Week Five Case Assignment Analysis
MRKT 5000 Online Course

Funky Shon

For Teens in Crisis, The Next Text Could Be a Lifesaver

Case Summary:

The Crisis Text Line is a new resource for destressed teens. The case examines the evolution of this service that emerged from the work of DoSomething.org, which is a youth social change organization with over four million members that uses text messaging to connect.

Key Marketing Issues:

* Service Quality: Defined in the text book as “customers’ perceptions of how well a service meets or exceed their expectations.” Service quality is very important when providing a service that must foster trust. * Customer Contact: Defined in the text book as “the level of interaction between provider and customer needed to deliver the service.” The success of the service depends on the interaction between customer and provider. * Search Qualities: Defined in the text book as “tangible attributes that can be judged before the purchase of the product.” Many consumers send a trial text to feel out the service prior to use. * Experience Qualities: Defined in the text book as “attributes that can be assessed only during purchase and consumption of a service.” The Crisis Line follows up with customers for results. * Target Public: Defined in the text book as “a collective of individuals who have an interest in or concern about an organization, product or social cause.” This service was created to be an outlet for destressed teenagers. * Client Publics: Defined in the text book as “direct consumers of a product of a nonprofit organization.” The company is nonprofit supplying the service for destressed teens.

Personal Case Analysis I learned how organizations use data to influence what services offered and how they also use the data to help provide quality service. Case Questions 1. How is Crisis Text Line addressing the five dimensions customers use when evaluating service quality? The five dimensions customers use when evaluation service quality are tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. Tangibles: Using text to communicate Reliability: The service is consistent and ongoing Responsiveness: The service is always available Assurance: Volunteers go through rigorous training Empathy: Volunteers are trained to listen to the needs of teens 2. The Crisis Text Line says they follow up after conversations "asking texters if they feel better." How do you think this data/feedback would tie into how the organization manages their service quality? This information is gathered from the experience of the user. The presence of satisfaction or nonsatisfaction can be used to gage the success of the service and can be used when considering behavior, prioritizing calls and training. 3. Consider "The millions of messages the Crisis Text Line has amassed" - how is this data/database being used by the Crisis Text Line and what future uses could it have? Think of information is in this database and how it could be analyzed and used. The data/database collected by the Crisis Text Line is being used to better design and target prevention services according to the article and the information can be mined to identify broad patterns. As stated in the article depression or suicides are currently mentioned in 35 percent of conversations, anxiety comes up in 16 percent, family issues in 14 percent, and self-harm in 9 percent. This information can be used to better serve those teens in need.

Work Cited: David Bornstein, “For Teens in Crisis, the Next Text Could Be a Lifesaver,” The New York Times, http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/09/04/for-teens-in-crisis-this-text-could-be-a-lifesaver/?_r=0