communication. The servicing personnel need to communicate in such manner that is easily understandable to the customers. Communication needs to be clear and to-the-point including both written and spoken language conveying the meaning and listening patiently to the customer. Competence. It is related to the expertise needed to finish the task assigned by the customer. It requires taking the right steps, doing as based on customer insight, providing guidance if required. Courtesy. It is related to the attitude of the staff in resolving the customer issues. Flexibility. Willingness on the part of the customer care executive to change the service as the customer desires. Friendliness. Behaviour of the customer care spokesperson needs to be friendly and body language positive. Functionality. It is the process of serviceability for ‘product quality’. Integrity. It is the impartial and transparent attitude of the attendant to win the confidence of the customer. Reliability. The services arrangements, goods and human resources need to be reliable for timely delivery of service with reduced waiting time. Response time. It should be as short as possible, requiring quick throughput and instant answer to customer queries. Security. The customer’s luggage and expensive belongings should not be a cause of customer concern as their security is a part of customer care process. The online encounter with Amazon was my other satisfying experience. I had high expectations of the Amazon’s prompt service delivery. Although my parcel could not be delivered in the given time but my communication with the customer care through online chat was quite positive. I was provided online status and the reason behind the delay and promised rectification of it. I was very impressed of the online reply through chat. Tracking feature of their online system was quite impressing and effective to categorise it as a satisfying experience realised through quick response time through chat, reliability, functionality of the system for prompt answer to the problem, courtesy, competence, communication and their willingness to help. My other online encounter was with Noesa Online for delivering a parcel. It was the second time I was using Noesa Online. It was expected that delivery would take three days but it did not happen. I sent an email, inquiring but there was no reply. My second email was returned with an instant phone call, which impressed me very much. I gave a rating of 7 on the intention to return to this online service as I had a positive past review of the online service, which was equally important in my opinion. With the growing online shopping in every society, especially in recent years in the developing countries like Iran, customer acquisition and retention have found an important role in business success. Retailers have moved toward value creation for customers. In virtual markets, customers are engaged to online retailers with value added features. Understanding the needs and demands of customers are preconditions for value creation, so effective factors for customer satisfaction must be determined and then be improved. Identifying priority of the factors is another useful task for each company with resource restriction. This paper attempts to develop the index for online customer satisfaction. Furthermore, the paper investigates the importance of each effective feature in online shopping with AHP analysis and develops the strategic maps for four online retailers of healthy-beauty, flower, content and decorative products. With theses maps online retailers can investigate specific areas in which the improvements have significant impacts (Fathian &Tabaei, 2012). Achieving and measuring the quality parameter in services provision has been a matter of concern as services unlike products are not tangible, therefore remain undefined and not given due recognition in literature. Academics like Parasuram et al. (1985) have attempted to create a model of service quality. A service quality can not be determined without identifying the well known traits of services that include intangibility, heterogeneity and inseparability. Due to the intangible nature of services and their provision, various other cues need to be researched such as price, which is a central pointer in the absence of other cues. To know the customers reaction over a service quality and service provision, it depends on, “how [the service] will be evaluated by the consumer… be able to suggest how to influence these evaluations in a desired direction" (Gronroos cited by Parasuram et. al., 1985: 42). Satisfaction of the customer is the most critical variable to help in boosting the level of customer loyalty and reduce the customer intention to replace the service provider. In the context of present competitive climate, increasing satisfaction level of the customer via quality differentiation is not easy because the customers are very choosy over benefits among different choices of services and they keep on changing their preferences, causing a shift in their satisfaction and therefore, loyalty. The leading argument of such customer behaviour is that people become bored soon after getting a routine service, they desire stimulating change (Jung & Yoon, 2012). Another diary experience related to restaurant was Royal China Club that we visited on 27th of January, 2012. It was a satisfying experience. We were expecting delicious Chinese food, as recommended by a friend. Comparing it with China Town, we were expecting 25% appreciation in the rates. Good thing was that we were not kept in the waiting and were given a warm welcome. Restaurant had sufficient staff to attend to each table. Besides, the food quality was high. It was yet another satisfying experience derived from the care, dedication, availability, and communication, courtesy, and response time taken. Next in the list of satisfying