HC2112 Service Marketing And Relationship Marketing

Question 1

Distinguish between core, facilitating and supporting services, and explain the potential value each service offers. Provide example for each service and discuss. (Word count: 500 words)

Answer:-

The core services refer to the main service that the customer is buying. Apart from the core services, there are also facilitating and supporting services that are provided by companies. These supplementary services that are provided by the firms are used for differentiation and can add more value to the core service that is being provided. Facilitating services allow the customer to use the core service and if the facilitating services are not in place, the core service may not be used. Support services are those that do not allow using of the core services but provide additional value to the core service.

The potential value that is offered by the core service is they cater to a particular need of the person. The potential value offered by facilitating service is that they allow the customer to focus on making use of the core service with the help of these facilitating services and it Is the support services that add more value.

Within an airline, the core experience or core service that is provided by the airline is the flying experience which allows the person to move from one location to the desired location. Within this core service, there are many facilitating services that also need to be taken into account. These include mobile check in, kiosks at airport, printing of boarding pass facility etc. These are facilitating services without which the person will not be able to use the core service. Supporting services are those services that can be used to add differentiation. So, some airlines provide free meals during the core service which can be used as a differentiating factor. Some of the airlines provide additional entertainment factors like in screen viewing that allows the users to improve the overall viewing experience. Thus it can be seen that the core services are the key services and hence are the hygiene factors that need to be taken into consideration. But for firms to be able to create differentiation, it is required that support services be provided. Together, core and facilitating services are used to make sure that the service standard meets the given guidelines.

Another example of core services is the internet banking facility that is provided by the banks. It can be seen that the core service is the internet banking that allows users to access their accounts as per their convenience. The facilitating services in this case are the login details that are shared with the individuals and the customer support service that is provided to the customers. The support services can be the minimal downtime and quick resolution to all the customer queries or a simple or unique user interface.

Question 2

From a customer perspective, what defines value in each of the following service settings:

a nightclub

a hairdressing salon

a tax accountant

Answer:  

The value that is provided for a service has a direct correlation with the level of customer satisfaction and customer retention. The perceived value by customer directly impacts the level of customer loyalty for the brand. The value hence created should be such that it should be able to create high switching barriers and hence reduce churn drivers. Customer loyalty hence forms a very important part of value creation for the business.

1. For a nightclub, the value can be created through many core and support services that help create an enriching experience for the customer. For example, offering free peanuts is an example of how nightclubs can create value. Value for customers can also be created through offers like happy hours that can ensure that customers would keep coming back. Another value creation that can be created by night clubs is drop off services for customers at odd hours.
2. A hair dressing salon needs to provide the core service of cutting hair, hair spa and other services. Value can be created by hair dressing salon if they provide the hair dressing salon if they provide a membership card that offers 25-30% discount on each visit that customer makes. Another value creation step by hair dressing salon can be regular reminders based on the average visit cycle of consumers
3. A tax accountant can create value for customers by making sure that tax filing is done at regular intervals. Tax accountant can provide services that can make sure that additional discounts can be offered if consumers are associated with the tax firm for a long time

Question 3

What are the factors that make frontline work stressful and difficult? Provide an example and explain how this business could manage these difficulties for their employees to achieve better customer service and satisfaction. (Word count: 500 words)

Answer:  

Front line work can be very stressful and difficult at times. There are two major factors that make the frontline work challenging. These include boundary spanning and emotional labour. The frontline workers may face challenges of person role conflict. This could happen when they may not be comfortable with the role that is offered to them. Further since frontline working requires that the person should be capable of interacting with multiple stakeholders, including customers without losing calm. Customer aggression is another major reason that makes frontline working challenging. It can be seen that many a times when there are aggrieved customers, these customers may take out their anger over the front line worker who is dealing with them. It may take some time before the customer can be calmed down. Emotional labour is another major challenge that is faced by frontline workers wherein they are required to manage their feelings and expressions so that the emotional requirements of the job can be fulfilled. So, they may be required to pump themselves up to present a happy face in front of the customers. They may also be required to do pep talk to calm down some customers. For example, in the case of retail store outlet, the people incharge are required to manage front end inventory, be able to answer to any queries that customers have and also make sure that customer service needs are met. They are required to be all prepared for any queries related to either the store or the products. Business can play an important role here in making sure that customer service and customer satisfaction can be improved. Some of the repetitive tasks can be managed with the help of technology. The front line workers can solve any queries apart from the standard queries. For example, pricing is one area where customers could face challenges. The kind of brands for one particular product is another major area of concern. In both the cases, standard templates can be designed which list all the brands for a particular product. The customers can use these as ready reckoner. Further in case of online query, chatbot can be the first point of contact that can help make sure that queries can be segregated into different individual departments so that the concerned person can save time.

