Topic 2: Defining and Measuring

Service Quality and Customer

Satisfaction
Services Marketing
Teaching faculty: Ms. Surbhi Pahuja
|BBA-305 (Asst. Prof.)
 LEARNING OUTCOME

K Level

POs CO Course unit Description Outcome

Able to examine the criticalities of Consumer Behavior in

Services and examining potential measures to Service
Defining and Measuring Service Quality
PO1 CO2 K3
Quality and Customer Satisfaction
 Recapitualtion

1.Consumer Behaviour for Services

2.Nature of Consumer Behaviour
3.Stages in Consumer Decision Making and Evaluation of Services
4.Categories in Consumer Decision Making and Evaluation of Services
 Defining and Measuring Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction

This topic will be helpful to understand the measurement of service quality,

measures the gap between the customer’s level of expectation and customer
perception.
Book for reading

Christopher Lovelock, Jochen Wirtz and Jayanta Chatterjee, Service Marketing

People, Technology, Strategy, Pearson, 7e

Services Marketing
|BBA-305
 What is the Service quality focuses on the needs and
expectations of customers to improve products
measurement of
and/or services.
service quality?
The measurement of service quality measures the
gap between the customer’s level of expectation
and how well they rated the service(s).

Services Marketing
|BBA-305
 Why measure service quality?

The benefits of measuring service quality include:

It will be able to identify where services need improving in the view of

your users.
It will enable you to provide services that are more closely aligned with
the expectations of your users.

Services Marketing
|BBA-305
 How do I measure
it?

Qualitative
Methods: Qualitative
interviews, focus Methods:
groups, observation interviews, focus
(including mystery
groups, observation
shopping!)
(including mystery
shopping!)

Services Marketing |BBA-305

 Measuring and Improving Service Quality

rved, Hard measures—can be counted,

Soft measures—not easily obse
timed, or measured through audits
must be collected by talking to
Typically operational processes or
customers, employees, or others
outcomes
id e di re ct io n, gu idan ce , an d fe edback Standards often set with reference
Prov
to employees on ways to to percentage of occasions on which
achieve customer satisfaction a particular measure is achieved
an be qu an tifi ed by m ea su ring customer Control charts are useful for
C
perceptions and beliefs displaying performance over time
s, and
For example: SERVQUAL, survey against
customer advisory panels specific quality standards

Services Marketing |BBA-305

 Soft Measures
Service Quality
Soft standards and measures of service
quality are those that cannot easily be
observed and must be collected by talking to
customers, or employees.
Soft measures provide direction, guidance
and feedback to employees in ways to
achieve customer satisfaction and can be
quantified by measuring customer
perceptions and beliefs.
SERVQUAL is an example of a
sophisticated soft measurement system.
Services Marketing |BBA-305
of
Possible techniques of soft standards and measures:
Analysis of customers’ complaints
Guest surveys used by hotels
Ongoing surveys of account holders by telephone or
post
Customer advisory panels to offer feedback and
advice on service performance
Employee surveys and panels to determine
perceptions of the quality of service delivered to
customers on specific dimensions, barriers to better
service and suggestions for improvements.
Soft Measures of
Service Quality Focus-group interviews, conducted
separately with both customers and
customer-contact employees to study
qualitative issues in depth “Mystery
shopping” of service providers to
measure the service behaviour of
individual employees (this research is
often used by human resource
managers as well as marketers)

Services Marketing |BBA-305

 Hard Measures of
Service Quality

Control charts to monitor a single variable

Offer a simple method of displaying performance
over time against specific quality standards
Are only good if data on which they are based is Service quality indexes
accurate
Enable easy identification of trends Embrace key activities
Service quality indexes that have an impact on
Embrace key activities that have an impact on
customers
customers
Services Marketing |BBA-305
Services Marketing |BBA-305
Services Marketing |BBA-305
 Service quality is an approach to manage business processes in order to ensure full satisfaction of the customers &
quality in service provided. It works as an antecedent of customer satisfaction.

SERVQUAL is a service quality framework, developed in the eighties by Zeithaml, Parasuraman & Berry, aiming at
measuring the scale of Quality in the service sectors.

SERVQUAL was originally measured on 10 aspects of service quality:.

In 1988 the 10 components were collapsed into five dimensions (RATER).

Reliability, Tangibles to measure the gap and Responsiveness remained distinct, but the remaining
seven components collapsed into two segregate dimensions – Assurance and Empathy.

Services Marketing
|BBA-305
 Examples
4)Courtesy - staff behaving politely and pleasantly.
1)Access - convenient opening times;
alternativemethods to accessing services: e.g. 5)Credibility - the reputation of the service in the
wider community; staff generating a feeling of trust
telephone and internet /email.
with users.

2)Communication – Plain English signs &

pamphlets/guides; suggestions and complaints
procedures.

3)Competence - all staff knowing, and able to

do, theirjob.

Services Marketing |BBA-305

How to turn unsatisfied
customer to satisfied
customer
By Improving Quality

Turn Complaints Into Publicity

Offer an Immediate Discount

Short Response Time

Give customer “Plus-One”

Listen to the Customer

Take Full Responsibility

Services Marketing |BBA-305

 Service Quality Framework

Service quality is an approach to manage business processes in order to ensure full

satisfaction of the customers & quality in service provided. It works as an antecedent of
customer satisfaction (Ruyter and Bloemer, 1995)

If expectations are greater than performance, then perceived quality is less than
satisfactory and hence customer dissatisfaction occurs (Parasuraman et al ., 1985;
Lewis and Mitchell, 1990)

SERVQUAL is a service quality framework, developed in the eighties by Zeithaml,

Parasuraman & Berry, aiming at measuring the scale of Quality in the service sectors.

SERVQUAL was originally measured on 10 aspects of service quality: reliability,

responsiveness, competence, access, courtesy, communication, credibility, security,
understanding the customer, and tangibles, to measure the gap between customer
expectations and experience.

Services Marketing |BBA-305

 SERVQUA •In 1988 the 10 components were collapsed into five dimensions (RATER).

L as a Reliability, tangibles and responsiveness remained distinct, but the

remaining seven components collapsed into two aggregate dimensions,
assurance and empathy.

Measuring •
•Parasuraman et al. developed a 22-scale instrument with which to
measure customers’ expectations and perceptions (E and P) of the five

Tool RATER dimensions. Four or five numbered items are used to measure each
dimension.
The instrument is administered twice in different forms, first to measure
expectations and second to measure perceptions

Services Marketing |BBA-305

SERVQUAL as a Measuring
Tool

Services Marketing |BBA-305

 Dimensions of Service Quality

Responsiveness
Reliability promptness
dependability Helpfulness
delivering on
promises accuracy
Consistency

Services Marketing |BBA-305


Dimensions of Service Quality
Empathy
easy access
good communication customer
understanding personalised
attention Example: being a good
listener.

Assurance

competence
Tangibles
courtesy
physical
credibility
evidence
Security

Services Marketing |BBA-305

Services Marketing |BBA-305
Services Marketing |BBA-305