STAGES IN CONSUMER DECISION MAKING PROCESS An individual who purchases products and services from the market for

his/her own personal consumption is called as consumer. To understand the complete process of consumer decision making, let us first go through the following example: Tim went to a nearby retail store to buy a laptop for himself. The store manager showed him all the latest models and after few rounds of negotiations, Tim immediately selected one for himself. 1. Step 1 - Need is the most important factor which leads to buying of products and services. Need infact is the catalyst which triggers the buying decision of individuals. An individual who buys cold drink or a bottle of mineral water identifies his/her need as thirst. However in such cases steps such as information search and evaluation of alternatives are generally missing. These two steps are important when an individual purchases expensive products/services such as laptop, cars, mobile phones and so on. 2. Step 2 - When an individual recognizes his need for a particular product/service he tries to gather as much information as he can. An individual can acquire information through any of the following sources:

Personal Sources - He might discuss his need with his friends, family members, co workers and other acquaintances.

Commercial sources - Advertisements, sales people (in Tims case it was the store manager), Packaging of a particular product in many cases prompt individuals to buy the same, Displays (Props, Mannequins etc)

Public sources - Newspaper, Radio, Magazine Experiential sources - Individuals own experience, prior handling of a particular product (Tim would definitely purchase a Dell laptop again if he had already used one)

3. Step 3 - The next step is to evaluate the various alternatives available in the market. An individual after gathering relevant information tries to choose the best option available as per his need, taste and pocket. 4. Step 4 - After going through all the above stages, customer finally purchases the product.

5. Step 5 - The purchase of the product is followed by post purchase evaluation. Post purchase evaluation refers to a customers analysis whether the product was useful to him or not, whether the product fulfilled his need or not? The Gap Model: Customers compare the service they 'experience' with what they 'expect' and when it does not match the expectation, a gap arises.

GAP 1: Gap between consumer expectation and management perception: arises when the management or service provider does not correctly perceive what the customers wants or needs.

GAP 2 : Gap between management perception and service quality specification: this is when the management or service provider might correctly perceive what the customer wants, but may not set a performance standard.

GAP 3: Gap between service quality specification and service delivery: may arise pertaining to the service personnel. This could arise due to there being poortraining, incapability or unwillingness to meet the set service standard.

GAP 4 : Gap between service delivery and external communication: consumer expectations are highly influenced by statements made by company representatives and advertisements. The gap arises when these assumed expectations are not fulfilled at the time of service delivery.

GAP 5: Gap between expected service and experienced service: this gap arises when the consumer misinterprets the service quality. Service: Services are a form of product that consists of activities, benefits or satisfactions offered for sale that are essentially intangale and do no result in the ownership of anything. That means services is not physical form of product but intangle and it only indicates the activities or benefits or satisfaction that can offer in market for sale and it can satisfy the consumer need and wants. It can not separate from the service providers and vary person to person. MARKETING IMPLICATIONS Implications of intangibility: Let us first take intangibility. The intangibility of services holds many special implications in marketing. A majority of them relate to quality assurance. First,

because of the intangibility, in assessing the quality of a service, the customer relies more on subjective impressions and less on concrete evidence. Second, prescribing standards of quality in a service situation is also difficult. Third, intangibility also implies that the customer has to have faith in the person providing the service and has to go by trust to a large extent in judging the service quality. After all, no service can be seen in advance by the customer; and hence, he cannot judge its quality and value in advance; he cannot sample it in advance as with a physical product. Even the sampling job in the attempt at standardization quality poses some unusual problems in a service situation. As a combined result of all these factors, assuring quality and creating customer satisfaction in a service situation becomes more difficult. Moreover, because of the intangibility, it becomes impossible to patent a service or have copyright for it. Intangibility also results in some complexity in the matter of advertising and promotion. That is why in a service situation. Often, making the intangible tangible to some extent possible becomes a key task. Implications of Inseparability: The inseparability factor tends to localize the production and marketing of services. Consequently, it tends to limit the market quantitatively as well as in the geographical sense. Inseparability also limits the scope in the matter of distribution and restricts the use of marketing channels/intermediaries. Due to the inseparability factor, customers form their opinions services through their interaction with the service personnel who directly come in contact with them. They also form their impressions based on the physical surroundings in which they receive the service. They tend to equate the service quality with quality of this interaction. Implications of Variability/ individuality /Heterogeneity: The variability factor often leaves the consumer confused. He feels that services performance is a non-standard affair, varying widely and is dependent on who actually performs the service. Implications of Perish ability: The perishable or un-storable character of services accentuates the risk and uncertainly that is generally associated with any business. It enhances the problem of demand-supply mismatch. In