Question 4

Select a bad and a good waiting experience you had recently, and contrast the two situations with respect to the aesthetics of the surroundings, diversions and other people waiting. (Word count: 300 words)

Answer:  

One example of a good waiting experience that I had recently was in a café. There was a digital menu for looking at the items and placing the order. While I had placed the order, there was a waiting time of 20 minutes before my order could arrive. The good part about the waiting experience was that there were many books around and many board games that I could play. This helped me pass time and I did not even realize the time. The surroundings were made in such a way that it prompted one to play more and spend more time in the café. There were many games that were kept in the line of sight that allowed me to play. There were enough diversions so that one did not have to wait enough for the order and one could keep oneself distracted. The other people waiting also started playing games. Even when I had to pay the bill, there was a board on which I could write comments while my bill arrived.

An example of a bad waiting experience was when I had to make a purchase for my laptop. The retail outlet had limited workforce due to the pandemic and hence there was a waiting of 20 minutes before my request could be serviced. Further since the store was dedicated only for laptops, there was no other ancilliary product that I could look at. There were no standees or information cards that could provide me the basic information related to a laptop. There was technology being used but only for limited purposes. The other people seemed irrirated and anxious since they had been waiting for a long time.

Question 5

Identify the guidelines for effectively designing and implementing a customer service strategy. Which of the guidelines do you think are the more important ones? (Word count: 300 words)

Answer:  

To design an effective customer service strategy, it is important that the trade off between customer satisfaction and operational efficiency be determined. The guidelines to effectively design customer service strategy require that the service standards that the company intends to deliver need to be defined. The service targets and goals need to be set by the organization. The expectations of customers need to be incorporated. For example, the firm must decide on the average service time per customer. The decision about presence or absence of intermediaries be defined based on the level of customer service that the firm intends to provide. The duration of customer delivery process must be defined. For some of the capacity constrained services, the actions being taken to make sure that customer is not lost need to be defined. This can be done by making sure that performance is regularly monitored and employees are trained and educated. The response system needs to be standardized and a pro active approach to customer satisfaction needs to be followed. For some of the activities that can be automated, technology should be used. The customers also need to be educated in case of complex services. Out of these, making sure that training of employees is done and regular performance feedback is done. Further the use of technology can help bring in operational efficiency from a long term perspective but it should make sure that the customer experience is not negatively impacted. Thus the level of trade off that is required to be achieved needs to be determined.

Question 6 

Why does consumer perception of risk constitute an important aspect in selecting, purchasing and using services? How can firms reduce consumer risk perceptions? (Word count: 300 words)

Answer:  

The consumer perception of risk plays an important role in selecting, purchasing and using of the services. This happens because based on the risk perception, customer may face psychological fear or emotions. The consumer perception of risk has an impact on the kind as well as quality of services that the consumer undertakes. For example, if a customer has had bad experience while going for a haircut from a branded salon, the customer may not be comfortable going for another service from the same salon. This perception has an impact on the kind of services the customer purchases, the cost benefit associated with the service and the performance outcomes or any monetary loss that a customer may face. There is also the social risk based on how others may react and even risk of impact on any of the senses. Based on these, customers may go ahead with lower value purchase or may make decision to go with the competition altogether. The consumer perception of risk may also lead the customer to do thorough checks and may take a long time before the customer can take the decision to go ahead with the service. Firms can reduce customer risk perceptions by providing objective data. Firms can also provide guarantee related to the service and use endorsements. The use of testimonials while making any purchase leads to bias that could lead the customer to go ahead with the purchase. More transparency can also make sure that the customer is able to make the purchase without any fear. Free service can also be another indicator that can be used by the firms to reduce the risk perception in the minds of the customers.  

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