PHYSICAL EVIDENCE IN SERVICES

Module 6
WHAT IS PHYSICAL EVIDENCE? LIST THE IMPORTANCE OF IT.
 Physical evidence is the environment in which the service is delivered and where the
firm and the customer interact and any tangible commodities that facilitate
performance or communication of the service.
 Elements of the services cape that affect customers include both exterior attributes
(such as parking, landscape) and interior attributes (such as design, layout,
equipment, and decor).
The importance of Physical evidence
 It attracts the customer by physical goods/commodities availability.
 Creating good impression.
 Increased productivity.
 Differentiation from competitors.
 Repositioning of service
 Which allows the customer to make judgments on the organization?
 The ability and environment in which the service is delivered
 Consumers will make perceptions based on their sight of the service provision which
will have an impact on the organizations perceptual plan of the service.

PRADEEP,Asst Professor, KSSEM -18MBAMM301 SERVICES MARKETING MODULE-6

 PHYSICAL EVIDENCE IN SERVICES

DEFINE SERVICESCAPE.
Servicescape is the actual physical environment where the service is performed, delivered,
and consumed.
or
Servicescape as "the environment in which the service is assembled and in which the seller
and customer interact, combined with tangible commodities that facilitate performance or
communication of the service.

DETERMINE THE VARIOUS TYPES OF SERVICESCAPE. Explain more

Various types of Servicescapes with neat examples
1. Self-service environment:
2. Interpersonal services:
3. Remote service:
Self-service environment:
Customer performs most of the activities and few if any employees are involved.
These services are dominated by customer presence in the servicescape and their actions.
The customers acquire service on his or her own. ATMs, fast-food centre, and movie
theatres are the examples of the self-service environment. The creation of physical
environment must focus on customer needs. The customer must find the facility attractive,
easy to use, and emotionally satisfying.
EX: Movie theatre, ATM, Fast food.

Interpersonal services:
Both customer and employee must be present in the servicescape. In this type of
servicescape both employees and customers are given adequate importance. The examples
of these services include restaurant, hotel, health clinics, banks and airlines. The
servicescape should contribute to social interactions between and among customers and
employees
Ex: Restaurant, hotels ,educational institute

PRADEEP,Asst Professor, KSSEM -18MBAMM301 SERVICES MARKETING MODULE-6

 PHYSICAL EVIDENCE IN SERVICES

Remote service:
Employee only performs with little or no customer involvement with the servicescape. In
these services only employees perform the action in service scape as these services are used
by the customer from the distance. The example of remote services includes telephone,
insurance, utility services and mail order. The servicescape must pay attention to their
needs, efficiency, motivation and satisfaction.
Mail order ,telecommunication utilities

WRITE A NOTE ON ROLES OF SERVICE SCAPES:

1. Package
2. Facilitator
3. Socializer
4. Differentiator
Package
 The servicescape is the outward appearance of the organization and thus
can be critical in forming initial impressions or setting up customer
expectations
 Packages communicate the external image of the service to consumers. A
service is created and provided in a physical environment. The service
provider and customers interact in service firm’s physical environment.
The tangible elements such as visiting cards, billing statements, website
etc., of the service firm complement the service offering.
 The outward appearance of the service firm is the visual aspect of the
intangible service. The appearance of the personnel, their uniforms or
dress and other elements perform the function of a tangible product’s
package.

o conveys expectations

o influences perceptions
Facilitator
The servicescape facilitates the performances of persons in the environment. In

PRADEEP,Asst Professor, KSSEM -18MBAMM301 SERVICES MARKETING MODULE-6

PHYSICAL EVIDENCE IN SERVICES

the properly designed service setting, service activities will flow efficiently. A
well-designed functional facility makes the experience of the customer a
pleasant one. The service employee also finds his job pleasant. When the
physical facility is poor, both employees and customers get frustrated.

