Chapter 6 Market Research2 2015 2

8/17/2019 Chapter 6 Market Research2 2015 2

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6-1

UNDERSTANDING

CUSTOMERREQUIREMENTS

Market Research

UNDERSTANDING

CUSTOMERREQUIREMENTS

Market Research


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6-3

Provider Gap 1


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6-4

Key Factors Leading to Provider Gap 1


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6-5

Listening to Customers throughResearch

A key vehicle for understanding customerexpectations and perceptions of services.

Focus issues may be: What features are most important to customers?

What customers think the company can do when problemoccurs in service delivery?


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6-6

Common Research Objectives forServices

To discover customer reuirements or expectations forservice.

To monitor and track service performance. To assess overall company performance compared with

that of competition. To assess gaps between customer expectations and

perceptions. To identify dissatised customers! so that service recovery

can be attempted. To gauge e"ectiveness of changes in service delivery. To appraise the service performance of individuals and

teams for evaluation! recognition! and rewards. To determine customer expectations for a new service. To monitor changing customer expectations in an industry. To forecast future expectations of customers.


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Criteria for an ffective ServiceResearch Program

#t should capture not only perceptions of actual serviceexperience but customer expectations also.

#t should balance the $ost of research and the value of theinformation.

$ost may be monetary %payment to customer research companies!internal company costs for collecting the information&! cost of time commitment needed internally by employees to administer the research.

'ain may be in improved decision making! retained customers! andsuccessful new product launches.

#t should measure priorities of customer for service

reuirements i.e. the relative importance of servicedimensions and attributes.

#t should occur with appropriate freuency. #t must be anongoing process rather than one time shot.


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6-8

!ypes of Research Studies

Eective research program includes multiple types ofresearch studies.

Complaint Solicitation: $ollect complaints! then use this

information to identify dissatis(ed customers! correctindividual problems! and identify common service failurepoints. "dvantage #isadvantage

)asiest toconduct

*mall +age ofcustomers

actually complainto the company.


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6-9

Reuirements Research! #denti(es bene(ts and attributesthat customers expect in a service.

)xpert medical care ! comfortable rooms! courteous sta"!tasty food

#ndustries that share common expectations! managers mayseek knowledge from existing research in the related serviceindustry.


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6-10

SER"#$%& Surveys! #nvolves a survey containing ,,attributes! grouped into the (ve service uality dimensions.

The survey sometimes asks customers to provide two di". ratings oneach attribute-one for expectation from excellent companies andother for perception about speci(c company.

ata gathered through the instrument can be used to: -

/. etermine the average gap score %between customers0 perceptions andexpectations& for each service attribute

,. Assess the company0s service uality along each of the (ve *)1234A5dimensions

6. To track customers0 expectations and perceptions over time

7. To compare the company0s *)1234A5 score against competitors

8. To identify and examine customer segments that di"er signi(cantly intheir assessments of a company0s service performance

9. To assess internal service uality% i.e. the uality of service rendered byone deptt to others within the same company.


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6-11

'railer Calls or (ost transaction Surveys! $ustomers areasked a short list of uestions immediately after a particulartransaction about their satisfaction with the transaction andcontact personnel with whom they interacted.

%dvantage *imple!

rovides continuous information about interaction with customers

Associate service uality performance with individual employee for rewardor correction.

*erves as an incentive to employees for better service


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6-12

!rai$er Ca$$ or Post !ransactionsurvey


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6-13

Lost Customer Research


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6-14

&ost Customer Research! eliberately seekingcustomers who have dropped the company0sservice to inuire about their reasons for leaving.5ike exit interviews.

Have they made a purchase or chosen a replacement vendor, or are they still looking, orhave they decided not to buy (taken themselves out of the market) at this time?

If still looking, what specifically are they looking for? Why do they believe they haven't

found it? (ook for opportunities for your company to re!contact" this #uestion might work

best in a #ualitative format$)

If they have decided not to buy, why? (%gain, look for opportunities for your company to

re!contact them to solve their problem with an attractive offer$)

If they did buy a product or select a replacement vendors, who did they purchase from,

what product did they buy, and why?

Why didn't they buy your product? (How was it deficient? How was the product they

bought better?)

How did the e&perience of shopping from you compare up against other places they

shopped?

Would they be open to a re!contact from your company? (specially if they have not yet

urchased and are still lookin


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6-15

%dvantage of &ost Customer Research #t identi(es failure points and common problems in the service.

)stablish an early warning system for future defects.


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6-16 $ements in an ffective Service %ar&etingResearch Program

Critical )ncident techniue! 3ualitative interviewprocedure! customers are asked about satisfying anddissatisfying service encounters they have experienced.

$ustomers are asked the following uestions: Think of a time when! as a customer! you had a particularly satisfying %dissatisfying&

interaction with an employee of ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;. When did the incident happen? What speci(c circumstances led up to this situation? )xactly what was said and done? What resulted that made you feel the interaction was satisfying %dissatisfying&?

%dvantage ata are collected from the respondents0 perspective. 1e


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*ystery Shopping


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6-18

*ystery Shopping: is a tool used to measure uality of service!or compliance with regulation! or to gather speci(c information aboutproducts and services. The mystery consumer>s speci(c identity andpurpose is generally not known by the establishment beingevaluated. ystery shoppers perform speci(c tasks such as

purchasing a product! asking uestions! registering complaints orbehaving in a certain way! and then provide detailed reportsor feedback about their experiences.