experiences was Movenpick Hotel. We were visiting it after reading very positive reviews of the cleanliness and reasonably priced and big sized rooms. The big rush at the reception was a proof that it was very famous among tourists. Although we had to wait for quite some time to be attended by the staff but the behaviour of the front desk managing personnel was very friendly and apologetic because of the delay in attending to us. A free upgrade of the rooms was provided, which was appreciating. A satisfying experience in Movenpick Hotel at Amsterdam was realized because of the willingness to help, care, cleanliness, competence, flexibility and integrity of the hotel staff. So far, research has been conducted to test ordinary linkages between customer satisfaction, loyalty, and changing intention in ordinary service providers. The study by Jung & Yoon (2012) is based on dining experiences of the customers to test organic cause-effect relationship between customer satisfaction, loyalty and changing intention, as it happens in the case of restaurant services provider. It proves that satisfied customers are loyal, not keen to change the provider but satisfied and not loyal customers want to change the services provider. The intention of the companies should be focussed on transforming satisfaction into loyalty to reduce customers’ intention to try another service provider even from the performance enhancement perspective. Various relationship strategies need to be developed by companies like plastering customers via making them members, offering coupons and rebate tickets to empower the loyalty of customers and reduce the shifting intention (Jung & Yoon, 2012). The individual characteristics of customers do not create a huge impact on their diversity-seeking intention, which offers different marketing opportunities for managers. Food retailers should conduct a make-over of their outlets’ interiors as well as exteriors to provide soothing change to the surroundings for an improved customer experience within the premises so that customers remain hooked to the current brand by offering distinct menus, holding events and celebrations for customer entertainment (Jung & Yoon, 2012). Food outlets should analyse the causes of customer dissatisfaction to preserve them as customers and reduce the risks of their switching tendencies and focus on such marketing strategies that adds to their service potential by publicising the various diverse elements of their goods from competitors. Stores need to display their products aesthetically and artistically and provide relevant information to customers through huge display boards about new additions in the menu. Striving to appease the customers should be incessant and relational for an effective marketing strategy to manage customer satisfaction by closely monitoring and fulfilling customer expectations (Jung & Yoon, 2012). Managers of family restaurants can use the inputs for building an effective marketing strategy by offering both tangible goods and intangible services at equal ease to enrich their customer base (Jung & Yoon, 2012). Cotte et al. (2011) research the impact of regulatory focus on customer satisfaction. In opposition to the disagreement over expectations model of satisfaction, it is found that regulatory focus affects customers' expectations; the effect on satisfaction cannot be stated by variations in those expectations. There are two types of customers, promotion-focussed customers and prevention-focussed customers. The direct regulatory effect occurs on the satisfaction of prevention-focused consumers who are traditionally partial. The prevention-focused consumers relatively safeguard themselves against making flaws and exhibit an inherent partiality in their appraisals of satisfaction. The experiment shows that prevention-focussed customers are less satisfied with positive results and more satisfied with negative results than promotion-focussed customers. Chen (2012) has analysed the customer satisfaction-loyalty connection in an interactive e-service scenario. An e-service requires dedication, faith, involvement and perceived value as providers of satisfaction. As per the survey on an auction website, it was revealed that customer satisfaction was very critical in creating e-services loyalty but some mediators between satisfaction and loyalty were partially helpful such as dedication, faith and involvement, while perceived value was observed to be a total mediator. The study outcomes provide inputs for preserving satisfied customers in an interactive e-service scenario. Aguwa et al. (2012) analyse the role of voice of the customer (VOC) to know the level of customer satisfaction, which can assist a services business to know the positive and negative points over customer focussing. This is a new field of research on VOC helping companies in providing customer satisfaction through orientation. A VOC can help in avoiding expensive outcome changes, not helping in satisfying customers after a time. Qualitative VOC is generally desired by customers while quantitative VOC normally indicates the customer preferences of their needs. Data for both kinds of VOCs should be relevant and value-adding to be provided by the customer through feedback. Well organized data can provide quick outcomes in the form of studying the analysis phase with ease and dependable outcomes. Normally feedback questions start with WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY and HOW questions. By using software, gist of the data can be derived, which is different for each product, called the customer satisfaction ratio (CSR). A matrix is generated showing all CSR values (Aguwa et al., 2012). My next diary encounter was with Daytona Motorsport at Surrey. I was expecting it to be an indoor sport as I once encountered it in my childhood when I was just 5 years old. Not finding the location through the