Assessing the Influence of Service Augmentation on Customer Satisfaction
Literature Review
Customer satisfaction is always sought after by various organizations that is more appropriate among the service industry. With the introduction of service augmentation among these industries, the capability of the organizations in delivering the quality type of service. The service augmentation can be another influence promoted by the globalization. The augmentation stands with the meaning of adding or supplementing other features for the improvement of the service. When the service is augmented with other features that the organization finds suitable to the needs of the customers, there is a high possibility that the new kind of services can be improved and made better.
Finding for the loyal customers is a great opportunity for the various firms and enterprises, for the corporate leaders believe that through them, the firms can continue its business cycle. In order to keep the loyal customers, the organization should first attempt to discover the ways to satisfy the customers. Customer satisfaction is an applied term that determines on how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. It is an essential tool to see the key performance indicator within business. In service industry, being competitive is already a given factor. Customers expect that services should be in quality in order to add value in the entire services. In the long run, the customer satisfaction can be the key element of the organization to prepare another strategy (Gitman and McDaniel, 2005). Every business’s mission is making the customers as their first priority. In accordance to this, the business must fill or serve the satisfaction of their customers according to what preferences that the market is demanding for. In the service industry, there is a suggested conceptualized model of satisfaction in terms of the business-to-business level. With the aid of the path analysis, corporate customer satisfaction can be determined in the earliest time with regards to the equity, and expectations of customers (Armstrong and Seng, 2000; Hackl and Westlund, 2000). Catching the attention of the customers is the first impression of the services in terms of promotion. However, if the services continuously deliver the satisfaction towards to their customers, the firms will not only obtaining success but also the continuing promotion of benefits for their own customers. The most desirable outcome that the customers can gain is the improvement on their experience in services and products and identify that there is an increase performance. On the other hand, the firm can enjoy the benefits of minimization of the business uncertainty, maximization of profit margins and enhancement of productivity; reduce on expenses, and optimization on resource deployment (Hansemark and Albinsson, 2004).
Aiming for the customer satisfaction is the most challenging task in every organization. Through the satisfied customers, a firm an easily measure the effectiveness of the business, its potential and position in the industries, and the areas that are needed to polish and improve. Keeping the trust of a customer is not an overnight miracle but with full of patience and bountiful of effort. The products and services that are sold in the most favorable prices can be an initial step of the firm in obtaining the trust and be included in the top list of the customers.
For other types of service industry like the hospitality industry, the employees and the management are committed to meet and yet, exceed the expectations of the customers. The clients have a lot of choice when it comes to hospitality and the business should attract and retain the customers through the application of different strategies. There are two effective strategies that the hospitality industry prefer to apply and that is the internal communication and external communication. The communication between the staff or the clients is important in the service industry most especially in the hospitality (Lazer and Layton, 1999). The internal communication is the most basic strategy to ensure that the employees’ understands the needs of the clients as well as contributing to the success of the business. On the other hand, the external communication is another method that usually involves the technology. External communication is a massive method that can affect the variety of people and through the use of the marketing strategies, such as the campaigns, advertisements in television or newspapers, posters, and others the promotion of the organization for just a day can be possible. Also, the communication methods should aim in promoting the quality as presented in the everyday process or transaction of the businesses. Furthermore, the marketing strategies are formulated to represent the best attribute of the business that can also meet the expectations of the customers (Morris, 2008).
References:
Armstrong, R.W. and Seng, T.B. (2000) “Corporate-Customer Satisfaction in the Banking Industry of Singapore”, International Journal of Bank Marketing, 18(3)
Gitman, L., & McDaniel, C., (2005) “The Future of Business: The Essentials”, Mason, Ohio: South-Western.
Hackl, P. and Westlund, A.H. (2000) “On Structural Equation Modeling for Customer Satisfaction Measurement’’, Total Quality Management, 11(4)
Hansemark, O.C. and Albinsson, M. (2004) “Customer Satisfaction and Retention: The Experiences of Individual Employees”, Managing Service Quality, 14(1)
Lazer, W., & Layton, R., (1999) Quality of Hospitality Service: A Challenge for the Millennium, Accessed 09 February 2011, from http://www.hotel-online.com/Trends/EI/EI_ServiceChallenge.html
Morris, P., (2008) Guidance for the Diploma Hospitality: Foundation, Accessed 09 February 2011, from http://www.qcda.gov.uk/libraryAssets/media/Hospitality_foundation_-_altered.pdf
Smith, R., (2000) Prospects and Challenges for Tourism and Hospitality Organizations in the 21st Century, Accessed 09 February 2011, from http://www3.ntu.edu.sg/nbs/research/TM-prospects.htm
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