Is ETCS part of the Customer Service Solution?

Customer Service
Solution book

We all have heard that we should delight out customers.  What does that really mean in the service industry?  Is it as simple as increasing our value to the customer by making it easier and more pleasant to work with us?  According to Sriram Dasu and Richard Chase, there are 6 factors that shape the customer’s perspective and thus their satisfaction:  sequence, duration, control, emotions, trust, and attribution.  Some interesting concepts around these are outlined below from their book The Customer Service Solution (on Amazon #ad).

The ETCS of Service: Emotions, Trust, Control, and Sequence

1.     Emotions

    ·         Influence what we remember
    ·         Memories are distinct – usually as snapshots of event
    ·         Influence what we perceive
2.       Trust – influencers of it include:
    ·         Initial interactions
    ·         Reaction when predicted events happen
    ·         Actions when unexpected events occur
3.       Control and choice
    ·         2 components of control:  behavioral and cognitive
4.       Sequence of events
    ·         Peak and end rule: front end and the back end are not created equal, there were high and low points
    ·         Extrapolation effect and positive or short-term trends

Other factors that affect customer emotions:
5.       Duration of experience
    ·         2 dimensions of experiences: Explicit and Implicit
6.       Attribution theory
    ·         Cause and effect
    ·         Ability to cause an outcome
    ·         Situational factors vs. personal believes

The book also provides their concept of 3 T’s of the Customer Service Encounter: Task (job to be done), Treatment – (empathy and friendliness), Tangible (physical and sensory features of the environment).