The customer gap in the gap theory model is the difference between customer expectations and customer perceptions. Additionally, it occurs because customers don’t always understand what the service has done for them. A similar reason why the gap occurs is as a result of customers misinterpreting the service quality. The difference can happen because of one of the other four gaps. Also, the gap can happen because the customer misperceives the quality of service. Many organizations can be utterly blind to this gap. In a worst-case scenario, it could lead to a business losing a large proportion of their customers overnight. According to the Gap Model of Service Quality, there is no direct way to close the gap. Lastly, it gets closed by closing the other four gaps in the model.
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CUSTOMER EXPECTATION AND CUSTOMER PERCEPTION IN THE CUSTOMER GAP
In the customer gap, businesses need to ensure that customer experience consistently exceeds customer expectations. Customer Expectations are beliefs and assumptions of what an organization’s products, services, and all-round customer service will be. Customer perceptions, however, are how consumers feel and regard the organization’s products or services after experiencing their offering first-hand. Also, in the model, it lies in the difference between customers’ expectations and customers’ perceptions. There are several emotional and physical determinants customers apply when evaluating their experience in the customer perceptions aspect. These determinants include accessibility, reliability, brand image, quality of service, credibility, dependability, responsiveness, and product or service attributes.
HOW THE GAP THEORY MODEL HAS EVOLVED OVER TIME
The gap theory model dates back to the year 1985 with contributions from Leonard Berry, Parasuraman, and Valarie Zeithaml. Berry, Parasuraman, and Valarie Zeithaml published the Conceptual Model of Service Quality and Its Implications for Future Research. Three years later, the two authors published their approach for defining and measuring the quality of service. Their unique contribution called for measuring customer expectations in the customer gap and perceived performance. In 1988 an extended model of service quality was developed by the authors. The model identified a variety of internal factors that affect the level of service quality delivered to the customer. The 1990 model is according to customer expectations, which is in the customer gap in the gap theory model.
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