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Book Details
Abstract
Customer Experience Management for Water Utilities presents a practical framework for water utilities to become more focussed on their customers. This framework is founded on Service-Dominant Logic, a contemporary theory of marketing that explains value creation as a process of co-creation between the customer and the service provider.
Standard models for marketing do not apply to monopolistic water utilities without modification. The first two chapters develop a marketing mix tailored to water utilities to assist them with providing customer-centric services. The water utility marketing mix includes the value proposition, internal marketing, service quality and customer relationships.
he book discusses the four dimensions of the marketing mix. Chapter three presents a template for developing value propositions to assist water utilities in positioning their service. This model is based on the needs and wants of individual customer segments and the type of service. Chapter four discusses internal marketing, activities designed to improve the way utilities add value for customers. This chapter also analyses potential tensions between engineering and science-oriented employees and proposes methods to resolve these tensions. The final chapters describe customer relationships from both a theoretical and practical perspective. The customer experience is a complex phenomenon that is difficult to quantify. The book provides a method to measure the experience of the customer, based on service quality theory and psychometric statistics.
Customer Experience Management for Water Utilities is one of the first books that discusses urban water supply from a marketing perspective. This perspective provides a unique insight into an industry which is often dominated by technological concerns. This book is a valuable resource for Water Utility Managers and Regulators, as well as for Marketing Consultants seeking to assist water utilities to become more customer focussed.
Highly impactful, relevant and useful as these services scramble to become more market oriented in their approach
Professor Ben Lowe, Kent Business School, University of Kent, UK
If you manage, govern, operate, or handle public outreach for a utility, (or have more than a passing interest in such worthy topics), I encourage you to read on. This book is a treasure
Melanie K. Goetz, author of Communicating Water’s Value: Talking Points, Tips & Strategies
Table of Contents
| Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cover | Cover | ||
| Contents | v | ||
| List of Figures | ix | ||
| List of Tables | xi | ||
| About the Author | xiii | ||
| Preface | xv | ||
| Foreword | xix | ||
| About Melanie K. Goetz | xx | ||
| Acknowledgements | xxi | ||
| Chapter 1: Introduction to water utility marketing | 1 | ||
| 1.1 MARKETING THEORY AND PRACTICE | 3 | ||
| 1.1.1 Definitions of marketing | 4 | ||
| 1.1.2 Service-dominant logic | 5 | ||
| 1.1.2.1 First axiom | 6 | ||
| 1.1.2.2 Second axiom | 6 | ||
| 1.1.2.3 Third axiom | 7 | ||
| 1.1.2.4 Fourth axiom | 7 | ||
| 1.1.2.5 Fifth axiom | 8 | ||
| 1.1.2.6 Applying service-dominant logic | 8 | ||
| 1.2 WATER UTILITIES AS PUBLIC SERVICE PROVIDERS | 9 | ||
| 1.2.1 Water as a public good | 10 | ||
| 1.2.2 Natural monopolies | 11 | ||
| 1.2.3 Ownership models | 13 | ||