For example, an international air traveler is dissatisfied with poorly designed

airport. An airport with few signs, poor ventilation and poor catering facilities
will cause utmost inconvenience to him. His visit to the airport will be
disappointing. The employees working there will also be demotivated. Besides,
the passenger seat comfort of the aircraft is a very significant factor in
determining passengers’ comfort.

o facilitates the flow of the service delivery process

o Provides information (how am I to act?)

o Facilitates the ordering process (how does this work?)

o Facilitates service delivery

Socializer

 The design of the servicescape helps in the socialization of both employees

and customers in the sense that it helps to convey expected roles,
behaviours, and relationships.
 The design of the servicescape has some tangible of the intangible service.
For example, building area, customer information, sign boards, equipment,
waiting room, pay phone, brochures, reports, billing statements, etc.
 These evidences are to be properly used by the service employees in
discharge of their duties.
 The servicescape helps to convey expected roles, behavior and relationships
among service personnel. Equipment, furniture and fittings have
functionality. Here, functionality means the ability of the furnishings and
fittings to facilitate the accomplishment of the employee and customer
goals.

PRADEEP,Asst Professor, KSSEM -18MBAMM301 SERVICES MARKETING MODULE-6

PHYSICAL EVIDENCE IN SERVICES

 For example, in a coffee house, many customers tend to spend time

socializing rather than coming in only for a quick cup of coffee. Comfortable
lounge chairs and tables set in perfect ambiance encourage socializing,
interaction and a longer stay.

o facilitates interaction between:

o customers and employees

o customers and fellow customers

Differentiator
 The servicescape acts as a differentiator. The design of the physical
facility varies with service firms. Physical environment differentiates a
service organisation from its competitors. It is directed at the market
segment to which the service is intended for. Such differentiation is done
even within the service firm itself.
 The seats on an air flight are designed to differentiate business class
from economy class. In shopping malls, the signage, the colours used in
decor and displays and type of channel music all are aimed at the
intended market segment.
 A restaurant communicates through its servicescape its differentiation
for individual customer and family members. Price differentiation is also
achieved through variations in physical setting. Generally, in lodges,
bigger rooms with more amenities cost more.
 Larger seats with more leg room are more expensive on an airplane.
Customers who are willing to pay higher prices can experience the
service in a different environment.

• sets provider apart from competition in the mind of the consumer

EXPLAIN THE GUIDELINES FOR EFFECTIVE STRATEGY OF PHYSICAL

EVIDENCE IN SERVICES!
1. Map the Physical Evidence of Service:

PRADEEP,Asst Professor, KSSEM -18MBAMM301 SERVICES MARKETING MODULE-6

PHYSICAL EVIDENCE IN SERVICES

2. Be Prepared to Update and Modernize the Evidence:

3. Recognize the Strategic Impact of Physical Evidence:
4. Clarify Roles of the Servicescape:
5. Assess and Identify Physical Evidence Opportunities:
6. Work Cross-functionally:

Recognize the Strategic Impact of Physical Evidence:

 For an evidence strategy to be effective it must be linked clearly to the
organization’s overall goals and vision.
 Thus, planners must know what those goals are and then determine how
the evidence strategy can support them.
 At a minimum, the basic service concept must be defined, the target
markets (both internal and external) identified, and the firm’s broad
vision of its future known. Because many evidence decisions are
relatively permanent and costly (particularly servicescape decisions), they
must be planned and executed deliberately.

Map the Physical Evidence of Service:

 Everyone should be able to see the service process and the existing
elements of physical evidence.
 An effective way to depict service evidence is through the service map, or
blueprint.
 From the map one can read the actions involved in service delivery, the
complexity of the process, the points of human interaction that provide
evidence opportunities, and the tangible representations present at each
step.
 To make the map even more useful, photographs or videotape of the
process can be added to develop a photographic blueprint.

PRADEEP,Asst Professor, KSSEM -18MBAMM301 SERVICES MARKETING MODULE-6

PHYSICAL EVIDENCE IN SERVICES

Clarify Roles of the Servicescape:

 Clarifying the roles played by the servicescape in a particular situation
will aid in identifying opportunities and deciding just who needs to be
consulted in making facility design decisions.
 Sometimes the servicescape may have no role in service delivery or
marketing from the customer’s point of view. This is essentially the case
for telecommunication services or express mail services.

