This presentation discusses customer expectations of service. It begins by defining customer expectations and explaining that there are different types and levels of expectations, including ideal, normative, experience-based, acceptable, and minimum tolerance expectations. It then examines the factors that influence customer expectations, such as explicit and implicit promises made by marketers, word of mouth, past experience, and situational factors. Current issues involving customer expectations are also addressed, like how to meet unrealistic expectations and exceed customer expectations. The presentation concludes by providing strategies for how service marketers can influence expectations, answering frequently asked questions, and highlighting examples of what basic expectations customers have for different service types.

1. Welcome to
the
Presentation of

3. PRESENTED FOR
Mr. Kazi Mahfuz Mamtazur Rahman
Course Instructor
Course Title: Service Marketing
Course Code: MKT 402

4. We Are THE MEGAMINDS
Md. Shafaeth Zaman (802)
Nafiz Imtiaz Noor (816)
Md. Ashiqul Islam (1332)
Md. Asiful Islam (1985)
Muqtadir Fattah Nayeeb (807)
Md. Saidur Rahman (792)
Aniqa Tahsin Anchal (787)

5. LEARNING OBJECTIVES




Recognize that customers hold different types of
expectations for service performance.
Discuss the sources of customer expectations of
service, including those that are controllable and
uncontrollable by marketers.
Acknowledge that the types and sources of
expectations are similar for end consumers and
business customers, for pure service and productrelated service, for experienced customers and
inexperienced customers.
Delineate the most important current issues
surrounding customer expectations.

6. 1
• Meaning and Types of Expected
Service
2
• Factors That Influence Customer
Expectations of Service
3
• Current Issues Involving
Customer Service Expectations

7. 1. Meaning and Types of
Expected Service

8. Customer Expectations of
Service
Customer Expectations
 Beliefs about service delivery
 Serve as standards or reference points against
which performance is judged.
 Customers compare their perceptions of
performance with these reference points
when evaluating service quality.
 Thorough knowledge about customer
expectations is critical to services marketers.

9. Expected Service: Levels of Expectations
Possible Levels of Customer Expectation
Ideal Expectations or Desires
Normative “Should” Expectations
Experience Based Norms
Acceptable Expectations
Minimum Tolerance Expectations

10. Possible Levels of Customer Expectations

11. Dual Customer Expectation Levels
Desired Service:
Level
of service that
customer hopes to
receive
Adequate service:
Level
of service the
customer will accept

12. Global Feature: Global Outsourcing of Personal
Services: what are Customers’ Expectations?
Offshoring of Personal Consumer Services

Once customer wanted to create a short, but professional looking video
to show at his sister’s wedding. He found a graphic artist in Romania
who created a two minute video with a space theme set to the music of
star wars a hit at he wedding. The cost for everything? Only $59.

A man was looking for a graphic artist to illustrate a children’s book his
grandmother had written for her grandchildren about her early childhood
experiences in New York City. Rather than search for a graphic artist
through a local telephone directory, he described his project on the
guru.com website. Within a week he received 80 bids from artists in
countries like Malaysia, Ukraine, and Lebanon. He ended up hiring a
woman from the Philippines who offered to do 25 drawings for $300.

One family hired an online tutor for their daughter. after obtaining
quotes around $40/hour for local tutoring services, they found an online
tutor from India who charged $99/month for two hour, five day per week
sessions. The lessons simply required the family to have a digital tablet,
instant messaging and a headset for communication.

13. The Zone of Tolerance
Range or window in which customers do
not notice service performance
When service falls outside this
range(either very high or very low), the
service gets the customer’s attention in
either a positive or negative way

14. Different customers possess
different Zone of tolerance
Some customers have narrow zones of
tolerance
They require tighter range of service
from providers
Others allow a greater range of service
An individual customer’s zone of
tolerance vary for a number of factors
e.g. price, personal needs, behavior etc.

15. Tolerance zones vary for
different dimensions
The more important the
factor the narrower the zone
of tolerance is likely to be
The zone of tolerance for the
most important service
dimension is smaller & the
desired & adequate service
levels higher.

