Exceeding Expectations: - the Importance of Service Quality in Customer Satisfaction

How can companies exceed the existing expectations of their customers? It is the goal of this work to investigate the path that leads from exceeded customer expectations to customer satisfaction. Finding how to exceed these expectations is the other objective. A general framework of factors affecting satisfaction is formed. The four main factors are concluded to be Customer service, Quality of product, Price of Product and Physical facilities. Service is found to be defined by expectations, as service quality is concluded to affect customer service through disconfirmation. A model of expectations is also formed, with Emotions, Advertising, Word-of-mouth and Prior experiences as the main factors affecting it. It was found that customers who have experienced delight are more likely to become loyal. They are also more likely to spread positive word-of-mouth. Factors that exceed expectations were found to include attention paid to customers, responses to customer preferences, unexpected help, friendliness of staff and empathy. The claim that service employees are the most important cause of satisfaction is strongly supported.