Characteristics of Services (7) Flashcards
What are the four unique characteristics of services?
- intangible 2. perishable 3. highly variable 4. inseparable from the people or technology that provide them
Services are intangible because you cannot ____ or ______ them as you can with products prior to consuming them.
see or touch
Services are _____ because you cannot see or touch them as you can with products prior to consuming them.
intagibile
Do services have a physical presence?
No
Using a commercial airline flight as an example, you can purchase a ticket to fly somewhere, but the flight itself isn’t tangible. It’s not possible to try the flight out first to see if your travel experience is pleasant. You simply have to experience the flight. You can’t know in advance if it will arrive on time or if it will experience turbulence.
The intangible nature of services has _____ and _______ implications
business, marketing
A firm that devises an effective service will often find that competitors _____ the service.
copy
Are services easy or difficult to copy?
difficult
In the product world, most firms patent their innovations to protect them from competitors who would copy them. Services, however, are much harder to protect that way.
Is displaying and communicating about services easy or difficult?
difficult
Using words to describe the experience and benefits of a service is a _______ particularly for complex services
challenge
For example, your investment advisor might recommend a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) as an investment, and you’d naturally ask your advisor to explain a REIT. In response, your advisor would probably hand you a 20-page prospectus — though if you were to read it, you would probably still not fully understand an REIT or its benefits.
Is pricing services challenging or easy?
challenging
Why is pricing a service challenging?
because consumers often don’t have reference information to evaluate services based on pricing.The main reason is familiarity: most of us know about how much a gallon of gasoline costs, but not about cost, for example, to have a tooth filled at the dentist.
In the absence of any other information, cost serves to signal _____, so when comparing options, consumers will assume the more expensive service is the
________ quality.
quaility, highest
But this often isn’t true, making cost a flawed evaluation criterion because the highest price service is not always the highest quality.
Consumers perceive _______ risk in services
greater
why do consumers percieve greater risk in services?
Product manufacturers have more options, such as guarantees and warranties, to eliminate the negative consequences of an unsatisfactory purchase. While services can have guarantees too, customers tend to rely on the reputation of the service provider since there is not a tangible product from which to judge quality.
For services, customers tend to rely on the..
the reputation of the service provider since there is not a tangible product from which to judge quality.
Why is the reputation of the service provider important?
there is not a tangible product from which to judge quality.
Many services are ________ to evaluate
difficult
The quality of some services is relatively easy to assess. Most of us know when we’ve received a good haircut, meal from a restaurant, or manicure. What about using the services of a lawyer: were the services you got better than what another lawyer could provide? How can you know? For many services, like consulting, education, healthcare, legal, and accounting, it is difficult to evaluate if the service was average, good, or great.
For many services, like consulting, education, healthcare, legal, and accounting, it is difficult to _______ if the service was average, good, or great.
difficult
How can a marketer address service intangibility?
marketers must take full advantage of services’ tangible elements, conveying the benefits and setting the expectations for consuming the services.
As services have no physical presence, it harder for providers to _____ services and _______ what they are. This ________ nature also means, as indicated above, that consumers often have trouble ________ services. For these reasons, consumers tend to view services as _______ purchases than products.
price, communicate, intangible, evaluating riskier
what does perishablity mean?
services are created or produced at the time consumers need them.
Perisability means that services are created or produced at the ______ consumers need them.
time
A flight scheduled to leave on a certain day and at a certain time may depart with 15% of the available seats on that flight unsold. The opportunity to fill those seats is gone forever, so the seats on the flight are perishable.
When the flight departs, the sun sets, or any other point of no return is passed, the oppurtunity to provide those services during that opportunity window has…
ended forever
The perishable nature of services has ______ and ________ implications:
business, marketing
BUSINESSES CANNOT HOLD SERVICES IN _________
inventory
Businesses can forecast _______ demand, then manufacture and warehouse _______ in anticipation of that demand.
product, product
Why is impossible to to warehouse or hold services in inventory, even in anticipation of strong demand?
services are intangible and perishable
Why is it impossible to perfectly balance supply and demand for services?
When demand is low, providers may lose money because they must keep people and resources at the ready. There are also times when demand far exceeds supply, when providers wish they could exploit the demand, but don’t have the capacity to do so.
When demand is ________, providers may lose money because they must keep people and resources at the ready.
low
There are also times when demand far exceeds supply, when providers wish they could exploit the demand, but don’t have the ______ to do so.
capacity
Any college student who has ever gone skiing or to the beach during spring break has experienced the challenge of providing and consuming services when demand is very high.
Consumers can’t ________ a service
return
While consumers can often get compensated when services are unsatisfactory, it’s not possible to “unfly” somewhere, to “unstay” at a hotel, to “uncut” your hair, or to “uneat” a meal.
Since services ______ once they are consumed, the provider can’t recover the time and resource to resell that service, and consumers can’t get back that part of their lives.
perish
Since services perish once they are consumed, the provider can’t…. and consumers can’t…
recover the time and resource to resell that service
get back that part of their lives.
