Empower your business with customer service and relationship management for Quality Assurance

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This video talks about evaluating service quality  and the five service quality characteristics. Now that we’ve talked about the  two different types of service,   how do we evaluate service quality? How do customers determine whether   or not they received high quality  service from the service providers?  When we're evaluating customer service, we  compare the perceptions of the service we   receive with the expectations we had. When we enter a retailer, we all have   expectations of the level of service or the  type of service that we're going to receive.   We compare what we expect to what we  perceive we got after we leave the retailer.  We are comparing perceptions with expectations. We say that customers are satisfied when the   perceived service either meets  or exceeds the expectations.  Let’s say I go into Target, and I have the  expectation that the store is going to be clean.   I expect to be able to find the merchandise  that I'm looking for. I expect a line in   the checkout because there's always  a line in the checkout at Target.  But, after I go and do my shopping at Target  I realize that the store was not only clean   it was completely disinfected. There were  employees who were willing to point me in   the right direction of all the items I needed  so I didn't have to waste time wandering around.   The shelves were fully stocked and  there was absolutely no line in the   checkout because they wanted to move  people through as fast as possible.  In this example my perception, what I actually  received was much better than the expectation   that I had. In this case, I'm going to say that  I'm satisfied with this service experience. Now, I would be dissatisfied if I feel that  the service falls below my expectations.  So again, if I expected the store to be clean, I  expected the shelves to be stocked, and let's say   I still expected a line in the checkout, if when  I went into Target and the store was completely   dirty, none of the items that I was looking  for were on the store shelves, and the line was   wrapped around one of the departments when I was  trying to check out, then I would be dissatisfied   because my perception, what I actually feel  like I got was much lower than my expectation. This example is not specific to  retailing, but it highlights the concept.  I don't know about you guys but when it  comes to wintertime, I always think I'm   going to wear these cute little tights and  these boots and scarves and hats and coats,   and expect to look all sorts of cute. I expect to look like the person in this picture.  But in reality, I end up looking  like Ralphie’s little brother. So how do retailers make sure that   you're satisfied every single  time you come into the store?  How do they make sure that you perceive  the service quality to be better than what   you actually expected? Well,  a couple of different ways.  One, retailers have to help  you set the right expectation.  Let's look at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is always  an excellent example on customer service.   How does Wal-Mart make sure that  you set the right expectation?  Well, they offer lousy customer  service every single time.   They basically train you to have the lowest  expectations absolutely possible for going   into a Wal-Mart by offering no service,  little service, or terrible service.  Consistently, your expectations of the  service are lowered. That way, hopefully    your perception will be better than what  you expect when you go into the store.  I'm not quite sure this actually works out because  even though I expect nothing from Wal-Mart in   terms of customer service I still think I  would leave dissatisfied 9 times out of 10.  Other things that can influence our evaluations in the  customer service encounter could be the manner in   which we receive our product or service. Let's look at a service retailer. Let's   look at a hair salon. Our expectations or our  perceptions can be influenced by the manner   in which the employee provides the service,  not just the outcome of the service.  So, let's say we're looking at a hair salon. This  could be a hair salon that you go to on a regular   or consistent basis, and this encounter let's say  that your hair stylist is kind of cranky, has a   little bit of a bad attitude, and is not overly  talkative nor friendly like they normally are.  They're just here to get the job done. At the  end of your haircut, at the end of the service,   your hair looks fantastic. It looks absolutely  wonderful. The service provider did an amazing job   but the manner in which they delivered that  service, so the fact that they were kind of   cranky, not super talkative, not overly friendly,  impacts your perception of the overall service.  So, you may walk out of that hair salon  and say, “That wasn't the best service.”   My perception of it was much lower than what I  had expected, even though my hair looks fantastic.   So, the manner in which the employee provides  the service has an impact on the outcome or   it has an impact on your perceptions  not just the outcome of the service.  In evaluating our service quality, because  it's difficult and because we're looking at   perceptions based on what we expect, we have  five customer service characteristics that   we evaluate that help us determine  whether or not we are satisfied,   whether or not we received  a quality service or not. The first characteristic is reliability.  Reliability is saying that the retailer  performs the service dependably and accurately.   They might have performed the service as promised  or as contracted and met specific delivery dates.   Reliability comes down to the  actual service being provided.  What is the reason that you take your clothes to  a dry cleaner? Most likely you take your clothes   to the dry cleaner because you want your clothes  to be dry cleaned. So, when you take your clothes   to the dry cleaners the biggest thing you want is  your clothes to be cleaned correctly, and on time.  When we look at reliability this is saying that  we're providing what we said we are going to do   when we said we are going to do it.  I'm going to clean your clothes by next Monday  at 9:00 a.m. If I show up next Monday at 9:00   a.m. I expect my clothes to be clean  and I expect them to be ready to go.  By not providing reliable  service to our customers,   they become frustrated and irritated and are  likely to not return to the business again. The second service quality characteristic is  assurance. Assurance is the knowledge and the   courtesy of the employees and their ability to  convey trust and confidence to the customers.  In my example, we've got a lady going into a  changing room and she says, “Does this make   me look fat?” The individual sitting down says,  “Yes.” And then the caption at the bottom says,   “Kevin would regret his answer for some time.” Well on the one hand, yes this is true,   no person, it doesn't matter if you're a lady  or a man, nobody really wants somebody else to   say that. “Yeah, you look terrible in that.” “You  look fat.” “You look horrible.” Nobody wants that.   