Saturday, December 27, 2008

5 Facts About Customer Service On The Internet

By Richard Leen

The quality of the internet e-tail service is the real thing that a e-tail business should keep in view. However, firms face several problems in understanding the context of web based commerce. Current notions of service quality and delivering quality service are based largely on research and managerial experience in conventional contexts where customers can physically examine and interact with the products they purchase. In contrast, the nature of customer interactions with products as well as the cues they receive about the firm is likely to be significantly different online. Understanding how customers perceive service quality online and how such perceptions influence perceptions of value and willingness to purchase online.

Furthermore, our current understanding of the phenomenon of e-commerce phenomena comes largely from studies. With online e-tailing becoming increasingly main stream across the globe, information on the phenomenon from an international context is particularly important. Service quality has been recognized as an important strategic e-tailing weapon. Many successful product e-tailers differentiate themselves not through the product they sell but through the service they offer. The quality of a web-based e-tail service depends on the perceived quality of the process of using the web for purchasing as well as the perceived quality of the outcome. Research has suggested that functional service quality influences consumers' willingness to buy directly.

The functional service quality is main contributors of consumers' willingness to buy. Functional service quality also influences technical service quality, which in turn influences product quality. The role of technical service quality is well recognized. It influences not only perception of product quality but also the personal construct of value. Competence (skill and expertise) or product knowledge is important for Perceptions of technical service quality.

Consumers on the web do not regard all web service quality categories as equally important. Some web service quality factors differ from one product category to another while certain factors are regarded as highly important across all the product categories. This highlights the important role of functional and technical dimensions of service quality and their link to perceptions of value and the willingness to buy. The results provide evidence of the moderating effects of product characteristics on the relationships of web service quality to perceived product quality, value, and willingness to buy.

The results provide a broader picture of these relationships in an international context. The multiple web sites in each product category can sharpen results. In addition, understanding how culture affects satisfaction and perceived service quality is an interesting point. The certain potential antecedents of customers' purchase behaviors like customers' buying decision style are uncontrolled because of the limitation of setting. Incorporating these effects may yield useful insights. - 16651

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