1. Managing Customer Satisfaction
Week 3
Customer Expectations & Satisfaction

2. Customer satisfaction, service quality & confidence
The purpose of understanding customers’ expectations is to design services that meet their expectations
Satisfaction is a result of the customers’ assessment of a service based on their prior expectations

3. Customer satisfaction
Figure 4.1 Customer satisfaction

4. Excellent service & customer delight
Delivering the promise—reliability & consistency
Dealing well with problems & queries—service recovery
When possible
Treat the customer as an individual
Provide something ‘extra’

5. Customer satisfaction continuum

6. Service quality
Service quality definitions differ, but usually include:
Satisfaction
A relative impression of the organization & its services
Quality delivered
Whose perspective? Service manager or customer?
Gaps

7. Service gap model
Figure 4.3 Simplified gap model

8. Reasons for service gaps
Table 4.1 Reasons for gaps

9. Expectation-perception downsides
Service perceived as good when it is bad
Vulnerable to competition
Vulnerable to government interference
Service perceived as bad when it is good
Over-promising

10. Expectation-perception downsides
Service good last time but just “okay” this time
Disney’s repeat visitors to the Magic Kingdom
Satisfied customer switching suppliers
Must measure post-purchase intentions
Set appropriate expectations

11. Customer confidence
Satisfaction requires experience, confidence does not
Confidence is the belief, trust in services
Influencers of confidence—not controllable
Personal beliefs
Media
Word-of-mouth
Influencers of confidence—controllable
Visibility
Familiarity
Communication (knowledge of the organization)

12. Customer expectations
Ideal
Ideal feasible (industry standard)
Desirable (customer expects)
Deserved (customer ought to receive given the cost)
Minimum tolerable (must be achieved)
Intolerable

13. Customer expectations zone of tolerance

14. Factors influencing expectations

15. Defining expectations
Service quality factors—attributes of service customers may expect

16. Hygiene & enhancing factors
Hygiene Factors—those that need to be in place to satisfy; if not they are a source of dissatisfaction. (ATM machines always work)
Enhancing factors—absence has little effect on satisfaction (caring bank staff)
Critical factors—have the potential to both delight and dissatisfy (competent bank staff)
Neutral factors—little effect on satisfaction (well decorated bank lobby)

17. Delighting and dissatisfying factors

18. Four types of factors for a bank

19. Delight versus dissatisfaction

20. Finding expectations & assessing satisfaction
Questionnaires and surveys
Focus groups
Customer advisory panels
New/lost customer surveys
Complaint/compliment analysis
Critical incident technique (CIT)
Sequential incident analysis (walk through)

21. Assessing satisfaction
Questionnaires and surveys
SERVQUAL score
Mystery shoppers—assessing the customer experience
Problems with assessments & data
Changing questions
Too many questions
Missing the point
Qualitative vs. quantitative
Survey-weary customers
Analysis fodder
Resource hungry
Little or no impact
Satisfaction vs. success
Open to manipulation

22. Managing perceptions
Control chart—a way of identifying customer expectations then assess the impact of each factor during the service process
Medical examination
Arrival at clinic
Reception
Waiting for the doctor
Examination
Discussion of findings
departure

23. Managing perceptions during the process

24. Managing perceptions at a clinic

25. Adequate performance satisfies the customer

26. Using enhancers to delight the customer

27. Delight shifts the zone of tolerance

28. Service excellence

29. Transaction satisfaction vs. overall satisfaction
How do transaction satisfactions develop into overall satisfaction with the service experience and outcome?
Rational approach—customers use a weighted average
SERVQUAL uses weighted factors
Incidence approach—customers are less rational and react to individual incidences