论优化服务营销增强顾客忠诚（文献翻译） 1
Understanding Customer Requirements
1 Listening to Customers Through Research
1.1 Using Marketing Research to Understand Customer Expectations
Finding out what customers expect is essential to providing service quality, and marketing research is a key vehicle for understanding customer expectations and perceptions of services, In services, as with any offering, a firm that does no marketing research at all is unlikely to understand its customers. A firm that does marketing research, but not on the topic of customer expectations, may also fail to know what is needed to stay in tune with changing customer requirements. Marketing research must focus on service issues such as what features are most important to customers, what levels of these features customers expect, and what customers think the company can and should do when problems occur in service delivery. Even when a service firm is small and has limited resources to conduct research, avenues are open to explore what customers expect.
One of the biggest challenges facing a marketing researcher is converting a complex set of data to a form that can be read and understood quickly by executives, managers, and other employees who will make decisions from the research. For example, database management is being adopted as a strategic initiative by many firms, but merely having a sophisticated database does not ensure that the findings will be useful to managers. Many of the people who use marketing research findings have not been trained in statistics and have neither the time nor the expertise to analyze computer printouts and other technical research information. The goal in this stage of the marketing research process is to communicate information clearly to the right people in a timely fashion. Among considerations are the following: Who gets this information? Why do the need it? How will they use it? Does it mean the same thing across cultures? When users feel confident that they understand the data, they are far more likely to apply it appropriately. When managers do not understand how to interpret the data, or when they lack confidence in the research, the investment of time, skill, and effort will be lost.
1.2 Using Marketing Research Information
Conducting research about customer expectations is only the first part of understanding the customer, even if the research is appropriately designed, executed, and presented. A service firm must also use the research findings in a meaningful
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way–to drive change or improvement in the way service is delivered. The misuse(or even nonuse)of research data can lead to a large gap in understanding customer expectations. When managers do not read research reports because they are too busy dealing with the day-to-day challenges of the business, companies fail to use the resources available to them. And when customers participate in marketing research studies but never see changes in the way the company does business, they fell frustrated and annoyed with the company. Understanding how to make the best use of research – to apply what has been learned to the business – is a key way to close the gap between customer expectations and management perceptions of customer expectations. Managers must learn to turn research information and insights into action, to recognize that the purpose of research is to drive improvement and customer satisfaction.
The research plan should specify the mechanism by which customer data will be used. The research should be actionable: timely, specific, and credible. It can also have a mechanism that allows a company to respond to dissatisfied customers immediately.
1.3 Upward Communication
In some service firms, especially small and localized firms, owners or managers may be in constant contact with customers, thereby gaining firsthand knowledge of customer expectations and perceptions. But in large service organizations, managers do not always get the opportunity to experience firsthand what their customers want. The larger a company is, the more difficult it will be for managers to interact directly with the customer and the less firsthand information they will have about customer expectations. Even when they read and digest research reports, managers can lose the reality of the customer if they never get the opportunity to experience the actual service. A theoretical view of how things are supposed to work cannot provide the richness of the service encounter. To truly understand customer needs, management benefits form hands-on knowledge of what really happens in stores, on customer service telephone lines, in service queues, and in face-to-face service encounters. If gap 1 is to be closed managers in large firms need some form of customer contact.
2 Building Customer Relationships 2.1
Relationship marketing essentially represents a paradigm shift within marketing – away from an acquisitions/transaction focus toward a retention/relationship focus.
Relationship Marketing
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Relationship marketing (or relationship management) is a philosophy of doing business, a strategic orientation, that focus on keeping and improving relationships with current customers rather than on acquiring new customers. This philosophy assumes that many consumers and business customers prefer to have an ongoing relationship with one organization than to switch continually among providers in their search for value. Building on this assumption and the fact that it is usually much cheaper to keep a current customer than to attract a new one, successful marketers are working on effective strategies for retaining customers.
It has been suggested that firms frequently focus on attracting customer (the “first act”) but then pay little attention to what they should do to keep them (the “second act”). Ideas expressed in an interview with James L. Schorr, then executive vice president of marketing at Holiday Inns, illustrate this point. In the interview he stated that he was famous at Holiday Inns for what is called the “bucket theory of marketing.” By this he meant that marketing can be thought of as a big bucket: It is what sales, advertising, and promotion programs do that pours business into the top of the bucket. As long as these programs are effective, the bucket stays full. However, “There’s only one problem,” he said, “there’s a hole in the bucket,” When the business is running well and the hotel is delivering on its promises, the hole is small and few customers are leaving. When the operation is weak and customers are not satisfied with what they get, however, people start falling out of the bucket through the holes faster than they can be poured in through the top.
The bucket theory illustrates why a relationship strategy that focuses on plugging the holes in the bucket makes so much sense. Historically, marketers have been more concerned with acquisition of customers, so a shift to a relationship strategy often represents changes in mind set, organizational culture, and employee reward systems. For example, the sales incentive systems in many organizations are set up to reward bringing in new customers. There are often fewer(or not) rewards for retaining current accounts. Thus, even when people see the logic of customer retention, the existing organizational systems may not support its implementation.
Relationship value of a concept or calculation that looks at customers from the point of view of their lifetime revenue and/or profitability contributions to a company.
The lifetime or relationship value of a customer is influenced by the length of an average “lifetime,” the average revenues generated per relevant time period over the lifetime, sales of additional products and services over time, referrals generated by the customer over time, and costs associated with serving the customer. Lifetime value sometimes refers to lifetime revenue stream only; but most often when costs are considered, lifetime value truly means “lifetime profitability.”
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If companies knew how much it really costs to lose a customer, they would be able to accurately evaluate investments designed to retain customer. One way of documenting the dollar value of loyal customers is to estimate the increased value or profits that accrue for each additional customer who remains loyal to the company rather than defecting to the competition. This is what Bain & Co. has done for a number of industries, The percentage of increase in total firm profits when the retention or loyalty rate rises by 5 percentage points. The increases are dramatic, ranging from 35 to 95 percent. These increases were calculated by comparing the net present values of the profit streams for the average customer life at current retention rates with the net present values of the profit streams for the average customer life at 5 percent higher retention rates.
With sophisticated accounting systems to document actual costs and revenue streams over time, a firm can be quite precise in documenting the dollar value and costs of retaining customers. These systems attempt to estimate the dollar value of all the benefits and costs associated with a loyal customer, not just the long-term revenue stream. The value of word-of-mouth advertising, employee retention, and declining account maintenance costs can also enter into the calculation.
The emphasis on estimating the relationship value of customers has increased substantially in the past decade. Part of this emphasis has resulted from an increased appreciation of the economic benefits that firms accrue with the retention of loyal customer. (Our Strategy Insight for this chapter describes ways that firms explicitly demonstrate this appreciation to customer.) Interestingly, recent research suggests that customer retention has a large impact on firm value and that relationship value calculations can also provide a useful proxy for assessing the value of a firm. That is, a firm’s market value can be roughly determined by carefully calculating customer lifetime value. The approach is straightforward: Estimate the relationship value of a customer, forecast the future growth of the number of customers, and use these figures to determine the value of a company’s current and future base. To the extent that the customer base forms a large part of a company’s overall value, such a calculation can provide an estimate of a firm’s value — a particularly useful figure for young, high-growth firms for which traditional financial methods(e.g., discounted cash flow) do not work well.