16. Zones of Tolerance for
Different Service Dimensions
Desired Service
Desired Service
Level
of
Expectation
Zone
of
Tolerance
Zone of
Tolerance
Adequate Service
Adequate Service
Most Important Factors
Least Important factors
Source: Berry, Parasuraman, and Zeithaml (1993)

17. 2. Factors That Influence
Customer Expectations of
Service

18. Factors That Influence Desired
Service Expectations

19. Factors That Influence Desired
Service

20. Factors That Influence Adequate
Service Expectations

These influences are short term and tend to fluctuate more than the factors
that influence desired service.

In this section we explain the five factors that influence adequate service:

(1) temporary service intensifiers
(short-term, individual factors that make a consumer more aware of the need of service)

(2) perceived service alternatives
(As the number of alternatives increases, the level of adequate service increases and the
zone of tolerance narrows)

(3) customer self-perceived service role
(how well the customer perceives they are performing their own role in service delivery)

(4) situational factors
(Temporary changes in the normal state of things ---- tends to lower the level of adequate
service expected and widen the zone of tolerance)
Example: Reason for purchase, Consumer mood, Weather, Time constraints ,Emergency
(5) predicted service.

21. Factors That Influence Adequate
Service

22. Technology Spotlight:
Customer Expectations
of New Technology
Services at the Airport

23. Sources of Both Desired and
Predicted Service Expectations

Explicit Service Promises

Implicit Service Promises

Word of Mouth

Past Experience
 particular service
 within the same industry
 related services
 More experience the narrower the Zone of Tolerance
 Explicit --- personal and no personal statements from the organization (Advertising,
personal selling, contracts, other communications) --- usually increases desired
level and narrows zone
 Implicit--- ---service related cues
-Tangibles - Price -- price directly related to predicted service and inversely related to width
of zone.
 Distribution - multiple outlets

24. Factors That Influence Desired and
Predicted Service

25. 3. Current Issues Involving
Customer Service Expectations

26. TABLE 4.1: How Services Marketers Can Influence Factors
Factor
Possible Influence Strategies
Explicit service promises
Make realistic and accurate promises that reflect the service actually delivered
rather than an idealized version of the service.
Ask contact people for feedback on the accuracy of promises made in advertising
and personal selling.
Avoid engaging in price or advertising wars with competitors because they take
the focus off customers and escalate promises beyond the level at which they can
be met.
Formalize service promises through a service guarantee that focuses company
employees on the promise and that provides feedback on the number of times
promises are not fulfilled.
Implicit service promises
Ensure that service tangibles accurately reflect the type and level of service provided.
Ensure that price premiums can be justified by higher levels of performance by the company
on important customer attributes.
Lasting service
intensifiers
Use market research to determine sources of derived service expectations and
their requirements. Focus advertising and marketing strategy on ways the service
allows the focal customer to satisfy the requirements of the influencing customer.
Use market research to profile personal service philosophies of customers and use
this information in designing and delivering services.
Personal needs
Educate customers on ways the service addresses their needs.
Temporary service
intensifiers
Increase service delivery during peak periods or in emergencies.

27. TABLE 4.1: (Continued) How Services Marketers Can
Influence Factors
Factor
Possible Influence Strategies
Perceived service alternatives
Be fully aware of competitive offerings, and where possible
and appropriate, match them.
Self-perceived service role
Educate customers to understand their roles and perform
them better.
Word-of-mouth
communications
Simulate word of mouth in advertising by using testimonials
and opinion leaders.
Identify influencers and opinion leaders for the service and
concentrate marketing efforts on them.
Use incentives with existing customers to encourage them to
say positive things about the service.
Past experience
Use marketing research to profile customers’ previous
experience with similar services.
Situational factors
Use service guarantees to assure customers about service
recovery regardless of the situational factors that occur.
Predicted service
Tell customers when service provision is higher than what
can normally be expected so that predictions of future
service encounters will not be inflated.

28. Frequently Asked Questions
About Customer Expectations

What does a service marketer do if customer
expectations are “unrealistic”?

Should a company try to delight the customer?

How does a company exceed customer service
expectations?

Do customer service expectations continually
escalate?

