Customers’ Roles in Service Delivery

1. Chapter 12 Customers’ Roles in ServiceDelivery • The Importance of Customers in Service Cocreation and Delivery • Customers’ Roles • Self-Service Technologies—The Ultimate in Customer Participation • Strategies for Enhancing Customer Participation 12-1

2. How Customers Widen the Service Performance Gap • Lack of understanding of their roles • Not being willing or able to perform their roles • No rewards for “good performance” • Interfering with other customers • Incompatible market segments 12-2

3. Customer Participation across Different Services 12-3

5. Importance of Other (“Fellow”) Customersin Service Delivery • Other customers can detract from satisfaction: • Disruptive behaviors • Overly demanding behaviors • Excessive crowding • Incompatible needs • Other customers can enhance satisfaction: • Mere presence • Socialization/friendships • Roles: assistants, teachers, supporters, mentors 12-5

6. Customer Roles in Service Delivery Productive Resources Contributors to Service Quality and Satisfaction Competitors 12-6

7. Customers as Productive Resources • Customers can be thought of as “partial employees” • Contributing effort, time, or other resources to the production process • Customer inputs can affect organization’s productivity • Key issue: • Should customers’ roles be expanded? reduced? 12-7

8. Customers as Contributors to Service Quality and Satisfaction • Customers can contribute to: • Their own satisfaction with the service • By performing their role effectively • By working with the service provider • The quality of the service they receive • By asking questions • By taking responsibility for their own satisfaction • By complaining when there is a service failure 12-8

9. Customers as Competitors • Customers may “compete” with the service provider • “Internal exchange” vs. “external exchange” • Internal/external decision often based on: • Expertise capacity • Resource capacity • Time capacity • Economic rewards • Psychic rewards • Trust • Control 12-9

10. ATMs Pay at the pump Airline check-in Hotel check-in, out Automated car rental Blood pressure machines Tax prep software Self-checkout Online banking Online vehicle registration Online auctions Home and car buying online Package tracking Internet shopping IVR phone systems Distance education A Proliferation of Self-Service Technologies 12-10

11. Service Production Continuum 12-11

12. Strategies for Enhancing Customer Participation 12-12

13. Strategies for Enhancing Customer Participation • Define customers’ roles • Helping oneself • Helping others • Promoting the company • Recruit, educate, and reward customers • Recruit the right customers • Educate and train customers to perform effectively • Reward customers for their contributions • Avoid negative outcomes of inappropriate customer participation • Manage the customer mix 12-13

14. Compatibility Management • “a process of first attracting homogeneous consumers to the service environment, then actively managing both the physical environment and customer-to-customer encounters in such a way as to enhance satisfying encounters and minimize dissatisfying encounters” (Martin and Pranter 1989) 12-14

15. Characteristics of Service that Increase the Importance of Compatible Segments 12-15