MNM 3712

Customer Relationship Management

Name: Kefiloe Moatshe

Student no :42360854

Unique no:768167

Submission date :3.09.2020

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DECLARATION BY STATEMENT
I Kefiloe Gladys Nanisi Moatshe, student number 42360854 understand the
consequences of plagiarism and collusion and hereby declare that the work submitted
for this report for MNM3712 is my own work.

Signature: KGN Moatshe Date: 23 August 2020

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………………...4
2. CUSTOMER EXPECTATION ……………………………………………………….5
2.1 IMPORTANCE OF MEASURING CUSTOMER EXPECTATION ……………….5
3. PRACTICAL EXAMPLES OF CUSTOMER EXPECTATION ……………………5-6
4. THE FIVE DIMENSIONS OF SERVICE QUALITY ……………………………….6
5. FOUR CUSTOMER SATISFACTION MEASUREMENTS INSTRUMENTS ……7
6. CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………8
7. REFERENCES………………………………………………………………………... 9

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 1. INTRODUCTION
st
1 for Women Insurance was launched in 2004 to provide insurance solutions
specifically designed for South African Women ,first in the country .The company
founded that although South Africans were purchasing insurance policies a lot of them
did not cater specifically for women’s needs , for 1st for Women to tap into this substantial
market they decided to develop a women-centric insurance product rather than just
packaging existing products (Drotsky,2018). In this assignment we will look at the SERV
QUAL model which can be used to measure customers satisfaction. We will also discuss
the Customer expectations and measure the importance of Customer Expectations.
Practical examples of customer expectations will be given. We Will discuss the Five
dimensions of Service Quality and how they can impact customer satisfaction and the
SERVQUAL model. Lastly, we will discuss four customer satisfaction measurements
instruments.

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 2. Customer Expectations
According to Tait (2018),Customer expectations can be defined as what a customer
expects from the organisation and its products and services .Central to the effective
management of customer service within any organisation has to be the issue quality
performance .Because customers compare their perceptions of performance with these
reference points when evaluating service quality. “Customer expectations” also refers to
what the customer expects from an organisation and its products and services. In the 1st
for Women Case study Drotsky (2018), clearly states that the 1st for Women has an
ongoing challenge to maintain relationships with its customers and to meet and exceed
their expectations. It’s clear that 1st for Women insurance understands what its
customers’ expectations are in that way, they were able to conduct both qualitative and
quantitative research.

The importance of measuring customer expectations

Customer expectations are beliefs about service delivery that serve as performance
benchmarks or benchmarks. Consumers compare their perceptions of performance
against these benchmarks when evaluating service quality, which is crucial for service
marketers to have a complete understanding of customer expectations. Knowing what
customers expect is the first and perhaps most critical step to providing high-quality
service. Being wrong about what customers want can mean losing the customer's
business when another company reaches the goal. Being wrong means spending
money, time, and other resources on things that customers don't care about. Being
wrong means not staying in a fiercely competitive market. Among the aspects of
expectations that must be explored and understood for a successful service market are
the following: What kind of criteria for expectations do customers have about services?
What factors influence the structure of these expectations? What role do these factors
play in changing expectations? How can a service company meet or exceed customer
expectations? (Mornay Roberts-Lombard and Tait, 2018).

3. Practical examples of customer expectations

There are number of practical examples of what customers expect from 1st for women
as an insurance company namely
1st for Women needs to provide interaction and responses in real time for example
: 1st for women has experienced bad and good responses from their customers where
some applaud the company for attending to their problems in good time while others

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stated that they are still waiting for responses or haven’t received any assistance in
months regarding their query’s. (www.hellopeter.com, n.d.)
Ensure trust and honesty: Customers don’t like being misled so it’s important that as
a sales consultant you always need to be transparent with the customer. Sales
consultants needs to understand that it’s not all about making a sale, but the reputation
of the company is also at stake. Drotsky (2018) proceeds to explain that women are
loyal customers and will buy again from the same source if the experience and product
fit.
Service delivery: with any insurance or sales orientated company service delivery is
important for example , no customer wants to wait for 20 minutes on the line waiting for
a consultant just to log a claim , as 1st for Women study showed that Women have too
much to do and too little time to do it so don’t keep us waiting if you want a fruitful
relationship with us (Drotsky, 2013).

