chapter 6 Flashcards
critical incident technique (CIT)
is a qualitative interview procedure in which customers are asked to provide verbatim stories about satisfying and dissatisfying service encounters they have experienced. CIT has been reported in hotels, restaurants airlines etc.
Benefits of critical incident technique:
Data are collected from the respondents perspective and are usually vivid because they are expressed in consumers own words and reflect the way they think
Method provides concrete information about the way the company and its employees behave and react, thereby making the research easy to translate into action
Like most qualitative methods the research is particularly useful when the topic or service is new and very little other information exists
Well suited for assessing perceptions of customers from different cultures because it allows respondents to share their perceptions rather than tanswer researcher-defined questions
SERVQUAL
scale involving a survey containing 21 service attributes, grouped into the five service quality dimensions of reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangibles. The survey sometimes asks customers to provide two different ratings on each attribute- one reflecting the level of service tehy would expect from excellent companies in a sector and the other reflecting their perception of the service delivered by a specific company within that sector
Data gathered through a SERVQUAL survey can be used for
To determine tha verage gap score (between customers perceptions and expectations) for each service attribute
To assess a companys service quality among each of the five servqual dimensions
To track customers expectations and perceptions (on individual service attributes and/or on the SERVQUAL dimensions) oer time
To compare a companys SERVQUAL scores against competitors
To identify and examine customer segments taht differ significantly in their assessments of a company’s service performance
To assess internal service quality (that is, the quality of service rendered by one department or division to others within the same company
Disconfirmation paradigm
Gränroos suggests 3 problems when measuring comparisons between expectations and experiences over a number of attributes
1) if expectations are measured after the service experience has taken place, which frequently happens for practical reasons, then what is measured is not really expectations but something which has been influenced by the service experience
2) It may not make sense to measure expectations prior to the service experience either because the expectations that exist before a service is delivered may not be the same as the factors that a person uses when evaluating their experiences. E.g. a customer ina restaurant ma place no importance on the background music playing before the meal, but the quality or volume of the music heard during the meal may alter a customers view of the factors to consider in evaluating the quality of a dining experience
3) a customers view of their experience in a service encounter is influenced by their prior expectations. Consequently, if expectations are measured and then experiences are measured, then the measures are not independent of each other and the expectaitons are actually being measured twice
SERVPERF
measures experience only and does not ask respondents about their expectations. Experiences are measured over a range of attributes that the researcher has developed to describe the service as conclusively as possible
Post transaction survey
when a customer makes a purchase, a message automatically pops up on the site and invites consumers to fill out a survey. Consumers who agree are asked questions about ease of ordering, product selection, website navigation and customer support
netnography
is the ethnographic study of online communities. It generally involves a researcher participating fully as a member of the community. Communities which are relevant to the service organization and where there are high levels of interaction and comments are likely to provide the richest sources of information. Customers may speak morre freely within their online community than when they are taking part in traditional marketing, as they perhaps feel they are not under as much scrutiny.
mystery shopping
compaies employ outside research organizations to send people into service establishments and experience the service as if they were customers. these mystry shoppers are trained in the criteria important to customers of the establishment. They deliver objective assessments about service performance by completing questionnaires about service standards.
mystery shopping is used for three reasons
To act as a diagnostic tool, identifying failings and weak points in an organizations service delivery
To encourage, develop and motivate service personnel by linking with appraisal, training and reward mechanisms
To assess the competitiveness of an organizations service provision by benchmarking it against the offerings of others in an industry
lost customer research
this type of research involves deliberately seeking out customers who have dropped the companys service to inquire about their reasons for leaving.
Its similar to exit interviews which employees in that it asks open ended, in depth questions to expose the reasons for defection and the particular events that led to dissatisfaction.
features research, lead user research and synectics approach
Features research involves environmental scanning and querying of customers about desirable features of possible services
Lead user research brings in customers who are opinion leaders/ innovators and asks them what requirements are not being met by existing products or services
Synectics approach defines lead users more broadly than in standard lead user research
zones of tolerance charts
when companies collect data on the dual expectation levels described in chapter 3 - desired service and adequat service - and performance data, tehy can conveythe information concisely on zones of tolerance charts. It plots customer service quality perceptions relative to customers zones of tolerance. Perceptions of company performance are indicated by the circles, and the zones of tolerance boxes are bounded at the top by the desired service score and at the bottom by the adequate service score. When the perception scores are within the boxes or above, the company is delivering service that is above customers minimum level of expectations.
Importance/performance matrices
one of the most useful forms of analysis in marketing research is the importance/performance matrix. This chart combines information about customer perceptions and importance ratings. Attribute importance is represented on the vertical axis from high (top) to low (bottom) Performance is shown on the horizontal axis from low /left) to high (right). There are many variations of these matrices: some companies define the horizontal axis as the gap between expectations and perceptions, or as performacne relative to competition.
Top left (importance high, performance low) is what must be worked on the most
objectives for upward communication
these objectives should include gaining first hand knowledge about customers, improving internal service quality, gaining first hand knowledge of employees and obtaining ideas for service improvement
