Perceptions of the Service Experience: Using Demographic and Psychographic Variables to Identify Customer Segments

While the game is generally considered the most important factor influencing sport spectators, insights can be gained about how customers, especially different customer segments, view the physical facility and service personnel. The purpose of this study was to investigate how the demographic independent variables age, gender, household income and family size, and the psychographic variable of team identification to affect customer perceptions of three service experience elements: the physical facility, the core product, and service personnel. Results from a sample of 218 minor league hockey spectators revealed that age, gender, household income, and team identification all influenced customer perceptions of one or more elements of the service experience. These findings give minor league hockey marketers a better understanding of how to identify customer segments and which service experience elements need to be better marketed to increase satisfaction of different customer segments.