2.2
Companies may want to treat all customers with excellent service, but they generally find that customers differ in their relationship value and that it may be neither practical nor profitable to meet (and certainly not to exceed) all customers’ expectations. Federal Express Corporation, for example, has categorized its customers internally as the good, the bad, and the ugly –– based on their profitability. Rather
Customer Profitability Segments
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than treating all its customers the same, the company pays particular attention to enhancing their relationship with the good, tries to move the bad to the good, and discourages the ugly. Other companies also try to identify segments — or, more appropriately, tiers of customers — that differ in current and/or future profitability to a firm. This approach goes beyond usage or volume segmentation because it tracks costs and revenues for segments of customers, thereby capturing their financial worth to companies. After identifying profitability bands, the firm offers service and service levels in line with the identifying segments. Building a high-loyalty customer base of the right customers increases profits.
Although some people may view the FedEx grouping of customers into “the good, the bad, and the ugly” as negative, descriptive labels of the tiers can be very useful internally. Labels are especially valuable if they help the company keep track of which customers are profitable.
Virtually all firms are aware at some level that their customers differ in profitability, in particular, that a minority of their customers accounts for the highest proportion of sales or profit. This finding has often been called the “80/20 rule”— 20 percent of customers produce 80 percent of sales or profit.
In this version of tiering, 20 percent of the customers constitute the top tier, those who can be identified as the most profitable in the company. The rest are indistinguishable from each other but differ from the top tier in profitability. Most companies realize that there are differences among customers within this tier but do not possess the data or capabilities to analyze the distinctions. The 80/20 two-tier scheme assumes that consumers within the two tiers are similar, just as conventional market segmentation schemes typically assume that consumers within segments are similar.
However, more than two tiers are likely and can be used if the company has sufficient data to analyze customer tiers more precisely. Different systems and labels can be helpful. One useful four-tier system, includes the following:
1. The platinum tier describes the company’s most profitable customer, typically those who are heavy users of the product, are not overly price sensitive, are willing to invest in and try new offerings, and are committed customers of the firm. 2. The gold tier differs from the platinum tier in that profitability levels are not as high, perhaps because the customers want price discounts that limit margins or are not as loyal. The may be heavy users who minimize risk by working with multiple vendors rather than just the focal company. 3. The iron tier contains essential customers who provide the volume needed to utilize the firm’s capacity, but their spending levels, loyalty, and profitability are not substantial enough for special treatment. 4. The lead tier consists of customers who are costing the company money. They
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demand more attention than they are due given their spending and profitability and are sometimes problem customers — complaining about the firm to others and tying up the firm’s resources.
Not that this classification is superficially reminiscent of, but very different from, traditional usage segmentation performed by airlines such as American Airlines. Two differences are obvious. First, in the customer pyramid profitability rather than usage defines all levels. Second, the lower levels actually articulate classes of customers who require a different sort of attention. The firm must work either to change the customers’ behavior — to make them more profitable through increases in revenue — or to change the firm’s cost structure to make them more profitable through decreases in costs.
Examples of effective use of the customer pyramid approach exist in a number of business contexts. Financial services firms are leading the way, perhaps because of the vast amounts of data already housed in those firms. In 1994 Bank One realized that all financial institutions had grossly overcharged their best customers to subsidize others who were not paying their way. Determined to grow its top-profit customers, who were vulnerable because they were being underserved, Bank One implemented a set of measures to focus resources on their most productive use. Next it identified the profit drivers in this top segment and thereby stabilized its relationships with key customers.
Once a system has been established for categorizing customers, the multiple levels can be identified, motivated, served, and expected to deliver differential levels of profit. Companies improve their opportunities for profit when they increase shares of purchases by customers who either have the greatest need for the services or show the greatest loyalty to a single provider. By strengthening relationships with the loyal customers, increasing sales with existing customers, and increasing the profitability on each sale opportunity, companies thereby increase the potential of each customer. Whereas profitability tiers make sense from the company’s point of view, customers are not always understanding, nor do they appreciate being categorized into a less desirable segment. For example, at home companies the top clients have their own individual account representative whom they can contact personally. The next tier of clients may be handled by representatives who each have 100 clients. Meanwhile, most clients are served by an 800 number, an automated voice response system, or referral to a website. Customers are aware of this unequal treatment, and many resist and resent it. It makes perfect sense from a business perspective, but customers are often disappointed in the level of service they receive and give firms poor marks for quality as a result.
Therefore, it is increasingly important that firms communicate with customers so they understand the level of service they can expect and what they would need to do or pay to receive faster or more personalized service. The most significant issues result when customers do not understand, believe they have been singled out for poor service, or feel that the system is unfair. Although many customers refuse to pay for quality service, they react negatively if they believe it has been taken away from them
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unfairly.
The ability to segment customers narrowly based on profitability implications also raises questions of privacy for customers. In order to know who is profitable and who is not, companies must collect large amounts of individualized behavioral and personal data on consumers. Many consumers today resent what they perceive as an intrusion into their lives in this way, especially when it results in differential treatment that they perceive is unfair.
Prudent business managers are well aware that past customer purchase behavior, although useful in making predictions, can be misleading. What a customer spends today, or has spend in the past, may not necessarily be reflective of what he or she will do(or be worth) in the future. Banks serving college students know this well — a typical college student generally has minimal financial services needs ( i.e., a checking account) and tends to not have a high level of deposits. However, within a few years that student may embark on a professional career, start a family, and/or purchase a house, and thus require several financial services and become a potentially very profitable customer to the bank. Generally speaking, a firm would like to keep its consistent big spenders and lose the erratic small spenders. But all too often a firm also has two other groups they must consider: erratic big spenders and consistent small spenders. So, in some situations where consistent cash flow is a concern, it may be helpful to a firm to have a portfolio of customers that includes steady customers, even if they have a history of being less profitable. Some service providers have actually been quite successful in targeting customers who were previously considered to be unworthy of another firm’s marketing efforts. Paychex, a payroll processing company, became very successful in serving small business that the major companies in this industry did not think were large enough to profitably serve. Similarly, Progressive Insurance became very successful in selling automobile insurance to undesirable customers — young drivers and those with poor driving records — that most of the competition did not feel had a sufficient relationship value. Firms, therefore, need to be cautious in blindly applying customer value calculations without thinking carefully about the implications.
2.3
Relationship Challenges
Given the many benefits of long-term customer relationships, it would seem that a company would not want to refuse or terminate a relationship with any customer. Yet, situations arise in which either the firm, the customer, or both want to end (or have to end) their relationship.
The assumption that all customers are good customers is very compatible with the belief that “the customer is always right,” an almost sacrosanct tenet of business. Yet any service worker can tell you that this statement is not always true, and in some cases it may be preferable for the firm and the customer to not continue their relationship.