How does a service company stay ahead of
competition in meeting customer expectations?

29. What does a service marketer do if
customer expectations are “unrealistic”?
• Under promise
• Reality check after purchase

30. TABLE 4.2: Service Customers Want The Basics
Type of service
Type of customer
Principal expectations
Car repair
Consumers
•
•
•
Car insurance
Consumers
•
•
•
•
•
•
Hotel
Consumers
Be competent. (‘Fix it right the first time.‘)
Explain things. (‘Explain why I need the suggested
repairs – provide an itemized list.‘)
Be respectful. (‘Don’t treat me like a dumb
female.‘)
Keep me informed. (‘I shouldn’t have to learn
about insurance law changes from the newspaper.‘)
Be on my side. (‘I don’t want them to treat me like
a criminal just because I have a claim.‘)
Play fair. (‘Don’t drop me when something goes
wrong.‘)
Protect me from catastrophe. (‘Make sure my
family is
provided for in the event of a major accident.‘)
Provide prompt service. (‘I want fast settlement of
claims.‘)
• Provide a clean room. (‘Don’t have a deep-pile carpet
that can’t be completely cleaned . . . you can literally
see germs down there.‘)
• Provide a secure room. (‘Good bolts and peephole on
door.‘)
• Treat me like a guest. (‘It is almost like they’re
looking you over to decide whether they’re going to
let you have a room.‘)
• Keep your promise. (‘They said the room would be
ready, but it wasn’t at the promised time.‘)

31. TABLE 4.2: Service Customers Want The Basics (Continued)
Type of service
Type of customer
Principal expectations
Property and accident
insurance
Business customers
•
•
•
•
Equipment repair
Business customers
•
•
•
Vehicle rental/leasing
Business customers
•
•
•
Fulfil obligations. (‘Pay up.‘)
Learn my business and work with me. (‘I
expect them to know me and my company.‘)
Protect me from catastrophe. (‘They should
cover my risk exposure so there is no single
big loss.‘)
Provide prompt service. (‘Fast claim
service.‘)
Share my sense of urgency. (‘Speed of
response. One time I had to buy a second
piece of equipment because of the huge
downtime with the first piece.‘)
Be competent. (‘Sometimes you are quoting
stuff from their instruction manuals to their
own people and they don’t even know what it
means.‘)
Be prepared. (‘Have all the parts ready.‘)
Keep the equipment running. (‘Need to have
equipment working all of the time – that is
the key.‘)
Be flexible. (‘The leasing company should
have the flexibility to rent us equipment
when we need it.‘)
Provide full service. (‘Get rid of all the
paperwork and headaches.‘)

32. Should a company try to delight the
customer?
O Musts
O Satisfiers
O Delights
Have Both costs
& benefits
O

33. HOW DOES A COMPANY EXCEED CUSTOMER SERVICE
EXPECTATIONS?
Honor promises don’t work on exceeding
expectations

34. HOW DOES A SERVICE COMPANY STAY AHEAD OF COMPETITION IN MEETING
CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS?
• Meet customer’s expectations better than the
competition

35. DO CUSTOMER SERVICE EXPECTATIONS CONTINUALLY
ESCALATE?


Desired service expectations are relatively stable
Adequate service expectations rise as quickly as service delivery or
promise rise

36. INDIAN SERVICE STRATEGY INSIGHT: TCSEXPERIENCE CERTAINTY


“The global marketing and brand building image goes beyond advertising
campaigns… which helps to familiarize and internalize the brand promise throughout
these 85,000 strong organizations. This is being rolled out and cascaded through
the organizations across over 40 countries using a combination of physical and
digital methods and using the many channels of employee communication that
exists to create a nurture a close alignment of the company’s brand promise and its
brand ambassadors- the employees who interact with customer organizations
everyday”
- Vandrevala, Head of
Corporate Affairs
“When TCS says it has 99.6% on time delivery record, it represents only one of the
dimensions of delivery. We have evolved a number of other dimensions like quality
expressed in terms of defect free software, availability of systems, the ability to
deliver systems with budget, total cost of ownership, faster time to market etc”
- Chandrasekaran, Head of Global Sales and Operations