4. The Five Dimensions of Service Quality

According to Tait (2018)” Service quality can be defined as the ability of an organisation
to determine customer expectations correctly and deliver the service at a quality level
that will at least equal these customer expectation “. Service quality influences customer
satisfaction as an organisation it’s important to remember that promising quality attracts
customers (University of South Africa ,2020:39). There are five dimensions of service
quality that are important when considering service quality from the customer.
Reliability: Tait (2018) found that reliability means that organisations perform a service
correctly the first time. This also shows that organisations such as 1st for Women strive
to fulfil promises and pay attention to the results
Responsiveness: Customers expect that a service provider should meet their needs
with speed and initiative in terms of claims and queries or complains (University of South
Africa ,2020:39).
Assurance: Assurance has been defined as employee’s courtesy and knowledge, and
their ability to transfer confidence and trust to customers (Tait &Roberts-lombard,2018)
Empathy: Customers need to feel that they are made priority by the organisation
providing the service. Empathy means caring, paying attention and providing a service
to customers (Tait,2018).
Tangibles: Tait (2018) identifies tangibles as physical facilities such as offices,
equipment and communication materials it is the physical image of the service that
customers will use to assess quality.

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 5. Four Customer Satisfaction Measurements Instruments
Service quality is measured by how well an organisation satisfies its customers. The
best method of assessing customers satisfaction over a period would be through the
use of surveys. The four instruments that can be used are as follows
After Sales surveys: many insurance companies use after sales surveys to assess
customer satisfaction while the service encounter is still fresh in the customers mind
(Tait,2018). This is usually done once a cell phone contract taken with a
telecommunication company or sale of life insurance policy has been closed with the
customer .1st for Women can utilise a voice rating system where the customer can
choose zero to ten to rate their experience or a survey questioner can be emailed to the
customer to rate the service they received from 1st for women .
Mystery Shopping: Mystery shopping is a form of non-customer research that
measures individual employee service behaviour. Mystery shoppers are generally
trained personnel who pose as customers and would shop unannounced at a business
(Mornay Roberts-Lombard and Tait, 2018). Mystery shoppers are mainly used in retail
stores or walk in centres they would usually test the sales consultant on their product
knowledge and selling skills. For a company like first for women their mystery shoppers
would normally call in to the call centre ,Telephone etiquette and product knowledge
would be tested by the mystery shopper also the time that the mystery shopper is waiting
in the que counts against the sales consultant.
Customer satisfaction index: According to Tait (2018) Customer satisfaction index is
based on regular interviews with customers, the index makes it possible to track changes
in customer satisfaction measures over time and even allows comparison among
companies. 1st for Women considers itself to be customer centric and can save money
for women , most women are money savvy so one would question that why is it that 1st
for Women does not have cash back benefit like Discovery insurance ,dial direct and
other insurances, also one may question why they haven’t lowered their premiums
during the lock down period as a way of rewarding their customers who were not
commuting to work and other areas.
SERVQUAL: The SERVQUAL model is one of the most used models to measure
customer satisfaction. The importance of the SERVQUAL is that it offers managers a
systematic approach to measuring and managing service quality (Tait,2018). In most
contact centres Sales managers use the quality Assurance system to measure and
manage service quality in this way sales consultants can rate themselves once the
quality assurer has listed to the call and rated the service. Coaching can also be
suggested where the sales consultant failed in service quality.

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 6. CONCLUSION
The SERVQUAL Model was used to measure the gap between customers expectations
and perceptions of service quality. The results showed that the level of customer
expectation for most of the service dimensions were below their level of expectations.
In this case 1st for Women customers expectation indicated a negative discrepancy to
the actual service delivered to customers and did not match with the company’s model
of expectations. Knowing how customers perceive service quality and being able to
measure service quality will benefit management of service in organisations including
1st for Women insurance. measuring service quality will help management to provide
reliable data that can be used to monitor, maintain and improve service. findings show
that 1st for Women insurance customers expect more than what they perceive there for
1st for Women must improve all the service quality dimensions for improved customer
satisfaction.

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 7. REFERENCES

Drotsky, A. and Van Heerden, N., 2018. Applied Marketing Cases. Claremont [Western
Cape]: Juta.

Firstforwomen.co.za. 2020. Car, Home & Business Insurance | 1St For Women Insurance.
[online] Available at: <https://www.firstforwomen.co.za/> [Accessed 2 September 2020].

Mornay Roberts-Lombard and Tait, M. (2018). Relationship marketing and customer

relationship management. Lansdowne, Cape Town: Juta And Company (Pty) Ltd.

www.hellopeter.com. (n.d.). Review Companies Online | Customer Service & Company

Ratings | hellopeter.com. [online] Available at: https://www.hellopeter.com/first-for-
women-insurance.

University of South Africa. Department of Business Management. 2020.Customer

Relationship Management: Only learning guide for MNM3712.Pretoria: Unisa

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