CONSUMER EXPECTATIONS OF SERVICES

Customer expectations plays key role in a companys success. They have a deeper meaning in
services marketing than being mere requirements of a customer. They may also involve
customers predictions of what will happen in a service encounter or what the customers desire to
happen. Customer expectations are based on customers experience with the product or service;
feedback received from friends, colleagues, and relatives; or may be based on their present
needs. Customers do not expect service providers to fulfil all their requirements but only that
they deliver what they have promised. They want to get a fair deal for the price they pay for the
service.

Consumer Expectations:.
 
Consumer Expectations are pretrial beliefs a consumer has about the performance
of a service that are used as the standard or reference against which service
performance is judged.
 
Consumer Expectations consist of five levels: ideal service level, desired service
level, adequate service level, predicted service level, and zone of tolerance.
 
a. Ideal Service Level:   It   is   defined   -asfor”thelevelconsumersofservic“wis
 
b. Desired Service Level:  Level of performance customers want or hope to
receive from a service.
 
c. Adequate Service Level: Minimum level of service a consumer will tolerate
and accept without being dissatisfied.
 
d. Zone of Tolerance: Area between the adequate level of service and the desired
level of service.
 
e. Predicted Service Level:  Level of service consumers actually expect from the
service firm.
Service Expectations

To deliver quality service, it is essential to understand customers expectations. To assess the

Desired Service

It is defined as the service that a customer desires and hopes to receive. In other words, the
desired service expectations of a customer are a combination of what he/she feels that a
service provider can offer and should offer. Customers are delighted when service performance
exceeds their desired service expectations. Desired service expectations of a customer
increases when the customer is experienced and has good knowledge of what to expect in the
service.

Example: An executive who has travelled to many places on business and stayed in various
hotels is experienced in receiving services of a certain standard. Thus, he desires and expects to
receive a certain level of service at every hotel he stays in and is likely to evaluate the
hospitality offered at each new hotel on those parameters.

The desired service expectations of a customer may also depend on the service expectations of
an associated party. The associated party may be a customer of the customer himself.

Adequate Service

Adequate service is the minimal level of service that a customer is willing to accept from a
service provider and is based on the customers perception of what level of service is acceptable
to him. Customers are dissatisfied if the service provided by a service provider does not meet
the adequate service level expectations. A customers expectations of adequate service change
with his perception of the available alternatives for the particular service. Customers
expectation of adequate service increases in situations of an emergency.

Example: Train commuters in large cities such as Mumbai; tend to get frustrated at even the
slightest delay in the arrival of local trains when they need to move fast. However, when there
is a service failure during heavy rains, the commuters are willing to accept even the minimum
service that is available. That is, when there is a service failure, the adequate service level
decreases or comes down.

Zone of Tolerance

It is the gap between customers desired service expectations and the adequate service
expectations as shown in Figure 4.1. This zone varies for each customer and for the same
customer it differs in different situations. Customers view reliability as the core dimension of
any service transaction and are not ready to compromise on reliability. Therefore, their zone of
tolerance on the dimension of reliability is narrow. It is also narrow when customers have
various service alternatives available.

Predicted Service
It is the level that lies between the desired and the adequate service level of a customer and is
known as the zone of tolerance.

Factors Influencing Customer Expectations of Service

Service providers should have knowledge of the factors that influence customer expectations of
service. These factors can be studied under various heads, namely factors that influence
customer expectations of desired service, factors that influence customer expectations of
adequate service and lastly, factors that influence both desired and predicted service
expectations of a customer.

Factors Influencing Desired Service Expectations

Customer needs and enduring service intensifiers largely influence customer expectations of a
desired service. Customer Needs are the needs represented in Maslows hierarchy of needs.
Customers differ in their expectations of desired service depending on their most vital need.

Example: If a customer who is hungry and another who is thirsty enter the same restaurant,
their desired service expectations differ based on their most important need at the moment.
While the customer who is hungry expects the waiter to immediately serve him the food he
orders, the customer who is thirsty expects the waiter to first serve him some cold water to
drink.

