LV Thạc sỹ_TV customer service quality in VTC

LIST OF FIGURELIST OF ABBREVIATION TV : Pay Television CRM : Customer Relationship Management VTC : Vietnam Multimedia Company VTC Care : VTC Customer Services PR : Public Relation... To

I completed this dissertation with the huge support from my family, my colleagues, myfriends, the coordinators of this master program, course professors and especially my finalsupervisor PhD …

My family especially my husband has encouraged me each day in pursuiting of this masterprogram as well as encouraged me to finish this thesis as a part of my career pathdevelopment

I would like to express my special thanks to PhD … who worked closely with me during thewhole process of this dissertation: from problem statement to research objectives, from finalproject topic to the outline, from theory review to theories application, from survey design todata collection and analysis, from identifying the open issues of this final project to futuredirection of research

I would also thank course professors who brought me knowledge about professional fieldsthat act as the base to help me complete this final project and the restless support from thecoordinators of this program helped me to complete the final project more effectively andsuccessfully

It is impossible not to mention my colleagues in VTC Care Customers Service who activelyprovided information about Customer Service of VTC Care Hopefully the recommendations

in this final project will help VTC Care with some ideas to improve customer service quality

I would like to thank customers who have responded my survey email This is one of the keyinputs for the analysis, directly contribute to the result of my study Their enthusiastic to takepart in my email survey is the proof for their interest to VTC That will be also my greatencouragement to finish this thesis as well as to work harder in my present position

And finally, I would like to thank my little one year old daughter She is the biggestinspiration and motivation for me to finish this thesis

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This dissertation aims to assessing the TV customer service quality provided by VTC thenproposing some solutions to improve the customer service quality

To achieve that goal, the thesis needs to find out the answer for the following questions:

1. What is the assessment of VTC’s customers about the quality of VTC TelevisionServices?

2. How to improve or enhance the current situation?

The research methodology applied during the research is the combination of qualitative andquantitative methods The data for study come from both primary and secondary source.The author of the research has successfully gathered truly information and meticulouslyanalysis it to reflect a whole general knowledge about VTC Television Services quality Thisdissertation is also mentioned to some solutions to enhance Service quality, which is written

in last part of Chapter V

Although the dissertation has successfully reached the identified goals, further research onVTC’s current management of Television subscribers and the distribution channel isnecessary to support

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURE

LIST OF ABBREVIATION

TV : Pay Television

CRM : Customer Relationship Management

VTC : Vietnam Multimedia Company

VTC Care : VTC Customer Services

PR : Public Relation

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION I.1 Background

Vietnam’s broadcasting industry has developed rapidly in recent years together with the need

of Vietnamese to access the world’s entertainment programmes as well as the high technologyproduct in the fied of communications In addition with the open market policy, Vietnamcommunication infrastructure has improve much, the remarkable event is the successfullaunching of Vinasat 1 in to the space

Pay TV appeared in the world since 1948, but it has just appeared in Vietnam for the last 10years The last ten years has witnessed the booming development of Pay TV in Viet Namwith many kinds of Pay TV including: Cable television, satellite (DTB/Direct-to-Home),8definition8 Digital and online television (IPTV)

After 10 years of development, Viet Nam Pay TV market has witnessed the huge competitionbetween more than 50 Television providers The suppliers with the largest market shareinclude:

- VTCV (Cable and Satellite Television Services)

- HTVC (Cable Television)

- VSTV (K+) (Satellite Television)

- SCTV (Cable TV)

- FPT (ITPN)

- AVG AnVien (An Vien Group)

- The new-comer Viettel (IPTV)

It is estimated that Viet Nam currently has 3.7 million Pay TV subscribers1 As the firstprovider of both terrestrial digital and satellite television, VTC takes advantage of the pioneerand with the strong point of reaching the remote, island, highland territories that cabletelevision cannot reach and the first Pay TV provider offer the high definition television VTCaccounts for a large slide of Pay TV Market with more than 400,000 subscribers.

