Slide © 2007 by Christopher Lovelock and Jochen Wirtz Services Marketing 6/E Chapter Chapter 13: Achieving Service Recovery and Obtaining Customer Feedback

Slide © 2007 by Christopher Lovelock and Jochen Wirtz Services Marketing 6/E Chapter Overview of Chapter 13  Customer Complaining Behavior  Customer Responses to Effective Service Recovery  Principles of Effective Service Recovery Systems  Service Guarantees  Discouraging Abuse and Opportunistic Behavior  Learning from Customer Feedback

Slide © 2007 by Christopher Lovelock and Jochen Wirtz Services Marketing 6/E Chapter Customer Response Categories to Service Failures (Fig 13.1) Service Encounter is Dissatisfactory Take some form of Public Action Take some form of Private Action Take No Action Complain to the service firm Complain to a third party Take legal action to seek redress Defect (switch provider) Negative word-of- mouth Any one or a combination of these responses is possible

Slide © 2007 by Christopher Lovelock and Jochen Wirtz Services Marketing 6/E Chapter Understanding Customer Responses to Service Failure  Why do customers complain?  What proportion of unhappy customers complain?  Why don’t unhappy customers complain?  Who is most likely to complain?  Where do customers complain?  What do customers expect once they have made a complaint?

Slide © 2007 by Christopher Lovelock and Jochen Wirtz Services Marketing 6/E Chapter Three Dimensions of Perceived Fairness in Service Recovery Process (Fig 13.3) Procedural Justice Interactive Justice Interactive Justice Outcome Justice Outcome Justice Complaint Handling and Service Recovery Process Justice Dimensions of the Service Recovery Process Customer Satisfaction with Service Recovery Customer Satisfaction with Service Recovery Source: Tax and Brown

Slide © 2007 by Christopher Lovelock and Jochen Wirtz Services Marketing 6/E Chapter Importance of Service Recovery  Plays a crucial role in achieving customer satisfaction  Tests a firm’s commitment to satisfaction and service quality  Employee training and motivation is highly important  Impacts customer loyalty and future profitability  Complaint handling should be seen as a profit center, not a cost center

Slide © 2007 by Christopher Lovelock and Jochen Wirtz Services Marketing 6/E Chapter The Service Recovery Paradox  Customers who experience a service failure that is satisfactorily resolved may be more likely to make future purchases than customers without problems (Note: not all research supports this paradox)  If second service failure occurs, the paradox disappears— customers’ expectations have been raised and they become disillusioned  Severity and “recoverability” of failure (e.g., spoiled wedding photos) may limit firm’s ability to delight customer with recovery efforts  Best strategy: Do it right the first time

Slide © 2007 by Christopher Lovelock and Jochen Wirtz Services Marketing 6/E Chapter Components of an Effective Service Recovery System (Fig 13.4) Do the job right the first time Effective Complaint Handling Identify Service Complaints Resolve Complaints Effectively Learn from the Recovery Experience Increased Satisfaction and Loyalty Conduct research Monitor complaints Develop “Complaints as opportunity” culture Develop effective system and training in complaints handling Conduct root cause analysis =+ Close the loop via feedback

Slide © 2007 by Christopher Lovelock and Jochen Wirtz Services Marketing 6/E Chapter Strategies to Reduce Customer Complaint Barriers (Table 13.1) Complaint Barriers for Dissatisfied Customers Strategies to Reduce These Barriers Inconvenience  Hard to find right complaint procedure  Effort involved in complaining  Put customer service hotline numbers, and postal addresses on all customer communications materials Doubtful Pay Off  Uncertain if action will be taken by firm to address problem  Have service recovery procedures in place, communicate this to customers  Feature service improvements that resulted from customer feedback Unpleasantness  Fear of being treated rudely  Hassle, embarrassment  Thank customers for their feedback  Train frontline employees  Allow for anonymous feedback

Slide © 2007 by Christopher Lovelock and Jochen Wirtz Services Marketing 6/E Chapter How to Enable Effective Service Recovery  Be proactive—on the spot, before customers complain  Plan recovery procedures  Teach recovery skills to relevant personnel  Empower personnel to use judgment and skills to develop recovery solutions  See Service Perspectives 13.2: Guidelines For Effective Problem Resolution

Slide © 2007 by Christopher Lovelock and Jochen Wirtz Services Marketing 6/E Chapter How Generous Should Compensation Be?  Rules of thumb for managers to consider:  What is positioning of our firm?  How severe was the service failure?  Who is the affected customer?

Slide © 2007 by Christopher Lovelock and Jochen Wirtz Services Marketing 6/E Chapter Service Guarantees Help Promote and Achieve Service Loyalty  Force firms to focus on what customers want  Set clear standards  Highlight cost of service failures  Require systems to get and act on customer feedback  Reduce risks of purchase and build loyalty

Slide © 2007 by Christopher Lovelock and Jochen Wirtz Services Marketing 6/E Chapter How to Design Service Guarantees  Unconditional  Easy to understand and communicate  Meaningful to the customer  Easy to invoke  Easy to collect  Credible

Slide © 2007 by Christopher Lovelock and Jochen Wirtz Services Marketing 6/E Chapter The Hampton Inn 100% Satisfaction Guarantee (Fig 13.5)  What are benefits of such a guarantee?  Are there any downsides?

Slide © 2007 by Christopher Lovelock and Jochen Wirtz Services Marketing 6/E Chapter Dealing with Customer Fraud  Treating all customers with suspicion is likely to alienate them  TARP found only 1 to 2 percent of customer base engages in premeditated fraud—so why treat remaining 98 percent of honest customers as potential crooks?  Insights from research on guarantee cheating  Amount of a guarantee payout had no effect on customer cheating  Repeat-purchase intention reduced cheating intent  Customers are reluctant to cheat if service quality is high (rather than just satisfactory)  Managerial implication  Firms can benefit from offering 100 percent money-back guarantees  Guarantees should be offered to regular customers as part of membership program  Excellent service firms have less to worry about than average providers

Slide © 2007 by Christopher Lovelock and Jochen Wirtz Services Marketing 6/E Chapter Key Objectives of Effective Customer Feedback Systems  Assessment and benchmarking of service quality and performance  Customer-driven learning and improvements  Creating a customer-oriented service culture

Slide © 2007 by Christopher Lovelock and Jochen Wirtz Services Marketing 6/E Chapter Customer Feedback Collection Tools  Total market surveys  Post-transaction surveys  Ongoing customer surveys  Customer advisory panels  Employee surveys/panels  Focus groups  Mystery shopping  Complaint analysis  Capture service operating data

Slide © 2007 by Christopher Lovelock and Jochen Wirtz Services Marketing 6/E Chapter Entry Points for Unsolicited Feedback  Frontline employees  Intermediaries acting for original supplier  Managers contacted by customers at head/regional office  Complaint cards deposited in special box or mailed  Telephone or  Complaints passed to company by third-party recipients  Consumer advocates  Trade organizations  Legislative agencies