A company cannot target its services to all customers; some segments will be
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more appropriate than others. It would not be beneficial to either the company or the customer for a company to establish a relationship with a customer whose needs the company cannot meet. For example, a school offering a lock-step, daytime MBA program would not encourage full-time working people to apply for its program, nor would a law firm specializing in government issues establish a relationship with individuals seeking advice on trusts and estates. There examples seem obvious. Yet firms frequently do give in to the temptation to make a sale by agreeing to serve a customer who would be better served by someone else.
Similarly, it would not be wise to forge relationships simultaneously with incompatible market segments. In many service businesses(such as restaurants, hotels, tour package operators, entertainment, and education), customers experience the service together and can influence each other’s perceptions about value received. Thus, to maximize service to core segment, an organization may choose to turn away marginally profitable segments that would be incompatible. For example, a conference hotel may find that mixing executives in town for a serious educational program with students in town for a regional track meet may not be wise. If the executive group is a key long-term customer, the hotel may choose to pass up the sports group in the interest of retaining the executives.
3 Service Recovery
3.1 The Impact Of Service Failure And Recovery
Service recovery refers to the actions taken by an organization in response to a service. Failures occur for all kinds of reasons — the service may be unavailable when promised, it may be delivered late or too slowly, the outcome may be incorrect or poorly executed, or employees may be rude or uncaring. All these types of failures bring about negative feelings and responses from customers. Left unfixed, they can result in customers leaving, telling other customers about their negative experiences, and even challenging the organization through consumer rights organizations or legal channels.
Research has shown that resolving customer problems effectively has a strong impact on customer satisfaction, loyalty, word-of-mouth communication, and bottom-line performance. That is, customers who experience service failures but who are ultimately satisfied based on recovery efforts by the firm, will be more loyal than those whose problems are not resolved. That loyalty translates into profitability, Customers who complain and have their problems resolved quickly are much more likely to repurchase than are those whose complaints are not resolved. Those who never complain are least likely to repurchase.
Similar results were reported in a study 720 HMO members in which researchers found that those who were not satisfied with service recovery were much more likely
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to switch to a different health care provider than were those who happy with how their problems were addressed. The study also found that satisfaction with service recovery was the second most important factor out of 11 service attributes in predicting overall customer satisfaction. The most important, not surprisingly, was perceived medical outcome.
An effective service recovery strategy has multiple potential impacts. It can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty and generate positive word-of-mouth communication. A well-designed, well-documented service recovery strategy also provides information that can be used to improve service as part of a continuous improvement effort. By making adjustments to service processes, systems, and outcomes based on previous service recovery experiences, companies increase the likelihood of “doing it right the right the first time.” In turn, this reduces costs of failures and increases initial customer satisfaction.
Unfortunately, many firms do not employ effective strategies. A recent study suggests that 50 percent of customer who experienced a serious problem received no response from the firm. There are tremendous downsides to having no service recovery strategies. Poor recovery following a bad service experience a service failure, they talk about it to others no matter what the outcome. That recent study also found that customers who were satisfied with a firm’s recovery efforts
3.2
Some customers are more likely to complain than others for a variety of reasons. These consumers believe that positive consequences may occur and that there are social benefits of complaining, and their personal norms support their complaining behavior. They believe they should and will be provided compensation for the service failure in some form. They believe that fair treatment and good service are their due, and that in cases of service failure, someone should make good. In some cases they feel a social obligation to complain — to help others avoid similar situations or to punish the service provider. A very small number of consumers have “complaining” personalities — they just like to complain or cause trouble.
Consumers who are unlikely to take any action hold the opposite beliefs. They often see complaining as a waste of their time and effort. They do not believe anything positive will occur for them or others based on their actions. Sometimes they do not know how to complain — they do not understand the process or may not realize that avenues are open to them to voice their complaints. In some cases noncomplainers may engage in “emotion-focused coping” to deal with their negative experiences. This type of coping involves self-blame, denial, and possibly seeking social support. They may feel that the failure was somehow their fault and that they do not deserve redress.
Personal relevance of the failure can also influence whether people complain. If the service failure is really important, if the failure has critical consequences for the
How Customer Respond To Service Failures
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consumer, or if the consumer has much ego involvement in the service experience, then he or she is the more likely to complain. Consumers are more likely to complain about services that are expensive, high risk, and ego involving (like vacation packages, airline travel, and medical services) than they are about less expensive, frequently purchased services (fast-food drive-through service, a cab ride, a call to a customer service help line). There latter services are simply not important enough to warrant the time to complain. Unfortunately, even though the experience may not be important to the consumer at the moment, a dissatisfying encounter can still drive him or her to a competitor next time the service is needed.
If customers initiate actions following service failure, the action can be of various types. A dissatisfied customer can choose to complain on the spot to the service provider, giving the company the opportunity to respond immediately. This reaction is often the best-case scenario for the company because it has a second chance right at that moment to satisfy the customer, keep his or her business in the future, and potentially avoid any negative word of mouth. Customers who do not complain immediately may choose to complain later to the provider by phone, in writing, or via the Internet. Again, the company has a chance to recover. Researchers refer to these proactive types of complaining behavior as voice responses or seeking redress. Some customers choose not to complain directly to the provider but rather spread negative word of mouth about the company to friends, relatives, and coworkers. This negative word-of-mouth communication can be extremely detrimental because it can reinforce the customer’s feelings of negativism and spread that negative impression to others as well. Further, the company has no chance to recover unless the negative word of mouth is accompanied by a complaint directly to the company. In recent years, customers have taken to complaining via the Internet. A variety of websites, including web-based consumer opinion platforms, have been created to facilitate customer complaints and, in doing so, have provided customers with the possibility of spreading negative word-of-mouth communication to a much broader audience. Some customers become so dissatisfied with a product or service failure that they construct websites targeting the firm’s current and prospective customers. On these sites, angry customers convey their grievances against the firm in ways designed to convince other consumers of the firm’s incompetence an evil.
Finally, customers may choose to complain to third parties such as the Better Business Bureau, to consumer affairs arms of the government, to a licensing authority, to a professional association, or potentially to a private attorney. No matter the action (or inaction), ultimately the customers determine whether to patronize the service provider again or to switch to another provider.
3.3
When they take the time and effort to complain, customers generally have high expectations. They expect the firm to be accountable. They expect to be helped
Customers’ Recovery Expectations
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quickly. They expect to be compensated for their grief and for the hassle of being inconvenienced.
In many service failure situations, customers are not looking for extreme actions from the firm; however, they are looking to understand what happened and for firms to be accountable for their actions (or inactions). One study identified the seven most common “remedies” that customers seek when they experience a serious problem; three of these remedies were to have the product repaired or service fixed, to be reimbursed all their money, or to be reimbursed part of their money. Interestingly, however, the other four remedies — including an apology from the firm, an explanation by the firm as to what happened, an assurance that the problem would not be repeated, and an opportunity for the customer to vent his or her frustrations to the firm — cost the firm very little to provide.