The statistics data pointed out the rate of families that use pay-TV services in Vietnam is stilllow just 16% in comparison with that number of 40 – 60% in the Asia Region Withapproximately 20 million TV subscribers in 2011, of about 3.2 million) are pay-TV Viet Namoffer the huge great and potential market of Pay TV provider

In that circumstance, Pay TV providers have great opportunities as well as challenges Anyunit which supplies the good services and optimally satisfy needs of customers will get thesuccess and defeat other competitors

I.2 Rationale

As a huge potential market, Viet Nam Pay TV market also contain many obstacles andchallenges that prevent pay TV providers running their business as well as preventVietnamese customers to fully enjoy the great features of Pay TV services Challenges of VietNam Pay TV market includes:

- Regulatory platform: Due to the fast growth of Pay TV market, the current legal

framework for this market decreases the transparency between the providers This lead

to unfair competitions between Pay TV suppliers This result in the damage ofcustomers due to the lack of agreement and regulations among Pay TV suppliers

- The content and the quality of Pay TV services not pacing with its blooming: It is said

that the potential of Pay TV has triggered the second “gold rush” after the blooming ofMobile service Within ten years of development there are more than 50 televisionproviders now Major Pay TV suppliers offer 50 to 100 channels However, theproduction capacity does not parallel with the growth of Pay TV With 170 TVchannels of all kinds available in Vietnam This is not sufficient to meet marketdemand The local produced channel is low quality The poor contents and theprogrammers full of advertisement disappoint the viewer In addition, the signal ofsome channels also be less due to the providers technology platform

- Intellectual property rights: Some providers to take the competitive advantages against

other ones even broadcast the unlicensed channels and programmers that could besuddenly ordered to stop

- Vietnamese consuming habit: Vietnamese doesn’t have the habit of paying money to

watch television Vietnamese people for long watching television under the costcovering of Government Now, together with the open market and the rapiddevelopment of technology, Pay TV appears in Vietnam To fully explore the market

as well as to make Pay TV as a fair play ground for Pay TV providers Vietnamesepeople should be well informed and taught about Pay TV and Pay TV culture

1 Data from Globaltrade.net

The above mention characteristics of Pay TV market in Vietnam show that in spite of the factthat the market is huge potential, there are many obstacles that Pay TV providers need toovercome The market size of Pay TV is big and potential The number of TV Providers inVietnam also quickly increases The number reaches more than 60 pay TV providers now sothe competitions between Pay TV suppliers become fierce In the period of fierce competition,customer service is one of the great weapons to defeat other competitors Good customerservices bring the business more benefit than expected That is the reason why I chose TVcustomer service quality for my thesis.

I.3 Methodologies

I.3.1 Data Collection

Types of data to support assessing quality services and enhance customer services in VTCinclude both primary and secondary data

Primary Data is collected by me via survey by email with the sample of 140 TV customerswho using VTC TV services and having registered to receive service information at ourservice website: www.hdtv.vtc.vn

Secondary data is collected from the second hand source such as: Marketing Principles byPhillip Kotler, Journal Marketing service The market data is collected from VTC subscribermanagement Some other data information, theories are from trustful websites

I.3.2 Research Method

For the purpose of this thesis, it is used both quantitative and qualitative methods Doinganalysis for this thesis, the thesis needs to deal with two major parts Firstly it thoroughlyreviews the service quality assessment and customer service theory Then the background oftheories is applied to assessing the TV service quality The conclusion would base on both theempirical studies and theoretical reasoning

It thoroughly reviews the customer service quality with the information both from internal andexternal customer the general method utilized in this part would be Qualitative Theconclusion would be based on both the empirical studies and theoretical reasoning Secondly,the internal and external analysis needs to be performed to form the base for the strategy So

in this part, quantitative data is mostly used, either primary or secondary to find out theconclusions

I.4 Objective of research

The ultimate goal of this thesis is assessing the TV customer service quality in VTC andbasing on that result suggesting the solutions to improve the TV service quality

To achieve that goal, this Thesis needs to find out the answer for the following questions:

- What is the assessment of VTC’s customers about the quality of VTC TelevisionCustomer Services? Describe the strength and the weakness of services

- How to improve or enhance the current situation? Depending on this thesis, whatshould be a suitable solution for VTC Television service’s improvement?

