Consumer Behavior in a

Services Context

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Overview

● Consumer Decision Making: The Three-Stage Model

Pre-purchase Stage

Service Encounter Stage

Post-purchase Stage

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 Pre-purchase Stage

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Pre-purchase Stage - Overview

Pre-purchase Stage ● Customers seek solutions to

aroused needs
● Evaluating a service may be
difficult
● Uncertainty about outcomes
Increases perceived risk
Service Encounter Stage ● What risk reduction strategies
can service suppliers develop?
● Understanding customers’
service expectations
● Components of customer
expectations
Post-purchase Stage ● Making a service purchase
decision

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Pre-purchase Stage Overview

● Need awareness
● Information search
● Evaluation of alternatives
Service attributes
Perceived risk
Service expectations

● Purchase decision

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Pre-purchase Stage – Evaluation of Alternatives

Service Expectations – Factors Influencing Consumer

Expectations of Service

Source:Adapted from Valarie A. Zeithaml, Leonard A. Berry, and A. Parasuraman, “The Nature and Determinants of Customer
Expectations of Service,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 21, no. 1 (1993): 1-12

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 Service Encounter Stage

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Service Encounter Stage - Overview

Pre-purchase Stage

● Service encounters range from high-

to low-contact

● Understanding the servuction

Service Encounter Stage system

● Theater as a metaphor for service

delivery: An integrative perspective

 Service facilities

Post-purchase Stage  Personnel

 Role and script theories

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Distinctions between High-contact and
Low-contact Services

● High-contact Services
Customers visit service facility and remain throughout service
delivery
Active contact between customers and service personnel
Includes most people-processing services

● Low-contact Services
Little or no physical contact with service personnel
Contact usually at arm’s length through electronic or physical
distribution channels
New technologies (e.g. Web) help reduce contact levels

● Medium-contact Services Lie in between These Two

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The Servuction System

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 Post-purchase Stage

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Post-encounter Stage - Overview

Pre-purchase Stage

 Evaluation of service
performance
Service Encounter Stage
 Future intentions

Post-purchase Stage

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