1st Edition
Customer Service Marketing Managing the Customer Experience
This timely book is a comprehensive overview of customer service principles, theories, and practices. It looks at the best practices of service enterprises and the delivery of superior customer service. It also includes classic and contemporary theories relating to the consumers, managers, and their behaviors in organizational setting. The book uses real-life applications through examples from business enterprises in various service sectors, including hotels, restaurants, theme parks, event management, airlines, cruises, (e-)retailers, and finance.
This book covers important concepts in service design and delivery including customer experiences, peer-to-peer services, the organization’s servicescape, quality measurement tools, and use of technologies. The book also gives insights into consumers including their expectations, attitudes, emotions, word-of-mouth behaviors, and strategies to ensure their loyalty. It also looks at developments in service theory and practice which remain relatively unexplored by existing textbooks.
Filled with real-world case studies in various service sectors, this textbook will be particularly useful for students in hospitality guest services and services marketing.
1. What is service? The origin and evolution of customer experiences 2. Servicescape: Visualizing service quality and value 3. Service quality: Tools and strategies 4. Customer attitudes and emotions: From delight to outrage 5. Waiting for service: Strategies to reduce waits and the perception of waiting 6. Co-creation and customization: Engaging the customer in value creation 7. Electronic word of mouth: Understanding the customer’s voice 8. The sharing economy/peer-to-peer services: Revolutionizing the service market 9. Subscription services and new business models 10. Service technologies: Delivering a seamless experience 11. Cross-cultural guest interactions: Appealing to a broad customer base 12. Recovery strategies for service managers 13. Recruiting, training, and engaging talent for service organizations 14. Customer loyalty, analytics, and relationship management 15. Service innovation: The key to business growth and sustainability
Biography
Edwin N. Torres, Ph.D., is the Chair and Associate Professor at the Department of International Hospitality and Service Innovation, Saunders College of Business at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
Tingting Zhang, Ph.D., is Associate Professor at the Rosen College of Hospitality Management, University of Central Florida.
‘This new book on customer service marketing offers a refreshing and insightful look at innovations and new developments in the field set within the broader "Servicescape". The authors have taken trends such as co-creation and customization, attitudes and emotions, and electronic word of mouth, among others, and offered insight and strategies to be applied across a range of service settings. Authored by two highly experienced professors in the field, this new and exciting text is a must-read for those interested in the future dynamics of customer service marketing.’
Alan Fyall, Associate Dean, Academic Affairs and Visit Orlando Endowed Chair of Tourism Marketing, UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management, USA
‘Customer experience management is more crucial today than ever before, especially for tourism-related sectors. This book sheds light on theories associated with consumers and their behavior and highlights effective tools and strategies employed by successful enterprises. It will be an essential textbook well worth reading in that it covers major theories and best practices in the field of customer experience management. It is highly recommended for students intending to pursue a career in the tourism industry.‘
BAO Jigang, Professor, Founding Dean of School of Tourism Management, Sun Yat-sen University, P.R.China
'This new book on consumer service marketing provides an extensive review of the services' universe from consumers' perspective. It offers a broad coverage of the key issues contributing to the strategic management of services from its key characteristics to consumers processing of quality, satisfaction and loyalty up to the services' strategic dimensions. The book provides a comprehensive overview of services concepts, tools and applications. A must-read for graduate students and practitioners alike.'
Isabelle Frochot, University Savoie Mont Blanc, France
‘In the rapidly changing society and marketplace, the traditional understanding of services and the role of marketing has become obsolete. Industry professionals need a comprehensive understanding of the contemporary nature of relationships between customers and businesses. A holistic overview of the nature of B2C interactions is a background for developing a competitive market strategy. This book summarises the key aspects of contemporary B2C relationships. It explains the nature of service from a customer perspective and highlights the key components of marketing strategy required for increasing customer loyalty. The book is advantageous as an introduction to marketing and service management.’
Katerina Volchek, Professor and Manager of the DigiHealth & Smart Tourism lab at Deggendorf Institute of Technology, Germany
‘This book provides an important contribution to the understanding of customer service by explaining the benefits of customer service as a strategic focus for an organization (online or offline) to successfully compete in the market. The authors clearly illustrate how quality of service and experience are essential to building trust and relationships with all stakeholders of the organization. This book on customer service marketing will provide critical knowledge to help hospitality and tourism students become effective managers in the industry.’
Jay Kandampully, Professor of Service Management , The Ohio State University, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Service Management, USA
‘Today’s service businesses have seen an increase in digital transformation with many technological advancements. Service technologies play a critical role in redefining customer service management strategies and service quality control procedures. This new book provides a focused review of the concepts, business practices, and research findings about service technologies. Students and industry practitioners who would like to learn how service technologies are adopted and implemented in a service business setting will find this book very useful and helpful.’
Dimitrios Buhalis, Professor in Marketing, Strategy and Innovation, Director of the eTourism Lab and Deputy Director of the International Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Research, Bournemouth University Business School, UK
'Dr Torres and Dr Zhang have produced a superb all-round service marketing text, blending classical ideas and contemporary developments in theory and practice. They introduce a comprehensive set of principles that can be applied across a range of sectors to create value and memorable experiences.'
Peter Lugosi, Professor of Culture and Organisation, Oxford Brookes University, UK
‘It's hard to cover the breadth of services marketing in one book. But Torres and Zhang's Customer Service Marketing does just that, taking out the pain for instructors when designing a class in this domain. Also, it explains concepts in a way that makes them accessible for students, making learning very tangible and enjoyable. Students will benefit from its simplicity and applicability to real-life marketing scenarios.’
Makarand Mody, Associate Professor of Hospitality Marketing at Boston University School of Hospitality Management, U.S.A.