To answer the questions and to reach the research goals, it achieves the followingobjectives:

- Demonstrate the important roles of customers to any services providers in general and

to VTC in particularly

- Analysis the good point and the weak point of VTC TV customers servicecurrently With outcomes from data analysis and interviewed, recommend solutions toenhance the customer services

I.5 Research scope and limitations

With the purpose to enhance the TV customer service quality in VTC, the thesis is determinedthe field of study: Customer Service and Service quality

In VTC, Pay TV Services includes three VTV’s Subsidiaries includes:

1) VTC Digital providing the recording equipments;

2) VTC Broadcasting center: In charge of broadcasting and producing TV programmers;3) VTC Care: Be responsible for the customer services

To collect information to prove the thesis and personnel point of view a survey is completedwith both internal and external interviews The internal interview is carried out with thepersonnel of the above mentioned units Similarly to that the data can be collected from insideand outside

I.6 Structure of thesis:

This thesis includes five chapters and two appendixes:

CHAPTER II : THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEWCHAPTER III : THE CURRENT SITUATION IN VTC

CHAPTER IV : RESEARCH FINDINGS

CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW

II.1 Overview about customer service

II.1.1 Definitions of customers:

In the simple manner customers are defined as:

A person, company, or other entity which buys goods and services produced by anotherperson, company, or other entity 1 or A party that receives or consumes products (goods orservices) and has the ability to choose between different products and suppliers2

Erwind Frand defined customers from different aspect, his definition of customers emphasize

on the very important role of customers to the business:

“Every company’s greatest assets are its customers, because without customers there is nocompany,”

Erwin Frand

And according to what are described in the book “Principle of Marketing” Philip Kotler et al,customers are illustrated with the following Ten Commandments:

1. The customer is the most important person in my business

2. The customer is not dependent on us; we are dependent on him

3. A customer is not an interruption of our work; he is the purpose of it

4. A customer does us a favour when he calls; we are not doing him a favour by

5. Serving him

6. The customer is part of our business, not an outsider

7. The customer is not a cold statistic; he is a flesh and blood human being with

8. Feelings and emotions like ours

9. The customer is not someone to argue or match wits with

10. The customer brings us his wants; it is our job to fill those wants

11. The customer is deserving of the most courteous and attentive

12. Treatment we can give him

13. The customers the lifeblood of this, and every other, business

1 Definition from websitehttp://www.investorwords.com

2 Definition from website http://www.businessdictionary.com

So, in brief, customers is the most important ones of any companies, they are the invaluableproperty of the business Units can make up the products but customers are the one whodecide the existing of the products as well as the existing of the companies Thecomprehensive understanding about customers will be the decisive factors to help yourcompany choose the suitable opportunities and effectively use the company’s resources

II.1.2 The importance role of customers

 Customers pay money for your products, services so that they are the only ones who

create revenue and bring your profit Without customers there will be no money for thecompany operation such as administration fees, salary, the investment, the cost ofcapital…

 It’s not the employer pays the wages The employers only handle the money It is the

customers who pay the wages

 Customers are the center of you whole company operation Customers decide what

and how products be made and the market size It is said that the customers arealways right

 Customers are the target of any companies Without customers, there would be no

income or revenues Nowadays in the competitive and rough market, every companiestry to get the bigger slide of the market share

 Customers also one of the effective Pr channels When you have a satisfactory

customer he or she will be your company, your product’s ambassador He or she willbring you the potential customers By that way your product services soon have theposition in the customer minds

II.1.3 External and Internal Customers

In order to have a competitive product or service, nowadays authors have classified customers

in to internal and external customers With this theory, they consider the internal staff alsocustomers It’s mean that the staff also need to be well – informed, well – served to meet theirneeds, their demands so that they can effectively work and create With the close cooperationbetween departments and the care of company to the staff, they will effort to make the bestproducts and services

The same point between the internal customers and external customers is that both play thevery important role to the success of the business The internal customers statisfy thecustomers with their work bringing indirectly benefits to the business and the externalcustomers buy the products creating income for the business The customers and the talentedstaffs the company needs to retention them all for its develop

