Role of marketing research

Listening Gap/ provider gap 1

Research objectives

Discover customer expectation Monitor service performance Assess overall company performance wrt competitors Assess gaps b/w customer expectation and perception Identify dissatisfied customers Appraise the service performance of individuals Determine customer expectations for new service Monitor changing customer expectation Forecast future expectations of customers

Criteria of effective services research

Include both qualitative and quantitative research Both perceptions and expectations of customers Balances cost of research and value of information Includes statistical validity Measures priorities or importance of priorities Occurs with appropriate frequency Includes measurement of loyalty ,behavioural intentions or actual behaviour.

Key forms of services research

Critical incident studies Mystery shopping Service expectation meetings and review Process checkpoint evaluations Database research

Complaint solicitation Requirements research Relationship survey and SERVQUAL surveys Trailer calls Market oriented ethnography Customer panels Lost customer research Future expectation research

Researching services

Developing research objectives Presenting data

Upward communication Objectives (executive visits to customers,management listening to customers,research on intermediate customers,on internal customers,executive listening to employees, employee suggestions. Close gap 1 b/w customer expectation and company understanding of same.