the first place, fluctuation is particularly striking in services. Added to that, service supply cannot be easily increased or decreased so as to match the changes in demand. As a combined effect of the perish ability factor and the fluctuating nature of demand service marketing has to face special problems in product planning, capacity planning and scheduling, and pricing. Interaction between Service provider and consumer: The requirement of close interaction between the service provider and the consumer limits the choice for the consumer. Consumers are generally left with fewer of alternatives in services. They also find making the selection from out of the limited alternatives more difficult here compared to a product buying situation. All the concepts, principles and techniques of marketing apply equally to product and service marketing. Service marketers have to develop and offer services that meet the needs of the customers just as product marketers have to do. Also, service marketers have to score over their competitors just as product marketers have to do. Naturally, all basic principles of marketing should apply equally to product and service marketing. Classification of services: 1. On the basis of the END USER the services can be classified into following categories: Consumer : leisure, hairdressing, personal finance and package holidays Business to Business: advertising agencies, printing, accountancy, Consultancy Industrial: Plant Maintenance and repair, workwear and hygiene, installation and project management. 2. The DEGREE OF TANGIBILITY can be used to classify a service. Highly tangible: car rental, vending machines, telecommunications Service linked to tangible goods: domestic appliance repair, car service. Highly tangible: psychotherapy, Consultancy , legal services.

3. Services can be broken down into LABOR INTENSIVE (PEOPLE based) and EQUIPMENT based services. This can also be represented by degree of contact. People based services: high contact : education, dental care, restaurants and medical services Equipment based: low contact: automatic car wash, launderette, vending machine, cinema.

4. The EXPERTISE and SKILLS of the service provider can be broken down into the following categories: Professional: medical services, legal services, accountancy, tutoring. Non Professional: baby sitting, care taking, and casual labor.

5. The overall BUSINESS ORIENTATION ( PROFIT) is a recognized means of classifications: Not for profit: The Scouts Association, charities, and public sector leisure facilities. Commercial: banks, airlines, tour operators, hotel and catering services

Christopher Lovelock gives another classification of services based on the customer involvement in production process: People processing: tangible actions to peoples bodies, such as airline transportation, haircutting and surgery. Customers need to be physically present throughout service delivery in order to receive the desired benefits of such services. It is important to figure the process and output to identify the benefits created. Also some non- financial costs are to be identified such as time, mental and physical effort and even tear and pain that customers incur in obtaining these benefits. Possession Processing: Tangible actions to goods and other physical possessions, such as air freight, lawn mowing, and janitorial services. In these instances, the object requiring processing must be present, but the customer need not be. Mental Stimulus Processing: intangible actions directed at peoples mind, such as broadcasting and education. In this instance the customers must be present mentally but can be located either in specific service facility or in a remote location connected by broadcast signals or telecommunication linkages. Services that interact with peoples mind have the power to shape attitudes and influence behavior. So when the customer is in a position of dependency or there is a potential for manipulation, strong ethical standards and careful oversight is required. This type of service can easily be converted to digital bits or analog signals, recorded for prosperity, and transformed into a manufactured product, such as a compact disc, videotape, or audio cassette, which may then be packaged and marketed much like any other physical good

 Information Processing: Intangible actions directed at intangible assets, such as insurance, investment banking, and Consulting. For these services, no direct involvement with the customer may be needed, once the request for the service is initiated. Services highly dependent on effective collection and processing of information include financial services, accounting, law, marketing research, management consulting, medical diagnosis and a variety of other professional services. Tradition and a personal desire to meet the supplier than often determine the extent of customer involvement in such services more by the needs of operation process.

POINTS OF DIFFERENCE

GOODS

SERVICES

Goods have physical existence and PHYSICAL EXISTENCE they can be touched, smelled or seen. Examples: Soap, Shirt, Cell phone

Services have not any physical existence and they cant be touched, smelled or seen. Examples: Teaching, Managing, Singing

Goods may be perishable or nonperishable depending on the circumstances. But perishable goods STORING still can be stored for a longer period of time. Examples: Vegetables, Tools and Leather can be stored. Once produced, the quality of the Goods remains uniform. Their QUALITY quality cant be changed after they have been produced. Examples: Tea, Milk and Juice have

Services are only perishable products. They cant be stored for a longer period of time. Because they vary with environment. Examples: Singing, Teaching and Managing cant be stored.

