Services Marketing

Chapter 5 : Listening to Customers

Using Marketing Research in Services

Approaches to Services Research

Post-transactional Surveys
Customer Complaint
Comment and Inquiry Surveys
Total Market Surveys
Employee Surveys

Stages in Marketing Research
Use Of Marketing Research Information

Upward Communication

Objectives of Upward Communication

Chapter Summary

Many organizations spend millions of dollars annually on marketing research because it can be used for various purposes. Marketing research can help an organization improve the quality of its customer service, identify new service opportunities and gain a competitive edge over competitors. Service organizations can use different approaches to conduct market research.

Some of these approaches are post-transactional surveys, customer complaint surveys, total market surveys and employee surveys. Post-transactional surveys are conducted immediately after the customer experiences service and the experience is still fresh in his mind. The management also tries to learn from the complaints and inquiries made by customers from time to time, in the forms provided at service outlets for the purpose.

Total market surveys include interviewing all the customers including the existing customers of the organization, potential customers and competitors' customers. Employee surveys involve seeking the views and opinions of employees on the service processes and suggestions to improve them.

The process of marketing research consists of six phases – defining the problem and the research objectives, selecting an appropriate scale to measure services, designing and implementing the research program, coding and tabulating data, interpreting and analyzing the research findings and reporting the findings. Unless the information collected from the market research is applied to solve problems or for other intended purposes, the time and efforts spent on research will become futile.

As the consumer market is highly volatile, the information gathered at one time may become obsolete within a short period of time. So, the management needs to apply the results of marketing research immediately. Upward communication plays a very important role in marketing research. It includes communication between the management and the employees and the management and the customers of an organization.

There are different approaches to upward communication like executive visits to customers, the listening approach of the management, research on internal, intermediate and external customers and employee suggestions. Many service organizations across the world have benefited profoundly by listening to customers and employees.

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