Intangibility
Intangibility
Services are not physical and cannot be "possessed." Because they can't be seen, touched, or made tangible in some way, assessing their quality and value is difficult.
A services client will never know how good the service is until after he receives it. In some cases, it actually may be months or years before a trigger event occurs to activate the service, at which time the client hopes to experience the promised service quality (e.g., an IT crisis triggers service, or an accident initiates an insurance claim).
This can be unsettling for the client, whose response is to look for tangible signals about the service process and quality prior to purchase to reduce uncertainty and reservation.
The Marketing Response: Services marketing professionals must determine how to effectively communicate the services process, deliverables, and benefits in order to build client confidence. Tangible signals that indicate services quality and value come from personal interaction, trusted recommendations, clear communications, equipment used or processes followed, pricing, and the physical environment in which the business operates.
With promotions, a logo symbol can offer a sense of tangibility—the "good hands" of Allstate, the Merrill Lynch bull, the Prudential Insurance rock. Testimonials and case studies can be used to build client confidence and rapport. The communications material itself (paper, design, and content) can convey quality, too.
Pricing can also be an indicator of quality: Premium pricing often suggests higher quality, while prices that are too low may hint at the inexperience, limited depth, or vague processes of the services producer.
But tangibility must extend beyond promotions and price. Because positive personal interaction and "chemistry" is a gauge of quality to the client, marketing as a discipline must be influential in the training of sales and service associates. These individuals literally are the embodiment of marketing for the
Services are not physical and cannot be "possessed." Because they can't be seen, touched, or made tangible in some way, assessing their quality and value is difficult.
A services client will never know how good the service is until after he receives it. In some cases, it actually may be months or years before a trigger event occurs to activate the service, at which time the client hopes to experience the promised service quality (e.g., an IT crisis triggers service, or an accident initiates an insurance claim).
This can be unsettling for the client, whose response is to look for tangible signals about the service process and quality prior to purchase to reduce uncertainty and reservation.
The Marketing Response: Services marketing professionals must determine how to effectively communicate the services process, deliverables, and benefits in order to build client confidence. Tangible signals that indicate services quality and value come from personal interaction, trusted recommendations, clear communications, equipment used or processes followed, pricing, and the physical environment in which the business operates.
With promotions, a logo symbol can offer a sense of tangibility—the "good hands" of Allstate, the Merrill Lynch bull, the Prudential Insurance rock. Testimonials and case studies can be used to build client confidence and rapport. The communications material itself (paper, design, and content) can convey quality, too.
Pricing can also be an indicator of quality: Premium pricing often suggests higher quality, while prices that are too low may hint at the inexperience, limited depth, or vague processes of the services producer.
But tangibility must extend beyond promotions and price. Because positive personal interaction and "chemistry" is a gauge of quality to the client, marketing as a discipline must be influential in the training of sales and service associates. These individuals literally are the embodiment of marketing for the