We don't want to be too cliched, but in services marketing it really is the little things that count.
Did you know that you could get everything so right (your promotional activity, your service, your delivery) but it could all be ruined for one customer by an untidy office foyer or for another customer by a poor visual identity.
In this article we delve into the 'science' behind why the little things are so crucial to success in the services arena. This article is taken from one of Fit 4 Market's White Papers. For a full copy of this paper, click here.
First we need to look at the unique characteristics of services:
Intangibility
Inseparability
Heterogeneity
Perishability
Taking it from the top, Intangibility relates to the fact that services are performances, deeds or efforts. They cannot be touched or sensed in the same way as physical goods. This then leads to certain problems related to this intangibility:
Lack of ability to be stored. This results in a constant supply and demand problem. Customers often have to wait for services.
Lack of protection by patents. What is there to patent? New or existing services may be easily copied. Consequently, it is difficult to maintain a differential service advantage over attentive competitors for long periods.
Difficulty of displaying or communicating services. How do you get a customer to take notice of your product when they cannot see it? If your product is not particularly attractive, how do you make it so and should you even try?
Difficulty of pricing services. Typically, product pricing is often based on cost-plus pricing. In services, the primary cost of producing a service is labour so how do you value it?
Most importantly, how do we solve these marketing problems? Find out more in our Services Marketing White Paper, click here and we'll send you a copy.
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