Castillo, Lovely Mae.
Gorospe, Michelle Day C.
.

SVC MKT/ MM09306

Report # 10: Chapter 11- Physical Evidence and the Servicescape

Chapter's Objectives are to: 1. Explain the profound Impact of physical evidence, particularly the servicescape, on customer perceptions and expereinces. 2. Illustrate differences in types of servicescapes, the roles played by the servicescape, and the implications for strategy. 3. Explain why the servicescape affects customer and employee behavior, using a framework based in marketing, organizational behavior, and environmental psychology, 4. Present elements of an effective physical evidence strategy.

Introduction
Physical evidence is important for communicating service quality attributes, setting customer expectations, and creating the service experience.

It is important for communicating credence services. Ex. Auto repair, health care, hospitals, hotels, theme parks (which are dominated by experience attributes.)

Physical evidence is the environment in which the service is delivered and in which the firm and the customer interact, and any tangible commodities that facilitate performance or communication of the service. -The first part of it means the actual facility in which the service is performed, delivered, and consumed.

Physical facility is also known as servicescape.

Physical Evidence

What is Physical Evidence?
Customers rely on tangible cues, or physical evidence, to evaluate the service before its purchase and to assess their satisfaction with the service during and after consumption.

In closing the provider gap, it is important to have effective designs of physical, tangible evidences.

Two (2) General elements of physical evidence are 1) Servicescape (physical facility) 2) Other Tangibles (other forms of tangible communication)

Elements of servicescape affects customers: Exterior Attributes/Facility Exterior Exterior design Signage Parking Landscape Surrounding environment Interior Attributes/ Facility Interior Interior design Equipment Signage Layout Air quality/temperature Sound/music/scent/lighting

Other tangible elements that affects customers: Business Cards Stationery Billing statements Reports Employee dress Uniforms Brochures Web pages Virtual servicescape

*web pages/virtual servicescapes are conveyed over the Internet that are used to communicate about the service experience which is used as physical/tangible evidence for customers both before and after purchase.

There are different service concepts some which
-Rely heavily on Physical evidence hospitals resorts child care, etc.
-Rely on/Provide limited Physical evidence insurance express mail, etc. for customers, in where it communicates something about the service to consumers, facilitate performance of the service and/or add to customer's total experience.

How Does Physical Evidence Affect the Customer Experience?
Physical evidence serve as an influence to the flow of the experience, the meaning customers attach to it, their satisfaction, and their emotional connections with the company that delivers the service.

Clue management- the process of clearly identifying and managing all the various clues that customers use to form their impressions and feelings about the company.

Mechanics clues also known as physical/tangible clues.

Types of Servicescapes

Servicescape Usage
Three (3) Types of service organizations 1) self service (customer only)
-customers performs most of the activities and few if any employees are involved.
-This type of organization plans their servicescapes to focus exclusively on marketing goals such as attracting the right market segment, making the facility pleasing and easy to use, and creating the desired service experience.
EX. movies, ATMs, theme parks, online services. 2) interpersonal services (both customer and employee)
-in which both customer and the employee are present and active in the servicescape.
-it is planned to attract, satisfy, and facilitate the activities of both customers and employees simultaneously. Here special attention is given to how the service scape affects nature of quality and social interactions between the customer & employee.
EX. hotels, restaurants, hospitals, educational settings, banks. 3) Remote service (employee only)
-little or no customer involvement. The facility can be set up to keep employees motivated and to facilitate productivity, teamwork, operational efficiency, or whatever the behavior goal is desired w/o any consideration for the customers.
EX. Infosys Technologies.

Servicescape Complexity
Types of dimensions of servicescapes:
LEAN- Very simple, few elements, few spaces, and few pieces of equipment. Provides service from one simple structures, relatively straighforward. EX. Shopping mall kiosks

ELABORATE- very complicated, many elements and many forms. Full range of marketing and organizational objectives can be approached through careful management of the servicescape.

