Customer Service Excellence and Customer Satisfaction

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Introduction

Academic libraries are facing several external and internal pressures in their environments. For instance, the popularity of the internet is causing potential library users to shift away from libraries as their primary source of knowledge. Additionally, academic institutions are struggling with budgetary allocations because they are competing with other public services such as hospitals.

University and college administrators have to critique the use of their resources in libraries and some may have to reduce allocations if minimal efficiency exists. Furthermore, the development of online libraries has created a renewed challenge in information services because new legal and copyright rules must be instated in order to protect authors. These and many more factors have/will force academic libraries to reconfigure their customer service or service quality provisions so as to survive in such challenging environments.

Evaluation of quality of services provided by academic libraries based on theories and models

Services marketing and 7 Ps

Services are quite distinct from fast moving goods because they possess certain qualities that cannot be found elsewhere. Services typically encompass economic activities transferred from one party to another. Usually, these are time bound and may not encompass exchange of physical assets; in other words transfer of ownership will not occur.

Customers in the services sector often exchange money and time for value derived from systems, networks, facilities, labour, skills or even goods owned by the service provider. In the case of academic libraries, customers exchange money (through annual fees) for facilities, systems and labour in those institutions. These qualities make the marketing of services quite unique; that aspect can be analysed through the 7Ps i.e. Product, promotion, price, place, people, process, physical environment (Lovelock and Wirtzm, 2011).

In service offering, product refers to a service concept that has the capacity to give value to customers. This will be a combination of a core need and a supplementary need. Academic libraries offer information through books and this is their core value; other supplementary needs include rental book services and cataloguing services which are designed to add value to the core product.

The second ‘P’ is promotion. Service marketing promotion often employs educating customers about the service, how to use it and how to drive maximum benefits from it. Academic libraries often do promotions through websites, self service equipment or use of display screens. Third, service marketing employs price.

Any service provider needs to be offering services at a price that will be worthwhile to customers so that they can go beyond price considerations and purchase the service. Academic libraries ought to minimise time and travelling expenses that can inflate price. They can do this by making their services convenient.

Place is also another important consideration. This refers to the channels used by the service provider and may be a physical location, website, the phone or other outlets. Libraries now have a wider access to distribution channels through the internet and this can improve performance.

‘People’ denote the employees used to deliver those services and they need to possess the right attitudes, interpersonal and technical skills. Academic libraries cannot compromise on this element as it is what users employ to assess their effectiveness. ‘Process’ means those variables involved prior to actual offerings. These may involve training, standardisation of services as well as automation. Academic libraries ought to employ rigorous service quality management as part of ‘process’.

Lastly, ‘physical environments’ refer to the look of tangible aspects of the service such as the building, furnishings and equipment. In academic libraries, this normally involves appropriate seating arrangements, arrangements of books and design of the actual library (Gummesson & Lovelock, 2004).

The latter overview of service marketing gives a brief illustration of what this concept entails in academic libraries. However, one needs to know whether actual institutions pay attention to 7ps of marketing. Primary data that has been collected from academic libraries by a number of researchers has illustrated challenges in the ‘people’ aspect.

Some employees have attitudinal issues. Many will be so preoccupied with the task at hand that they may not bother clarifying exactly what customers want. New students who may not know how to use library systems may often get assistance about how to locate references but rarely understand verbal illustrations. Many libraries lack practical illustrations for using their systems.

Overly speaking, the manner in which employees handle complications can be improved in most academic libraries. Additionally, libraries seem to have a problem with their product aspect because there is often very little excitement about new books. Displays are often not there or may not be attractive or value driven.

Promotional aspects of this industry are quite good because many institutions utilise the internet in order to educate customers about use. Libraries tend to be academically oriented so the physical environment in marketing can also be improved as many have not considered customer wants (Goh & Vhung, 1999).

Customer service system theory

Customer service systems encompass those kinds of configuration of technology and networks that are crucial in delivering the wants and needs of customers. In other words, it is a configuration of technology, people, external service systems, internal service systems and others connected through the use of shared information.

Domino’s Pizza is an exemplary case of how customer service systems can translate into profit. Domino’s decided to automate the pizza making process such that all unnecessary processes could be eliminated. This implied that the organisation could deliver quality pizzas uniformly. Also, in order to reduce time spent in handling paperwork, the firm adopted an IT system that would assist in management of marketing costs, inventory and payroll.

These contributed to their success. However, some service providers may have greater contact with their clients than others as is the case with academic libraries. Here, their aim in the customer service system should be to boost the quality of their interactions with users.

In such scenarios, they need to have technologies and networks that allow relatively new employs to carry out their roles effectively even as they go through the learning curve. Most customer service systems are complex and keep changing as more innovation takes place.

Many institutions have realised the importance of this aspect so most are using technology to boost their systems. However, it was found that most libraries will often introduce new product stacking methods yet they will not bother to inform and educate consumers about it. Customer service systems can only be effective if they involve the consumer so universities are failing in this area (Goh & Vhung, 1999).

