Understanding Customer

Requirements
Dr. Arijit Bhattacharya
Context of today’s topic
1. Listening to Customers
through Research
2. Building Customer
Relationships
3. Service Recovery
 Listening to Customers through Research
Why Services Marketing Research ?
• Service performance (People -
heterogeneity)
• Gap (Expectations and perceptions -
Dynamic)
• Service requirements, expectations
of customer
• Service performance (Monitor)
• Dissatisfied customers (Service
recovery)
• Service delivery (Effectiveness)
• Customer expectations (New service,
future service)
• Comparison with competition
Type of Research
• Complaint solicitation
• Critical Incident Studies
• SERVQUAL survey
• Post-transaction surveys (Trailer calls)
• Social media
• Service Expectation Meetings
• Process checkpoint evaluations
• Mystery shopping
• Market-oriented ethnography
• Customer Panels
• Lost customer research
• Future expectations research
• Database customer research
 Activity
• Group of 5. How to study satisfaction in ____?
• Each group 1 topic. 1. Hotels?
2. Restaurants?
3. Airlines?
4. Amusement parks?
5. Car servicing centre?
6. Retailing?
7. Banking?
8. Cable TV?
9. Public transportation?
10. Education?
 Questionnaire format
Reliability statements SD D N A SA
1. ………………. 1 2 3 4 5
2……………….. 1 2 3 4 5
3………………. 1 2 3 4 5

Responsiveness statements SD D N A SA
1. ………………. 1 2 3 4 5
2……………….. 1 2 3 4 5
3………………. 1 2 3 4 5

Assurance statements SD D N A SA
1. ………………. 1 2 3 4 5
2……………….. 1 2 3 4 5
3………………. 1 2 3 4 5
Empathy statements SD D N A SA
1. ………………. 1 2 3 4 5
2……………….. 1 2 3 4 5
3………………. 1 2 3 4 5

Tangibles statements SD D N A SA
1. ………………. 1 2 3 4 5
2……………….. 1 2 3 4 5
3………………. 1 2 3 4 5
 Building Customer Relationships
Holes in the Bucket Evolution of Customer Relationships
• Customers as
– Strangers
• Non user; competition
• Attract  trial  acquire
– Acquaintances
• Repetitive interaction  Experience
 Risk reduction  Satisfaction
– Friends
• USP  Customer Trust 
Retention
– Partners
• Customer commitment 
Personalized offerings  Exclusive
provider
Levels of Relationship Strategies

• Level 1
– Customers>Financial
incentives
• Level 2
– Clients>Interpersonal, social
• Level 3
– Customer intimacy>one-to-one
solution
• Level 4
– B2B context>services
integrated into client’s service
delivery system
 Service Failure
Customer Complaint Actions Following
Service Failure
• Service unavailable, late,
slow
• “tip of the iceberg”
– 45% customers unhappy with
service delivery complain to
employees serving them
• 1-5% complaint to
management or company HQ
• Service failures left
unfixed…
 Types of Complainers
• Passives
• Voicers
• Irates
• Activists
 Service Recovery
• Service failure
– Below expectations  Dissatisfaction
• Service recovery
– Reacting to service failure
• Service recovery paradox
– Initially disappointed customer  Excellent
service recovery  Satisfied? - Loyal?

• Service recovery strategies?

Service Recovery Strategies

• Fix the customer

– Actions taken by the firm to
restore the relationship with
the customer
• Fix the problem
– Actions taken to correct the
problem and to prevent it
from recurring
• Service Guarantees
– Domino’s Pizza
Flipkart’s apology after botched
‘Big Billion Day’ sale
Zomato Outdoor ad (2017)
Indigo staff assaults passenger 2017
 Activity
• Find out from the Internet how Indigo handled
the situation both from the perspectives of:
– Fix the customer
– Fix the problem