chapter 4

Question 1

service quality vs satisfaction

Answer 1

service quality is a focused evaluation that reflects the customer sperception of reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangibles.

Satisfaction on the other hand, is more inclusive: it is influenced by perceptions of service quality, product quality and price as well as situational factors and personal factors

Question 2

what is customer satisfaction

Answer 2

satisfaction is the customers evaluation of a product or service in terms of whether that product or service has met the customers needs and expetatiosn. Failure to meet needs and expectations is assumed to result in dissatisfaction with the product or service.

Question 3

what determines customer satisfaction

Answer 3

product and service features

Consumer emotions

Attributions for service success or failure

Perceptions of equity and fairness

Oter consumer, family members and co-workers

Question 4

National customer satisfaction indices

Answer 4

Aim to measure the quality of economic output, whereas more traditional economic indicators tend to focus only on quantity. The first such index was the sweedish customer satisfaction barometer

Question 5

Net promoter:

Answer 5

the research promotes one customer loyalty question as the best for most industries in terms of predicting repeat pcustomer purchases, growth or referrals:

promoters (9-10) are the customers who are loyal and enthusiastic about the organization, will continue buying and referring others and are exceptionally enthusiastic fans

Passives (7-8) are generally satisfied customers, but lack the enthusiasm of promoters. They may be vulnerable to competitive offerings and not immune to trying other suppliers

Detractors (6 or less) are less happy with the service providers and may communicate negative word of mouth

Question 6

ensuring high customer satisfaction

Answer 6

1) be customer centric

2) have superior staff

3) delight the customer

4)keep your promises

5) Sort out service recovery

6) build a relationship

Question 7

Service quality dimensions (SERVQUAL)

Answer 7

reliability (ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately)

responsiveness (willingness to help customers and provide prompt service)

Assurance: employees knowledge and courtesy and their ability to inspire trust and confidence

Empathy: caring, individualized attention given to customers

Tangibles: appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel and written materials

Question 8

reliability

Answer 8

is defined as the ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately. In its broadest sense, reliability means that the company delivers on its promises about delivery, service provision, problem resolution and pricing.

Question 9

Responsiveness

Answer 9

is the willingness to help customers and provide prompt service. This dimension emphasizes attentiveness and promptness in dealing with customer requests, questions, complaints and problems. Responsiveness is communicated by the length of time they have to wait for assistance, answer to questions or attention to problems

Question 10

Assurance

Answer 10

is defined as employees knowledge and courtesy and the ability of the firm and its employees to inspire trust and confidence. This dimension is likely to be particularly important for services that customers perceive as high risk or for services whos outcomes customers do not feel they can evaluate properly.

Question 11

empathy

Answer 11

is defined as the caring, individualized attention that the firm provides its customers. The essence of empathy is conveying, through personalized or customized service, that customers are unique and special and that their needs are understood

Question 12

tangibles

Answer 12

are defined as the appearance of pphysical facilities, equipment, personnel, website, mobile phone apps and communication materials. Tangibles provide physical and virtual representations or impages of the service that customers, particularly new customers, will use to evaluate quality.

Question 13

Nordic model

Answer 13

consists of technical quality and functional quality

Technical quality relates to the outcomes of the service process such as the meal in the restaurant or the haircut at the hairdressers.

Functional quality relates the the manner in which the service is delivered in terms of the interactions during the service encounter relating to friendliness, care and attention

Question 14

E-service quality

Answer 14

the extent to which a website facilitates efficient and effective shopping, purchasing and delivery. Through exploratory focus groups and two phases of empirical data collection and analysis, this research identified seven dimensions that are critical for core service evaluation (four dimensions) and service recovery evaluation (three dimensions)

Question 15

The four core dimensions that customers use to judge websites at which they experience no questions or problems are

Answer 15

efficiency: the ability of customers to access the website find their desired product and information associated with it and check out with minimal effort

2) fulfilment: the accuracy of service promises, having products in stock and delivering the products in the promised time

3) reliability: the technical functioning of the site, particularly the extent tow hich it is available and functioning properly

4) privacy: the assurance that shopping behaviour data are not shared and that credit information is secure

Question 16

Three dimensions that customers use to assess recovery service when they have problems or questions (website)

Answer 16

1) responsiveness: the ability of e-tailers to provide appropriate information to customers when a problem occurs, to have mechanisms for handling returns and to provide online guarantees

2) compensation: the degree to which customers are to receive money back and are reimbursed for shipping and handling costs

3) contact: teh availability of live customer service agents online or by telephone

Question 17

service encounter or moment of truth

Answer 17

when customer interacts with the service firm. For example, among the service encounters in a hotel custoemr experiences are: checking in, being taken to a room, eating a meal, requesting a wake up call and checking out.

You can think of these linking of these moements of truth as a service encounter cascade. It is in these encounters that customers receive a snapshot of the organizations service quality, and each encounter contributesto the customers oveall satisfaction and willingness to do business with the organization again.

Question 18

what you want when service failure

Answer 18

recovery

adaptablility

sontaneity

coping