Critical Factors Relating to Customer Expectations Essay

Critical Factors Relating to Customer Expectations - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that customers are users of products and services provided by businesses. Every customer has some expectations for the product he/she uses. The attitude a customer shows towards a product largely depends upon the way it is marketed and the customer’s experience with the product. The products or services which match the expected performance of the customer satisfy the customer. In this competitive age, customer satisfaction has become the top priority for businesses. The customer today has become more demanding and is only satisfied as long as his requirements are constantly met. The success of a company largely depends on customer satisfaction and for this, the businesses throughout the world are focusing on measuring and improving the satisfaction level of both internal and external customers. The expectations of the customers are simple; all they desire are timely quality solutions within budget. Meeting these expectations results in customer satisfaction. The basic condition for delivering superior service is to understand customer expectations; customers have preconceived expectations when judging a firm’s service. The Theory of Expectations is the most commonly accepted theory in this regard. It states that the customer has a predetermined standard of expectations and the satisfaction or dissatisfaction results from a comparison between these predetermined sets of expectations and the actual performance of the product or the service. Given the fact that the extent to which customer expectations are met will decide their level of satisfaction from the services, it is very important to understand their expectation in the first place and then to deliver on those expectations. Keiningham and Vavra further explain that the customer satisfaction can be broadly categorized into three zones: the zone of pain where the customer expectations are not met; the zone of mere satisfaction where, although the custo mer expectations are met, but the company is not offering anything unique which would distinguish itself from others in the market. In this case, the customers can easily switch over to similar products offered by other companies and finally is the zone of delight. The zone of delight is that where the customer expectations are not only fully met but are exceeded, which leads to customer loyalty and word of mouth marketing. For instance, iPhones and iPads are more popular among people because the Apple Store has a greater content of music, films, books, TV shows and other multimedia apps which the users can download directly; these are the extra services which ensure customer expectations are exceeded. Types of Customer Expectations Jugulum and Samuel have stated the customer expectations to be of three types: performance, perceptions and outcome expectations. The first two expectations are linked to the products delivered to the customers and for this reason, are also known as the product expectations. The third type of expectation – the outcome expectation – exists in the absence of the products as well. The performance expectations can be measured and revolve around the quality of the product, cost, and availability. Â