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CHAPTER 5:
LISTENING TO CUSTOMERS THROUGH RESEARCH
CHAPTER TOPICS
Using Customer Research to Understand Customer Expectations
Elements in an Effective Service Marketing Research Program
Analyzing and Interpreting Customer Research Findings
Using Marketing Research Information
Upward Communication
Technology Spotlight: Conducting Customer Research on the Web
Global Feature: Conducting Customer Research in Emerging Markets
Strategy Insight: Big Data Provides New Tools to Research Consumers
CHAPTER OBJECTIVES
1. Present the types of and guidelines for marketing research in services.
2. Show how customer research information can and should be used for services.
3. Describe the strategies by which companies can facilitate interaction and communication between
management and customers.
4. Present ways that companies can and do facilitate interaction between contact people and
management.
LECTURE TIPS & AIDS
1. After talking about the various ways to conduct research on the service quality dimensions, an
instructor might consider illustrating these points by conducting research in the classroom. In
particular, students might be “surveyed” as to the relative importance of various service quality
dimensions of this class. For example, students might be asked to allocate 100 percentage points
across the five service quality dimensions. Results could be collected at the end of one class and then
presented at the beginning of another class period. In so doing, the instructor could illustrate overall
class perceptions and point out where service delivery could be altered to positively influence future
service delivery.
QUESTIONS TO USE WITH CHAPTER OPENING VIGNETTE
Chapter 5: Customer Journeys
1. List and describe the six actions that McKinsey Consulting has identified as critical to managing
customer experience journeys.
2. Identify a particular customer journey that you have taken with a particular service provider. This
could be anything such as deciding on a service to use, beginning to use a service, upgrading a
service, or renewing a subscription service. With your own experience and knowledge of service
marketing as guides, write up a description of your customer journey based on actions 1 through 4 as
recommended by McKinsey and Company. Then, write up your recommendations to the service
provider for actions 5 and 6. Finally, conclude your write up with a paragraph that emphasizes the
benefits to the service provider and the customer of examining customer journeys rather than focusing
on individual touchpoints.
ACTIVE LEARNING ACTIVITIES
1. Working in a small group, choose a service that your university offers for students that most people in
the class will be familiar with (e.g., food services, library services, computer labs, advising, career
placement, etc.). Adapt the SERVQUAL scale to fit your service and then administer your survey to
the class. Analyze the data and provide the class with a summary of your results. (This can be done
in either written or oral form.)
2. Working in a small group, choose a service that your university offers for students that most people in
the class will be familiar with (e.g., food services, library services, computer labs, advising, career
placement, etc.). Use the Critical Incident Technique described in Chapters 4 and 5 to gather data
from customers. You may use some of your classmates as participants, but you should also interview
people who are not business majors so that you’ll get a more representative sample. Provide the class
with a summary of your results. (This can be done either in written or oral form.) What are the
benefits of using this kind of research technique? What are some of the disadvantages?
3. Find a service business that will allow you to administer a brief survey to its internal customers
(employees). After observing the business and/or interviewing management to get a basic
understanding of the business, customize the SERVQUAL instrument and administer it to the internal
customers. Analyze your data. Write a report to be submitted to both the instructor and the business
discussing your analysis of the results.
4. To gain first hand experience in using one of two of the more popular research tools used in service
marketing, your team (if odd numbered) will be assigned the SERVQUAL research project or (if even
numbered) the Critical Incident Technique research project. Each of these projects is described
below.
SERVQUAL Research Project
You are to select a service that your university offers to students and that most students will be
familiar with (e.g., recreation center, health center, library, food service at the student union, etc.).
Your task is to adapt the SERVQUAL scale, located in Exhibit 5.2 (pp. 126-127), to fit the service
you select and then administer your survey to a sample of students. (A reasonable number for this
assignment would be for each student to collect 3-5 responses.) Then your team is to analyze the
data and provide the class a verbal summary of your results. You should prepare either a handout
for the class or PowerPoint slide(s) to visually display your results. Your analysis should include
the mean rating for each dimension. What implications are there for the manager of the student
service you selected? Finally, what are some of the advantages and disadvantages to using this
type of research method?
