Scripts: Precursor of Consumer Expectations

One foundation of customer satisfaction is customer expectations. Those expectations can be regarded as ingredients in a script, or a series of actions that a customer regards as necessary or appropriate to a service transaction. Variations from the script can be a source of dissatisfaction if the dissonant actions are considered important by the customer. Service providers who seek to change elements of their service package would do well to educate customers in advance about those changes, so that the customers can include them in their script expectations. For instance, hoteliers' implementation of automatic check-in machines is a radical departure from the current script for checking into a hotel. While most customers may regard the use of those machines as an improvement, others may be bewildered or outright anxious. Research related in this article found that one way to focus consumers on learning new elements of a script is to present them with an obstacle but not a solution-or a solution but not an obstacle-so that the customer must make the inference about the connection between the two.