BU622 Service Marketing: Customer Delight Article Review Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of two articles focusing on customer delight in marketing, synthesizing their content and comparing them to other relevant papers and the textbook. It identifies similarities, differences, and complementary and contradictory elements within the articles. The report critiques the articles, integrating concepts from other sources to provide a more holistic view of customer delight strategies. It also examines the relationship between customer satisfaction and the bottom line, exploring how exceeding customer expectations can impact loyalty and financial outcomes. The analysis includes recommendations for appropriate customer delight strategies across different service contexts, considering factors such as service quality, value addition, and the importance of aligning services with customer needs to achieve satisfaction and build lasting relationships. The report emphasizes the importance of strategic planning and systematic approaches to gain a competitive edge in the market.

Running head: MARKETING
Article review on customer delight and bottom line
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Table of contents
Similarities and differences........................................................................................................2
Complementary and contradictory elements..............................................................................2
Comparison between the two articles........................................................................................3
Comparison to the other papers..................................................................................................4
Recommendations......................................................................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................6

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Similarities and differences
When the customers are levied with a product and services, they are satisfied or
delighted. On the other hand, turnover takes place when they are not satisfied. In this case,
they return the products and seek for replacements to get the exact product, which they
ordered for. In order to avert these discrepancies, these brands conduct customer surveys for
gaining an insight into the drivers of satisfaction (Keiningham et al. 1999). In the responses,
the difference between satisfaction and delighted is reflected. Satisfied indicates that the
customers have got the product that they wanted or desired for and delighted projected that
they got more than their desires or expectations.
The difference also lies in the way of monitoring and controlling the customer
satisfaction. In this, the parameter covers the necessary skills applied by the academicians
and the practitioners. In case of practitioners, Keiningham et al. (1999) states that customer
satisfaction is perceived according to the behaviours exposed by the customers after the
launch of a particular product or service. Typical evidence of this lies in the aspects of
increased share-of-wallet, resulting in the positive word of mouth. On the contrary,
academicians consider theories for segmenting the different customer behaviours. This
approach is considered to be something beyond the ‘mere satisfaction’.
Complementary and contradictory elements
Delight is composed of 3 essential elements- high performance levels, positive effect
and arousal. High performance level is that of the brands in case of gaining higher customer
satisfaction. This is through the means of delivering quality products and services. According
to Keiningham et al. (1999), high supply and demand results in the positive word of mouth,
enhancing the fame and reputation of the brands. Sustainability is accounted as one of the
other complementary elements in case of customer delight. Using diagnostic systems like that
of Roche is an initiative towards improving the standards and quality of the customer

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satisfaction. In this, the complimentary factors are profit margin and the expectation of the
customers. If there is balance between the customer satisfaction and profit margin, then it
enhances the convenience of the brands to gain satisfaction, loyalty and dependence from the
clients and the customers.
When the aim exceeds the expectations, then it is a contradicting aspect for the
customer delight and bottom line. In this case, Keiningham et al. (1999), is of the view that
the contradicting elements are the customer service and loyalty; drivers of loyalty and drivers
of switching and customer effect score.
Comparison between the two articles
The article lacks proper mention of the aspect of delight, which is different from the
surprise. Countering this, Roche Diagnostic Systems prove beneficial in terms of improving
the standards and quality of customer satisfaction (Keiningham et al. 1999). This is through
the means of considering the customer expectations for calculating the profit margin. The
claims reflect that the article covers only the aspect of customer satisfaction instead of the
delight. As per the arguments of (Barnes et al. 2016), zone of tolerance is essential for
determining the customer satisfaction. In this case, the difference lies in transitions from the
behaviour to the satisfaction of the customers. If the satisfaction score is towards higher, then
it creates exceptional results.
In comparison to this, Dixon, Freeman and Toman (2010) is of the view that
delighting the customers is not the means to “win their loyalty.” Exceeding customers’
expectation is effective, as it generates higher satisfaction level. In this case, the transactions
are cost effective as it takes much time and effort to deliver the products to the customers
according to their requirements. In this article, Dixon, Freeman and Toman (2010) argue that
simplifying the transaction is easier for enhancing the customer relationship management.

