What specific marketing problems are experienced by a provider of high-contact services that are not experienced by a provider of low-contact services?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Customer contact refers to the level of interaction between a service provider and a customer that is necessary to deliver a service. High-contact services include health care, real estate, legal, and spa services. These services generally involve actions directed toward people, who must be present during production. When a customer must be present, the process of production may be just as important as its final outcome. High-contact services typically require that the customer go to the production facility. Thus, the physical appearance of the facility may be a major component of the customer's overall evaluation of the service. Employees of high-contact service providers are part of a very important ingredient in creating satisfied customers. A fundamental precept of customer contact is that satisfied employees lead to satisfied customers. To minimize the problems that customer contact can create, service organizations must take steps to understand and meet the needs of employees by training them adequately, empowering them to make more decisions, and rewarding them for customer-oriented behavior.
Not all services require a high degree of customer contact, but many do. Examples of low-contact services are tax preparation, auto repair, travel reservations, and dry cleaning. Technology has enabled many service-oriented businesses to reduce their level of customer contact. Even in low-contact service situations, the appearance of the facility is important because the customer likely will need to be present to initiate and finalize the service transaction.