Service performances, especially those that contain few tangible clicks can be difficult for consumers to evaluate, both in advance of purchase’ and even afterwards.
As a result, there is a greater risk of making a purchase that proves to be disappointing.
A customer who buys a physical good that proves unsatisfactory can usually return or replace it, although this action may require extra effort on the customer’s part.
These options are not as readily available with services. Although some services can be repealed, such as recleaning clothes that have not been satisfactorily laundered, this is not a practical solution in the case of a poorly performed play or a badly taught course.
Excellent service quality and high customer satisfaction is the key issue and challenge for today’s service industry.
Customer perception (satisfaction) and customer expectation (importance) determine service quality performance.
Questionnaires help service providers to realize their service quality performance, and the weighted average of customer satisfaction and the associated variance are commonly used indices reflecting customer expectation and customer perception.
To evaluate, effectively and efficiently, service quality performance, various researches have been carried out.
A set standard for service quality helps managers realize the service quality performance for important service elements.
With the help of evaluation results, adequate service quality improvement plans and strategies can be formulated.