The quality of the Service varies with the change in environment. Once discovered, its quality improves with the passage of time and with the change in the environmental conditions.

the quality unchangeable.

Examples: Singing quality can be improved by learning more. Same scenario is with managing and teaching.

Goods are produces through a proper production cycle, which involves purchasing of raw materials, PRODUCTION CYCLE processing and finishing. Examples: Shampoo, Tea and Juice are produced by purchasing the fruits, leaves etc.

A Service is not produced, instead it is discovered. There is no need to follow a specific production cycle to discover it. Examples: Singing is not produced by purchasing something. The singer is competent for it. Same is with managing and teaching.

The rights of ownership of Goods are transferable. OWNERSHIP Examples: Car, when with company is its own, but its ownership is transferred to customers when they purchase it. Goods are produced first, then sold, then consumed. CONSUMPTION Examples: Soaps are first produced, then they are sold to customer and then customer uses it. Goods can be separated from their producers. SEPARATION Examples: When producer produces shampoo, it is with him, but when a customer purchases it, it no longer remains with producer.

There is no ownership involved in Services, and if there is, then it will not be transferable. Example: A teacher cant transfer his teaching to someone else. Because only he can provide this service well. Most services are sold first and then consumed. Examples: A teacher coaches whole the month and after one month, he will get his salary. Services cant be separated from the persons who provide them. Examples: If a manager hires a trainee and trains him, still he has managing knowledge and can serve the company.

On the basis of Offering

POINTS OF DIFFERENCE

GOODS

SERVICES

Goods are transferred by hiring a cargo and they can then be easily transferred from one place to TRANSFER another. Examples: Unilever transfers its products through cargo.

Services cant be transferred. The person or individual, who is serving in an organization cant transfer his service to another person. Only he can serve it well. Examples: There is no need of any cargo for a manager, who serves an organization.

Goods are often distributed through proper medium. This medium includes the personals DISTRIBUTION (Wholesalers/Retailers) that make the good reach the customer. Examples: Tea bags are distributed through wholesalers in the market. Goods, once produced and sold, cant be reversed to the position in which they were before REVERSING production. Examples: A shampoo, after its sale, cant be reversed to its raw material, by which it was produced.

Services are not distributed through such a chain of personals. Examples: To serve a college, the teacher needs no wholesaler who makes the teaching reachable to students.

Services, when provided and sold, can be reversed to its original form in which they were before providing. Examples: A research goes wrong, still it can be reversed by ignoring the wrong concepts and perceptions.

Tertiary sector of the economy The tertiary sector of the economy (also known as the service sector or the service industry) is one of the three economic sectors, the others being these condary sector (approximately the same as

manufacturing) and the primary sector (agriculture, fishing ,and extraction such as mining).The service sector consists of the "soft" parts of the economy, i.e. activities where people offer their knowledge and time to improve productivity, performance, potential, and sustainability. The basic characteristic of this sector is the production of services instead of end products. Services (also known as "intangible goods") include attention, advice, experience, and discussion. The production of information is generally also regarded as a service, but some economists now attribute it to a fourth sector, the quaternary sector. The tertiary sector of industry involves the provision of services to other businesses as well as final consumers. Services may involve the transport, distribution and sale of goods from producer to a consumer, as may happen in wholesaling and retailing, or may involve the provision of a service, such as in pest control or Entertainment. The goods may be transformed in the process of providing the service, as happens in the restaurant industry. However, the focus is on people interacting with people and serving the customer rather than transforming physical goods. For the last 30 years, there has been a substantial shift from the primary and secondary sectors to the tertiary sector in industrialized countries. This shift is called tertiarisation. The tertiary sector is now the largest sector of the economy in the Western world, and is also the fastestgrowing sector.

Overview
Service marketing is a subfield of marketing, which can be split into the two main areas of goods marketing (which includes the marketing of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and durables) and services marketing. Services marketing typically refers to both business to consumer (B2C) and business to business (B2B) services, and includes marketing of services like telecommunications services, financial services, all types of hospitality services, car rental services, air travel, health care services and professional services. Services are economic activities offered by one party to another. Often time-based, performances bring about desired results to recipients, objects, or other assets for which purchasers have responsibility. In exchange for money, time, and effort, service customers expect value from access to goods, labor, professional skills, facilities, networks, and systems; but they do not normally take ownership of any of the physical elements involved.

