MKT 442: Introduction to Services

Simultaneous production and consumption means that employees, and customers participate in and affect each other.

What does simultaneous production and consumption mean?

Service quality, product quality, price, situational factors, and personal factors influence customer satisfaction.

What five aspects influence customer satisfaction?

Outcome quality, process quality, interaction quality, and physical environment quality (servicescape) make up the key factors of service quality.

What four types of quality make up the key factors of service quality?

The evoked set is a group of brands resulting from an information search from which a buyer can choose.

What is an evoked set?

Assurance is the knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire trust and confidence.

What is assurance in terms of service quality?

Customer co-production is when customers often play a role in service creation or delivery (sitting in a stylists' chair).

What is customer co-production?

Decentralization is the degree to which lower-level employees provide input or actually make decisions.

What is decentralization in regards to simultaneous production and consumption?

Empathy is the caring, individualized attention the firm provides its customers.

What is empathy in terms of service quality?

External marketing is the implementation of marketing practices directed outside the business to create value and to form productive customer relationships, "making promises".

What is external marketing?

Yes, we are biased towards a service in a mood-congruent direction (good mood, service is usually better than when you are in a bad mood).

Are we biased in a mood-congruent direction when it comes to services?

Business cards, employee dress, and the servicescape are all examples of physical evidence.

Business cards, employee dress, and the servicescape are all examples of which marketing mix aspect?

Services cannot be easily patented.

Can services be easily patented?

Services cannot be inventoried.

Can services be inventoried?

Services cannot be readily displayed or communicated.

Can services be readily displayed or communicated?

Services cannot be returned or resold.

Can services be returned or resold?

Situational factors affect adequate service expectations, or the minimum service performance that would be acceptable to customers, but does not effect desired service expectations.

Do situational factors influence desired service expectations?

Yes, the Critical Incident Technique gathers stories about actual events and behaviors to allow us to understand what causes customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction.

Does the Critical Incident Technique offer much insight into the drivers of customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction.

The company does not have direct control over the customer gap; they can only influence the customer gap through the provider gaps.

How much control does the company have over the customer gap?

If we are deciding about how many steps a service should require in order to be accomplished, we are thinking about the process aspect.

If we are deciding about how many steps a service should require in order to be accomplished, which service marketing mix aspect are we thinking about?

It is difficult to synchronize supply and demand with services.

Is it difficult to synchronize supply and demand with services?

Mass production of services is very difficult.

Is it easy or difficult to mass produce services?

Pricing services is difficult.

Is pricing services easy or difficult?

No, in general customers have less knowledge of services than of tangible goods, which means that fewer service providers will come to mind when choosing service.

Is the evoked set is larger for services than for tangible goods?

There is no sure knowledge that the service delivered matches what was planned and promoted.

Is there any way to know for sure that the service delivered matches what was planned and promoted?

The customer gap is the difference between the customer's expectations and the customer's perception of the service.

The customer gap is the difference between what two things?

The relationship between the company and the providers, where the firm gives providers the tools, training, and motivation to keep the promises to the customer, is also known as internal marketing.

The relationship between the company and the providers, where the firm gives providers the tools, training, and motivation to keep the promises to the customer, is also known as what?

The relationship between the providers and the customer, where the providers keep the promises made to the customer, is also known as interactive marketing.

The relationship between the providers and the customer, where the providers keep the promises made to the customer, is also known as what?

Credence attributes are any aspects of a good or service that the customer must believe in, but cannot personally evaluate even after purchase and consumption (removed appendix).

What are credence attributes?

Critical incident technique is a method for measuring service quality in which marketers use customer complaints to identify critical incidents—specific face-to-face contacts between consumer and service providers that cause problems and lead to dissatisfaction.

What are critical incident techniques?

Self-service technologies (SST) are the technological interfaces that allow customers to provide themselves with products and/or services without the intervention of a service employee.

What are self-service technologies (SST)?

Services are deeds, processes, and performances

What are services?

Some important aspects of using SSTs are to employ customer focused design of technology and the processes, know the "comfort level of the target customers, educate the customers, understand and communicate the benefits of SSTs, preventing and managing failures an being prepared for constant changing and updating.

What are some important aspects of using SSTs?

Benefits of SSTs are that they save time and money, they are always available when a customer wants service, they are easy to use, and avoid service personnel.

What are the benefits of using a SST?

Recovery, coping, adaptability, and spontaneity are common themes in interpersonal service encounters research.

What are the common themes in interpersonal service encounters research?

Drawbacks of SSTs are that technology can fail, the process can fail, and customer-driven failure can make customers upset, as well as poor design.

What are the drawbacks of using a SST?

Reliability, assurance, tangibles, empathy, and responsiveness are the five dimensions of service quality.

What are the five dimensions of service quality?

Intangibility, Heterogeneity, Simultaneous Production and Consumption, and Perishability

What are the four characteristics of services?

The seven P's of service marketing are product, place, price, promotion, people, process, and physical evidence.

What are the seven P's of the service marketing mix?

Service delivery and customer satisfaction depend on employee and customer actions.

What does service delivery and customer satisfaction depend on?

Service quality depends on many uncontrollable factors.

What does service quality depends on?

In the physical evidence aspect of the service marketing mix are the environment in which the service is delivered and where the firm and customer interact, and any tangible components that facilitate performance or communication of the service.

What is included in the physical evidence aspect of the service marketing mix?

The process aspect of the service marketing mix include the actual procedures, mechanisms, and flow of activities by which the service is delivered—the service delivery and operating systems.

What is included in the process aspect of the service marketing mix?

Interactive marketing is training service employees in the fine art of interacting with customers to satisfy their needs, "keeping promises".

What is interactive marketing?

Internal marketing is treating employees as customers and developing systems, and providing tools that benefits and satisfy their needs, "enabling promises".

What is internal marketing?

Reliability is the ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately.

What is reliability in terms of service quality?

Responsiveness is the willingness to help customers and provide prompt service.

What is responsiveness in terms of service quality?

Tangibles are the physical facilities, equipment, written materials, and appearance of personnel.

What is tangibles in terms of service quality?

Interaction quality is the pleasantness of the social interaction experience in the acquisition and use of the service.

What is the interaction quality?

Outcome quality is the physical experience based on the interaction or service provided.

What is the outcome quality?

Physical environment quality (servicescape) is the environment in which a customer and service provider interact.

What is the physical environment quality (servicescape)?

Process quality is the ability of the service to produce and deliver quality products

What is the process quality?

The service encounter is the actual interaction between the customer and the service provider (online, over-the-phone, or in person), "the moments of truth".

What is the service encounter?

Perceived service alternatives and situational factors influence factors that influence adequate service.

What kind of factors influence adequate service?

Explicit service promises, implicit service promises, word-of-mouth, and past experiences are factors that influence desired services and predicted service.

What kind of factors influence desired service and predicted service?

Personal needs, personal service philosophy, and derived service expectations are factors that influence desired services.

What kind of factors influence desired service?

The company, the customers, and providers make up the service marketing triangle.

What three aspects make up the service marketing triangle?

The three types of marketing that makes up the service marketing triangle are internal marketing, external marketing, and interactive marketing.

What three types of marketing make up the service marketing triangle?

The people included in the service marketing mix are all human actors who play a part in service delivery and thus influence the buyer's perceptions, the firm's personnel, the customer, and other customers in the service environment.

Who is included in the people aspect of the service marketing mix?

When a service falls within the zone of tolerance, customers don't remember much about the service performance, either good or bad.

Within the zone of tolerance, do customers notice the service performance?