Health Care Services Marketing: A Focus On Service Encounters

The Significance of Service Encounter in Health Care Services Marketing

Discuss about the Health Care Services Marketing.

A service industry is based on the customer’s experience and the feedback of them. The service encounter of any organization refers to the judgment of the people of the particular brand according to their experience of the service provided by that organization. In other way, the service encounter entails the customer’s feedback in terms of their emotion and the economical value of the service provided by the organization.  The prior objective of any service organization needs to be the customer satisfaction as customers are the key factor of the service industry for existence.  The following essay discusses the issue of service encounter in the light of the context of an Australian health service organization and the managerial implications of the same

The flow chart shows the numerous processes that a patient and his family go through after arriving the health care service center or precisely a hospital. This process includes direct as well as the indirect involvement of the patient. This is the responsibilities of the management to look after the processes and the encounter of the patient and the effective outcome from the same.  The management of the organization requires designing their service process in such a way that will be able transform the neutral feedback of the customers to the positive one after entering the organization premises.  

The customers’ experience and the feedback are to be managed delicately and properly as it is considered to be holding utmost significance for the organization. For example, if the doctors or the nurses are not available to attend the patient it projects a negative impact on them regarding the service of the organization (Petzer et al., 2012). They can even think the organization to be irresponsible. The significance of the duration also can be influential or the organization. The organizational authority needs to ensure the customers that there are no separate parts of the same process are to be gone through. The slow and time-consuming proceeding of the customers to meet the doctor also can influence customer experience, which can cause the customer not to suggest the particular organization to anyone. The customer service desk in the organization is however, projects the initial effect of the services provided by the organization on the customers (Chang, Chen & Lan, 2013). The customers are likely to be found enquiring about the many things such as availability of the doctor, timings, and payments issues and so on. The reaction and the reply of the service desk executive create great influence on the customers. They can often feel that they are taken for granted by the organization if they find the service of the executives inappropriate (Shearer, 2012).

Managing Customers’ Experience and Feedback in Health Care Services Marketing

Every service that the organization provides to the customers from appointment to the treatment is able to portray both positive and negative impact on the customers. The requirements and the demands are the prior factor that that is responsible for portraying the image of the organization in the mind of the customers. The service encounters of the customers are one of the major factors that indicate the growth of the organization and this can be considered as the ideal platform for the organization to prove their service best to the customers (Zaim, Bayyurt & Zaim, 2013).

The service providing organization must focus on the service encounters in order to understand their performance as a service industry as well as the customer’s feedback. The service encounter of the customer is ton only qualitative and can be measured mathematically. There are some qualitative factors too that are responsible for both positive and the negative effect on the customers. The managerial implications are recommended to the company to make a good impression of their service on the customers as well as in the market (Mok, Sparks, & Kadampully, 2013). However, the customers set the market for the any service industry.

The initial effect on that service encounter of the customer can make huge impact on the company by affecting the market share and the return on investment, as these factors are directly responsible for the branding choice by the customer (Amin & Zahora Nasharuddin, 2013). The first factor that influences the service encounter of the customer is the trust for the brand. For example, an old brand can be more popular and have better feedback than a new one with all the new technological facilities. This is where the issue of trust works. Thus, it is suggested to the organization to build a relationship with the customers of trust. Payments is another major factor influencing the service encounter of the customers (Osborne, Radnor & Nasi, 2013). Payment for the service often can arise as the major issue affecting the customers’ reliance on the brand. The management of the organization is implicated to give special attention to the process regarding payments, which can return effective outcome for the organization. Customer satisfaction is another major factor that the management team of the organization must keep in mind (Al-Abri & Al-Balushi, 2014). Providing satisfaction to the customers regarding the service must be the prior focus of the organization. Again, customer satisfaction is based on the service treatment provided by the company. Providing the customer, the numerous FAQ pamphlets can be helpful in this regard.  

Factors Affecting Service Encounter in Health Care Services Marketing

The management of the health care organization must take it under consideration that the interpersonal experience of the customer regarding the service encounter. This kind of experience is based on the interpersonal medical service encounter, which can directly affect the satisfaction of the patient (Pai & Chary, 2013).  The study of the Better Health Channel shows that the patients often judge the service of the health care center according to the communication attitude and the professional attitude of the professional personnel. The good interaction and the behavior of the professional personnel often seem to project positive influence on the customers.  Thus, the management of the organization is suggested to look into the matter of the interpersonal experience of the customer regarding service encounter. The enhancement of the professional skill and the communication attitude towards the patients are recommended to the management (Fisk, 2013). The research and the study of the service quality of Better Health Channel shows that such organizations need to be the prime focus of the management.

Therefore, it can be concluded from the above essay that the service encounter by the customers are the central responsible factors for creating the impact in the market based on the customer feedback.  The customers are seemed to give their feedback of the service quality according to their experience inside the organization premises. The service quality of the organization depends on internal factors such as the professional attitude and the external factors such as the surroundings inside the center that engages the customers in various activities to make them comfortable while waiting for the organization. The case study of the Better Heath Channel shows that the organization provides numerous involvement processes to diminish the feeling of the uncomfortable and boring. There are several managerial implications given in Th essays that can help any organizations to improve the service quality and enable the customers to giver better service feedback. This can be stated in the conclusion that the management of health care organization must focus on the service encounter of the customer for potential success in the industry.

References

Amin, M., & Zahora Nasharuddin, S. (2013). Hospital service quality and its effects on patient satisfaction and behavioural intention. Clinical Governance: An International Journal, 18(3), 238-254.

Chang, C. S., Chen, S. Y., & Lan, Y. T. (2013). Service quality, trust, and patient satisfaction in interpersonal-based medical service encounters. BMC health services research, 13(1), 22.

Fisk, R. P. (2013). Lmpression Management 26 In Services Marketing: A Dramaturgical Perspective. Impression management in the organization, 427.

Mok, C., Sparks, B., & Kadampully, J. (2013). Service quality management in hospitality, tourism, and leisure. Routledge.

Osborne, S. P., Radnor, Z., & Nasi, G. (2013). A new theory for public service management? Toward a (public) service-dominant approach. The American Review of Public Administration, 43(2), 135-158.

Pai, Y., & T. Chary, S. (2013). Dimensions of hospital service quality: A critical review: Perspective of patients from global studies. International journal of health care quality assurance, 26(4), 308-340.

Petzer, D. J., De Meyer, C. F., Svari, S., & Svensson, G. (2012). Service receivers’ negative emotions in airline and hospital service settings. Journal of Services Marketing, 26(7), 484-496.

Al-Abri, R., & Al-Balushi, A. (2014). Patient satisfaction survey as a tool towards quality improvement. Oman medical journal, 29(1), 3.

Shearer, B., Marshall, S., Buist, M. D., Finnigan, M., Kitto, S., Hore, T., … & Ramsay, W. (2012). What stops hospital clinical staff from following protocols? An analysis of the incidence and factors behind the failure of bedside clinical staff to activate the rapid response system in a multi-campus Australian metropolitan healthcare service. BMJ Qual Saf, bmjqs-2011.

Zaim, H., Bayyurt, N., & Zaim, S. (2013). Service quality and determinants of customer satisfaction in hospitals: Turkish experience. International Business & Economics Research Journal (IBER), 9(5).