Strategic Roles of the Servicescape

Package
Tangible, it “wraps” the service and conveys to consumers an external image of what is “inside”.

It is designed to portray a particular image and to evoke a particular sensory or emotional reaction.

The servicescape is the outward appearance of the organization. It creates expectations for new customers, and builds a particular image.

Sometimes packaging role extends to the appearance of contact personnel through their uniforms or dress, and other elements of their outward appearance.

“service packaging” conveys the brand positioning.
Companies rethink and redesign all its tangibles, to convey a consistent look and feel.

Facilitator
Servicescapes aids in the performances of persons in the environment too. It can enhance or inhibit the efficient flow of activities in the service setting.

A well-designed, functional facility can make a service a pleasure to experience from the customer's point of view and a pleasure to perform from the employee's. Opposite though if there is poor and inefficient design.

Socializer
The disgn can aid in the socialization of both employees and cusomters that helps convey expected roles, behaviors, and relationships.

It suggests to customers what their role is relative to employees, how they should behave, what types of interactions are encouraged.

Differentiator
The design can differentiate a firm from its competitors and signal the market segment that the services is intended for.

It can be used to reposition a firm and/or to attract new market segments.
It can clearly differentiate, show the focus of what type of service it provides.

The servicescape and servicescape through innovation is a major point of differentiation.

Physical setting can differentiate one area of a service organization from another. Price differentiation can be achieved through variations in the physical setting.

Framework For Understanding Servicescape Effects on Behavior

The Underlying Framework
Framework to understanding the effects on behavior is: stimulus-organism-response theory.

It's multidimensional environment = stimulus consumers and employees= organisms- which respond to the stimuli and the behaviors directed are the responses.

A comprehensive stimulus-organism-response model recognizes dimensions that impacts multiple parties (customers, employees and their interactions), multiple types of internal responses (cognitive, emotional, physiological), and a variety of individual and social behaviors that can result. Which is seen as a holistic perception.
*see last page for the complex framework figure.

Behaviors in the Servicescape

Individual Behaviors
Individuals react to places, two general forms of behavior are:
Approach behavior- all positive behaviors that might be directed at a particular place such as desire to stay, explore, work, and affiliate.

Avoidance behavior- reflect the opposite, a desire not to stay, to explore, to work, or to affiliate.

Addition to attracting/deterring entry, servicescapes influence the degree of success that consumers and employees experience in executing their plans once inside.

Social Interactions
Servicescape influences the nature of quality of customer and employee interactions, most directly in interpersonal services.

It's stated that “all social interaction is affected by the physical container in which it occurs.

“physical container” can affect in terms of duration of interaction and the actual progression of events (a “standard script”) and limit the duration.

Environmental variables such as physical proximity, seating arrangements, size, and flexibility define the possibilities and limits between customers and employees or customer and other customers.

Environments shape social interaction and interaction can in turn influence the environments.
Social bonds and connections are forged within a service place, resulting its become a “third place” for the individuals who frequent it.

Internal Responses to the Servicescape
Perceived servicescape does not directly cause people to behave in certain ways. Yet cognition, emotion, and physiology are interdependent in which a person's belief about a place, a cognitive response, may well influence the person's emotional response, and vice versa.

Environment and Cognition effect on people's belief, and a form of nonverbal communication that imparts meaning called “object language”

Servicescape may simply help people distinguish a firm by influencing how it is categorized, and categorize the firm mentally.

Environmental cues serve as a shortcut device that enables customers to categorize and distinguish among types of restaurants.

Environment and Emotion servicescape can directly elicit emotional responses that can in turn influence behaviors.

The colors, decor, music, and other elements of the atmosphere can have an unexplainable and sometimes very subconsciousness effect on the moods of people in the place.