These four non-monetary remedies consist primarily of providing employees the opportunity to communicate with customers. Understanding and accountability are very important to many customers after a service failure, for if they perceive an injustice has occurred, someone is to blame. Customers expect an apology when things go wrong, and a company that provides one demonstrates courtesy and respect; customers also want to know what the company is going to do to ensure that the problem does not recur. Results from the study mentioned in the previous paragraph suggest that when a firm does nothing about a service failure, 86 percent of the customers are dissatisfied with the “response”; however, if a firm provides an apology to the customer, the percentage of dissatisfied customers drops to 20 percent. Providing customers with an opportunity to vent their frustrations has a similar effect, because doing so reduces customer dissatisfaction with the response to about 33 percent. Customer discontent can also be moderated if customers understand why the failure occurred and what specific actions were undertaken to recover. Customers clearly value such communication, because these nonmonetary remedies were found to be positively related to satisfaction with the complaint process, continues loyalty, and positive word-of-mouth communication.
Ultimately, how a service failure is handled and the customer’s reaction to the recovery effort can influence future decisions to remain loyal to the service provider or to switch to another provider. Whether customers switch to a new provider following service failure will depend in addition on a number of other factors. The magnitude and criticality of the failure will clearly be a factor in future repurchase decisions. The more serious the failure, the more likely the customer is to switch no matter what the recovery effort.
The nature of the customer’s relationship with the firm may also influence whether the customer stays or switches providers. Research suggests that customers who have “true relationships” with their service providers are more forgiving of poorly handled service failures and are less likely to switch than are those who have a “pseudo-relationship” or a “first-time encounter” type of relationship. A true relationship is one in which the customer has had repeated contact over time with the same service provider. A first-time encounter relationship is one in which the
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customer has had only one contact, on a transaction basis, with the provider. And a pseudo-relationship is one in which the customer has interacted many times with the same company, but with different service providers each time.
Other research reveals that the individual customer’s attitude toward switching will strongly influence whether he or she ultimately stays with the provider and that this attitude toward switching will be even more influential than basic satisfaction with the service. This research suggests that certain customers will have a greater propensity to switch service providers no matter how their service failure situations are handled. Research in an online service context, for example, shows that demographic factors such as age and income as well as individual factors such as risk aversion will influence whether a customer continues to use an online service or switches to another provider. The profile of an “online service switcher” emerged in the research as a person who was influenced to subscribe to the service through positive word-of-mouth communication; who used the service less; who was less satisfied and less involved with service; who had a lower income and education level; and who also had a lower propensity for taking risks.
Finally, the decision to switch to a different service provider may not occur immediately following service failure or poor service recovery, but may follow an accumulation of events. That is, service switching can be viewed as a process resulting from a series of decisions and critical service encounters over time rather than one specific moment in time when a decision is made. The process orientation suggests that companies could potentially track customer interactions and predict the likelihood of defection based on a series of events, intervening earlier in the process to head off the customer’s decision to switch.
3.4
A guarantee is a particular type of recovery tool. In a business context, a guarantee is a pledge or assurance that a product offered by a firm will perform as promised, and if not then some form of reparation will be undertaken by the firm. Although guarantees are relatively common for manufactured products, they have only recently been used for services. Traditionally, many people believed that services simply could not be guaranteed given their intangible and variable nature. What would be guaranteed? With a product, the customer is guaranteed that it will perform as promised and if not, that it can be returned. With services, it is generally not possible to take returns or to “undo” what has been performed. The skepticism about service guarantees is being dispelled, however, as more and more companies find they can guarantee their services and that three are tremendous benefits for doing so. “service organizations, in particular, are beginning to recognize that guarantees can serve not only as a marketing tool but as a means for defining, cultivating, and maintaining quality throughout an organization.” The benefits to the company of an effective service guarantee are numerous:
Service Guarantees
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? A good guarantee forces the company to focus on its customers. To develop a
meaningful guarantee, the company must know what is important to its customer — what they expect and value. In many cases “satisfaction” is guaranteed, but in order for the guarantee to work effectively, the company must clearly understand what satisfaction means for its customers (what they value and expect). ? An effective guarantee sets clear standards for the organization. It prompts
the company to clearly define what it expects of its employees and to communicate that expectation to them. The guarantee gives employees service-oriented goals that can quickly align employee behaviors around customer strategies. For example, Pizza Hut’s guarantee that “If you’re not satisfied with you pizza, let our restaurant know. We’ll make it right or give you your money back” lets employees know exactly what they should do if a customer complains, It is also clear to employees that making it right for the customer is an important company goal. ? A good guarantee generates immediate and relevant feedback from customer.
It provides an incentive for customers to complain and thereby provides more representative feedback to the company than simply relying on the relatively few customers who typically voice their concerns. The guarantee communicates to customers that they have the right to complain. ? When the guarantee is invoked there is an instant opportunity to recover, thus
satisfying the customer and helping retain loyalty. ? Information generated through the guarantee can be tracked and integrated
into continuous improvement efforts. A feedback link between customers and service operations decisions can be strengthened through the guarantee. ? Studies of the impact of service guarantees suggest that employee morale and
loyalty can be enhanced as a result. A guarantee generates pride among employees. Through feedback from the guarantee, improvements can be made in the service that benefit customers and, indirectly, employees. ? For customers, the guarantee reduces their sense of risk and builds
confidence in the organization. Because services are intangible and often highly personal or ego-involving, customers seek information and cues that will help reduce their sense of uncertainly. Guarantees have been shown to reduce risk and increase positive evaluation of the service prior to purchase. The bottom line for the company is that an effective guarantee can affect profitability through building customer awareness and loyalty, through positive word of mouth, and through reduction in costs as service improvements are made and employee turnover through creating a more positive service culture.