4. Assess and Identify Physical Evidence Opportunities:

 Once the current forms of evidence and the roles of the servicescape are
understood, possible changes and improvements can be identified.
 A strategy might be developed to provide more evidence of service to
show customers exactly what they are paying for.
 Or the pricing or the facility design would need to be changed, depending
on the restaurant’s overall strategy.

5. Be Prepared to Update and Modernize the Evidence:

 Some aspects of the evidence, particularly the servicescape, require
frequent or at least periodic updating and modernizing.
 Even if the vision, goals, and objectives of the company don’t change,
time itself takes a toll on physical evidence, necessitating change and
modernization.
 There is clearly an element of fashion involved, and over time different
colours, designs, and styles may come to communicate different
messages. Organizations obviously understand this when it comes to
advertising strategy, but sometimes they overlook other elements of
physical evidence.

6. Work Cross-functionally:

PRADEEP,Asst Professor, KSSEM -18MBAMM301 SERVICES MARKETING MODULE-6

PHYSICAL EVIDENCE IN SERVICES

 In presenting itself to the consumer, a service firm is concerned with

communicating a desired image, with sending consistent and compatible
messages through all forms of evidence, and with providing the type of
service evidence the target customers want and can understand.
 A multifunction team approach to physical evidence strategy is often
necessary, particularly for making decisions about the servicescape. It
has been said that “Facility planning and management… is a problem-
solving activity that lies on the boundaries between architecture, interior
space planning and product design, organizational (and consumer)
behavior, planning.

LIST THE OBJECTIVES AND GOALS OF THE SERVICESCAPE

The objectives of servicescape vary depending on whether service firm’s primary
focus is on customers, employees or the firm itself. The servicescape objective
of the firm operating in the cost-efficiency operational sector is to reduce costs
and increase productivity.

1. Focus on Customers: If the servicescape is designed to focus on the

needs of customers, then the service company has three primary goals it
will want to accomplish with the servicescape: customer attraction,
customer satisfaction, and customer retention.

2. Focus on Employees: If the firm has chosen technical service quality,

the primary goal of the servicescape is to focus on the needs of service
employees, including employee satisfaction, employee motivation and
employee operational efficiency. If employees are happy with the
servicescape in which they work; they will produce a higher level of
service. Although customer needs must be met, the emphasis on facility
design with this approach is toward employees.

PRADEEP,Asst Professor, KSSEM -18MBAMM301 SERVICES MARKETING MODULE-6

 PHYSICAL EVIDENCE IN SERVICES

3. Focus on the Firm: Firms using this cost-efficiency operational

approach will want to design their physical facility to focus on the needs
of the firm. The objective of the physical design is to provide optimal cost
efficiency and productivity.

DETERMINE THE FRAMEWORK FOR UNDERSTANDING SERVICESCAPE & ITS

EFFECT ON BEHAVIOUR.
1. Individual behavior
2. Internal responses to the servicescape
3. Environmental Dimensions of the servicescape

Environmental Dimensions of the servicescape

1. Ambient Conditions
2. Spatial layout & functionality
3. Signs, Symbols, and Artifacts

PRADEEP,Asst Professor, KSSEM -18MBAMM301 SERVICES MARKETING MODULE-6

 PHYSICAL EVIDENCE IN SERVICES

Ambient Conditions
Ambient conditions include background characteristics of the environment such as
temperature, lighting, noise, music, scent, and color. As a general rule, ambient conditions
affect the five senses. Sometimes such dimensions may be totally imperceptible (gases,
chemicals, infrasound) yet have profound effects, particularly on employees who spend long
hours in the environment.

Spatial layout & functionality: Because service environments generally exist to fulfill
specific purposes or needs of customers, spatial layout and functionality of the physical
surroundings are particularly important. Spatial layout refers to the ways in which
machinery, equipment, and furnishings are arranged; the size and shape of those items;
and the spatial relationships among them. Functionality refers to the ability of the same
items to facilitate the accomplishment of customer and employee goals.

