E-tailers deliver services in two phases: before the sale takes place, and after the sale is over. Previous research in behavioral science has suggested that the time sequence of service delivery may affect customer evaluation of service and therefore it may also affect e-satisfaction. To determine how much to invest in pre-sale services relative to post-sale services, e-tailers should examine the impacts of customer satisfaction with services delivered in each phase on repurchase intention and overall service rating. In this paper, we measure these impacts and find that post-sale service has a much stronger impact on customer repurchase intention and overall service ratings compared to service delivered pre-sale. Because of this recency effect (buyers give more weight to e-service they receive late than to e-service received earlier), e-tailers are advised to put a strong emphasis on post-sale service.
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