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了解顾客需求
1.通过调研倾听顾客需求
1.1明确市场调查了解顾客期望
明确顾客期望是提供优质服务所必须的要素，而市场调研是了解顾客服务期望和感知的重要载体。在服务业中，由于有多个提供品，服务公司不进行市场调查就不可能了解其顾客。即使一家公司做了市场调研，如果不是关于顾客期望的，它也将因为无法紧跟不断变化的需求节拍而失败。市场调查必须关注服务业中的课题，如什么样的特色对顾客来说非常重要，这些特色的何种水品是顾客期望的，以及当提供服务的过程中出现问题时，顾客如何希望公司能够并应该解决问题。当一家服务公司太小，没有足够的资金用于市场调研时，沿街询问也是了解顾客期望的手段。
市场调查者面临的最大挑战是：将纷杂的调查数据转换成能够被董事、经理和将依据调查做出决策的职员迅速阅读和理解的形式。数据库被很多企业采用来进行最初的决策，但是仅仅有复杂的数据并不能保证调研结果对经理有用。大部分使用市场调查结果的人都未受过统计学训练，既没有时间也不能专业性地分析计算机打印输出的和其他技术性的调查结果。市场调查过程在该阶段的目标是：及时为相关人员提供清晰地信息。主要包括以下因素：谁得到这些信息；为什么他们需要这些信息；他们怎样使用这些信息；不同文化背景下这些信息的意义相同吗？当使用者对能够理解资料感到自信时，他们会非常愿意恰当地应用它。如果经理们不知道怎样去理解和解释数据，或者他们不能确信所进行的调查，时间、技能和精力等投入将付之东流。
1.2使用市场调查信息
对顾客期望进行市场调查只是了解顾客的第一步，即使该调查经过严密的设计、执行和表述。一家服务公司必须有效地使用调查结果，以改善所提供的服务，错误使用（甚至没有使用）调查数据将在理解顾客期望时导致很大的差距。当经理们忙于应付日复一日的商业挑战，没有时间阅读调查报告时，公司就无法使用获得的资源。当顾客参与配合市场调查，而后未发现公司在实际业务中有所改进时，他们将对公司很沮丧甚至恼火。明白如何最有效地使用调查信息是弥合顾客期望和经理们理解的顾客期望之间差距的重要途径。经理们必须学会将调查信息和洞察力转变为行动，必须认识到调查的目的在于促进和改进服务质量，提高顾客满意度。
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调查计划必须明确使用顾客数据的机制。这种调查计划必须有可行性—适时、具体而且可信，同时必须有一个机制，允许公司对不满意得顾客迅速做出反应。
1.3向上沟通
一些服务公司，尤其是较小的和地方性的公司，业主和经理们可以不断联系顾客，从而获得关于顾客期望和感知的第一手资料。但是在大型服务机构中，经理们不可能总有机会亲自获得其顾客需求的第一手资料。
公司规模越大，经理们直接与顾客建立互动关系的困难越大，他们亲自获取顾客需求的第一手资料的可能越小。甚至在他们阅读和了解调查报告之后，如果没有机会亲自经历实际服务，他们也可能不了解顾客的真实情况。假定某事物如何工作的理论观点无法提供充分的服务要求，为真正了解顾客需求，经理们可以从商店的实际情况、顾客服务专线电话，服务等候排队和面对面的服务等情况中受益。如果想缩小差距1，经理们就需要进行一些顾客沟通工作了。
2.建立顾客关系
2.1关系营销
关系营销本质上代表了一种典型的营销转变 — 由以获取/交易为中心到以保留/关系为中心的转变。关系营销（关系管理）是一种经营理念，一种策略指南，它注重保持和改善现有顾客而不是获得新顾客。这种理念假设和如下事实 — 保留一位当前顾客通常要比吸引一位新顾客成本低得多，成功的市场工作人员正在研究有效保留顾客的策略。
很多公司非常重视获得顾客（“第一行为”），但之后却很少关注应该怎么做才能保留顾客（“第二行为”）。假日饭店市场部执行副总裁詹姆斯L.肖尔（James L. schorr）在一次谈话中证明了这一点。在采访中他谈到，一个被称做“营销水桶的理论”使他闻名于假日饭店集团。据此理论，他认为营销可以被看做一只大水桶，所有的销售、广告和促销计划都可看做从桶口往桶里倒水，只要这些方案计划是有效的，水桶就可以盛满水。然而，这里有一个问题，他说，“桶里有个洞。”当生意状况很好并且饭店按承诺提供服务时，这个洞很小，即只有很少的顾客会流失。当运营管理不善并且顾客对他们所得到的服务感到不满时，顾客会像水一样从洞中大量流失，并且流出的水比倒进来的还多。
水桶理论表明了为什么关系策略，即关注于堵住桶上的洞会有如此大的意义。由于历史上市场工作人员过多关注获得顾客，所以向关系策略的转变经常代表着思想上、组织文化上和员工奖励系统上的转变。比如说，销售激励制度在许多公司中被用于对获得顾客进行奖励，而常常仅有很少（或者根本没有）对保留
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现有顾客进行奖励的措施。因此，即使人们认识到保留顾客的必然性，现有的组织系统对其有效实施也许仍不能提供支持。
顾客关系价值是以顾客在其生命过程中给公司带来的收入和利润贡献来看待顾客的概念或计算方法。
顾客生命价值受平均生命长度、生命期内每个相关时期的平均收入、长期的附加产品和服务的销售额，以及长时期内由顾客介绍来的其他顾客流的影响。生命价值有时候仅指生命收入流，如考虑成本，生命价值可能真正意味着“生命盈利性”。
“如果公司知道丢失顾客的真正成本有多大，它们就会对为保留顾客而进行的投资进行精确的评估。不幸的是，现代财务系统无法表现一位忠诚顾客的价值。”一个可用文字来表达忠诚顾客的金钱价值的方法是，估计每增加一位对公司忠诚而不是那些投向竞争对手的顾客所带来的新增价值或收益。这就是Bain & Co.公司对一些行业所进行的研究，顾客保留或忠诚度每增加5%时，利润增加值的百分比。这种增长是极显著的，范围为35%-95%。这些增长是通过比较当前维持率及维持率增长5%情况下的平均顾客生命利润流的纯利润值计算出来的。
通过运用更复杂准确的系统和方法来记录实际的成本和利润流，公司可以更科学地记录保留顾客的成本和价值。一种更复杂的计算方法可以尝试估计与忠诚顾客有关的所有利益的价值，而不仅限于长期收入流。口头宣传广告的价值、保留员工的价值和下降的顾客维护费用都将输入这种计算方法。
在过去的十年里，人们对顾客关系价值越来越重视，而这种重视又提升了人们对企业创造忠诚顾客带来的经济利益的赞赏（“战略洞察”描述了企业怎样将这种赞赏清晰地传递给顾客）。有意思的是，最近的研究表明，顾客保留对公司的价值有很大的影响，并且关系价值评估可以作为公司价值评价的替代。也就是说，一个企业的市场价值可以粗略地根据计算出的顾客生命价值来确定。这种方法很直接：估计顾客的关系价值，预测公司的未来走势和未来基础。因为顾客基础构成了企业一大部分的总体价值，这样的计算能够提供公司价值的评估 — 这是一个对于年轻的、快速增长的公司一个特别有用的数据，而传统的金融方法（例如，折扣的现金流）在这方面做得就很不好。
2.2顾客获利能力细分
公司也希望为所有顾客提供出色的服务，但是它们发现顾客的关系价值是不同的，要满足（更不用说超过了）所有顾客的期望不仅不实际，也会影响利益。以联邦快递公司为例，该公司根据顾客的获利能力将顾客划分为优良、差的和恶劣。公司对顾客并非一视同仁，而是特别关注优良的顾客，尽力将差的顾客转变为好的顾客，并避免恶劣的顾客。其他公司也试图确定细分市场，或者更准确地说，是顾客层级—这种细分根据他们目前和/或将来为公司带来的利润的不同。
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这种方法要比按应用或量来进行市场细分的方法好，因为它考虑了顾客细分市场的成本和收入，因而可以了解他们对于公司的财务价值。在确定利润群组以后，企业就可以根据特定的细分市场提供服务，并保持一致的服务水平。构建一个由适当顾客组成的高忠诚度的顾客库能够提高利益。
尽管许多公司对于联邦快递将顾客分组为“优良、差和恶劣”持有异议，但是它对于企业内部描述顾客层级还是非常有用的，而且它可以帮助企业了解那些有利可图的顾客。
事实上，所有的企业都在一定程度上了解它们的顾客在盈利水平上是不同的，特别是少数顾客却提供了最高的销售或利润比。这经常被称为“80/20法则”—20%的顾客提供了80%的销售额或利润。
在这种形式的层级下，20%的顾客构成了最高层，他们被认为是公司最有价值的顾客，而其他顾客除了与最高层级在盈利方面的不同以外，就无法再区分了。大多数公司知道在这一层级内部的顾客之间还是有差异的，但是他们也不具备分析这种差异的数据或能力。这种80/20顾客金字塔是一种双层图，它假定在这两个层次内部是相似的，正如传统的市场细分也假设相同细分市场内的顾客是相似的。
然而，如果公司拥有更充足的数据可以细化顾客层级，也可能使用超过两层的细分。不同的系统和标志是很有用的。
1. 2.
