What is Service Quality
Service Quality is a model designed to understand customer satisfaction on the service by analyzing the gap between the customer experience on the services provided and customer expectations. Analyzing service quality with the SERVQUAL model are based on five service quality dimension, which includes: Reliability, Assurance, Tangible, Empathy, and Responsiveness. They are also known as RATER (acronym).
The service business needs to measure the gap between customer expectation and their perception of the service delivered. Then, the service needs to solve these problems to improve the services quality to reach and achieve customer satisfaction.
However, 5 dimensions of service quality or SERVQUAL has been used in many ways, you can use these service quality dimensions to identify specific service dimension in your business that need improvement, or use these dimensions for the training of service staff.
Customer Satisfaction
Customer expectation is what customers need from a service. If the business need customers’ satisfaction, then the business need to do better than customers’ expectations. The customer will compare perception and expectation after used the service.
- Perception > Expectation is a good service quality or satisfaction.
- Perception < Expectation is a bad service quality or un-satisfaction.
To put it simply, when you go to a restaurant, service qualities are about how good a service is delivered to you in the restaurant, compared to your expectations.
Once you have an ideal experience, you may consider this restaurant to be a high service quality and then you probably want to come back to this restaurant again.
Reliability
Reliability is the ability to perform the promised service accurately and consistently as promised. The business needs to do everything as the business promised in advertising.
To find out the Reliability dimension of service quality, the company may ask these questions to the customer in the questionnaire:
- Are you satisfied with the company’s services?
- Is service performed in the right way?
- Is it follow the expectation?
- Will you continue using the company’s services?
- Will you recommend this service to other people?
Assurance
Assurance is quality about knowledge and courtesy of the staff and their ability to make customers confident in our service and business. For example, Employees are knowledgeable about their products and able to solve customer’s problems satisfactorily.
To find out the Assurance dimension of service quality is satisfaction, the company may ask the following questionnaire:
- Employees can provide service without fumbling?
- Are you satisfied with the company’s services?
- Have you confidence in our customer service or employees?
- Customer service are helpful?
- Employees are friendly?
Tangibles
Tangibles are related to tangible environment and physical aspects of the service business. These include appearance of physical facilities, buildings, the appearance of the employees, decoration, employees, cleanliness of the facilities and equipment form part of the service experience.
To put it simply, when you going to a dirty restaurant would negatively affect your opinion of the service quality. On the other hand, a beautiful and clean restaurant would positively affect your opinion of the service quality.
To understand the customer satisfactions on Tangibles dimension of service quality, the business may ask the following questions to the customer in the questionnaire:
- Are you uncomfortable during the service?
- Our service look professional?
- Are staff dressed appropriately?
Empathy
Empathy is about how customer service or employees care or pay attention to provide a good or best service experience to the customers. In some cultures, it is very important to provide individual attention to show to the customer that the company does its best to satisfy their needs.
To understand the customer satisfaction on Empathy dimension, the company may ask the following questions to the customer in the questionnaire:
- Employees listen carefully to customer need?
- The business operating hours are convenient to you?
- Employees always listen carefully to customer needs and give an individual attention?
Responsiveness
Responsiveness is the service quality dimension about the staff’s willingness and promptness to provide a service or deal with customers’ requests. Responsiveness can easily be recognized by the length of time they have to wait for a request.
This is very important to respond a customer quickly, especially in a crisis situation. For example, if a customer calls to complain about something, they shouldn’t wait for an hour and get angrier to talk with a manager about the complaint.
To find out the customer satisfaction on Responsiveness dimension of service quality, the company may ask the following questions to the customer:
- The deliveries are always on time?
- When you have a problem, can the company solve the problem?
- When you have a problem, the staff shows interest in solving it?
- Customers can always reach someone at the company any time for help?
- Are staff willing to answer your questions?