The diffence between the internal customers and the external customers is that the externalcustomer have choice to their products But the internal customers don’t have They have touse the products of other staffs or departments in the company to adding their value tocomplete the value of the products The good working condition, and the atmorepher ofsharing and cooperation in the working place will be the condition so that they can do theirgood jobs

To create positive internal customer service, all departments work together cooperatively,agree on processes and procedures, and negotiate expectations Interdependent business unitsmeet each others’ needs, work productively together to meet common goals, and deliver highquality products and service to the external customer

The focus on developing effective internal customer service helps organizations cut costs,increase productivity, improve interdepartmental communication and cooperation, boostemployee morale, align goals, harmonize processes and procedures, replace interdepartmentalcompetition with interdepartmental cooperation and deliver better service to the externalcustomer Excellent service to the external customer is dependent upon healthy internalcustomer service practices

II.1.4 Definition of customer services

Definition 1

Effectively attending to and satisfying a customer’s needs through various channels(personal, phone, mail) by providing helpful assistance and friendly advice before, during andafter a purchase or service the customer is provided1 Or customer service is the ability of thebusiness to offer customers what they want or need

Definition 2

Customer service is normally designed for the customers for providing new information tothem related to the products and services2 to winning and retaining customers The mostcritical activity of any organization wishing to stay in business is its approach to dealing withits customers Putting customers at the center of all activities is seen by many as an integralpart of quality, pricing, and product differentiation

On one level, customer care means keeping customers fully informed, turning complaints intoopportunities, and genuinely listening to customers On another level, being a customer-focused organization means ensuring that all activities relating to trading for example,planning, design, production, marketing, and after-sales of a product or service are builtaround the customer, and that every department and individual employee understands andshares the same vision Only then can a company deliver continuous customer satisfaction andexperience good customer relations3

1 Definition from www.goodcustomerservice.org

2

3 Information from http://www.qfinance.com/dictionary/customer-care

Briefly, in today’s intense market, with a product or service customers have many options tochoose Customers care is one of vital activities of the firm to striking new customers as well

as retain the current customers and enhance loyalty of customers to the company That is theimportant target of the company to assure its sustainable development

II.1.5 Customer services and Marketing

Phillip Kotler suggested that if you view a product on three levels it will help you extract allthe benefits that your product offers According to his theory of three levels of product,Customer service is in the third level of augmented product The augmented productconcluding add-ons, guarantees and servicing

Figure 1: Three level of Product Level 1: Core Product

Core product is the most basic level of the product The customers base on this level to decidewhat to buy for the using purpose The producers, service providers answering to the questionwhat to mainly produce or offer to customers is the core product

Level 2: Actual Product

The actual product is the quality level, product and service features, style of the product andthe branding and packing With the same product or services different providers, supplierswill decide to produce and offer to customers at different level of quality, with differentdesign and service features An example of the case is the Iphone by Apple With the product

of smart mobile of calling and receiving the call, Apple already 5different kind of Iphone withthe just different of design, service features and software applications

Level 3: Augmented product

The third level of products is the additional non tangible benefits of product In the situation

of fierce competiontion, the services of the products like the pre-purchase activities,helplines, warranties Etc In the age of technology and the competition price is no longereffective, the above mention services will be the effective competitive tools

Phillip Kotler’s theory of three levels of products point out that the services lying in the thirdlevel of the products/services So to assessing the quality of a product or service only thecomprehensive assessment of the three levels of the product or services can reveal theextent that the service of product satisfy of dissatisfy the customers

For long marketing and customer service are usually separate departments within anycompany However the situation changes now due to the appearance of CustomerRelationship Management Theory of comprehensive customer relationship managementpoint out that customers service and marketing are attached to each other’s and inseparately

In other words, marketing is no longer a business of thinking up clever advertising and directmail pieces Good marketing involves everyone in the company who has contact withcustomers Marketing and customer service are coming together

II.2 Theoretical model of comprehensive customer relationship management 1

It is one of theoretical models on customer relationship management It includes elements of acomprehensive customer relationship development model (1) Customer Service Culture; (2)customer care unit; (3) customer complaints management; (4) public relation activities andawareness campaign and (5) Monitoring of customer satisfaction

