Every time a customer contacts the organization or its representatives, there is an opportunity for a customer “moment of truth”. These “moments of truth” are opportunities for the organization to make a good or bad impression on the customer and are key moments in the customer journey. This concept of ‘moment of truth’ was first introduced by Jan Carlzon, the former president of Scandinavian Airlines, in his 1986 book titled Moments of Truth. Carlzon defines the moment of truth in business as: “Anytime a customer comes into contact with any aspect of a business, how ever remote, is an opportunity to form an impression.” Customer journey mapping builds on this concept by providing a strategic tool to start the process of ensuring that every interaction with your organization is a positive one. Customer journey mapping is a tool organizations use to help them see what their customers truly want — Continue reading
Services Marketing
Branding of Services
Branding for Service Industries Although the principles for branding of goods and services are generally the same there occur some differences. These arise from the different natures of both categories. The main differences that influence branding policies are that services; Have a changing level of quality, The consumer has to become involved in the consumption of a service actively, They are intangible and not storable. When a brand in general gives the consumer more confidence in his choice this is even more important for services. Their quality and other features are more difficult to asses. Because of their intangibility and complexity it is harder for the customer to distinguish between the offers from the wide range of service companies are working in the market place. Brand Structures for Services Industries As for services, marketers use the companies name – a so called corporate brand – as the overall family brand Continue reading
Service Failure and Recovery
Service Failures Even with the best service organizations, failures can just happen — they may be due to the service not available when promised, it may be delivered late or too slowly (some times too fast??), the outcome may be incorrect or poorly executed, or employees may be rude or uncaring. All these types of service failures bring about negative experiences. If left unfixed they can result in customers leaving, telling others about the negative experiences or even challenging through consumer courts. Research has shown that resolving the problems effectively has a strong impact on the customer satisfaction, loyalty, and bottom-line performance. Customers who experience service failures, but are ultimately satisfied based on recovery efforts by the firm, will be more loyal. The Recovery Paradox It is suggested that customers who are dissatisfied, but experience a high level of excellent service recovery, may be more satisfied and more likely Continue reading
Introduction to Services
A service is the non-ownership equivalent of a good. Service provision has been defined as an economic activity that does not result in ownership and is claimed to be a process that creates benefits by facilitating either a change in customers, a change in their physical possessions, or a change in their intangible assets. By composing and orchestrating the appropriate level of resources, skill, ingenuity and experience for effecting specific benefits for service consumers, service providers participate in an economy without the restrictions of carrying stock (inventory) or the need to concern themselves with bulky raw materials. On the other hand, their investment in expertise does require consistent service marketing and upgrading in the face of competition which has equally few physical restrictions. Many so-called services, however, require large physical structures and equipment, and consume large amounts of resources, such as transportation services and the military. Service Characteristics A service Continue reading
Positioning and Differentiation of Services
Services firms are not identifying their key market segments and then determining how they wish consumers to perceive both their company and its products and services. Positioning is of particular significant in the services sector as it places an intangible service within a more tangible frame of reference. Thus the concept of positioning stems from a consideration of how an organization wishes its target customer to view its products and services in relationship to those of its competitors and their actual, or perceived, needs. “Positioning is concerned with the identification, development and communication of a differentiated advantage which makes the organization’s products and services perceived as superior and distinctive to those of its competitors in the mind of its target customers.” Positioning offers the opportunity to differentiate any service. Each service firm and its goods and services has a position or image in the consumer’s mind and this influences purchase Continue reading
Service Recovery – Meaning, Strategies and Importance
Service recovery plays an important role in nowadays relationship marketing. Today, many organizations are facing challenges in the area of customer service and service delivery. It has been found that as the cost of attracting a new customer is more expensive than retaining an existing customer, therefore, organizations are striving to build long-term relationship with existing customers. This approach helps the organizations to keep their existing customers higher the loyalty level towards their businesses and also benefit the customers in enjoying a high level of customer service which is provided by the organizations. What is Service Recovery? Service failure happens all the time when organizations provide services to the customers. Although a zero defect product and well-trained service delivery can result in a negative service conflict because of the heterogeneity of customer’s outcome and process expectations. These unavoidable mistakes affect the goal of securing customer base. For customers, service failure Continue reading