白金层描述了企业最有价值的顾客，尤其是那些大顾客，对于价格不是过度敏感，愿意购买和尝试新产品或服务，是企业的忠诚顾客。 黄金层与白金层的不同主要在于其盈利水平不是很高，可能是由于这些顾客希望有价格上的折扣，因而边际利润就很有限，而且他们也不十分忠诚。他们可能是大顾客，但是为了使风险最小化，他们往往会选择多个卖主而不仅仅是某一个公司。 3.
铁层包括一些重要的顾客，他们所提供的数量需求可以充分利用企业的产能，但是他们的消费水平、忠诚度和回报率要获得特别的对待还是不够的。 4.
铅层由那些浪费公司金钱的顾客组成。他们要求获得比根据他们消费和回报率所应得的更多的注意，有时候他们就是问题顾客—向其他人抱怨企业并且占用企业的资源。
注意，这种分类其实是非常简单的，这与传统的像美国航空公司这样的航空公司所采取的细分方法是非常不同的。两种差异非常明显。首先，顾客金字塔是采用利润而不是应用来定义所有层次的。其次，较低的层次事实上说明的是需要差别对待的顾客类型。企业必须努力去改变顾客的行为—通过提高收入获取更多的利润，或者通过降低成本改变企业的成本结构使他们更加有利可图。
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顾客金字塔方法在许多企业都获得了有效应用，尤其以金融服务企业最先使用这种方式，这可能是因为这些企业已经拥有了大量的数据。第一银行在1994年意识到所有的金融机构对于它的最佳顾客都收取了很多超额费用，以弥补其他一些顾客。第一银行决定培养其最高利润的顾客，由于服务水平低下，他们事实上很容易被攻击，第一银行实施了一系列方法将资源集中应用于产出最高的部门。接下来，它确定了最高层细分市场的利润驱动，因此就稳定了它与关键顾客的关系。
一旦一个系统已经为分类的顾客建立，就能够识别各个层级，并且推动服务，进而预期获得不同水平的利润。当公司通过对于服务有最大需求或者对单一供应商显示出最大忠诚度的顾客提高其购买份额时，就会提高获利的机会。通过延伸与忠诚顾客的关系，提高现有顾客的销售，提高每一个销售机会的回报率，企业能够增加每一个顾客的潜能。
尽管利润层级从企业的角度来说是有意义的，但是顾客一般并不会理解，他们更加不会乐意被分到比较差的类别里面。例如，在许多公司里，高层顾客会拥有自己的账户代表，他们只需要和这个人联络。而下面一个层级的顾客代表就可能要负责100个顾客。而同时，大多数顾客是由一个800号码的自动语音应答系统或者指定网站来提供服务的。顾客了解这种不平等的待遇，他们中许多人会抵制进而憎恶这种做法。从公司的观点看这是非常有道理的，但是顾客经常会对他们获得的服务水平很失望，结果对企业的质量留下坏印象。
因此，企业与顾客的沟通日益重要，只有这样它们才能够了解顾客可能预期的服务水平以及需要它们做成什么，或者要获得更快或更加定制化的服务需要付出什么。但是最大的问题是在顾客不能理解的时候，他们会认为他们是个别挑出来而获得差的服务，或者认为这个系统是不公平的。尽管许多顾客拒绝为高质量服务进行额外支付，但是他们还是会产生负面的反应，认为他们获得了不公平的对待。
基于利润来精细地进行顾客细分也会产生顾客的隐私权问题。为了了解谁是有利可图的而谁不是，公司必须收集大量消费者的个人行为和私人数据。今天，许多消费者在感觉到这种方法对于他们生活的侵入时会非常憎恶，尤其是这往往会导致他们获得他们认为不公平的对待。
谨慎的业务经理都知道历史顾客的购买行为虽然有用，但有时候会误导人。一部分今天买了什么，并不一定能反映出他将来会做什么（未来的价值）。服务于高校学生的银行深谙这一点—一个典型的大学生通常只需要极少的金融服务（即一个账户而已）并且不会有高额的存款。然而，几年之后这个大学生可能已经从事一份专业的职业，有了家庭，或者买房子，所以他会需要很多金融服务并成为极具潜力的银行的获利顾客。总体来讲，企业愿意保持长期的大顾客而放弃
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不稳定的小顾客。但是企业常常还必须考虑其他两组顾客：不规律的大顾客和规律的小顾客。所以在现金不停流转时，准备一个包括稳定顾客的公事包对企业来讲或许是非常有用的，即使历史证明这并不能提高利益。一些服务的提供确实成功地将先前其他企业营销失败的顾客定位目标顾客。Paychex，一个工资表处理公司，因为服务于一些小业务而取得成功，而这些业务对某些这个行业的主要公司来讲太小而不能够盈利。类似地，Progressive保险公司成功地将机动车保险卖给了不受欢迎的顾客—年轻的司机和那些有不良记录的司机—很多竞争对手认为这些顾客没有足够的关系价值。因此，企业要警惕不仔细考虑顾客关系的隐含而盲目地计算顾客的价值。
2.3关系挑战
由于长期的顾客关系会带来许多利益，因此，一家公司似乎不想拒绝或终止同任何顾客的关系。但是，随着形势的变化，不管是企业还是顾客，他们确想终止（或者说不得不终止）他们之间的关系。
所有的顾客都是好顾客的假设也同样非常适合“顾客永远是正确的”这个信念，这已成为一个几乎是圣神不可侵犯的商业信条。然而现在，任何一位服务业的工作者都会告诉你顾客并非永远正确，并且在这些情况下宁愿终止他们之间的关系。
一家公司不能将其服务定位于所有的顾客，有些细分市场可能比其他细分市场更合适一些。同公司不能满足其需要的顾客建立关系，对公司或顾客来说可能都是没有利益的。例如，一所提供全日制MBA学位课的学校不会鼓励全日制工作的人们来申请。同样，一家专门从事政府事务的律师事务所同希望得到信托和财产咨询的个人建立关系也没有什么意义。这些例子都是显而易见的。然而，有些公司常常屈服于向顾客推销服务的诱惑，选择让其他公司服务会更好的顾客。
类似地，同时与不兼容的细分市场建立关系也很不明智。在许多服务业（比如饭店、餐厅、导游、娱乐和教育业），顾客们一起经历服务过程，并且互相影响对服务价值的感知。于是，为使核心部分的服务最大化，公司可能会通过行政措施拒绝一些有利润但并不兼容的顾客，举例来说，一家合适举办会议的酒店可能会发现将高级经理人的一个严肃的培训会与学生们的地区运动会混合在一起的计划是很不明智的。如果高级经理人群体是很关键的长期顾客，酒店可能会考虑保留这部分人的利益而放弃运动团体。