Service quality model

The service model proposes a number of issues that must be tackled by service providers in order to enhance customer satisfaction. First, it proposes an assessment of customer perceptions on the services under consideration and assessment of their actual expectations. Many institutions will stop at customer perceptions of what they have already offered but most of them will rarely focus on the things that customers wish for or expect from that service provider. It is crucial to measure both these aspects in order to know where a library is and where it needs to be.

Service quality also encompasses improvement of services. This should involve the use of technology in library systems and effective training of those offering the service (Usherwood, 2003). Service providers also need to look for ways of cutting costs as these will translate into effective pricing strategies in the company.

Libraries often need to charge users for services used and if they can eliminate all the backlog in their service systems then this could definitely translate into lower unit pricing. Sometimes service improvement can translate into reduced costs but in other situations it could increase them. Libraries need to be aware of this potential clash and hence work on a compromise between the two goals.

Nothing matters more in service quality than valuing one’s customers. When most users are asked about the issues that make them highly dissatisfied in libraries, most will cite poor treatment by employees. Therefore, libraries need to ensure that the customer is valued by according him due respect.

This means responding effectively and promptly to their concerns. Scorning or criticising customers for complaints will often do more harm than good. Furthermore, valuing the customer also means offering timely service. Many library users have complained about waiting times when trying to get help from librarians. Academic libraries are not doing so well when it comes to the issues of prompt service delivery.

Service quality should also involve tangibles. Here, organisations need to pay attention to ambiance in their organisations. Customers should be able to derive satisfaction from this aspect in much the same way that they do from goods. Libraries often work on ambience by improving seating arrangements and design.

The users would prefer a place that is comfortable and satisfying. However, sometimes this may not work well because libraries are meant to facilitate knowledge acquisition rather than provide comfort. Therefore extremely comfortable seats may work against them.

Numerous academic libraries have created areas where students can seat around a table and even engage in discussions. This works against the major principle in operation in libraries because it creates noise and interrupts other serious students. Such a problem is quite rampant in a number of institutions and therefore needs to be addressed in order to improve service quality (Goh & Vhung, 1999).

Didactic model

The didactic model is an old school of thought in library and information services. In this model, it is assumed that the librarian knows best. He or she can anticipate the needs of the student and should therefore provide that individual with them.

It should be noted that this model focuses on needs and not wants; needs refer to things that students cannot do without while a want refers to an inherent desire that may not be that important. Librarians adhering to this school of thought will pay attention to student needs by relating them to an overall school mission or to certain policies applicable within the library.

In other words, the librarian considers himself or herself as a professional and someone who facilitates learning. He or she will therefore deduce users’ needs through external mechanisms. Librarians often reason that students may not always understand what is best of them and this implies that librarians must educate them about this knowledge.

If for example a student has been given an assignment by his or her lecturer, a librarian following this model will tell him how to find information that he is looking for rather than show him exactly where it is. In a number of academic libraries, it has been shown that many adopt such a stance.

Theirs is to encourage a spirit of independence and this can only be learnt when one is not spoon-fed. Practically speaking, many librarians in academic institutions have stated that they consider themselves as co teachers. Theirs is to complement the relationship that exists between students and their teachers in their lecture rooms. Consequently, most do not do searches on behalf of students especially those new ones who appear to be having unrealistic expectations (Martula & Menon, 2005).

Recommendations

Academic libraries can improve customer service through a series of approaches. The deficiencies in the 7 ps found in these institutions can be corrected through clarification of expectations. Libraries can repeat back what users tell them – a technique called mirroring.

This will ensure that they handle the right problems. Alternatively, they can teach new students how to use a new method of finding books or any other thing. They should deal with one sample and then let users do the rest. During waiting times, libraries can reduce pressure by installing video monitors which educate students about new developments in the library system.

Also, employees can empathize with students when they bring forward complaints or they can direct them to superiors if they feel that they cannot answer the question at all. This would cool down the concerned user and make them understand the situation especially when they hear it from a superior.

Libraries can work on promotional aspects by displaying new books at the entrance of the library to attract customers’ attention. All these issues will go a long way in improving customer excellence hence satisfaction.

References

Lovelock, C. and Wirtzm J. (2011). Services Marketing: People, Technology, Strategy. NJ: Prentice Hall

Gummesson, E. & Lovelock, C. (2004). Whither services marketing? In search of a new paradigm and fresh perspectives. Service research journal, 7(1), 20-41

Goh, C. & Vhung, P. (1999). Service typologies: a state of the art survey. Journal of Operations and productions, 8(3), 403-456

Usherwood, B. (2003). Libraries as a public service. Public library journal, 7(5), 141-145

Martula, C. & Menon, V. (2005). Customer expectations; concepts and reality for academic library services. College and research libraries journal, 56(13), 33-47

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