Enduring Service intensifiers are of two types, namely, derived service expectations of a
customer and his philosophy regarding the service.

Derived service expectations of a customer are in turn influenced by the expectations of those
who are dependent on the customer to provide them with a good service experience.

Example: Consider a situation in which an office outing has been arranged with the
administrative officer being responsible for making the travel and food arrangements. The
administrative officers expectations of desired service from the travel and the catering
company will be based on the expectations of desired service of every member going on the
outing.

Customers Philosophy regarding a service has to do with the customers attitude, and the
service providers conduct. A customers philosophy regarding the service tends to be stronger if
he is in some way associated with the service industry. This association of the customer may be
in the form of either being employed in the service industry or having worked in the service
industry in the past.
Example: A retired banker knows more about the service standards in a bank and his service
philosophy is stronger compared to other customers who do not have such a strong association
with the banking industry.

The desired level of service expectations of customers increases when their personal service
philosophies are high. A lot also depends on the internal customers or the people within the
service organisation. The output of the internal customer is directly linked to the level of service
provided by the organisation. Depending on these, the customers form attitudes towards the
service providers.

Factors Influencing Adequate Service Expectations

Customer expectations of adequate service are influenced by various factors such as transitory
service intensifiers, perceived service alternatives, customer self-perceived service role,
situational factors, and predicted service.

Transitory Service Intensifiers are the factors, which intensify or heighten the level of adequate
service expectations of customers. These factors include personal emergencies, failure of a
service provider to offer quality service the first time, or factors that push customers to take the
help of a service.

Example: Suppose a customer who is very hungry decides to try the service of a homedelivery
provider of pizza who claims to deliver a pizza anywhere in the city limits within 20 minutes.
However, the pizza is delivered at the customers doorstep an hour after he has ordered for it
and that too, with a topping different from the one he had ordered. The first-time service
failure by the pizza home delivery service will increase the service recovery expectations of the
customer the next time he orders a pizza from the same service provider. This time, the
customer will expect the service provider to deliver the pizza of his choice within the promised
time.

Consider a situation where a customer wants to purchase medicines urgently on his credit card
and the credit card company refuses to give acceptance though there is credit amount available
on the card. This will raise the adequate service level expectations of the customer.

Presence of transitory service intensifiers reduces the zone of tolerance and increases the
adequate service expectations of a customer.

Perceived Service Alternatives include customer perceptions of available alternatives that offer
similar service. The adequate service expectations of customers increase when they think that
there are alternatives available to fulfil the need.
Example: A customer in a big city who needs a loan to buy a house knows that he can get a loan
from any of the nationalised or private banks or housing finance companies in the city. Hence,
he will have high adequate service expectations than a customer who lives in a rural town with
only a nationalised bank providing the requisite service.

A Customers Self-perceived Service Role also affects his/her adequate service level
expectations. The self-perceived service role of a customer is the extent to which the customer
perceives he is capable of shaping the service encounter and influencing the level of service he
receives from a service provider. A customer is likely to have high expectations of adequate
service if he plays an active role in making the service provider aware of his service
expectations. Further, the customers expectations of adequate service are likely to be high if he
perceives that the service provider is wholly responsible for providing a good service encounter
and that the customer has no role to play in it.

Factors that Influence both Desired and Predicted Service Expectations

In addition to the above-described factors, there are also some factors that influence both
desired and predicted service expectations of a customer. These factors include explicit and
implicit service promises, word-of-mouth communication, and past experiences. Explicit Service
Promises are the statements made by a service provider in which he explicitly promises to
provide a certain level of service.

Explicit service promises made by a service provider through advertisements, personal selling,
brochures and so on, heighten the desired and predicted service expectations of customers.

Example: Dominos Pizza promises to deliver fresh and hot pizzas at the customers doorstep
within 30 minutes of placing the order.

Implicit Service Promises: Implicit service promises are not explicit statements made by a
service provider but are tangible clues that give a customer an idea of how the service will be.
Tangibles related to a service are in the form of personnel of the service provider, process, and
physical evidence.