SERVQUAL developed in the mid eighties by Zeithaml, Parasuraman & Berry.

By the early nineties the authors had refined the model to the useful acronym RATER

The simplified RATER model however is a simple and useful model for qualitatively exploring and assessing customers' service experiences and has been used widely by service delivery organizations. It is an efficient model in helping an organization shape up their efforts in bridging the gap between perceived and expected service.

RATER means :

Reliability Assurance

Tangibles
Empathy Responsiveness

Customer needs and expectations

CUSTOMER

1. Knowledge Gap
Management definition of these needs

MANAGEMENT

2. Standards Gap
Translation into design/delivery specs

3. Delivery Gap
Execution of design/delivery specs

4. I.C.Gap

Advertising and sales promises

5. Perceptions Gap
Customer perceptions of product execution Customer interpretation of communications

6. Interpretation Gap

7.

Service Gap
Customer experience relative to expectations

Gap 1

the distance between what customers expect and what managers think they expect .

Survey research is a key way to narrow this gap.

Gap 2

between management perception and the actual specification of the customer experience .

Managers need to make sure the organization is defining the level of service they believe is needed.

Gap 3

from the experience specification to the delivery of the experience . Managers need to audit the customer experience that their organization currently delivers in order to make sure it lives up to the spec.

Gap 4

the gap between the delivery of the customer experience and what is communicated to customers

All too often organizations exaggerate what will be provided to customers, or discuss the best case rather than the likely case, raising customer expectations and harming customer perceptions.

Gap 5

the gap between a customer's perception of the experience and the customer's expectation of the service. Customers' expectations have been shaped by word of mouth, their personal needs and their own past experiences. Routine surveys after delivering the customer experience are important for an organization to measure customer perceptions of service

Used in

service industries such as Healthcare

banking
financial services education