CONSUMER

BEHAVIOUR
IN SERVICES
 Objectives for Chapter 2:
Consumer Behavior in Services
 Enhance understanding of how consumers choose and
evaluate services, through focusing on factors that are
particularly relevant for services.
 Describe how consumers judge goods versus services in
terms of search, experience, and credence criteria.
 Develop the elements of consumer behavior that a services
marketer must understand: choice behavior, consumer
experiences, and postexperience evaluation.
 Explore how differences among consumers (cultural
differences, group decision making) affect consumer
behavior and influence services marketing strategies.
 Definition
 Consumer Behaviour : the study of when,
why, how, where and what people do or do not
buy products. It attempts to understand the
buyer decision making process, both individually
and in groups. It studies characteristics of
individual consumers such as demographics
and behavioural variables in an attempt to
understand people's wants. It also tries to assess
influences on the consumer from groups such
as family, friends, reference groups, and society
in general.
Gaps Model of Service Quality
Expected
Service
CUSTOMER
Customer
Gap
Perceived
Service

External
COMPANY Service Communications
Delivery Gap 4 to Customers
Gap 3
Gap 1 Customer-Driven
Service Designs and
Standards
Gap 2
Company Perceptions
of Consumer
Expectations
Provider gaps are the underlying
causes behind the customer gap:
 The Customer Gap
 The Provider Gaps:
 Gap 1 – not knowing what customers expect
 Gap 2 – not having the right service designs
and standards
 Gap 3 – not delivering to service standards
 Gap 4 – not matching performance to
promises
 Putting It All Together: Closing the Gaps
The Customer Gap
Expected
service

Customer Gap

Perceived
service
Consumer Behavior in Services
 Search, Experience, and Credence
Properties
 Consumer Choice
 Consumer Experience
 Post experience Evaluation
 Key Issues for Decision Making

 Who is involved in the decision making process?

 How long does the process take?
 What is the set of competing services from
which consumers make their choice?
 What is the relative importance attached by
decision makers to different elements of the
service offer?
 What sources of information are used in
evaluating competing service offers?
 Consumer Behaviour: Service
Differences

 Intangibility problem
 Consumer involvement (High- contact services
& Low contact services)
 Perceived Risk
 Sources of Information
 Continuum of Evaluation
for Different Types of
Products

Most Most
Goods Services

Easy to evaluate Difficult to evaluate

Clothing

Jewelry

Furniture

Houses

Automobiles

Restaurant meals

Vacations

Haircuts

Child care

Television repair

Legal services

Root canals

Auto repair

Medical diagnosis
High in search High in experience High in credence
qualities qualities qualities
 Consumer Evaluation
Processes for Services
 Search Qualities
 attributes a consumer can determine prior to

purchase of a product

 Experience Qualities
 attributes a consumer can determine after

purchase (or during consumption) of a product

 Credence Qualities
 characteristics that may be impossible to

evaluate even after purchase and consumption

 Consumer Behaviour Model
possible influences on the decision process
person-specific psychological social influences
influences influences roles and family
•demographic •perception •reference groups
•situational •motives •social classes
•learning •culture and subcultures
•attitudes
•personality

consumer buying decision process

evaluation post
problem information
recognition
of Purchase purchase
search
alternatives evaluation
 Services - Decision Making Process
Need awareness Information search

Memory
Memory
Evaluation of
service suppliers

Future Intentions

Request service
Evaluation

Service delivery
 Issues to Consider in Examining
the Consumer’s Service
Experience
 Services as processes

 Service provision as drama

 Service roles and scripts

 The compatibility of service customers

 Customer coproduction

 Emotion and mood

 1.Need Recognition

 Physiological needs
 Safety & Security needs
 Social needs
 Ego needs
 Self actualization needs
 2.Information Search
 Personal & non personal sources
 Previous personal experience
 Word of Mouth
 Reference groups
 Media communications
 Internet sources
 Perceived Risk( the amount of uncertainty, the potential
negative consequences

1. Financial/ Economic
2. Performance/ Functional
3. Physical
4. Psycho – Social
5. Time/ Hassle
 Perceived Risk Is Greater for Services:
Why?

Reasons:
 Intangibility
 Heterogeneity- non standardized
 Perishability & sold without guarantees or warranties
 3. Evaluation of Service
Alternatives
 Evaluation: A process of choice reduction
 1. Situational Influences
a. Social
b. Task/job
c. Antecedent (forerunner) States
d. Temporal effects

2. Smaller Evoked Set: set of alternatives a consumer

considers acceptable option in a given product category.
a. Customer evoked set frequently includes self
provision of the service-nonprofessional services
b. Service factory always offers a single brand.
c. Difficulty of obtaining pre purchase information.
The Brand pyramid

BRAND SET
Purchased/No
purchase
Evoked
Considered
Aware
Available
Total
 4. Service Purchase consumption
Purchase- Simultaneous production and consumption
& Experience/ Process

 Emotions & Moods

 Service as Drama: Actors, Audience, Setting( Front Stage,
Back Stage, Props), performance service assembly)
 Service Roles and Scripts (sequence)
 Customer Compatibility
 5. Post Purchase Evaluation

 Attribution of Dissatisfaction
 Innovation Diffusion
 Relative advantage: over competitors
 Compatibility: with existing norms, values & behaviors.
 Communicability: easy to describe
 Divisibility: can be tried /tested on limited basis.
 Complexity : complex offering diffuses slowly.
 Positive / Negative Bias
 Brand Loyalty: switching cost, availability of substitute ,
perceived risk, past experience
Therefore Categories in Consumer
Decision-Making and Evaluation of
Services
Information Evaluation of
Search Alternatives
 Use of personal sources  Evoked set
 Perceived risk  Emotion and mood

Purchase and Post-Purchase

Consumption Evaluation
 Service provision as drama  Attribution of dissatisfaction
 Service roles and scripts  Innovation diffusion
 Compatibility of customers  Brand loyalty
 Therefore

 Always Think for Customer

 Always Maximize Customer Value
 Always Respect Customer Time