$ompanies hire outside research organisations to send people

into service organisation and experience the service as if theywere customers.

They are trained in the criteria important to customers: Acknowledged pleasantly . )mployee suggested additional item )mployee reuested payment prior to delivering order

1eceived receipt $orrect order received


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6-19

The details and information points shoppers take note of typically include:

number of employees in the store on entering

how long it takes before the mystery shopper is greeted

the name of the employees

whether or not the greeting is friendly! ideally according to ob@ective measures

the uestions asked by the shopper to (nd a suitable product

the types of products shown

the sales arguments used by the employee

whether or how the employee attempted to close the sale

whether the employee suggested any add-on sales

whether the employee invited the shopper to come back to the store

cleanliness of store and store associates

speed of service

compliance with company standards relating to service! store appearance! andgroomingpresentation

%dvantage

ystery shopping keeps workers on their toes as they know theymay be evaluated at any time.


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Customer panels! are group of customers assembled toprovide attitudes and perception about a service

These are used to screen movies before they are released tothe public. $ustomer panels participate in post-screening

interviews in which they report on their response to themovies %ending! plot line&.

ABuent homeowners may discuss the features they mostwant in their next homes. $onvenience may be most

important.


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6-21

Portfo$io of Services Research

Customer Comp$aintSo$icitation

'Re$ationship( Surveys

Post)!ransaction Surveys

Customer Focus Groups

'%ystery Shopping( ofService Providers

mp$oyee Surveys

*dentify dissatisfied customers to attempt recovery+identify most common categories of service fai$urefor remedia$ action

Obtain customer feedbac& ,hi$e service e-perience isfresh+ act on feedbac& .uic&$y if negative patterns deve$op

/se as input for .uantitative surveys+ provide a forumfor customers to suggest service)improvement ideas

"ssess company0s service performance compared tocompetitors+ identify service)improvement priorities+trac& service improvement over time

%easure individua$ emp$oyee service behaviors for usein coaching training performance eva$uationrecognition and re,ards+ identify systemic strengthsand ,ea&nesses in service

%easure interna$ service .ua$ity+ identify emp$oyee)perceived obstac$es to improve service+ trac&emp$oyee mora$e and attitudes

#etermine the reasons ,hy customers defect

Research Objective !ype of Research

Lost Customer Research

Future -pectations ResearchForecast future e-pectations of customers+ deve$opand test ne, service ideas


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6-23

"na$y2ing and *nterpreting %ar&etingResearch Findings

4sers of customer research (ndings may not be trained instatistics or may lack time or expertise to analyse technicalresearch information.

epicting 1 (ndings graphically is a powerful way ofcommunication.

+one of 'olerance Charts When companies collect data on dual expectation levels-

desired and adeuate service along with the actualperformance data! CDT charts are made.

$ircles-erceptions of company performance

*uare-Cone of tolerance boxes

McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc !ll


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Computer %anufacturer

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6

7

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5

Re$iabi$ity Responsiveness "ssurance mpathy !angib$es

OO OO

O

: 4one of !o$erance : S;3; PerceptionO

Customer Service 3ua$ity PerceptionsRe$ative to 4ones of !o$erance


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6-26

/p,ard Communication

Db@ectives: To gain (rst hand knowledge about customers!

improves internal service uality

To gain (rst hand knowledge of employees To obtain ideas for service improvement.

McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc !ll


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esearch for upward communication&ecutive visits to customers

&ecutive of selling companies arrange meetings with e&ecutives

at a similar level in client companies$

esearch on intermediate customers *ontact employees, dealers, distributors, agents, and brokers$

+he interaction with these customers provides opportunities for

understanding end!customers e&pectations and problems$

esearch on internal customers +here is a link between #uality of internal service received by the

employees and #uality of service provided to their own

customers$ mployee research focuses on the service that

internal customers give and receive$ *ustomer research!what is

occurring$, employee research!why it is occurring$5-27


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6-28


esearch for upward communication&ecutive or management listening approaches

to employees *ustomer contact personnel who are in regular contact with

customers and understand their e&pectations and perceptions

may pass on information to top management$

mployee suggestions

mployees are encouraged to identify problem and then work todevelop solutions to those problems$

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Overview

-arketing research can help an organi.ation improve the #uality of its customer service, identify new

service opportunities and gain a competitive edge over competitors$ /ervice organi.ations can use

different approaches to conduct market research$

/ome of these approaches are post!transactional surveys, customer complaint surveys, total market

surveys and employee surveys$ 0ost!transactional surveys are conducted immediately after the

customer e&periences service and the e&perience is still fresh in his mind$ +he management also tries

to learn from the complaints and in#uiries made by customers from time to time, in the forms provided

at service outlets for the purpose$

+otal market surveys include interviewing all the customers including the e&isting customers of the

organi.ation, potential customers and competitors' customers$ mployee surveys involve seeking the

views and opinions of employees on the service processes and suggestions to improve them$

1pward communication plays a very important role in marketing research$ It includes communicationbetween the management and the employees and the management and the customers of an

organi.ation$

+here are different approaches to upward communication like e&ecutive visits to customers, the

listening approach of the management, research on internal, intermediate and e&ternal customers

and employee suggestions$


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Summary

+hese research methods combine to help close the

istening 2ap! the gap between customer e&pectations

and company understanding of customer e&pectations and

the first of four provider gaps in the gaps model of service

#uality$$

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Chapter 6 Market Research2 2015 2

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