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THE GAPS MODEL OF SERVICE QUALITY
The Gaps Model of Service Quality
A third model for addressing services challenges is the gaps model of services quality.
The model focuses on strategies and process that firms can employ to drive service excellence.
It is a model that can be used to drive strategy as well as implementation decisions.
Expected Service
Customer
Perceived Service
Service DeliveryExternal
Communicationto customers
Customer drivenService designs and
standards
Company Perception of Consumer expectation
Company
Gap 1
Gap 2
Gap 3
Gap 4
Customer Gap
THE CUSTOMER GAP The central focus of the gaps model is
the customer gap, the difference between customer expectations and perceptions.
Expectations are the reference points customers have coming in to a service experience,
Perceptions reflect the service as actually received
THE CUSTOMER GAP The firms will like to close this gap –
between what is expected and what is received – to satisfy their customers and to build long term relationships with them.
To close this all-important customer gap, the model suggests that four other gaps – the provider gaps – need to be closed.
THE PROVIDER GAPS The provider gaps are the underlying
causes behind the customer gap: Gap 1: Not knowing what customers
expect
Gap 2: Not selecting the right service designs and standards
Gap 3: Not delivering to service standards Gap 4: Not matching performance to
promises.
THE PROVIDER GAPS Gap 1: Not knowing what customers
expect
A primary cause in many firms for not meeting customers’ expectations is that the firm lacks accurate understanding of exactly what those expectations are.
A gap exist between company perceptions of customers’ expectations and what customers actually expect.
We will try to explore why this gap occurs and develop strategies for closing it.
THE PROVIDER GAPS Gap 2: Not selecting the right
service designs and standards
Even if a firm does have a clear understanding of its customers’ expectations, there still have problems if that understanding is not translated into customer-driven service designs and standards
THE PROVIDER GAPS Gap 3: Not delivering to service
standards Once service designs and standards
are in place, the firm is on its way to delivering high-quality services. But this is not enough.
There must be systems, processes, and people in place to ensure that service delivery actually matches (or is even better than) the designs and standards in place.
THE PROVIDER GAPS
Gap 4: Not matching performance to promises.
Finally with everything in place to effectively meet or exceed customer expectations, the firm must ensure that what is promised to customers matches what is delivered.
CLOSING THE CUSTOMER GAP The gaps model says that a service
marketer must first close the customer gap.
To do so, the provider must close the four provider gaps, or discrepancies within the organization that inhibit delivery of quality service.
The gaps model focuses on strategies and processes that firms can employ to drive service excellence.
CLOSING THE CUSTOMER GAP
The figure corresponds to two concepts – CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS and CUSTOMER PERCEPTIONS
It plays a major role in services marketing.
Expected Service
Perceived Service
CUSTOMER GAP
Customer Gap
CLOSING THE CUSTOMER GAP Customer Perceptions are subjective
assessments of actual service experiences.
Customer Expectations are the standard of or reference points for performance against which service experiences are compared and are often formulated in terms of what a customer believes should or will happen.
CLOSING THE CUSTOMER GAP The sources of customer
expectations consist of Marketer-controlled factors (price,
advertising, sales promises etc.) and Factors which marketer has limited
ability to affect (word-of-mouth communication, competitive offerings etc)
The goal of services marketing is to bridge this gap.
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR IN SERVICES
Consumer problem: Time Deficiency The Solution: Services
Changing family structure and job profile, dual career couple, single, atomic family etc. are realising consumer burning need: TIME.
The antidote to time deficiency? New Services/Innovative features: Wedding
consultants & arrangement, executive meeting organizer, presentation preparation, home delivery (retailer, banks, etc.).
Extending working hours to suit consumer schedules
Outsourcing various services
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR IN SERVICES Primary objective of producers and
marketers is identical: to develop and provide offerings that satisfy consumer needs and expectations.
Other words, marketers need to be able to close the customer gap.
Therefore it is also important to understand consumer evaluation process/ decision process for selection of a service
SERVICES: Search Vs Experience Vs Credence Properties
Categories of properties of consumer products: Search qualities: attributes that can be
determined before purchasing of a product. Ex. Clothing, Jewelry, Furniture, Houses etc.
Experience qualities: attributes that can be identified after purchase or during purchase. Meals, Vacation, Hair Cut etc.
Credence qualities: characteristics that consumer may find difficult/impossible to evaluate even after purchase and consumption. Ex. Medical Diagnosis
Difficult to evaluate
Easy to evaluate
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR IN SERVICES
Normally the decision process for goods purchase:
1. Need Recognition2. Information search3. Evaluation of alternatives4. Purchase5. Purchase outcome or feedback
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR IN SERVICES
In purchase of services: Information Search Evaluation of alternatives Purchase and consumption Post Purchase Evaluation
These do not occur in sequence
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR IN SERVICES
INFORMATION SEARCH•Use of Personal sources
•Perceived Risk
EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVES•Evoked set
•Emotion and mood
POST PURCHASE EVALUATION•Attribution of dissatisfaction
•Innovation diffusion•Brand Loyalty
PURCHASE & CONSUMPTION•Service provision as drama
•Service roles & scripts•Compatibility of customers
Information Search Use of Personal Sources
Friends, experts etc. Use of Non-personal Sources
Mass or selective media Non-personal sources may not be available if
small, local vendors Perceived Risk
Some degree of risk perceived in all transactions Dissatisfied customers may not or rarely come back
if alternatives are available They use the strategies to reduce the perceived risk.
Evaluation of Service Alternatives Evoked Set
Set of alternatives - acceptable options in a given product category
Smaller set as two brands of services are rarely provided in a single institution (bank, dry cleaner, hair salon etc.)
Faced with the task of collecting & evaluation experience qualities, consumer may select the first one.
Emotion & Mood It influence people (customers) perceptions
and evaluations of their experiences.
Purchase and Consumption
Service Provision as Drama Both aim to create and maintain a desirable impression before
an audience and required to manage the actors and the physical setting of their behaviour.
Service Roles & Scripts Each player (both employees & customers) having a role to
perform Employees need to perform their role as per the expectations of
customers Customers are to be informed and educated about the
expectations and requirements of service. Compatibility of Customers
Role of other customers (Restaurants, dances, bars, spectator sports, movie hall etc.)
Customers can be incompatible due to many reasons: difference in beliefs, values, experiences, abilities to pay, age, health etc.
Post Purchase Evaluation Attribution of Dissatisfaction
May attribute to different sources, producers, retailers, or themselves
Customers own decision making error Innovation Diffusion
Rate of diffusion depends on consumer perception of innovation
Compatible to existing norms, values, and behaviours – more easily diffuse
Ex. Novel Day Care Center: providing breakfast to the employee’s children
Brand Loyalty Committed to particular brands depends on many factor:
switching cost, availability of substitutes, perceived risk, degree of satisfaction in the past
ROLE OF CULTURE: Values, attitudes, manners, customs etc