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The main aim of their argument is moving on with the process of rectifying the issues, which
creates a positive image in the minds of the customers regarding better quality service.
Comparison to the other papers
Torres and Ronzoni (2018) argues that Roche employees were not happy with the
initiatives undertaken for improving the customer satisfaction. This included resistance,
benchmarking for convincing the customers by showing them the statistics. This generates
transparency in the supply chain network. However, according to Dixon, Freeman and
Toman, (2010), satisfaction score is crucial in terms of assessing the approach of the
customers towards the levied services. Within this, Damle and Ketkar (2017) highlights the
different variations, which prevails in the customer satisfaction. Very satisfied does not
means that the customer is delighted with the availed service. Satisfied customers are
accounted as an agent in terms of increasing the profit margin. However, Keiningham et al.
(1999) argues that delight in the customers are vital for the business to prosper.
On the contrary, Kim and Aggarwal (2016) opines that to delight the customers,
loyalty is not needed from them. In this case, element of surprise is crucial for luring the
customers towards the brand. However, this does not work well all the times. When the
customers avail the service for the first time, it is a surprise. From the second time, they start
expecting that the brands would be doing something for surprising them. On the other hand,
Keiningham et al. (1999) is hopeful that it might be the fact that merely 16% of the customers
are satisfied, as they are truly loyal to the brand and rest of the 84% are no delighted, as they
have not got they expected.
The limitation of the article is that it concentrates only on one context, that is, the call
centres. However, the aspect of customer delight and satisfaction are so vast, that it needs to
consider all of the business parameters. This consideration helps in calculating the
satisfaction score, which is beneficial in terms of reaching to the specific needs, demands and

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requirements of the clients and the customers. As per the arguments of Goodman (2019),
benchmarks needs to be identified for setting the goals in terms of luring the customers and
achieving their loyalty, trust and dependence. On the other hand, Kim and Aggarwal (2016)
states that supporting the staffs with the latest and modern systems is the first step towards
producing quality products and achieving customers’ satisfaction. Educating the staffs
regarding the specific needs of the customers is needed for enhancing the effectiveness of the
products and services. Mention can be made of Dixon, Freeman and Toman (2010), who
states that tracking the number of newly implemented value added services is helpful for
translating the ideas into practice.
Recommendations
Managing the quality of the services introduced would be crucial for achieving
satisfaction, loyalty and trust from the customers. This would develop a comparison between
customer satisfaction and service quality. The more branded the service is, the more satisfied
is the customers. Value addition in the services in the form of offers, discounts and schemes
would add to the delight of the customers, as they would receive branded products. Mapping
the satisfaction level in terms of scores would act as an agent towards gaining an insight into
tbe extent to which the services align with the specific needs, demands and requirements of
the customers. Adopting corporate level strategies would be a planned action and reasoned
behaviour towards catering to the needs of the customers. Systematic approach in this
direction would be vital for gaining higher competitive edge than the customers.

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References
Ahrholdt, D.C., Gudergan, S.P. and Ringle, C.M., 2016. What Drives Customer Loyalty?
Nonlinear Effects of Customer Delight and Satisfaction on Loyalty and the Moderating Role
of Service Experience. In Looking Forward, Looking Back: Drawing on the Past to Shape the
Future of Marketing (pp. 742-750). Springer, Cham.
Barnes, D.C., Collier, J.E., Howe, V. and Douglas Hoffman, K., 2016. Multiple paths to
customer delight: the impact of effort, expertise and tangibles on joy and surprise. Journal of
Services Marketing, 30(3), pp.277-289.
Damle, P. and Ketkar, M., 2017. Moving from Customer Service to Customer Delight: An
Ethnographic Study of the Relationship Managers in Banking Sector. Asian Journal of
Research in Banking and Finance, 7(10), pp.11-22.
Dixon, M., Freeman, K. and Toman, N., 2010. Stop trying to delight your customers. Harvard
Business Review, 88(7/8), pp.116-122.
Goodman, J., 2019. Strategic customer service: Managing the customer experience to
increase positive word of mouth, build loyalty, and maximize profits. Amacom.
Keiningham, T.L., Goddard, M.K., Vavra, T.G. and Iaci, A.J., 1999. Customer delight and
the bottom line. Marketing Management, 8(3), p.57.
Kim, C.S. and Aggarwal, P., 2016. The customer is king: culture-based unintended
consequences of modern marketing. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 33(3), pp.193-201.
Ludwig, N.L., Heidenreich, S., Kraemer, T. and Gouthier, M., 2017. Customer delight:
universal remedy or a double-edged sword?. Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 27(1),
pp.22-45.

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Torres, E.N. and Ronzoni, G., 2018. The evolution of the customer delight construct: Prior
research, current measurement, and directions for future research. International Journal of
Contemporary Hospitality Management, 30(1), pp.57-75.