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5 Gap Model of Service Quality With Examples. Gaps Model. Service Quality Gap Model Example. Gap Model of Customer Satisfaction.

Gap Model of Service Quality

The gap model of service quality refers to the five gaps model that describes gaps in service quality of the organization’s customer experiences and service quality. In 1985, four scholars, namely A. Parasuraman, Valarie Zeithaml, and Leonard L. Berry, introduced the gap model of service quality in the Journal of marketing manuscript titled “A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and Its Implications for Further Research.” It is also known as the service quality gap model.

This model articulates the gap between customers’ expectations and the organization’s service. It assists service-providing companies in identifying customer satisfaction in different stages of the service delivery process. The service quality will be high when the customers’ perception meets the expectation, but the quality is low when the customer’s perception cannot meet the expectation. The five-gap model of service quality ensures the organization’s total quality management thoroughly.

Gap Model of Service Quality- 5 Gap Model of Service Quality With Examples. Gaps Model. Service Quality Gap Model. Service Quality Gaps. Gaps Model. 5 Gaps of Service Quality. Gap Model of Customer Satisfaction. — 5 Gap Model of Service Quality

Servqual Gap Model

SERVQUAL model evaluates the gaps between clients’ expectations and perceptions of service quality with five major service dimensions: reliability, assurance, tangibles, empathy, and responsiveness. The Servqual model of service quality assesses the customers’ expectations and perceptions; therefore, many scholars call it the Servqual gap model. Hence, many service-providing companies utilize the gaps model to identify and improve clients’ satisfaction. The Servqual gap model or the five gap model of service quality represents a customer-satisfaction framework. However, the Survqual model is also known as the five service quality dimensions.

5 Gap Model of Service Quality

The 5 Gaps in Service Quality are

Knowledge Gap
Policy Gap
Communication Gap
Delivery Gap
Customer Gap

5 Gap Model of Service Quality With Examples

Gap- 1. Knowledge Gap

The knowledge gap in service quality refers to the gap between customers’ expectations of the company and its action of providing that service. It identifies what customers want from the industry and what the company typically offers to the customers. This gap can grow if management doesn’t focus on the customer’s expectations thoroughly.

Many reasons can increase the knowledge gap, for example:

Firstly, the knowledge gap in service quality increases when the industry does not carefully focus on what customers expect. Secondly, the knowledge gap increases due to a lack of upward communication and customer interaction. Thirdly, the preliminary market analysis also raises the knowledge gap.

The additional reasons for increasing the knowledge gap:

Less focus on relationships.
Failure to understand customer complaints.
Lack of interaction between management and customer.

Example of the Knowledge Gap in Service Quality

The user of Netflix wants to see the upcoming movie trailers on the Netflix official website. However, Netflix shows only the movie list on the site without knowing the customer’s expectations. So, Netflix would suffer this gap if it did not provide upcoming movie trailers on the site. Netflix’s change management fulfills the gap between customer perception and expectation to achieve competitive advantages.

Gap 2: Policy Gap

The policy gap is the difference between management perceptions of customer needs and the translation of those perceptions into service delivery policies and standards. This policy gap appears because of the dissimilarity between what the customer wants and what management provides for the customers.

Many reasons can grow the policy gap, for instance:

Firstly, the policy gap in service quality rises when the company is not committed to service quality. Secondly, the lack of task standardization extends the policy gap. Moreover, the lack of goal setting raises this gap.

The additional reasons for increasing the policy gap:

Shortness of customer service standards.
Inadequately described service levels.
Failure to continually update service level standards.

Example of the Policy Gap

Netflix will suffer from the policy gap if it uploads the upcoming movie trailers after releasing the movie. People want to watch the movie trailer before releasing the film. So, Netflix should be more responsive to the customers and commit to uploading the film trailer soon.

Gap 3: Delivery Gap

The delivery gap is the dissimilarity between the standard of the company’s service delivery policies and the service’s actual delivery. The delivery gap in service quality arises when the company cannot maintain the standard of products and services provided to customers. This gap may occur because of the communication gap, poor technology, and inappropriate supervisory on productions in the industry.

This gap occurs because of many reasons in the industry, for example;

Firstly, the lack of teamwork to deliver services or products triggers an increasing delivery gap. Secondly, the employee’s lack of knowledge about the product or service grows the delivery gap. Thirdly, insufficient human resources extend this gap.

The additional reasons for increasing the policy gap:

Role ambiguity and role conflict are unsure of your remit and how it fits others.
Poor employee or technology fit – is the wrong person or system for the job.
Inappropriate supervisory control or lack of perceived control – too much or too little control.

Example of Delivery Gap

Netflix may experience this gap if it uploads a lower video-quality film. Customers prefer to watch movies with high-quality regulations like HDR. However, Netflix streams films with 4K at 2160p, which reduces the delivery gap.

Gap 4: Communication Gap

The communication gap refers to the difference between what the company advertises about the products and what the customer delivers. It occurs when the company cannot provide services or products according to the commitment. It is an essential dimension to maintain because it may lead to customer disappointment.

This communication gap occurs because of many reasons in the industry, including;

Over-commitment.
Lack of integration between communication and production department.
Inadequate communications between the advertising teams and the operations department.

Example of Communication Gap

Netflix may suffer this gap if it cannot telecast the HDR video it promised to offer. So, Netflix should not commit to customers if they cannot stream HDR video on the site.

