Question

Customer expectations form an important element of quality. A service that fails to meet the expectations of one customer may be considered by them to be of poor quality while another customer receiving an identical service but who did not hold such high expectations may consider the service to be of high quality. Justify with suitable example. 1x15=15

Answer 1

Customer expectations are any set of behaviors or actions that individuals anticipate when interacting with a business. Customers have basic expectations like quality service and fair price, but modern customers have much higher expectations, such as proactive service, personalized interactions, and connected experiences across channels. Customer service is about expectations. The expectations that customers have today are shaped by their previous experiences. Businesses need to meet or exceed these customer expectations.

Any Service is praised or criticized because of expectations of the customer. If service meets expectations, it’s doing what’s expected and it won’t receive any praise or criticism. Great customer service and poor customer service are the two extremes that get talked about. For example, when people order food in a restaurant, they typically expect it to be on their table in about 10-15 minutes. Anything beyond that, and the restaurant will begin receiving complaints. Anything before that, is a pleasant surprise. This doesn’t mean that people get out a stopwatch as soon as they order food, but their mental clock goes off if food hasn’t arrived on time. Many businesses have already started to make their places more family and female friendly. Coffee, Wi-Fi, are now available. The businesses are raising the expectation bar, to improve the customer service.

Another example is Chipotle in the fast food industry.It’s difficult to place Chipotle in the same category as Taco Bell, McDonald’s, Burger King and other fast food outfits. It doesn’t meet the expectations of a typical fast food restaurant. It has a much smaller menu, but it uses higher quality meat, aims to be eco-friendly, and is a little more spendy than typical fast food restaurants. But yet, it still fits in the fast food category. It is ultimately changing the expectations for fast food and forcing others to change their menu. Chipotle changed the service image for the fast food industry.

How does your company communicate with customers, is also one of the significant aspect of Customer service. Now a days, only Email and telephone is not sufficient. Expectations are always evolving, and business have to evolve to meet the customer's expectations. Today, Social media is the most effective customer service channel. Replying to customer's tweets, can help to get new businesses.

Many a times, price is not the expecation. If better service, good quality products are available then the Customer prefers those. Consumers’ expectations are changing all the time. If a particular industry is known to have poor customer service, then a business offering average or excellent customer service can be a big competitive advantage, and can attract customers.