ServiceFriday: How Service and Customer Types Effect Customer Experience

The importance of customer experience in service environments is indisputable. However, there are certain experience types that require different ways for organizations to go about achieving a favorable customer experience.  Research from the Journal of Services Marketing explores how hedonic and utilitarian services effect customer experience quality, and how word of mouth impacts customer loyalty. 

The study found that if your service is rather hedonic, meaning that it is meant to provide your customers with experience, fun, pleasure, or even luxury, you need to create a favorable service experience for the customer at an emotional level. An example of hedonic services would be being served a meal in a restaurant, where touch, taste, aromas, and elements such as music and lighting come into play for a positive and memorable experience. In the case of hedonic services, the experience quality carries a strong effect on customer experience.  

In the case of utilitarian services such as banking services, those services are transactional and serve the purpose to fill basic needs, as these are experiences that essentially, just have to get done. In that case, convenience and time savings are valued by utilitarian service customers. Therefore, the focus should be on streamlining all of the functions required to deliver utilitarian services. 

“The differential effects of hedonic vs utilitarian service on the consumer attitudes underline the need of creating a favorable service experience in case of a hedonic service provider. The consumer may be more interested in the functional elements of a utilitarian service and thus may be discounting the experiential element if the functional aspects go right. Thus, a utilitarian service provider may have to focus more on the functional experience of the service.”

Additionally, the study found that companies might want to focus on a unique strategy for new customers. “While visiting the service provider, a new customer may not hold a self-opinion/view about the service provider. Thus, the service provider may have a lot of scope to influence the customer at a rational and emotional level through the experience he/she provides. The findings suggest that while visiting a new restaurant, customer experience may not directly influence
loyalty and word of mouth (WOM). Thus, the immediate objective of the service provider would be to create a pleasurable/memorable experience that can create satisfaction.” The greater the satisfaction experienced on the part of a new customer, the higher the likelihood that the customer will become loyal. 

To access the full article in the Journal of Services Marketing, visit Emerald Insight at this link:
https://bit.ly/2LlO24H. (A fee may apply.)