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SM 4 th

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SM
Chapter 12

Customers’ Role in Service

Delivery

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The importance of customers
SM
in service delivery

 Customer participation at some level is

inevitable in service delivery.

 Services are actions or performances, typically

produced and consumed simultaneously.

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The importance of customers
SM
in service delivery

 In many situations employees, customers and

even others in the service environment interact to
produce the ultimate service outcome. Because
they participate, customers are indispensable to
the production process of service organizations,
and they can actually control or contribute to
their own satisfaction.

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The importance of customers
SM
in service delivery

1. Customer Receiving the Service

2. Other Customers

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The Importance of Customers in
SM
Level of Customer Participation:
Low: Consumer Presence
Required during Service
Delivery
Products are standardized
Service is provided
regardless of any individual
purchase
Payment may be the
Only required customer
Input.
End Consumer Examples
Airline travel
Motel stay
Fast-food restaurant
Business–to Business
Customer Examples
Uniform cleaning service
Pest control
Interior greenery maintenance
service
Service Delivery
Moderate: Consumer Input
Required for Service Creation
Client inputs customize a standard
service
Provision of service requires customer
Purchase
Customer inputs ( information materials)
Are necessary for an adequate outcome,
but the service firm provides the service
Haircut
Annual Physical exam
Full-service restaurant
Agency created advertising
Campaigning
Payroll service
Freight transportation
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High: Customer Co creates the
Service Product
Active client participation guides the
customized service.
Service cannot be created apart from the
customer’s purchase and active
participation.
Customer inputs are mandatory
And cocreate the outcome.
Marriage Counseling
Personal training
Weight reduction program
Major illness or surgery
Management consulting
Executive Management seminar
Installation of computer network.

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SM Other Customers

 There are direct customers and other customers.

direct customers directly receive the services and
other customers are present in the service
environment and can affect the nature of the
services outcome or process.

 Other customers can either enhance or detract

from customer satisfaction and perceptions of
quality.

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SM Other Customers

 Some of the ways other customers can

negatively affect the service experiences are by
exhibiting disruptive behaviors, causing delays,
overusing, excessively crowding, and
manifesting incompatible needs.

 Crying babies, smoking patrons and loud unruly

groups.

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SM Customer Roles

1. Customers as productive resources

2. Customers as contributors to service

Quality

3. Customers as Competitions

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Customers as productive
SM
resources

 Partial employees
 Effort, time & other resources
 Customer input
 Qualities of (input) & quality of output

 Two issues
1. Delivery system should be isolated from inputs due to
uncertainty of customers’ uncontrollable actions.
2. Can be delivered efficiently if customers are viewed as
partial employee.

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Customers as Contributors
SM
to Service Quality

 Health care, education, personal fitness and

weight loss.
 Performing roles effectively
 Influence quality of outcome
 Satisfaction
 Productivity
 Variation in participation, variation In quality

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Customers as Contributors
SM
to Service Quality

Situations

 What they did- Technical quality of customer

inputs
I clearly explained what I wanted the bank
employee to do.

 How they did it- Functional quality

I was friendly to the bank employee.

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SM Customers as Competitions

 Customers become competitor of company by

performing self services, such as child care or
marriage counseling.

 Internal exchange or external exchange

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SM Customers as Competitions

 In house or outsourcing production depends on:

1. Expertise capacity
2. Resource capacity
3. Time Capacity
4. Economic rewords
5. Psychic rewards
6. Trust
7. Control
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Self Service Technologies- The
SM Ultimate in Customer
Participation
 Self Service technologies are services produced
entirely by the customer without any direct
involvement or interaction with the firm’s
employee.

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Self Service Technologies- The
SM Ultimate in Customer
Participation
 A proliferation of New SSTs
1. ATMs
2. Pay at the pump
3. Airline cheek-in
4. Hotel cheek- in and cheek out
5. Automated car rental
6. Automated filing of legal
claims
7. Online driver’s license testing
8. Automated betting machines
9. Electronic blood pressure
machine
10. Various vending service
11. Tax preparation software
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12. Self-scanning at retail stores
13. Internet banking
14. Vehicle registration online
15. On line auctions
16. Home and car buying online
17. Automated investment
transaction
18. Insurance online
19. Package tracking
20. Internet shopping
21. Internet information search
22. Interactive voice response
phone systems.
23. Distance education.
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SM Success with SSTs

 Strategy (cost saving, revenue, growth or

competitive advantages)
 Benefits and customer’s capacity to receive
benefits
 Motivation, roles and capacity to perform roles
 Technology readiness
 Customer involvement
 Customer education

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Strategies for Enhancing
SM
Customer Participation

 Define customers’ job

1. Helping oneself: through active
participation, customers may become
productive resources.
2. Helping others: mentoring programs in
university.
3. Promoting the company: recommendation
4. Individual differences: not every one want
to participate

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Strategies for Enhancing
SM
Customer Participation

 Recruit, educate and reward customers

1. Recruit the right customers who are comfortable
with roles and communicate responsibilities.
2. Educate and train customers through socializing
org. values, abilities and skills, customer orientation
(universities), customer education (hospitals) and
customer information (McDonald's)
3. Reward customers for their contributions
4. Avoid negative outcomes of inappropriate customer
participation

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Strategies for Enhancing
SM
Customer Participation

 Manage the customer mix

Compatibility management: a process of first attracting

homogeneous consumers to the service environment, then
actively managing both the physical environment and
customer to customer encounters in such a way as to
enhance satisfying encounters and minimizing
dissatisfying customers.

Strategies:
1. Homogeneous customers
2. Locational proximity
3. Codes of conduct ( dresses and smoking attitudes)
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