Critical Incident Technique Research Project
You are to select a service that your university offers to students and that most students will be
familiar with (e.g., recreation center, health center, library, food service at the student union, etc.).
You are to use the Critical Incident Technique, described in Chapter 5 (p. 124), to gather data
about this service from a sample of students. (A reasonable number for this assignment would be
for each student to collect 3-5 responses.) Then your team is to analyze the data and provide the
class a summary of your results. You should prepare either a handout for the class or PowerPoint
slide(s) to visually display your results. Your analysis should include sample quotes from your
CIT respondents to illustrate key themes you have identified from the data. What implications
are there for the manager of the student service you selected? Finally, what are some of the
advantages and disadvantages to using this type of research method?
Presentations and debriefing of project finding will be made to the entire class at the designated time.
During this meeting the entire class will compare and contrast the different methods and discuss the
types of information that can be discovered.
POTENTIAL VIDEO CLIPS TO USE IN ILLUSTRATING CHAPTER 5 CONCEPTS
“Saturday Night Live: Jacuzzi Life Guard” – In a skit during the May 18, 1996 episode, a customer
(Will Ferrell) is relaxing at a hotel’s Jacuzzi. His peaceful moment is interrupted by a life guard (Jim
Carey) who is going on duty to look after this tiny Jacuzzi. At one point, the customer rubs his toe,
and the life guard (incorrectly) interprets this behavior as a life-threatening health situation…despite
the customer’s repeated statements that there is no problem. In so doing the life guard creates a very
unpleasant experience for the customer. This is a good (and funny) illustration of the Listening Gap.
POSSIBLE WEB SITES FOR CHAPTER 5
Company Location
American Marketing Association www.marketingpower.com
Comcast www.comcast.com
Domino’s Pizza www.dominos.com
FedEx Corporation www.fedex.com
Hallmark www.hallmark.com
Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. www.harrahs.com
Hilton Hotels www.hilton.com
Information Resources www.infores.com
Kantar TNS www.tnsglobal.com
Maritz Marketing Research www.maritzresearch.com
Nielsen www.nielsen.com
Starwood Hotels www.starwoodhotels.com
Trader Joe’s www.traderjoes.com
Vail Resorts www.vailresorts.com
APPROPRIATE CASES FOR CHAPTER 5
From previous Zeithaml, Bitner, and Gremler Services Marketing texts:
ISS Iceland [included in the sixth edition of this text: Zeithaml, Bitner, and Gremler (2013)
Services Marketing: Integrating Customer Focus Across the Firm, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill
Companies]
Using Services Marketing to Develop and Deliver Integrated Solutions at Caterpillar in Latin
America [included in the sixth edition of this text: Zeithaml, Bitner, and Gremler (2013) Services
Marketing: Integrating Customer Focus Across the Firm, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill
Companies]
The Quality Improvement Customers Didn’t Want [included in the fourth edition of this text:
Zeithaml, Bitner, and Gremler (2006) Services Marketing: Integrating Customer Focus Across
the Firm, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Companies]
Custom Research Inc. (A) [included in the fourth edition of this text: Zeithaml, Bitner, and
Gremler (2006) Services Marketing: Integrating Customer Focus Across the Firm, New York,
NY: McGraw-Hill Companies]
Starbucks: Delivering Customer Service [included in the fourth edition of this text: Zeithaml,
Bitner, and Gremler (2006) Services Marketing: Integrating Customer Focus Across the Firm,
New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Companies]
Ernst & Young LLP [included in the third edition of this text: Zeithaml and Bitner (2003)
Services Marketing: Integrating Customer Focus Across the Firm, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill
Companies]
From other sources:
Cleveland Clinic [Harvard Business School Case 9-607-143, 2007]