Gap 5: Customer Gap

The customer gap is the difference between customer expectations and perceptions of the service. This customer gap might appear if customers cannot understand the importance of the services and products. The customer gap also arises when clients misunderstand the service quality. Many organizations are unaware of this gap, losing many customers overnight. Customer gap in Survqual model

Conclusion

The five gaps in service quality are Knowledge, Policy, Communication, Delivery, and Customer. The five gaps model of service quality is known as the gap model. The gap model of service quality analyzes gaps and problems between organizations and their customers. Customer gratification will come out if the industry adopts the gap model diagram, which is a significant factor for continual improvement as well as the business. Therefore, the service provides industries like hospitals, hotels, restaurants, entertainment & recreational companies, and education and tourism agencies focus more on the gap model to improve customer satisfaction. For example, the Global Assistant Education Consultant concentrates on the gap model to gratify prospective and existing customers.

VALS Model in Consumer Behaviour Examples. The Eight Segments of the VALS Model.

VALS Model

VALS Model refers to separating people into eight categories based on their lifestyles, psychological characteristics, and consumption patterns. It is also known as the Vals framework of psychographic segmentation, which segments people for marketing purposes. It is the most crucial framework for understanding clients’ values and lifestyles. Therefore, people call it the Vals audience segmentation model in consumer behavior. The VALS is the acronym for Values, Attitudes, Lifestyles, and psychographic factors.

VALS-2 is the extended model that renames strugglers for survivors, actualizers for innovators, and fulfilled for thinkers.

However, demographic and geographic psychographic segmentation is the most significant market segmentation technique to divide people into identical subgroups.

In 1978, the research institute Stanford established Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to develop a VALS (Values and Lifestyles) typology to categorize American consumers. In 1989, they created a quietly modified system that considers individuals’ lifestyles, psychological characteristics, also consumption patterns.

Different between VALS and VALS-2 Model

VALS model includes the following eight elements: Survivors, Makers, Believers, Achievers, Strivers, Experience, Thinkers, and Innovators,

Similarly, VALS 2 Model divides people into eight categories: Strugglers, Strivers, Makers, Believers, Achievers, Experience, Fulfilled, and Actualizers.

VALS Framework Examples

Eight Segmentations of the VALS Model are:

Survivors
Makers
Strivers
Believers
Experiencers
Achievers
Thinkers
Innovators

VALS Segmentation Model in Consumer Behaviour- VALS 2 Model — Figure 1: VALS Segmentation Model in Consumer Behaviour

1. Survivors/ Strugglers

Firstly, Survivors or strugglers are financially needy people. In contrast to innovators, they are low-skilled, educated, without strong social bonds, and passive. They avoid risk because of feeling powerless. It seems like their prime motive is to meet safety and security demands.

For example, students are survivors because they are financially needy and powerless.

2. Makers

Makers are practical people with strong traditional values, constructive skills, self-sufficiency, and enough income. They live within a conventional context of family, practical work, and also physical recreation. Makers are suspicious of new ideas, politically conservative, and respectful of government authority but resentful of government intrusion on individual rights.

For example, religious leaders have traditional values and live in society’s traditional context.

3. Strivers

Strivers are attracted to others who exhibit qualities they don’t have but admire. They inquire about motivation and self-definition. They expect to achieve goals through wealth and often feel that life has dealt them a bad hand because of the less money. Strivers feel easily bored because they are very impulsive.

For example, an unemployed person is looking for a job after completing graduation. Therefore, job seekers are real-life examples of strivers.

4. Believers

Believers belong to a very conservative and profoundly moral mentality similar to makers. They seem like makers because of having conservative and traditional values. They follow established routines organized by the family, social and religious organizations. Their income, education, and energy are enough to meet demands.

For example, an adult person retired from government service. The retired person is an example of a believer.

5. Experiencers

Experiencers are young, energetic, enthusiastic, impulsive, and rebellious. They seek a variety of excitements but are politically uncommitted and highly ambivalent about what they believe. They like being associated with outdoor, sports, recreational, and social activities.

For example, a teenager is an example of an experience in the Vals segmentation model.

6. Achievers

Actually, achievers are work-oriented successful people. They like to feel in control of their lives. They are also deeply committed to work and keep promises to family, society, and career. Achievers respect authority because they prefer to keep the promise but are politically conservative.

For example, an employed person is an achiever. The CEO of the company, artist, political leader, and businessman is the example of achievers in the Vals segmentation model.

7. Thinkers/ Fulfilled

Thinkers are enough adults, mature, well-educated, professional people with satisfying incomes. They stay current with international and national events and are often tended to increase their knowledge. They are usually calm and self-assured because they depend on their decisions.

For example, a successful businessman is an example of a thinker in the Vals segmentation model.

8. Innovators/ Actualizers

Finally, Innovators are highly successful people with self-esteem and considerable resources compared to strugglers. Innovators are supervised by both their principle and the dreams around them. They want to be government and business leaders because they have enormous power and social consciousness.

For example, a political leader is an innovator who can change society with power. Therefore, a political leader is an example of an innovator in the Vals segmentation model.

Conclusion

The Eight Categories of the VALS Segmentation Model are survivors, makers, strivers, believers, experiencers, achievers, thinkers, and innovators. VALS Framework has become a crucial strategy to target audiences for political campaigns and product marketing. Many organizations conduct digital marketing campaigns on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.