This document discusses topics related to integrated service marketing communications. It covers delivering consistent messages across all communication channels, both external and internal. Five major approaches are outlined to overcome challenges in service communication due to intangibility, managing promises and expectations, customer education, and internal marketing. Other topics covered include new service development, service experiences, front office vs back office functions, service recovery strategies, and benefits of service guarantees.

1. SERVICE MARKETING
Recommended Book:- Zeithaml, Bitner & Gremlar

2. PGDM (IIM Raipur)
Bakhresa FMCG (South Africa)
Relationship Manager (HDFC Bank)
MD- Shyam Hospital
Faculty(MBA)- GLA University, Mathura
Swarit Yadav

3. Topics to be covered
 Delivering service
 Role of communication in Service Marketing
 People and internal communication
 Process of operations and delivery of services
 Service recovery
 Role of technology in service marketing

4. Communications and the Services Marketing Triangle
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5. Integrated Service Marketing Communications
 Integrated Service Communications
 a strategy that carefully integrates all external and internal
communication channels to present a consistent message to
customers
 This means coordination across:
 sales and service people
 print
 Internet
 other forms of tangible communication including the servicescape
 How is this done in services?
 advertising
 sales presentations
 service encounters with employees
 servicescape and other tangibles
 Internet and web presence
 public relations
 pricing
 service guarantees
 customer education
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6. Five Major Approaches to Overcome Service
Communication Channels
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7. (1) Approaches for Addressing Service Intangibility
 Use narrative to
demonstrate the service
experience
 Present vivid information
 Use interactive imagery
 Focus on the tangibles
 Use brand icons to make
the service tangible
 Use association, physical
representation,
documentation, and
visualization
 Feature service employees
in communication
 Use buzz or viral marketing
 Leverage social media
 Aim messages to
influencers
 Create advertising that
generates talk because it is
humorous, compelling, or
unique
 Feature satisfied customers
in the communication
 Generate word-of-mouth
through employee
relationships
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8. (2) Approaches for Managing Service Promises
 Create a strong service brand
 Coordinate external communication
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9. Service Branding Model
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10. (3) Approaches for Managing Customer Expectations
 Make realistic promises
 Offer service guarantees
 Offer choices
 Create tiered-value service offerings
 Communicate the criteria and levels of service
effectiveness
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11. (4) Approaches for Managing Customer Education
 Prepare customers for the service process
 Confirm performance to standards and
expectations
 Clarify expectations after the sale
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12. (5) Approaches for Managing Internal Marketing
Communication
 Create effective vertical communications
 Create effective horizontal communications
 Sell the brand inside the company
 Create effective upward communication
 Align back-office and support personnel with
external customers through interaction or
measurement
 Create cross-functional teams
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13. New Service Development
 Service Blueprinting
Focus on moments of truth
 Servicescapes
 Utility-based Service Design
Perceived utility to customer
 Relative importance of Dimensions of
Service Quality

14. Service Blueprinting
Source: Metters, King-Metters, Pullman, & Walton, p. 84

15. Utility-based Service Design
Source: Metters, King-Metters, Pullman, & Walton, p. 88

16. Dimensions of Service Quality
 Reliability
 Responsiveness
 Assurance
 Empathy
 Tangibles
Parasuraman, et al., 1985
ACSI Site:
http://www.theacsi.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=172

17. Managing Service Experiences
 Customer Engagement
 Context
 Time
 Service Blueprinting
Focus on moments of truth

18. Front-office/Back-office
 Front-office work requires customer presence.
 Back-office work does not require customer
presence.
 Decoupling: separating work into high-
contact/low-contact jobs.
Ultimate = outsourcing/offshoring

19. Analyzing Processes
 Process flow diagrams (flow charts)
 Process communication
 Focusing mgt. attention on customer
 Determining what to work on
• Process Simulation

20. Service Recovery
 Measure the costs
 Listen closely for complaints
 Anticipate needs for recovery
 Act fast
 Train employees
 Empower front line
 Close the loop

21. Yield Management
Purpose is to sell the right capacity to the right
customer at the right price.
 Overbooking
 Differential pricing
 Capacity allocation

22. Waiting Time Management
 Waiting lines are pervasive in services
 The problem is important
 Lack of management intuition about waiting
lines

