Chapter 3
Understanding the consumer
© Hudson & Hudson. Customer Service for Hospitality & Tourism
‘At Your Service’ Spotlight:
Joe Nevin – Bumps for Boomers
Ski For Life™
o Senior travel market
• Lucrative and unique (e.g. not tied to seasonal travel)
• Growing - 115 million 50+ in the US by 2020
• Zoomers (boomers - born between 1946 and 1964) with zip
o Aspen location
• Luxurious resorts (e.g. sidewalks with underground heating)
o Tailored training techniques
• Peer groups and age-peer instructors
• Skiers grouped by pace
• Best practices
• Personal touch (visit each group of students)
Service providers and expectations
o Customer expectations
• May vary within a sector (e.g EasyJet vs. Singapore Airlines)
• May change over time
o Includes three components
• Expected service
• Desired service
• Adequate and predicted service
o High quality service
• Expectations meet or exceed expectations
• Customer loyalty
Factors influencing customer
expectations of service
Explicit Service Promises
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


Figure 3.1
Advertising
Personal Selling
Contracts
Other Communications
Implicit Service
Promises


Tangibles
Price


Personal
“Expert” (Consumer
reports, publicity,
consultants, surrogates)
Personal Needs
Word of Mouth
EXPECTED SERVICE
Desired Service
Perceived Service
Alternatives
Past Experience
Zone
of
Tolerance
Self-Perceived
Service Role
Adequate Service
Situational Factors



Bad Weather
Catastrophe
Random Over-Demand
GAP 5
Perceived Service
Predicted Service
Customer tolerance and delight
o Zone of tolerance
• Extent to which customers willing to accept variations in
service
• Tolerance levels may vary over time
• Service outside range results positive or negative reactions
o Customer delight
• Positive affect resulting from unexpected pleasure, elation
• Exceeds customers’ expectations to a surprising degree
• Does not necessarily lead to loyalty.
• Effective for connecting emotionally with consumers
Customer experience
o Physical environment
e.g. Ambience, multisensory impact, space and function,
signs and symbols
o Human interaction
e.g. Service consumption in the presence of staff
and other customers
o Personal characteristics
e.g. Cultural differences
o Trip-related factors
e.g. Social and intellectual needs versus physiological needs
Blueprint for Overnight Hotel Stay
CUSTOMER
PHYSICAL
EVIDENCE
Figure 3.3
Hotel Exterior
Parking
Arrive
at
Hotel
Cart for
Bags
Give Bags
To
Bellperson
Desk
Registration
Papers
Lobby
Key
Check-in
Elevators
Hallways
Room
Go to
Room
Cart for
Bags
Receive
Bags
Room
Amenities
Bath
Sleep
Shower
Menu
Call
Room
Service
Delivery
Tray
Food
Appearance
Receive
Food
Food
Eat
Bill
Desk
Lobby
Hotel Exterior
Parking
Check Out
and
Leave
SUPPORT PROCESS
(On Stage)
Process
Registration
Deliver
Bags
Deliver
Food
Process
Check
Out
Line of Visibility
(Back Stage)
CONTACT PERSON
Line of Interaction
Greet and
Take
Bags
Take Bags
to Room
Take
Food
Order
Line of Internal Interaction
Registration
System
Prepare
Food
Registration
System
Snapshot:
Welcoming the world at the London Olympics
‘‘…we can effect a cultural change in the perception of the warmth of the UK
welcome, which currently lags far behind other countries’
o The
•
•
•
People 1st Training Company mandated
To train the 70,000+ volunteers
Address bad publicity (e.g. 2011 riots)
Tradition of poor service (e.g. second-class occupation)
o World Host™ provided ‘toolkit’
• Modules e.g. service across cultures
• Workshops ‘beyond service with a smile’
• Holistic customer service delivery
Importance of emotions
o Provides opportunity for differentiation
o Consumption emotions have an impact on behavioral intentions
(e.g. Word of mouth)
o Consumers often highly emotional and intuitive in behaviors
o Measures of consumer emotions
• Consumption emotion scale
• Perceived service fairness
• Service personnel’s appearances, attitudes, and behaviors
• Positive displays of emotions predict consumer emotions
• Cognitive theory of emotions
Brand-infused causal loyalty model
Figure 3.4:
Finding the causal pathways
Experience
points
Brand
essence
Rational
motivation
Emotional
motivation
Loyalty
Operationalizing the findings
Business
results
Impact of rational and emotional
motivation across regions
Figure 3.5
Impact of rational motivation
Impact of emotional motivation
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
North America
Latin America
Europe
Asia
Total
Impact of rational and emotional
motivation on B2C and B2B
Figure 3.6
Impact of rational motivations
Impact of emotional motivation
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
B2C
B2B
Total
The Lovemark Grid
Figure 3.7:
BRANDS
lovemarks
Low Love
High Respect
High Love
High Respect
FADS
PRODUCTS
Low Love
Low Respect
High Love
Low Respect
RESPECT
LOVE
Understanding
cross-cultural differences
Human culture is generally defined as the meaning and information
system shared by a group and transmitted across generations
o Five dimensions of cultural variability Hofstede (2001)
• Individualism Versus Collectivism
• Power Distance
• Uncertainty Avoidance
• Masculinity
• Long- Versus Short-Term Orientation
o Cultural globalization, Western consumption and lifestyles
o Important cross-cultural differences for customer service remain
Global trends in consumer behavior
o Experiences
• Services as stage, goods as props, to create memorable event
o Ethical Products
• Responsible tourism as a significant trend
o Health-Consciousness
• Influence of the baby boomers
o Customization
• Personalized vacations
o Convenience and Speed
o Service Quality
• Differentiate services, products and build competitive advantage
Case Study:
Bruce Poon Tip, G Adventures
‘‘….I launched G Adventures with the belief that other travelers would share
my desire to experience authentic adventures in a responsible and
sustainable manner.’
o 4 levels of service
• ‘Basic’ - authentic, local
• ‘Standard’ – in keeping with destination
• ‘Comfort’ - upgraded
• ‘Superior’ - topnotch
o You Only Live Once program
o Life-time deposits
o Bear-an-Tee