Evolution in service sector:

The service sector occupies an important place in the modern economies in as much as about 55% of jobs are being offered by the service sector by marketing numerous types of services to customers, such as food, personal care, entertainment, banking, insurance, transport, consultancy, tourism, office services, professional services etc. Service sector has a vital role to play in the economic, political and administrative changes that are taking place in India. The problems of adaptation and achievement are more acute in India as the development here has taken place in a span of few decades in few segments unlike other countries. With the increasing awareness the people look forward to better service sector, these expectations may be more. With a democratic political setup and too many expectations from the governments side will lead to deterioration in the quality of service to be provided. With the plan of expansion in new areas asking for introduction of new services and other areas demanding improvement in quality of service, the government is constantly under pressure to provide services quantitatively and qualitatively. The service sector management as a profession would contain the following: 1. Service deliverers: This involves the pure service rendered by the professional staff like doctors in hospitals, teachers in academics. 2. Service managers: The personnel who provide the supporting managerial services like administration e.g. a registrar in a University. 3. Service analysts: People who are entrusted with the task of concurrent review and evaluation of services in the organization e.g. personal manager in a HRD. 4. Supporting staff: Personnel employed in manual jobs in the service organizations such as nurses in hospitals. Growth in service sector: Service sector is the lifeline for the social economic growth of a country. It is today the largest and fastest growing sector globally contributing more to the global output and employing more people than any other sector.

The real reason for the growth of the service sector is due to the increase in urbanization,

privatization and more demand for intermediate and final consumer services. Availability of quality services is vital for the well being of the economy.

In advanced economies the growth in the primary and secondary sectors are directly dependent on the growth of services like banking, insurance, trade, commerce, entertainment etc.

Indian Service Sector In alignment with the global trends, Indian service sector has witnessed a major boom and is one of the major contributors to both employment and national income in recent times. The activities under the purview of the service sector are quite diverse. Trading, transportation and communication, financial, real estate and business services, community, social and personal services come within the gambit of the service industry. One of the key service industry in India would be health and education. They are vital for the countrys economic stability. A robust healthcare system helps to create a strong and diligent human capital, who in turn can contribute productively to the nations growth.

Subsectors

Information Technology Industry The Information Technology industry has achieved phenomenal growth after liberalization. The industry has performed exceedingly well amidst tough global competition. Being knowledge based industry; India has been able to leverage the global markets, because of the huge pool of engineering talent available and the proficiency in English language among the middle class.

ITES sector The ITES sector has also leveraged the global changes positively to emerge as one of the prominent industries. Some of the services covered by the ITES industry would be:

Customer interaction services -Non voice and Voice. Back office, revenue accounting, data entry, data conversion, HR services. Medical Transcription.

Content development and animation. Remote education, market research and GIS

Retailing Prior to liberalization, India had one of the most underdeveloped retail sectors in the world. After liberalization the scenario changed dramatically. Organized retailing with prominence on self service and chain stores has changed the dynamics of retailing. In most of the tier I and tier II cities supermarket chains mushroomed, catering to the needs of vibrant middle class. This indirectly contributed to the growth of the packaged food industry and other consumer goods.

Financial Services-Banking And Insurance Prior to liberalization these two sectors were controlled and regulated by the government. Nationalized banks and insurance companies had a firm grip over the market. After liberalization the banking and insurance domain opened up for private participation.

Banking Sector The three major changes in the banking sector after liberalization are:

Step to increase the cash outflow through reduction in the statutory liquidity and cash reserve ratio.

Nationalized banks including SBI were allowed to sell stakes to private sector and private investors were allowed to enter the banking domain. Foreign banks were given greater access to the domestic market, both as subsidiaries and branches, provided the foreign banks maintained a minimum assigned capital and would be governed by the same rules and regulations governing domestic banks.

Banks were given greater freedom to leverage the capital markets and determine their asset portfolios. The banks were allowed to provide advances against equity provided as collateral and provide bank guarantees to the broking community.

Insurance Sector The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act 1999 (IRDA Act) allowed the participation of private insurance companies in the insurance sector. The primary role of IRDA

was to safeguard the interest of insurance policy holders, to regulate, promote and ensure orderly growth of the insurance industry. The insurance sector could invest in the capital markets and other than traditional insurance products, various market link insurance products were available to the end customer to choose from.

