Customer Service

Primitive emotional contagion has been proposed to explain why "service with a smile" predicts encounter satisfaction. We provide a comprehensive test of this mechanism by examining mimicry and mood as mediators in service encounters, contrasting such mediation with a direct path through perceived service quality. Independent coders recorded the strength of employees' and customers' smiles at three points in time during real service encounters, and 173 customers completed postencounter surveys. Mimicry effects were supported; however, only service quality appraisals, and not customers' affect, fully mediated the relationship of employee smiling and encounter satisfaction.

Six studies show that subtle contextual cues that increase customers' self-awareness can be used to influence their satisfaction with service providers (while holding the objective service delivery constant). This is because higher self-awareness increases customers' tendency to attribute outcomes to themselves rather than to the provider. The authors demonstrate these effects across a variety of settings with different simulated retail experiences and with different real-life service interactions, including college courses, meals taken at a university cafeteria, and items purchased at an actual clothing store.

Discusses techniques to help businesses build greater rapport and trust with customers. Greet customers warmly and sincerely. Acknowledge a guest's presence. A simple nod, eye contact or a brief comment will let the person waiting know that will be soon attended. Begin relationship with the true goal of finding out their wants and needs and then try to make sure to fulfill them.

Reports on how to obtain good customer service in the library industry. Ways to conduct good customer service can include training employees to have service-oriented attitudes, fulfilling expectations that customers have such as knowing answers to questions they may ask, and having employees interact with customers rather than be task-oriented.

Examines a multiple-methods approach to evaluating and improving the quality of public service provided to library users at the Falvey Memorial Library at Villanova University. It discusses the methods of data collection used by the library staff including a quality walk, suggestions from staff members, focus groups, and survey data. The use of transactional data, activity mapping, and best practices research involving other libraries is also explored. The skills, effort, and cost involved in the project and implementation of changes to improve customer services are discussed.