But at the same time, do we want people  to lie to us? Do we want people to say   an item of clothing looks good on us when  in fact we look absolutely terrible in it?  Most of us can agree, no. If the customer  is sold an item that after they reflect on it,   after they get home, maybe after they wear it  to a party, it doesn't meet their expectations,   it doesn't look good on them, the retailer  is likely to lose that customer forever.  I have an example for you guys. I went into a White House Black  Market quite some time ago and I wanted some new   jeans. I had gotten some skinny jeans to try on.  I went into the dressing room, I tried them on,   came out to look at myself in the mirror, and  the sales associate came in and said “Everything   Okay? Does everything fit? Are you happy?  Can I get you another size? Another style?”  And as I was looking at the pants in the mirror  and I was thinking, “Oh, I don't know.   I don't really think these  look good on me. I'm not sure.”   And it was funny because the associate was  like “Yeah. those really look terrible on   you. Let's try another style!” So, while in the moment,   obviously I'm not thrilled that the associate  says that I look terrible in these jeans,   I did appreciate the fact that they did tell  me that these pants look terrible on me.  That way I didn't buy them, get home, and  go out with my friends later on and my   friends then tell me, “What the heck are you  wearing? Those pants look terrible on you.”  I'd much rather the employee have the knowledge,  I'd much rather have the trust in them to provide   their opinion on the item because if I  get home and the item doesn't look good,   the retailer is likely to lose me as a customer. Looking out for the customer’s best interest is   going to help create long term retention.  If the retailer lies to the customer and   said something looks good on them  when in reality it looks terrible,   the customer is going to lose trust in the  retailer. They're going to lose confidence in the   retailer. And ultimately that customer will choose  a different retailer to visit in the future. The third service quality  characteristic is tangibility.  Tangibility is associated with the appearances of  physical facilities, equipment, personnel, and any   communication materials. Tangibility is the thing  that you can touch in the service experience.  In a service experience, there is not a lot of  tangibility with the actual service experience.   I can't put my finger on the level of  service that the individual provides   but I can put my finger on how clean the  store is. How nice the sales associate   is dressed. How updated the equipment is.  How comfortable a waiting room might be.  So, tangibility is the things that  we can actually touch and feel.   It gives us a different sense of the service  environment and provides us something that we   can put our finger on to actually evaluate. If our sales associate is nicely dressed as   opposed to wearing pajama pants, we're  going to evaluate the service as higher.   We're going to say we received better quality  because the individual is dressed appropriately.  If we enter an office that's completely  messy, dirty, papers are everywhere,   items are scattered about as compared  to an office that's neat and organized,   we're going to have a different perception. We might receive the exact same level of   service but in a nice neat tidy office  we're going to rate that quality,   that service experience as much higher. Even though these tangibile items don't   necessarily have an impact on what we're  receiving, they do have an impact in our minds. The fourth service quality  characteristic is empathy.  Empathy is saying that we receive caring and   individualized attention  from our service provider.  Make sure that you know that empathy is different  than sympathy. We're not feeling bad. We're not   feeling sorry for our customers. We are providing  them with caring and individualized attention.  One way for the customer service personnel to be  caring and provide us the individualized attention   that we need, is through the use of CRM software. By using CRM, the customer relationship   management, those databases that  we talked about back in Chapter 10,   by providing the detailed descriptions  of any transactions that we've had,   the service provider knows our experience  with that retailer so they can provide a   caring and individualized experience because  they know what we experienced previously. The last service quality  characteristic is responsiveness.  Responsiveness is saying that  customer service personnel and   sales associates really do want to help  the customer and provide prompt service.  We're saying that we want to hire sales associates  or customer service personnel that actually want   to help our customers, that actually want  to be there, and provide prompt service,   and make things right or make the  information needed in a prompt timeframe.  Responsiveness can come in several forms. It can  be automated. It can be with additional options   added on. It can be resolving issues quickly. In education we say that education is a   service that I am attempting to provide you  guys right now. We have emails frequently   in this course. You guys want to receive  prompt responses when you send me emails.  Because I actually do want you guys to learn, I  feel like I've tried to tell you that all semester   that retailing is literally all around us. And so  I really do want you to learn the material. I try   to provide you with responsive or prompt service  by responding to your emails in a timely fashion. Out of our five service quality characteristics  we had reliability, assurance, tangibles,   empathy, and responsiveness, which one of these  is the most important in the service experience?  Are all of these characteristics equally  important? Is one more important than the other?  Hopefully you're thinking about it. And to the  question is one characteristic more important   than the other, the answer is yes. The most important characteristic is   reliability. Reliability is the most important  characteristic in our service encounter.  Why? Why is reliability the most  important service quality characteristic?   Reliability is the characteristic that we want   our service done right. And we want it  done dependably, accurately, and on time.  This is the reason that we go and have the service  provided. If our service is not provided   dependably, if it's not provided accurately,  if it's not done on time, or as promised   we're not going to return to that  retailer or that service encounter.  It doesn't matter what our retailer is going  to do past that. It doesn't matter how great   the other four service quality characteristics  are. If I can't get the product or service that I   need or want I'm going to go to another provider  regardless of the other components I received.  So, reliability is the most important  characteristic in our service experience.