Any environment whether natural or engineered, elicits emotions that are captured by two basic dimensions: 1) pleasure/displeasure- 2) degree of arousal (amount of stimulation/excitement)

both pleasant and arousing= exciting pleasant and nonarousing/sleepy= relaxing unpleasant and arousing=distress unpleasant,sleepy= gloomy

Environment and Physiology
It may also affect people in purely physiological ways. Physical responses can directly influence whether people stay in and enjoy a particular environment,

Environmental design and related physiological responses affect whether employees can perform their job functions well.
Human factors design or ergonomics systematically applies relevant information about human capabilities and limitations to the design of items and procedures that people use.

Environmental Dimensions of the Servicescape
Environmental dimensions of the physical surroundings can include all objective physical factors that can be controlled by the firm to enhance *or constrain) employee and customer actions.

Potential elements can be categorized into three composite dimensions: Ambient conditions, spatial layout and functionality, signs, symbols, and artifacts.

People respond to their environments holistically although they perceive discrete stimuli, it is the total configuration of stimuli that determines their reactions to a place. It is important to recognized the dimensions that are perceived by employees and customers “perceived servicescape”

Ambient Conditions it includes background characteristics of the environment such as temperature, lighting, noise, music, scent, and color. The genral rule is it affects the five senses.

Factors can profoundly affect how people feel, think, and respond to a particular service establishment.

Spatial Layout and Functionality
Spatial layout refers to the ways in which: machinery, equipment, and furnishings are arranged; size and shape of those items; and spatial relationships among them.
Functionality: ability of the same items to facilitate the accomplishment of customer and employee goals.

This dimension is particularly important for customers in self-service environments.

Signs, Symbols, and Artifacts
It serves as explicit or implicit signals that communicate about the place to its users.
Explicit-
Signs: displayed on the exterior and interior of the structures, it can be used as labels, for directional purposes, and to communicate rules of behavior.

Others may communicate less directly than signs, giving implicit cues to users about the meaning of the place and norms and expectations for behavior in the place.

Things displayed in the environment call all communicate symbolic meaning and create an overall aesthetic impression can be the following: Quality construction materials artwork certificates and photographs floor coverings personal objects
The meanings attached to the environmental symbols and artifacts are culturally embedded as well.

These signs, symbols, and artifacts are important in forming first impressions and for communicating service concepts.

Guidelines for Physical Evidence Strategy

Recognize the Strategic Impact of Physical Evidence
Just acknowledging the impact of physical evidence is a major first step, and then takes advantage of the potential of physical evidence and plan strategically.

It must be linked clearly to the organization's overall goals and vision. Physical evidence strategy can support them, the basic service concept must be defined, and the target markets (internal and external) identified, and firm's broad vision of its future known.

Blueprint the Physical Service
Blue print the service is the next step. It is useful in visually capturing physical evidence opportunities.

People and processes, physical evidence is found within the blueprint.
Actions involved are seen, complexity of the process, points of human interaction are seen in service delivery.

Photographic blueprints that provide vivid pictures of physical evidence from the customer's point of view also helps.

Clarify Strategic Roles of the Servicescape
Sometimes the servicescape has no role in the service delivery or marketing from the customer's point of view.

When clarifying the roles, it aids in identifying opportunities and deciding who needs to be consulted in making facility design decisions. And forces recognition of the importance of the servicescape in creating customer experiences.

Assess and Identify Physical Evidence Opportunities
Questions to ask are: -Are there missed opportunities to provide service evidence? Here usually the service blueprint provides more evidence of service to show customers exactly what they are paying for. -Whether the current physical evidence of service suits the needs and preferences of the target market. -Does the evidence strategy take into account the needs of both customers and employees?

Be Prepared to Update and Modernize the Evidence some evidence require frequent or at least periodic updating and modernizing –even if visions, goals, and objectives of the company do not change, the time itself takes a toll on the physical evidence, making it necessary to change and modernize since different colors, designs, and styles may come to communicate different messages.

Work Cross-Functionally
Service firms are concerned with communicating a desired image, with sending consistent and compatible messages through all forms of evidence, and with providing the type of service evidence the target customers want and can understand.

A multifunction team approach to physical evidence strategy is often necessary, particularly for making decisions about the servicescape.