Because services are perishable, some providers, such as airlines or hotel chains, use what?
sophisticated technology and modeling systems
sophisticated technology and modeling systems are used by services to…
optimize the availability of services against the demand for them.
Sophisticated technology and modeling services are used to…
ptimize the availability of services against the demand for them.
Services are _____ and highly unique.
variable
A stylist may see 10 clients in a day, but each will leave with a different haircut.
Very rarely are services delivered in an ________ manner from one customer to the next.
identical
While all passengers on a given flight will arrive at the same destination, some check bags, others don’t; some travel for business, others for pleasure; some catch a connecting flight, others won’t; and few of them paid the exact same fare.
the variable nature of services is often referred to as…
heterogeneity
heterogeneity means services have a _____ nature
variable
Why is managing customer experience hard for services?
Customers will have infinitely different expectations for services. It is impossible for a provider to anticipate every possible customer expectation, and it isn’t wise to try to accommodate them all.
It is impossible for a provider to anticipate every possible customer _________, and it isn’t wise to try to accommodate them all.
expectation
In services there are many factors…
outside the control of the provider that affect satisfaction.
For example, an airline flight can depart on time, arrive early, have courteous flight attendants, and experience no turbulence. But the baby seated a row in front of you that screams the entire flight will impact your satisfaction, and it is outside the control of the airline.
There are also many factors outside the ______ of the provider that affect satisfaction.
control
For example, an airline flight can depart on time, arrive early, have courteous flight attendants, and experience no turbulence. But the baby seated a row in front of you that screams the entire flight will impact your satisfaction, and it is outside the control of the airline.
CHIEVING CONSISTENT SERVICE PERFORMANCE IS _________
difficult
Why is consistency difficult in the service industry?
Because services are so variable, a service rarely is delivered exactly the same way twice, even when a customer wants the same service he or she previously consumed.
Delivering services in a consistent fashion contributes to higher customer ______, but the variability of services works against achieving _________.
satisfaction, consistency
Is it possible to mass produce services?
no
Because services are variable, it isn’t possible to mass produce and deliver them as it is with products.
Why is it impossible to mass produce services?
Services are made unique as almost every service is customized to some extent, requiring the provider to customize service as it is delivered.
A fast food restaurant can serve 100 combo #7s during the lunch rush, but five customers want no mayo, 17 want extra pickles, three are lactose-intolerant and can’t have cheese, some want no salt on their fries, and as this example illustrates, the variability for a single service option is endless.
Rarely will two service customers want to consume a service….
they exact same way
Marketers, with the goal of providing excellent service to all customers, develop…
service delivery processes that allow some level of customization while maintaining consistency with standards.
How do marketers maintain consistency?
By standardizing and delivery processes that allow some level of customization while maintaining consistency with standards.
Because services are highly variable, providers must….
rain staff well, have precise performance standards, and measure service outcomes to determine customer satisfaction.
What three ways can marketers use to combat service variablity?
- train staff
- precision - precise performance standards
- measure- measure services outcomes to determine cusomer satisfaction
To combat variability marketers must_____ staff well, have______ performance standards, and _______ service outcomes to determine customer satisfaction.
train, precise, measure
Marketers must measure service outcomes to determine…
ciustomer satisfaction
Services are ________ and _________ simultaneously and, out of necessity, almost always with the customer’s participation.
produced, consumed
We can’t for example, get a haircut, medical exam, massage, tattoo, or pedicure without being part of the process.
It’s not possible to separate the _______ from the service.
customer
Sticking with the example of a commercial airline flight, we can’t fly somewhere with a ticket we’ve purchased unless we’re on the airplane.
Customers impact…
other customers
The presence of other customers can either _______ or _______ with the service experience
enhance, interfere
How can the presence of other customers enhance the service experience?
t a sporting event where you’re surrounded by fellow fans.
How can the presence of other customers interfere wtih the service experience?
When customers interfere with the delivery of a service, such as when the customer in front of you in the check-out line has an item that needs a price check.
Employees impact the…
outcome
Humans are often involved in delivering a service, and humans are _______.
imperfect
A frontline service employee can have a bad day or feel mistreated by management, affecting his or her performance.
Is customer involvement necessary?
yes
While it seems obvious that customers are involved in the services they consume, their _______ to participate can vary, and their level of participation can impact their _______
willingness, satisfaction
We’re conditioned to a certain level of _______ in the service process.
involvement
we tell a physician what is wrong, a stylist how to do our hair, a server what we wish to order and how we want it prepared.
Sometimes, however, customers don’t understand their ______ or are unwilling to participate at a level necessary for satisfactory outcomes.
roles
It isn’t possible to ______ the production and delivery of a service from its consumption.
divorce
The service, the service provider’s employee (or technology), and the customer are all intertwined in the ______ and ______ of services.
generation, consumption
Marketers recognize that this inseparability provides an opportunity to create a unique and memorable ________ for customers who consume the service.
experience
Providers train employees to get the ideal level of customer _______, recognizing that when they do, great experiences are the result; and when they don’t, customer _______ is jeopardized.
participation, satisfaction