1 E-book library Guideline on customer relations management for public wastewater enterprises in Vietnam German Agency for Technical Cooperation

Figure 2: Theoretical model of comprehensive customer relationship management

The interaction of each of these elements can be seen as the key to successful CustomerRelations Management It is said that a successful CRM implementation will allow themanagement and staff to have a more holistic view of the Company’s customers This willenable the company to have information about day-to-day activities and to deliverpersonalized customer care

Successful CRM always starts with a corporate development plan that contains a businessstrategy and an action plan, which drives the needed changes that will result in improvedservice delivery and customer satisfaction

A vital element is the creation of a truly customer centered development philosophy thatinvolves every person employed in the Company

CRM is a system that is driven by both clearly stated objectives and the staff that are in charge

of CRM operations That is why the real value of CRM lies in harnessing the potential ofpeople to create a better experience for the customers of the company

II.2.1 Customer service culture 1

“Every company’s greatest assets are its customers because without customers, there is nocompany” – Ewin Frand

Customer Service Culture is instillation of service tendency in all departments, from sales,transportation and delivery to legal, personnel and other departments

It is important to introduce into the Company, internal processes that draw the staff’sattention away from the perception that their main responsibility is towards meeting theneeds of the provincial administration; by placing greater emphasis upon meeting the needs ofthe community and the customers This process is critical for creating an effective customerservice culture

In this sense, the Company has two main activities: supplying specific and adequate servicesand interacting with the customers who are using these services

The basis for establishing and developing customer service culture

Effective customer service 2

Customer service is a system organized to create a constant link from contacting withcustomer for the first time till the product is delivered, received and used, in order to satisfycustomer needs continuously

An effective customer service comes with regulation Management should develop standardoperating procedures (SOP) to guide staff activities and to monitor the performance ofcustomer services

Management should then disseminate the SOPs and train staff to apply SOPs effectively andappropriately

Management should ensure the allocation of sufficient resources to allow selected and trained staff to serve customers Management should allow authorized staff to take thenecessary action to provide exceptional service and to resolve any issues that made customersdissatisfied Management should identify the methods and the means that are needed toprovide better service Make the customer as an agenda item at every staff meeting andinform regularly to all employees

well-Staff

Staff in charge of customer care must be trained in problem solving skills so they are able to:

- Communicate effectively

- Understand the customer’s problem and

1 E-book library Guideline on customer relations management for public wastewater enterprises in Vietnam German Agency for Technical Cooperation

2 Customer service – Translate from Customer Service Manager - http://marketingchienluoc.com/webpage/139

- Offer options and solutions that are acceptable from the customer’s point of view.

Customer care staff should involve the customer in determining the best option or solution, toensure customer satisfaction

It is important that the management clearly set the limits of the decision-making power thatcan be exercised by the assigned customer care employee Moreover, it is important that once

a decision has been made management will provide strong support, assuring that theemployee can act with confidence and without concern for repercussion, as long as thecustomers’ needs are being met This creates a greater staff motivation directed at serving thecustomer well

Hence, a customer service culture begins at the top All actions and comments ofmanagement must reflect a strong commitment to raising the level of customer care It isimportant to ensure that all policy statements, procedures, manuals, memos from the directorand supervisory visits must reflect this commitment to develop a consistent customer serviceculture

II.2.2 Customer care unit (CCU)

Customer care is a part of marketing Purpose of customer care is to please existing customers

by serving them the way they want

Keeping an existing customer is ten times easier and cheaper than conquering a newcustomer

Every aspect of products and services you offer plays a key role in customer satisfactionunder one of following forms:

- Product factor (right goods, right price)

- Convenience factor (right place, right time)

- Human factor (properly)

Listen to customer complaints and take measures to tackle the problem early by:

- Monitor customers’ complaints

- Survey customers’ idea

Customer care is a philosophy, in which customers are cared until they are customers of thecompany Customer care is not only seen as a relief of complaints or discomfort Show yourattention right from the beginning and customers will have a strong attachment to yourproduct and service

Role of Customer care unit

The customer care unit (CCU) is the central point within the Company to develop, maintainand apply the strategies, means and methods for developing the best possible,

