Marketing What Isn’t There: Intangibles and Services
What is a Service? Services are acts, efforts, or performances exchanged from producer to user without ownership rights –Consumer services –Business services
The 4 “I”s of Services –Intangibility –Inconsistency –Inseparability –Inventory Idle capacity Characteristics of Services
Classification of Services Services Tangible Intangible Recipient of Service Customer Possessions Hair cut, plastic surgery, manicure College education., TV program, counseling Dry cleaning, auto repair, housecleaning Insurance, home security service
Core and Augmented Services Core service is a benefit that a customer gets from the service Augmented services are additional offerings that differentiate the firm Example: Airline transportation –Core: travel –Augmented services: frequent flier miles, sky caps, in- flight entertainment services and Internet access
Evaluative Dimensions of Service Quality Search qualities - characteristics of a product that the consumer can examine prior to purchase Experience qualities - characteristics that customers can determine during or after consumption Credence qualities - attributes we find difficult to evaluate even after we’ve experienced them
Measuring Service Quality Gap Analysis - measurement tool that gauges the difference between a customer’s expectation of service quality and what actually occurred Critical Incident Technique - company collects and closely analyzes very specific customer complaints to identify critical incidents
Gap Analysis Gap between consumer expectations and management perceptions Gap between management perception and quality standards set by the firm Gap between established quality standards and service delivery Gap between service quality standards and consumer expectations Gap between expected service and perceived service
Service Failure and Recovery When services do fail, recover fast: –Apologize –Resolve the problem –Do not further inconvenience the customer Analyze what happened to eliminate future failures
The notion that a service organization must focus on its employees, or internal market, before successful programs can be directed at customers. Internal Marketing