23. Reliability is Critical in Service
but…
 In all service contexts, service failure is inevitable.
 Service failure occurs when service performance
that falls below a customer’s expectations in such
a way that leads to customer dissatisfaction.
 Service recovery refers to the actions taken by a
firm in response to service failure.
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24. Figure 7.1: Complaining Customers:
The Tip of the Iceberg
Source: Data from TARP Worldwide Inc., 2007
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25. Unhappy Customers’ Repurchase Intentions
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26. The Service Recovery Paradox
 Is a customer who has experienced a service
failure and exemplary service recovery more
likely to be more satisfied – impressed even –
with the service provider?
 Should a firm “screw up” just a little so that it
can “fix the problem” superbly?
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27. The Service Recovery Paradox
 “A good recovery can turn angry, frustrated
customers into loyal ones. ..can, in fact, create
more goodwill than if things had gone smoothly in
the first place.” (Hart et al. 1990)
 HOWEVER:
 Only a small percent of customers complain
 Service recovery must be SUPERLATIVE
 Only with responsiveness, redress, and empathy/courtesy
 Only with tangible rewards
 Even though service recovery can improve satisfaction,
it has not been found to increase purchase intentions or
perceptions of the brand
 Service recovery is expensive
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28. The Service Recovery Paradox
 The service recovery paradox is more likely to
occur when:
 The failure is not considered by the customer to be
severe
 The customer has not experienced prior failures with
the firm
 The cause of the failure is viewed as unstable by The
customer
 The customer perceives that the company had little
control over the cause of the failure
 Conditions must be just right in order for the
recovery paradox to be present!
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29. Customer Complaint Actions Following Service
Failure
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30. Types of Complainers
 Passives: least likely to take any action, say
anything to the provider, spread negative WOM, or
complain to a third party; doubtful of the
effectiveness of complaining
 Voicers: actively complain to the provider, but not
likely to spread negative WOM; believe in the
positive consequences of complaining - the service
provider’s best friends!
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31. Types of Complainers
 Irates: more likely to engage in negative WOM to
friends and relatives and to switch providers;
average in complaints to provider; unlikely to
complain to third parties; more angry, less likely
to give provider a second chance
 Activists: above average propensity to complain
on all levels; more likely to complain to a third
party; feel most alienated from the marketplace
compared to other groups; in extreme cases can
become “terrorists”
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32. Service Recovery Strategies
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33. Fixing the Customer
 When customers take the time to complain, they
generally have high expectations.
 They expect the company to respond quickly and to
be accountable.
 They expect to be compensated for their grief and
for the hassle of being inconvenienced.
 They expect to be treated nicely in the process!
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34. Respond Quickly
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35. Provide Appropriate Communication
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36. Treat Customers Fairly
 Outcome fairness
 Outcome (compensation) should match the customer’s level of
dissatisfaction; equality with what other customers receive;
choices
 Procedural fairness
 Fairness in terms of policies, rules, timeliness of the complaint
process; clarity, speed, no hassles; also choices: “What can we do
to compensate you…?”
 Interactional fairness
 Politeness, care, and honesty on the part of the company and its
employees; rude behavior on the part of employees may be due
to lack of training and empowerment
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37. Fixing the Problem
 After “fixing the customer” the company should
address the actual problem that created the poor
service delivery in the first place.
 If the problem is likely to recur for other
customers, then the service delivery process may
need to be fixed, too.
 Strategies for fixing the problem include
encouraging and tracking complaints, learning
from recovery experiences and from lost
customers, and making the service fail-safe.
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38. Service Guarantees
 Guarantee = an assurance of the fulfillment of a condition
(Webster’s Dictionary)
 In a business context, a guarantee is a pledge or assurance that
a product offered by a firm will perform as promised and, if not,
then some form of reparation will be undertaken by the firm
 For tangible products, a guarantee is often done in the form of a
warranty
 Services are often not guaranteed
 Cannot return the service
 Service experience is intangible (so what do you guarantee?)
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39. Characteristics of an Effective
Service Guarantee
 Unconditional
 The guarantee should make its promise unconditionally – no strings
attached
 Meaningful
 The firm should guarantee elements of the service that are important
to the customer
 The payout should cover fully the customer’s dissatisfaction
 Easy to Understand
 Customers need to understand what to expect
 Employees need to understand what to do
 Easy to Invoke
 The firm should eliminate hoops or red tape in the way of accessing or
collecting on the guarantee
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40. Benefits of Service Guarantees
 A good guarantee forces the company to focus on its customers.
 An effective guarantee sets clear standards for the organization.
 A good guarantee generates immediate and relevant feedback
from customers.
 When the guarantee is invoked there is an instant opportunity
to recover.
 Information generated through the guarantee can be tracked
and integrated into continuous improvement efforts.
 A service guarantee reduces customers’ sense of risk and builds
confidence in the organization.
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41. When to Use (or Not Use) a Guarantee
 Reasons companies might NOT want to offer a
service guarantee:
 Existing service quality is poor
 A guarantee does not fit the company’s image
 Service quality is truly uncontrollable
 Potential exists for customer abuse of the guarantee
 Costs of the guarantee outweigh the benefits
 Customers perceive little risk in the service
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42. Causes Behind Service Switching
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