- Customer relations,

- Community participation and

- The management of customer complaints

II.2.3 Customers complaints management 1

The complaints management system is an integral part of the Company’s commitment to thedelivery of quality services Receiving and managing complaints, comments andrecommendations from the Company’s customers and from the general public alike, provides

an opportunity, not only to resolve problems, but also to prevent any recurrence and improveservices through customer feedback

Effective complaint resolution is the best way to improve the public’s perception of theCompany’s professionalism and integrity

CCU staff needs to get full management support in implementing the internal customercomplaints system efficiently and effectively Staff must be trained and empowered to takethe agreed action and have a clear understanding of when to channel issues outside their area

of responsibility and remit to the appropriate line departments

Roles of customer complaints management

- Customer satisfaction: Organizations can improve customer satisfaction by creating anoriented customer environment, willing to receive feedback (including complaints),resolving complaints and improving capacity of organizations in its products and customerservice improvement

- Attention of managers: The standard requires the commitment of leaders through theprovision and deployment of resources, including training activities

- Brand reputation: a complaints management system proves that with awareness andrespond to needs and expectations of complaint, an organization has necessary processes

to address, analyze and review complaints in order to improve product quality andcustomer service

- Prestige enhancement: complaint management system enables organizations to ensureeffectively that responsibilities and procedures for handling and reviewing customercomplaints are implemented in reality

- Improvement of customers’ confidence: through applying the complaint managementsystem, capability of maintaining customer’s loyalty is improved Customers feelconfident in the commitment of the organization in handling and compensation for anyrequest or any complaints

1 E-book library Guideline on customer relations management for public wastewater enterprises in Vietnam German Agency for Technical Cooperation

- Performance increase: The adoption and maintenance of management system ensureconsistency in process of resolving complaints, and improve operations of theorganization.

- Relationship improvement: the complaint management system helps organizations usecustomer-oriented approach in addressing, analyzing and reviewing customer complaintsand encourage personnel to improve their behaviour and skills as working with clients

Five-principle framework for customer complaint handling 1

It includes Commitment, Fairness, Effectiveness, Accessibility and Accountability

a) Commitment

There should be a commitment at all levels of the Company to support a complaint solutionsystem that includes:

- Acknowledging that customers have a right to complain,

- Openly seeking feedback from customers, and

- Having a written policy and standard operating procedures about handling complaints.b) Fairness

Complaint handling should be fair to all parties, and must allow everyone’s views to be heardand taken into account in a balanced way

- The complaint handling system should be easily accessible to all customers

- Information about how to make a complaint should be readily available and simple tounderstand

- It should not cost your customer anything to make a complaint

e) Accountability

- Ensure timely response to every complaint made by any person or institution

1 E-book library Guideline on customer relations management for public wastewater enterprises in Vietnam German Agency for Technical Cooperation

- Recurring and systemic problems, which become known through the complaint handlingsystem, should be identified and rectified.

II.2.4 Public relation activities and public awareness 1

The CCU is responsible for implementing public campaigns aiming for dissemination ofinformation and/or public awareness rising, which can be implemented through theCompany’s own resources or by engaging with other grass root organizations

Public relations concept

PR is a very flexible communication tool in field of marketing communication: direct sales or

by phone, supporting activities and exhibitions PR is now widely used by organizations fromnonprofits to commercial activities: charity organizations, political parties, businesses,entertainment areas, medical sectors…

According to Fraser P Seitel – a PR expert, public relations is a planned process to influencepublic opinion, through sound character and proper performance, based on mutuallysatisfactory two-way communication

PR’s main role

Main role of PR is to help companies convey messages to their clients and important targetaudience When transmitting these messages, PR helps products to enter the customer’sperception, or more specifically, to help customers easily look back on a brand

Pr Melvin Sharpe gives out five principles applying PR process.