Signs, Symbols, and Artifacts : Many items in the physical environment serve as explicit
signals that communicate about the place to its users. Signs displayed on the exterior and
interior of a structure are examples of explicit communicators. They can be used as labels
(name of company, name of department, and so on), for directional purposes (entrances,
exits), and to communicate rules of behavior (no smoking, children must be accompanied
by an adult). Adequate signs have been shown to reduce perceived crowding and stress.
Other environmental symbols and artificial may communicate less directly than signs,
giving implicit cues to users about the meaning of the place and norms and expectations
for behavior in the place. Quality construction materials, artwork, certificates and
photographs, floor coverings, and personal objects displayed in the environment can all
communicate symbolic meaning and create an overall aesthetic impression.

INTERNAL RESPONSES TO THE SERVICESCAPE

Servicescape do not influence behavior directly rather, physical environment influences
behaviour through internal states that are caused by it. The employees and the customers
respond to environmental dimensions cognitively, emotionally and physiologically. It is

PRADEEP,Asst Professor, KSSEM -18MBAMM301 SERVICES MARKETING MODULE-6

 PHYSICAL EVIDENCE IN SERVICES

these states that in turn affect behaviour. Internal responses further consist of three types
which are as follows:-
Internal responses to the servicescape
1. Cognition responses
2. Emotion responses
3. Physiology responses
4. Variations in individual responses

Environment and Cognition

The perceived servicescape can have an effect on people‘s beliefs about a place and their
beliefs about the people and products found in that place. In a sense, the servicescape can
be viewed as a form of nonverbal communication, imparting meaning through what is
called ―object language. For example, particular environmental cues such as the type of
office furniture and décor and the apparel worn by the lawyer may influence a potential
client‘s beliefs about whether the lawyer is successful, expensive, and trustworthy.

Environment and Emotion

In addition to influencing belief, the perceived scapes can directly elicit emotional responses
that, in turn, influencing behaviors. Just being in a particular place can make a person feel
happy, lighthearted, and relaxed, whereas being in another place may make that person
feels sad, depressed and gloomy. The colors, décor, music and other elements of the
atmosphere can have an unexplainable and sometimes very sub consciousness effect on
the moods of people in the place.

Environment and Physiology

The perceived servicescape may also affect people in purely physiological ways. Noise that is
too loud may cause physical discomfort, the temperature of a room may cause people to
shiver or perspire, the air quality may make it difficult to breathe, and the glare of lighting
may decrease ability to see and may cause physical pain. All these physical responses may,
in turn, directly influence whether people stay in and enjoy a particular environment. It is

PRADEEP,Asst Professor, KSSEM -18MBAMM301 SERVICES MARKETING MODULE-6

 PHYSICAL EVIDENCE IN SERVICES

well known that the comfort of seating in a restaurant influences how long people stay. The
hard seats in fast food restaurant cause most people to leave within a predictable period of
time.

Variations in individual responses

In general, people respond to the environment in the ways just described-cognitively,
emotionally, physiologically-and their responses influence how they behave in the
environment. However, the response will not be the same for every individual, every time.
Personality differences as well as temporary conditions such as moods or the purpose for
being there can cause variations in how people respond to the servicescape.

INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR
Environmental psychologists suggest that individual react to places with two general, and
opposite, forms of behavior: approach & avoidance. Approach behaviors include all positive
behaviors that might be directed at a particular place, such as desire to stay, explore, work
and affiliate. Avoidance behaviors reflect the opposite-a desire not to stay, to explore, to
work, or to affiliate.

Social interactions
In addition to its effects on their individual behaviors, the servicescape influences the
nature and quality of customer and employee interactions, most directly in interpersonal
services. It has been stated that ―all social interaction is affected by the physical container
in which it occurs‖. The ―physical container‖ can affect the nature of social interaction in
terms of the duration of interaction and the actual progression of events.

PRADEEP,Asst Professor, KSSEM -18MBAMM301 SERVICES MARKETING MODULE-6

 PHYSICAL EVIDENCE IN SERVICES

Physical Evidence & Servicescape pictures

PRADEEP,Asst Professor, KSSEM -18MBAMM301 SERVICES MARKETING MODULE-6

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