Service are high in experience and credence qualities relative to goods,thus how consumers evaluate the actual experience of the service is critical in their evaluation process and their decision to repurchase later.
"The experience is marketing"=>James Gritmore & Joseph Pine
In this section we describe elements of consumer behavior that are relevant to understanding service experiences and how customers evaluate them.Many subsequent chapters in this book will provide you with tools and approaches for managing specific elements of the customer experience the heart of services marketing and management.
Services as Processes:
Because services are actions or performances done for and with customers,they typically involve a sequence of steps,actions and activities.Consider medical services.Some of the steps in medical care involve customers interacting with providers,other steps may be carried out by the customers themselves taking and other steps may involve third parties.The combination of these steps and many others along the way,constitute a process,a service experience that is evaluated by the consumer.
In many cases,the customers experience comprises interactions with multiple,interconnected organizations,as in the case of medical services,automobile insurance,or home buying.Diverse sets of experiences across the network of firms will likely influence consumers overall impressions of their experience.
Service Provision as Drama:
The metaphor of a theater is a useful framework for describing and analyzing service performances.Both the theater and service organizations aim to create and maintain a desirable impression before an audience and recognize that the way to accomplish this is by carefully managing the actors and the physical setting of their behavior.
Service Roles and Scripts:
Roles are combinations of social cues that guide and direct behavior in a given setting.Just as there are roles in dramatic performances,there are roles in service delivery.
For example,the role of a hostess in a restaurant is to acknowledge and greet customers,find out how many people are in their group and then lead them to a table where they will eat.The success of any service performance depends in part on how well the role is performed by the service actor and how well the team of players the role set of both service employees and customers act out their roles.
Some services are more scripted than others.Customers would expect very expensive,customized services such as spa vacations to be less scripted than mass produced services such as movie theaters and airline travel.
(Collected in Book)
