Consumer Behaviour in Services

MODULE 2
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR IN SERVICES

Search, experience & credence properties
Categories in decision making process
Role of culture & services
Meaning & types of service expectations
Factors that influence customer expectations
Model of customer expectations
Current issues involving customer service expectations
Customer perception, customer satisfaction, service
quality, service encounters
Strategies for influencing customer perceptions.
Search, Experience & Credence properties
 Search qualities are attributes that a customer can

determine before purchasing a product. It includes
colour, style, price, fit, feel, hardness, smell etc. Eg:
automobiles, clothing, jewelry.
 Experience qualities are those that can be discerned
any after purchase or during consumption. Eg:
Restaurant meals, haircuts, vacations.
 Credence qualities includes characteristics that the
consumer may find impossible to evaluate even after
purchase & consumption. Eg. Repairs, Medical Care,
Legal advice.
Categories in decision making process
NEED RECOGNITION
INFORMATION SEARCH
EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVES
PURCHASE & CONSUMPTION
POSTPURCHASE EVALUATION
ROLE OF CULTURE IN SERVICES
 Culture is learned, shared & transmitted from

one generation to another & is
multidimensional.
 It effects the way customers evaluate and use
services.
 It influences the way company interacts with
their customers.
 It is important when we consider international
services marketing – taking services from one
country and offering them to others.
Elements of culture are:
 Values and Attitude
 Language (Verbal & nonverbal)
 Manners & customs
 Material Culture
 Aesthetics
 Education & social institutions
FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE CUSTOMER
EXPECTATIONS
Customer expectations are beliefs about

service delivery that function as reference
points against performance that is to be judged.
 Possible levels of customer expectations
Types of expectations:
 Desired service
 Adequate service
Zone of tolerance: the extent to which customers
recognize and are willing to accept this
variation
Factors that influence customer
expectations service
 Factors that influence desires service
 Enduring service intensifiers
 Personal needs
 Factors influencing adequate service expectatio

ns
 Transitory service intensifiers
 Perceived service alternatives
 Self - perceived service role
 Situational role
Issues involving customer service
expectations
 What does a service marketer do if customer
expectations are unrealistic?
 Should a company delight the customer?
 How does a company exceed customer
service expectations?
 Do customer service expectations continually
escalate?
 How does a company stay ahead of
competition in meeting customer
expectations?
Customer perception, customer satisfaction,
service quality
Customer perceives service & assesses on the basis of
experience , the service quality and satisfaction.
Service quality focuses on the dimensions of service.
Service quality is evaluated on the basis of:
Interaction quality
Physical Environment quality
Outcome quality
These elements are in turn evaluated on basis of the following
dimensions :
Reliability: ability to perform the promises
Responsiveness: willingness to help
Assurance: courtesy, knowledge& ability to inspire trust,
confidence
Empathy: providing individualized attention
Tangibility : appearance of physical evidence, writing material etc..
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
Satisfaction is the consumer’s fulfillment response. It
is the judgment that a product / service feature or the
product /service itself provides a pleasurable level of
consumption related fulfillment.
Satisfaction is the customer’s evaluation of a

product / service.
Contentment : secure
Pleasure: sense of happiness, felling good
Sense of fulfillment
Delight: surprise
Relief: removal of negative ness
customer satisfaction is influenced by
Product or service features
Consumer emotions
Attributions for services success or failure.
Perceptions of equity or fairness.
Influences by other people, family members,
co-workers
STRATEGIES INFLUENCING CUSTOMER
PERCEPTION
 Measure and manage customer satisfaction and

quality service
 Aim for customer quality and satisfaction in every
service encounter.
• Plan for effective recovery
• Facilitate adaptability and flexibility
• Encourage spontaneity
• Help employees cope with problem customers
 Manage the evidence of service to reinforce
perceptions
SERVICE ENCOUNTERS
It is the foundation or building blocks for
satisfaction and service quality.
Sometimes called as real time marketing.
It is on the basis of the service encounters
that customers build perceptions. Every
encounter is an opportunity to build
satisfaction & quality.
Also called as moments of truth – where
promises are kept or broken.
Types of service encounters:
1) Remote encounters
2) Phone encounters
3) Face-to-face encounters.
SOURCES OF PLEASURE AND/OR
DISPLEASURE IN SERVICE ENCOUNTERS
1. Recovery failures:- Employees resistance to

service delivery systems.
2. Employee response to customer need and
requests
3. Unprompted & unsolicited employee actions.
4. Employee responses to problem customers.

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MODULE 2

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR IN SERVICES

 Search qualities are attributes that a customer can

PURCHASE & CONSUMPTION

 Culture is learned, shared & transmitted from

Customer expectations are beliefs about

 Factors influencing adequate service expectatio

Satisfaction is the customer’s evaluation of a

 Measure and manage customer satisfaction and

1. Recovery failures:- Employees resistance to

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