3.服务补救
3.1服务失误及补救的影响
服务补救是组织针对失误采取的行动。失误可因各种原因产生：服务可能没有如约履行，送货延期或太慢，服务可能不正确或执行质量低劣，员工可能粗暴
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或漠不关心。所有这些种类的失误都会引起顾客的消极情绪和反应。接下来可能的情况是，顾客离开，将其经历告之其他顾客，甚至通过消费者权益组织或法律渠道投诉该组织。
调查表明，有效解决顾客问题会对顾客满意度、忠诚度、口头传播及最低绩效产生重大影响。也就是说，经历服务失误的顾客如果经公司努力补救并最终感到满意，将比那些问题未被解决的顾客更加忠诚。这种忠诚度将转变成盈利性。来自技术协助调查程序的资料证实了这种关系，那些因投诉而使其问题迅速得到解决的顾客与那些投诉但未得到解决的顾客相比，更可能发生再次购买行为，那些从未投诉的顾客相对最不可能再次购买。
720名卫生维护组织的成员所进行的研究也给出了相似的结果，研究人员发现，那些对于服务补救不满意的顾客比那些问题获得解决的顾客有更大的可能转移到其他医疗机构。研究也同时指出，对于服务补救的满意是预测整体服务满意的11个指标中第二个重要的因素。毫无疑问，最重要的因素是感知的医疗结果。
一个有效服务补救策略有多方面潜在的影响，它能提高顾客满意度及忠诚度，并产生积极的口头传播影响。作为不断改善服务的努力一部分，一个得到较好设计及文字化的服务补救策略提供了能够用于改善服务的信息。在服务补救经验的基础上通过调整服务过程、系统及产出，公司能提高“第一次做对”的可能性，这相应会降低失误成本并提高顾客的初始满意度。
不幸的是，很多企业并没有使用有效地补救措施。最近的一项调查表明，50%以上经历过一系列问题的顾客并没有从企业方得到回应。没有服务补救或没有有效的服务补救策略会产生相当大的副作用。糟糕的服务再加上低劣的补救，可能导致顾客极大的不满以致变成“恐怖主义者”，他们会积极寻找机会公开批评使其不满的公司。当顾客经历了服务失误时他们会不计后果地讲给别人听。一个对企业的补救努力满意的顾客平均会对7个人讲，然而每一个不满意企业回应的顾客平均会同25个人讲！如果顾客能在互联网上分享这些故事，不满意所及的范围可能更大。另外，反复的服务失误并且未实行有效的服务补救策略甚至会激怒最好的员工，这会损害员工士气甚至失去员工，使公司付出很大代价。但是补救经常被忽视，这就是没有有效服务补救策略的代价。
3.2顾客对服务失误的反应
有一些顾客比其他人更可能抱怨。这些消费者相信投诉总会有积极地结果且对社会有益，而且其个人标准支持其去抱怨行为。他们相信自己将会并且应该由于服务失误而获得某种形式的赔偿。他们相信得到公正的对待和良好的服务是应该的，并且在服务失误时，某些人本应该把它做好。在有些情况下他们认为有一种社会责任在促使其抱怨，帮助其他人避免遇到相似的情况或者惩罚这家服务供
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应商。只有极少数消费者拥有“抱怨“的个性，他们仅仅是喜欢抱怨或是制造麻烦。
那些不大可能采取任何行动的消费者怀有相反的信念，他们通长将抱怨看做对其时间和精力的浪费。他们不相信经过其行动，对自己或对别人会有任何积极的事情发生。有时候他们甚至不知道怎样抱怨，他们不了解或可能没意识到还有倾听其抱怨的开放渠道。在有些情况中，未抱怨者可能会使用“感情对抗”来处理其消极活动，这种对抗类型包括自责、否定和可能寻求社会帮助。他们可能感到那些错误某种程度上是由自身的原因造成并且得不到赔偿。
失误的个人关联程度同样能影响人们是否抱怨。如果服务失误不是真的重要，没有给顾客带来致命的后果或者顾客与服务有很大的牵涉，那么他就很有可能抱怨。消费者对那些昂贵、高风险和涉及自我的服务（比如度假服务、航空服务和医药服务）的投诉多于对那些廉价的频繁购买的服务（比如汽车快餐服务、出租车服务和顾客服务电话服务）的投诉。后面这些服务显然不很重要，不足以花费时间抱怨。不过虽然这种经历对顾客可能一是不很重要，但当再次需要这些服务时，这一次不满意的经历可能驱使他转向竞争者。
在服务失误后，若顾客采取行动，其种类会是各种各样的。一位不满的顾客可能选择当场对服务人员进行投诉，给公司一个立即反应的机会。对公司来说，这往往是最好的情况，因为公司有第二次机会当场满足顾客需要，保留其未来的生意，并潜在地避免了任何负面口头宣传。没有马上投诉的顾客可能选择以后通过电话或信件向供应商投诉或者通过网络，这样公司也有机会进行补救。学者将这些主动投诉的行为称为声音回应或寻找弥补型。
一些顾客不直接向服务人员抱怨，而是宁愿向朋友、亲戚及同事传播关于公司的负面信息。这种负面宣传非常有害，因为它会加强顾客的消极情绪，并将这种负面影响传给他人。另外，如果负面宣传没有与投诉一起传递给公司，公司就没有机会进行补救。近年来，顾客已经通过网络来投诉，一系列的网站，包括基于网络的顾客意见平台，使顾客投诉更加便利，也为顾客负面口头传达提供了更为广阔的听众。一些顾客对某个产品或服务失误特别不满意，以致特意建立一个将企业现有的或可能的顾客为目标的网站。在这些网站，愤怒的顾客将他们对企业的不满以能够说服企业其他顾客相信企业的无能和恶毒的方式传递。
最后，顾客可以向第三方抱怨，如政府的消费者事务主管部门、许可证发放部门、行业协会或私人律师等。不管采取哪种行动（或者没有任何行动），最终顾客都会再次惠顾服务供应商或者是转向其他供应商。
3.3顾客的补救期望
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当顾客确实花费时间和精力来抱怨时，他们一般抱有很高的期望。他们期望企业能够负责任。他们期望能迅速得到帮助，期望企业对其不幸遭遇及引起的不便进行补偿，期望在服务过程中得到亲切对待。