Honest communication for credibility

(1) Openness and consistent actions to build public confidence

(2) Fairness of actions for reciprocity and goodwill

(3) Continuous two-way communication to prevent alienation and to build relationships(4) Environmental research and evaluation to determine the actions or adjustments needed

to create social harmony

Public mass media management

The CCU staff should develop standard operating procedures that will ensure that it cancommunicate efficiently and effectively its information about the Company’s activities to itscustomers and to the public alike

Initial programs should cover the following:

- A public awareness program to introduce the new services and tariff levels to beimplemented on start-up of systems,

1 Sum up from http://vietnambranding.com/thuong_hieu.php?id=103&category=26&cat=26

- Implementation of a customer survey to determine attitudes and opinions with regard toCompany performance (base line survey),

- Preparation of a customer contract or charter

This process can be assisted by the application of the six key indicators listed below:

- Compatibility – are goals similar to supportive of the Company informational goals?

- Portability – does the effort work strictly on a local level or in a small area, and can it beused to target audience

- Expense – is the activity cost effective?

- Impact – what are the impacts from the existing related program?

- Cooperation – does the program have partners and what value do the partnership(s)provide? And

- Partnership – can the program provide partnership opportunities for the Company andhow?

Types of marketing communications

Types of marketing communications include advertising, sales promotion, public relations,personal selling, direct marketing…

(1) Advertising is efforts aimed at influencing behaviour and habits of consumers and

customers by providing sales message convincing about products or services of the seller

- Advertising through mass media such as television, press, Internet, Radio

- Advertising via mail

- Advertise on flyers, posters, posters or banners

- Advertise on product packaging

- Word of mouth advertising This advertising form is one which advertisers want to achievebecause of greater efficiency and no cost investment However, they can only achieve in thecourse of providing products and services to market with prestige and quality

Direct marketing

According to definition of United States Direct Marketing Association (U.S DMA),

“Marketing Direct is interactive system of marketing which uses one or more advertisingmedia to affect a measurable response and/or transaction at any location

Methods of direct marketing

- Direct mail marketing

- Direct Marketing by Catalogue

- Telemarketing

- Door-to-door marketing

- Direct response advertising

II.2.5 Monitoring customer satisfaction 1

Definition of customer satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is customer’s assessment of a product or service whether it meets needsand expectations of the five–component model

To obtain data on customer satisfaction, there are many methods to collect data such asinvestigation by direct interview, investigation through computer networks, investigating viapolls

The general requirements of designing the questionnaire

(1) Clearly identify objectives before designing research questionnaire

(2) Question must be simple, easy to answer, consistent with respondent and with researchobjectives

(3) Good and clear lay-out

(4) Create favourable conditions for using computers to process information

(5) Encourage respondents to answer questions

(6) Create favourable conditions for investigator to easily perform tasks

Steps of designing survey form

To get a good survey form, it should implement the following steps:

- Step 1: derive from objective of issue and research scope Results of this analysis step

allow identifying a list of questions for gathering information

1 (Asubonteng et al., 1996; Buttle, 1996; Robinson, 1999)

- Step 2: arrange in order of prior questions identified in step 1 Based on this, balance with

financial capability for research; we determine the official list of sample questionsincluded in the survey form

- Step 3: assess each question according to these criteria: whether respondent is able to

understand, to answer, and want to answer questions

- Step 4: define terms used for questions

- Step 5: determine structure of the survey form.

Upon completed survey form, it is often implement test survey in advance On that basis, itwill be added or fixed for perfect form

The CCU should be in charge of the customer survey and it should consult with otherdepartments on the details of the survey Customer surveys can focus upon:

- An overall assessment of performance,

- Customer complaints,

- A broad review of affordability, and

- Assessment of the public’s general awareness about wastewater management

II.3 Service quality

II.3.1 The characters of services

Services different from products in five following points1 :

- Intangibility: Because services are formed with a lot of performances not objects so thatservices are intangible we can not count, measure, inventory services and it is difficult tocontrol, evaluate services quality

- Heterogeneity: Quality services are formed with the factors like human factors, customersand services environment that beyond the control of the services suppliers so services areheterogeneous Besides, Services are formed with series of performance but the performancechange day to day, producer to producer and customer to customer and what the firm intends

to deliver may be entirely different from what the consumer ???