GPS could not be blamed on the sport organizers. Behaviour of the staff was very cooperative as we were eagerly awaited being late. Although our overall satisfaction was below average but the reason of it was not deficiency in the service but our interest area. This was otherwise a satisfying experience realised from the care, dedication, behaviour, security, flexibility, courtesy, communication and availability of the management of the Daytona Motorsport, factors of prior expectations. The salon encounter Tony & Guy was another satisfying experience. I have been there earlier too for hair cutting as the people there are famous for their ideas and skills. I was given a ready and warm welcome, called by my name. The attendants there were very caring. I had no two ideas on future visits to this salon as I have been a recurrent user of their services. Worth appreciation were their job competence, friendly behaviour and reliability. In the line of dissatisfying experiences, using the taxi service by Gemini was my other dissatisfying experience. We waited for long at the arrival area to be picked by the driver but the driver could not trace us and was neither apologetic of the delay caused by him. As I had good memories in the past of using the services of Gemini, this one incident was not going to deter me from using the services of Gemini. I find the cause of my dissatisfaction the communication and courtesy, not shown by the driver. My next dissatisfying encounter was with Coolcar 4 hire. My desired car could not be arranged despite promised one week in advance. Delaying excuses were offered time and again by the customer care. The major drawback with the car rental company was over time management. Help was provided unwillingly. Availability of my desired car was not ensured, pointing to the insufficient number of Mini Coopers with the rental agency. Each service encounter teaches a different lesson on fulfilling the related industry’s customer expectations, which are bound by the common thread of total customer satisfaction to run the business successfully. Service providers of various services sectors should not take the causes of customer satisfaction lightly if they want to remain in the competition. No opportunity should be left to create added value even at the cost of revenue earning as long term strategy. Those businesses providing unsatisfying experiences to their customers need to play their strategic cards intelligently to remain competitive and survive in the industry as nothing is more important in present context than satisfied customers. References: Assafa, A. G. and Magnini,V. (2012). “Accounting for customer satisfaction in measuring hotel efficiency: evidence from the US hotel industry”, International Journal of Hospitality Management, 31, pp. 642– 647. Database: Science Direct Aguwa, C. C., Monplaisir, L.and Turgut, O. (2012). “Voice of the customer: customer satisfaction ratio based analysis”, Expert Systems with Applications, 39, pp. 10112–10119. Database: Science Direct Chen, S-C. (2012). “The customer satisfaction–loyalty relation in an interactive e-service setting: the mediators”, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 19 (2), pp. 202–210. Database: Elsevier Cotte, J., Trudela, R. and Murray, K. B. (2012). “Beyond expectations: The effect of regulatory focus on consumer satisfaction”, Intern. J. of Research in Marketing, 29, pp. 93-97. Database: Science Direct Dong, Y., Dresner, M. and Steven, A. B. (2012). “Linkages between customer service, customer satisfaction and performance in the airline industry: investigation of non-linearities and moderating effects”, Transportation Research Part E: Logistic and Transportation Review, 48 (4), P. 743. Database: Gale Group Johnston, R. and Clark, G. (2008). Chapter 4: Customer Expectations and Satisfaction: Service Operations Management - Improving Service Delivery. Prentice-Hall Jung, H. S. and Yoon, H. H. (2012). ”Why do satisfied customers switch? Focus on the restaurant patron variety-seeking orientation and purchase decision involvement”, International Journal of Hospitality Management, 31, pp. 875– 884. Database: Elsevier Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A. and Berry, L. L. (1985). “A conceptual model of service quality and its implications for future research”, Journal of Marketing, 49 (4), pp. 41-50. Database: JSTOR Sheffield Hallam University. (2012). Disabled student support. Available from: http://www.shu.ac.uk/services/sls/support/disability/index.html Tabaei, Z. and Fathian, M. (2012). “Developing online customer satisfaction strategic maps: with Iranian online retailing case studies”, International Journal of Electronic Customer Relationship Management, 6 (1), pp. 87-112. doi: 10.1504/IJECRM.2012.046471 Encounter #12 Date: Monday 23 January Time: 3:00 pm Location: London Organisation: Sheffield Hallam University Expectations: I was expecting a very cordial attitude of the support team personnel for the physically and mentally disabled students desiring admission in the university. Details: I made a phone cal to the concerned disabled students’ support team executive to know the details of the various support provided to disabled students. Comments/Reactions: I was very much impressed by the welcoming behavior of the personnel. He even took my email ID to provide me the link to detailed information online. Global Evaluations on a 7-point scale Overall Satisfaction: 6 Intention to Return: 6 Intention to Recommend: 7 Analysis/Reflections: This was my first interaction with the organizing body responsible for providing desired information on disabled support system of the Sheffield Hallam University. The student executive was very patient and listened to all my queries and was very courteous. Recommendations: The disabled student support system is one of the best. I will suggest it to other needy students. Read More