在很多服务失误的情况下，顾客并不从公司处寻求特殊的行动；然而，他们在尝试着理解发生了什么，公司应该对它的哪些行为负责（没有做的事）。一项研究确定了七个顾客在经历了严重问题时会寻求的“补救方法”；这些补救方案中的三个是修理产品或服务弥补，全部退款或退还部分。有趣的是，其他四个补救方法，包括公司的道歉，公司对发生了什么的解释，保证问题会被解决和一个顾客向公司发泄他的愤怒的机会，并不花费公司提供多少成本。
这四个不用钱的补救方法组成了为员工提供与顾客交流的机会。理解和责任在顾客经历了服务失误后是非常重要的，因为如果他们发现不公平的事情发生，就会有人遭到指责。顾客期望事情出错时能够得到道歉，而能够提供道歉的公司就表明了礼貌和尊重；顾客同样想知道公司所做的事能够保证问题不再发生。前一段提到的研究结果表明，如果一个公司对服务失误不采取任何措施的话，86%的顾客对这样的“回应”不满意；然而，如果公司向顾客道歉，不满意顾客的比降低到20%。为顾客提供一个发泄不满的机会有同样的效果，因为这样做将顾客对回应的不满降低到了33%。如果顾客了解了失误为什么发生以及公司正采取什么行动来补救，顾客的不满可以得到缓和。顾客很明显认为这样的沟通有价值，因为这些非金钱的补救方法被发现与抱怨过程中的满意度，持续的忠诚以及积极地口碑宣传相关。
归根到底，如何管理服务失误以及顾客对于补救的反应都会影响到顾客未来的决策，是对服务提供商保持忠诚还是转向其他供应商。顾客在遭受服务失误之后是否要更换一个新的供应商依赖于许多因素。这种失误的大小和危险程度很明显会是影响未来再次购买决策的一个因素。不管补救工作怎么样，失误越严重，顾客就越有可能更换供应商。
顾客与企业之间的关系也会影响到顾客是继续留下还是更换供应商。研究指出，与服务提供商之间存在“真正的关系”的顾客更有可能原谅没有好好处理的服务失误，更换服务供应商的可能性也更小，而只有所谓的“虚假关系”或者“第一次接触”都是不行的。一个真正的关系是指顾客一直在和同一个服务提供者进行不断的接触，而第一次解除关系是指顾客以交易行为为基础只与供应商进行了一次接触，虚假的关系则是指顾客与同一公司之间有多次的相互影响，但是每一次是于不同的服务提供者接触。
另一些研究指出个人顾客对于更换这种行为本身的态度对于他最终是否继续与该供应商合作有巨大的影响，对于更换的态度甚至比对服务本身的基本满意还要重要。这也就说明无论他们的服务失误是否获得处理，某些特定顾客还是有
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很大的倾向去变更服务提供者。例如，一个对在线服务的研究指出，一些人口统计特征，例如年龄和收入以及一些个人特征（例如风险厌恶），都会影响一个顾客是继续使用一种在线服务还是转向其他服务提供商。在研究中形成了一项称为“在线服务转换”的测试，主要谈论几类顾客，受别人影响来预订服务的；更少使用服务的顾客；对于服务不满意或者更少地参与服务的顾客；收入和教育程度较低的顾客；不太愿意接受风险的顾客。
最后，更换不同的服务提供商的决策可能不会在服务失误或失败的服务补救之后马上发生，但是也可能会是一系列时间的积累。也就是说，服务更换可能被视为由一系列决策和重要的服务决策相结合而产生的一个过程，而不是做出决策的一个特定的瞬间。这种过程导向也说明公司可以根据一系列的时间来跟踪顾客的交互作用并且预计变更的可能性，来较早地介入这个过程以阻止顾客的变更决策。
3.4服务承诺
承诺是一种特别的补救工具。在商业的背景中，承诺是这样一个保证或誓约：企业提供所承诺的产品，如果产品与承诺不符，企业也要采取某种形式的补偿。承诺对于制造业的产品相对来说使用很普遍，但对服务业只是最近才开始使用。传统上，考虑到服务业无形性和易逝性的本性，许多人认为服务根本无法保证。承诺是什么？对于一件产品，顾客得到保证，可以像厂商许诺的那样使用，如果不行，可以退货。对于服务，通常既不可能退回也不可能“不用”，因为它已经发生了。然而，随着越来越多的公司发现它们可以承诺其服务并且这样做对其有惊人的益处，人们对服务承诺的疑虑被驱散了。
“许多服务性组织已经开始认识到，承诺不仅仅可以作为一种营销工具，同时也是在组织内对质量进行定义、培养和维护的一种方法。”一个有效地服务承诺对于公司的益处数不胜数。
? 一个好的承诺促使公司关注其顾客。要开发一个有意义的承诺，公司必
须了解对其顾客来说什么是重要的—他们的期望和价值。在许多情况下，承诺使顾客“满意”是为了让承诺更有效地发挥作用，公司必须清楚了解对其顾客来说满意的含义是什么（比如他们认为什么是有价值和被期望的）。
? 一个有效承诺为组织设立了清晰标准。它使公司清晰定义什么是对员工
的期望，并为此与他们进行沟通。承诺为员工们提供了以服务为导向的目标，它可以很快让员工围绕顾客策略一起行动。比如说，必胜客公司承诺是：“如果你不满意你的比萨饼，请让我们的店铺知道，我们将改正或退款。”它使员工们确切知道当顾客抱怨时应该做什么，同时也使他们明确为顾客做好比萨饼是公司的重要目标。
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? 一个好的承诺可以从顾客那里得到快速及相关的反馈。它能够激发顾客
的抱怨，因此，较之仅仅依赖于那些相对较少的爱讲出自己意见的顾客，好的服务保证给公司提供更有代表性的反馈。承诺使顾客了解到他们有权利抱怨。
? 实施承诺时有一个快捷的机会补救，既令顾客满意也有助于维持其忠诚。
通过承诺产生的信息可以被跟踪，并汇总在持续的改善行动中。顾客和服务运作决策之间的反馈联系可以通过承诺得到强化。
? 对服务承诺影响的研究表明，承诺使员工的士气和忠诚度也得到加强。
承诺可以使员工产生自豪感。通过承诺的反馈，服务得以改进，这即使顾客受益，也使员工间接受益。
? 对于顾客来说，承诺降低了他们的风险感并建立了对服务组织的信任。
因为服务是无形的，并且经常高度个性化，顾客们希望找到可帮助其降低不确定感的信息和暗示。承诺已经显示出可用来降低风险和增加在采购前对服务的积极评估。
对公司来说，底线就是通过建立顾客的理解和忠诚、正面的口碑宣传，成本随服务改进和补救费用下降而下降来获益。一个有效地承诺能影响到盈利能力。通过建立一种更积极的服务文化，承诺能够间接地减少员工的变化成本。