HDFC Standard Insurance Co Ltd ICICI Prudential Insurance Co Ltd Max New York Insurance Co Ltd

Future Trends

Globally outsourcing industry would continue to grow. Following the success of US and UK, more countries in the European Union would outsource their business.

Technological power shift from the West to the East as India and China emerge as major players.

Political backlash over outsourcing would come down as companies reap the benefit of outsourcing.

Nature of service marketing:

Services are consumed as it is produced Services marketing has limited influence on customers prior to purchase than goods Need to experience intangible service to know it Experience influences Post-Sale marketing Experience influences word-of-mouth communication

Services marketers can create brand awareness & induce trial Experience of benefits builds brand preference and brand value Services marketing is also done by service providing personnel How they conduct themselves with customers What they say, What they dont say

How they behave, How they act Overall appearance

All these influences customer satisfaction and customer retention Delivering excellent quality service is the key!!
People

Things
Services directed at peoples bodies. ( People Processing ) Health Care Beauty Salons Restaurants Public Transportation Services directed at goods and other physical possessions ( Possession Processing ) Freight Transportation Repair / Maintenance Dry Cleaning Services directed at intangible assets. ( Information Processing ) Banking Legal Services Insurance

Tangible Actions

Intangible Actions

Services directed at peoples minds. ( Mental Stimulus Processing ) Education Theaters Information Services

Scope of service marketing: There are five broad categories within the non-ownership framework 1. Rented goods services: These services enable customers to obtain the temporary right to use a physical good that they prefer not to own (e.g. boats, costumes) 2. Defined space and place rentals: These services obtain use of a defined portion of a larger space in a building, vehicle or other area which can be an end in its own right (e.g. storage container in a warehouse) or simply a means to an end (e.g. table in a restaurant, seat in an aircraft)

3. Labor and expertise rental: People are hired to perform work that customers either choose not to do for themselves (e.g. cleaning the house) or are unable to do due to the lack of expertise, tools and skills (e.g. car repairs, surgery) 4. Access to shared physical environments: These environments can be indoors or outdoors where customers rent the right to share the use of the environment (e.g. museums, theme parks, gyms, golf courses). 5. Access to and usage of systems and networks: Customers rent the right to participate in a specified network such as telecommunications, utilities, banking or insurance, with different fees for varying levels of access and use.

Characteristics of Services Marketing: Intangibility: One of the fundamental differences between product and service cited by authors (e.g. Srinivasan, 2007; Kotler & Keller, 2008; Lovelock, Wirtz & Chatterjee, 2006 and many others) is Intangibility. Services are intangible. They do not have physical appearance like product s. They cannot be felt; touched until they are bought for example a person getting cosmetic surgery cannot be seen until he or she purchase or use the service. So a company should demonstrate their service quality through physical evidence. (Srinivasan, 2007) So, it is very important for any company to show physical evidence of their service to customers for example FedEx. It is one of the largest logistic and courier services provide company. It is in both businesses Business to Business where it helps companies in import-export of raw material and Business to Customers. It has many evidence of service quality or physical evidence for example FedEx puts every courier in wood box for protection, they package it in proper manner, it has scheme like if a courier will not reach at a time then it will pay back all money to its consumers. In the same way FedEx has their huge transport services such as Cargo planes, Trucks, Van. FedEx have good technologies such as internet service, ERP, GPS software which help them to find out the position of courier. It provides free insurance of the courier to their customers so if the courier lost then they will pay compensation. They have their huge logo, dress, branch in all cities whether it is metropolitan or tire one or two cities which is totally vice-versa to Indian Department of Post where they do not have good infrastructure, technology and trained workforce. If there is good physical evidence then it will make great impact on customers.

Challenges: Intangibility of services can cause lack of assurance and confidence on the part of the customers. There are some issues like it is complicated for customers to evaluated the service quality and similarly it is difficult for firm to set the price advertise and display the services. To overcome this customers tend to look for evidence in quality. Service companies should try to express their service quality through presentation and physical evidence of efforts made by firm to provide good quality service. How to overcome from these challenges? Place: If we take retail sector as an example the interiors and exteriors of store should have clean line. The layout of chairs, and desks, visual merchandising of the store and the traffic flow should be planned carefully. The billing line should not get overly long. People: There should be sufficient numbers of billing counters and employees in retail store to manage the crowed. They should always be ready to help customers. Equipments: Computers, chairs, desks, background music, paintings, trolleys and other important products should be and look like State of the Art. Symbols and communication materials: Printed materials and symbols such as text, photos and name should suggest fast services. (Bruhn & Georgi, 2006) Perishability: Challenges: Service cannot be inventoried therefore Perishability can be a problem when demand fluctuates. The process, service relevant resources and the system are assigned for delivery of a service during a set period of time. If the schedule customer does not request and consume the service during the set time then the service cannot be stored and performed next time for him for an example a barber can serves another client when scheduled time started or time slot is over but a plane cannot charge for an empty seat after departure. The main challenge for service providing companies is if the schedule customer does not request and consume the service during the set time then the service cannot be stored and performed next time for him. A service provider cannot charge any service charge from customers as he can do in product oriented situation. How to overcome from these challenges? On the supply side:

A company should use better technology to improve their work efficiency.

On demand side: Reservation system can be a way which can help company to manage the demand.

Variability: Challenges: The other difference between product and service is Variability. Variability and People (1st p of 3P) are one of the main part of Service Marketing. Each time service is differ and varies for the next delivery even if the same service provider serves the same service and same service consumer requests the same service. Because of the service quality depends on who provides them, where, when and to whom services are highly variable. Those companies who have people base service process it is difficult for them to deliver same kind of service every time constantly. It is difficult to achieve the control on quality. (Bruhn & Georgi, 2006) Inseparability: Challenges: The other difference between product and service is Inseparability. Whereas physical goods are firstly manufactured, put in to stock, distributed through wholesalers and retailers and consumed later but services are produced and consumed simultaneously. A barber cannot cut hair without the presence of customer. (Hoffman & Bateson, 2006) How to overcome from these challenges? To make services more effective a company should focus on these factors such as: Training: Every company should provide training to its employees to improve their productivity so they can help to achieve the economics of scale. Customer involvement: There should be customer involvement in process of service delivery such as self services.

Convenience: Location of the store, the opening and closing time of store must be convenient for customers.

Service quality involves a comparison of expectations with performance. According to Lewis and Booms (1983) service quality is a measure of how well a delivered service matches the customers expectations. Generally the customer is requesting a service at the service interface where the service encounter is being realized, then the service is being provided by the provider and in the same time delivered to or consumed by the customer. The main reason to focus on quality is to meet customer needs while remaining economically competitive in the same time.[1] This means satisfying customer needs is very important for the enterprises survive. The outcome of using quality practices is:[2]

Understanding and improving of operational processes Identifying problems quickly and systematically Establishing valid and reliable service performance measures Measuring customer satisfaction and other performance outcomes

Service quality is a business administration's term and describes the degree of achievement of an ordered service.In this connection, objective and subjective service quality can be distinguished.

Objective service quality is the concrete measurable conformity of a working result with the previous defined benefit; since the measurability is remarkable dependent on the definition's accuracy, a measurable quality criterion easily can turn out as a subjective one.[5] Subjective service quality is the customers perceived conformity of the working result with the expected benefit; this perception is overlayed with the customers original imagination of the service and the service providers talent to present his performance as a good one.[6]

Service quality can be related to service potential, service process or service result. In this way for example, potential quality can be understood as the co-workers qualification, process quality as the speed of the generated service and result quality as how much the performance matched the customers wishes. Criteria of service quality Word-of-mouth, personal needs and past experience create an expected service (Expectation of the service). The perceived service will be compared with the expected service by the customer. And leads to the perceived service quality as a result. Between the expected and the perceived

service can appear a gap if the perceived service does not match with the expected service. Factors which influence the appearing of the gap were found by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry in 1985. Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (1985) identified ten determinants of service quality that may relate to any service:

Tangibles (Physical evidence of the service: appearance of physical facilities, tools and equipments used to provide the service, appearance of personnel and communication materials)

Reliability (The ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately: consistency of performance and dependability, service is performed right at the first time, the company keeps it's promises in accuracy in billing and keeping records correctly, performing the services at the designated time) Responsiveness (The willingness and/ or readiness of employees to help customers and to provide prompt service, timeliness of service: mailing a transaction slip immediately, setting up appointments quickly)

Assurance (The knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust and confidence: competence (possession of the required skills and knowledge to perform the service), courtesy (consideration for the customer's property, clean and neat appearance of public contact personnel), trustworthiness, security (safety and confidentiality))

Empathy (The provision of caring, individualized attention to customers: informing the customers in a language they can understand, Understanding customer's specific needs, Providing individualized attention)