- Inseparability: Production and consumption of many products, services are attached to eachothers Services are consumed just once time only not repeat and the services are also limited

by time or space

With the above mentioned characters, the services also are classified into two different levels:

1 Journal of Marketing, Vol 49, pp 41-50.

- The basic services: this level of service meets the basic needs of the customers The basicservices satisfy the main needs of customers, the basic services are the reasons why customersbuy products So that the basic services make the consumers choose that kind of products butnot the product’s suppliers

- The secondary services: the secondary services combine both the tangible and intangiblefactors due to the customer services Thank to the secondary services the suppliers distinguishtheir products with that of the competitors The secondary services are various and they aremore and more improved to catch up with the rough competition in the market The secondaryservices help the suppliers enhance their competitive capacity It helps to distinguish thedifferent suppliers

II.3.2 Customer's expectation

Customer Expectation

Expectation

Expectations have a central role in influencing customer satisfaction with services, and these

in turn are determined by a very wide range of factors These factors are mainly divided intothree groups include Personal needs, previous experience and words of mouthcommunication

Maslow’s theory of needs divide personal needs into five level1

Figure 5: Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Model

Abraham Maslow based on the assumption that there is a hierarchy of five need within eachindividual, the urgency of these need varies respectively physiological needs, safety needs,social needs, esteem needs till self-actualization need

Previous experience

Many people will have had service encounters before Their previous experience will in partinfluence their future expectations of the service This can include their past experience of theservice in question, but also of other services – for public services, expectations will beinfluenced by experience of similar private services

Word of mouth communications

Expectations will be shaped by communications from sources other than the service provideritself This can include family, friends and colleagues, but more widely the media and otherorganizations, such as audit agencies

Customers’ expectation is basically formed basing on three above mentioned groups of factor.But in fact, expectation is also defined by the time, the effort and the money that thecustomers have invested into

Understanding the foundations to compose the customer’s Expectation will help toimprove the service quality by focussing on providing what customers really need aswell as the important role of PR activities in customers services, and the importance

of providing service right and on time from the beginning

1 The theory from http://www.managementstudyguide.com/

II.3.3 Service quality Model

According to a group of authors include Parasurman, Zeithaml and Berry, Service quality isthe gap between what customers expect (customers ‘expectation) and what customers

perceive (customers’ perception) from products in reality (Parasurman, Zeithaml and Berry,

1985- 1988)

In this theory of these authors the service quality can be defined basing on 5 gaps existingboth in internal and external organization (Organization and consumer environment) asillustrated as the following diagram:

Figure 6: Service quality Model

The key points for each gap can be summarized as follows:

Gap 1: The difference between what customers expect and the organization’s perception aboutcustomer’s expectation, these may result from the lack of market/customers survey or in thegeneral the resource constraint, market conditions The producers, suppliers need to contact,build more contacting channel to understand the needs and the requirements of theircustomers

Gap 2: The difference between management’s perceptions of customer expectations and thetranslation of those perceptions into service quality specifications and designs

Gap 3: The difference between specifications or standards of service quality and the actualservice delivered to customers The sale forces, the forces directly contact with the customersGap 4: The difference between the service delivered to customers and the promise of the firm

to customers about its service quality for example products are not the same like what to beadvertised or praised through Pr channel These make customers disappointed and lose theirbelief in the suppliers

Gap 5: the combination of 4 above gap makes the difference between the customer

expectations and perception about service quality

Gap 5 = Gap 1 + Gap 2 + Gap 3 + Gap 4

From the five gaps the group of authors define the determinants that customers base on/reply

on them to perceive about the service quality:

Figure 7: The 10 determinants of service quality (Parasuraman, Zeithaml, Berry, 1985).

The above model cover all the aspects of service quality, however it hard to analysis andassessing In 1988, Parasuramen ET all had edited and draws up the new model just with fivedeterminants:

- Reliability: the ability to show the suitable service and on time Reliability involves

consistency of performance and dependability It means that the firm performs the serviceright from the beginning It also means that the company honours its promises

- Responsiveness: Responsiveness involves the willingness or readiness of employees toprovide service It shows by the way that the staff response to the requirements of customersfor example: calling the customer back quickly; or setting up appointment soon, the ability tosolve the customers’ complaint

- Tangible include the physical evidence of the services for example the physical facilities, the

uniform of the staff, tools or equipment used to provide the service, the show rooms, the roomfor guests