| 1.2.4 Public service characteristics | 13 | ||
| 1.2.5 Summary | 15 | ||
| 1.3 WATER UTILITY MARKETING | 16 | ||
| 1.3.1 Water utility marketing literature | 17 | ||
| 1.3.1.1 Industry literature | 18 | ||
| 1.3.1.2 Business literature | 18 | ||
| 1.3.1.3 Customer relationships | 19 | ||
| 1.3.1.4 Service failures | 20 | ||
| 1.3.1.5 Service quality | 21 | ||
| 1.4 SYNOPSIS | 21 | ||
| 1.4.1 Sanitation services | 22 | ||
| 1.4.2 Scope of this book | 22 | ||
| 1.4.3 The water utility marketing mix | 22 | ||
| 1.4.4 The value proposition of tap water | 23 | ||
| 1.4.5 Internal marketing | 23 | ||
| 1.4.6 Measuring the customer experience | 24 | ||
| 1.4.7 Customer relationships | 24 | ||
| 1.4.8 Implementing water utility marketing | 25 | ||
| Chapter 2: A marketing mix for water utilities | 27 | ||
| 2.1 THE MARKETING MIX | 28 | ||
| 2.2 WATER UTILITIES AS SERVICE PROVIDERS | 29 | ||
| 2.2.1 Tap water as a service | 31 | ||
| 2.2.2 Industry structure | 32 | ||
| 2.2.2.1 Bargaining power of buyers | 32 | ||
| 2.2.2.2 Bargaining power of suppliers | 33 | ||
| 2.2.2.3 Barriers to entry | 33 | ||
| 2.2.2.4 Threat of substitutes | 34 | ||
| 2.2.2.5 Degree of rivalry | 35 | ||
| 2.2.2.6 Marketing tap water services | 35 | ||
| 2.3 CLASSIFICATION OF SERVICES | 36 | ||
| 2.3.1 Tangibility and intangibility | 37 | ||
| 2.3.2 Service factories | 38 | ||
| 2.3.3 Classifying water utility services | 38 | ||
| 2.4 WATER UTILITY DISCOURSE ANALYSIS | 40 | ||
| 2.4.1 Research method | 40 | ||
| 2.4.2 Results | 43 | ||
| 2.5 THE WATER UTILITY MARKETING MIX | 46 | ||
| 2.5.1 Value proposition | 47 | ||
| 2.5.2 Internal marketing | 48 | ||
| 2.5.3 Customer relationships | 49 | ||
| 2.5.4 Service quality | 50 | ||
| Chapter 3: The value proposition of tap water | 53 | ||
| 3.1 VALUE PROPOSITIONS | 55 | ||
| 3.2 THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF WATER CONSUMPTION | 57 | ||
| 3.2.1 Water consumers | 58 | ||
| 3.2.1.1 Indoor water consumption | 59 | ||
| 3.2.1.2 Outdoor water consumption | 61 | ||
| 3.2.2 Water utilities | 62 | ||
| 3.2.2.1 Tensions between public and private benefits | 63 | ||
| 3.3 WATER UTILITY ADVOCATES AND REGULATORS | 65 | ||
| 3.3.1 Employee attitudes and behaviour | 66 | ||
| 3.3.2 Consumer experience | 67 | ||
| 3.4 CRAFTING VALUE PROPOSITIONS | 69 | ||
| 3.4.1 Engineering and social science | 69 | ||
| 3.4.2 The value proposition canvas | 70 | ||
| 3.4.3 The customer profile | 71 | ||
| 3.4.3.1 Needs | 71 | ||
| 3.4.3.2 Wants | 72 | ||
| 3.4.3.3 Fears | 72 | ||
| 3.4.4 The service | 73 | ||
| 3.4.4.1 Features | 73 | ||
| 3.4.4.2 Benefits | 73 | ||
| 3.4.4.3 Experience | 74 | ||
| 3.4.5 Completing and implementing value propositions | 74 | ||
| Chapter 4: Internal marketing | 77 | ||
| 4.1 CUSTOMER FOCUS IN WATER UTILITIES | 79 | ||
| 4.2 PROFESSIONAL ORIENTATION | 82 | ||
| 4.2.1 Financial hardship | 82 | ||
| 4.2.2 Service bureaucracy | 83 | ||
| 4.2.3 Technical orientation | 84 | ||
| 4.3 ENGINEERING–MARKETING INTERFACE | 85 | ||
| 4.3.1 Engineers and marketers | 86 | ||
| 4.3.2 Sources of conflict | 86 | ||
| 4.3.3 Engineers | 88 | ||
| 4.3.3.1 Engineering ethics | 89 | ||
| 4.3.4 Marketers | 89 | ||
| 4.4 ENGINEERS AND MARKETERS IN WATER UTILITIES | 90 | ||
| 4.4.1 Organisational attitudes | 92 | ||
| 4.4.2 Empirical research | 92 | ||
| 4.4.2.1 Respondent characteristics | 93 | ||
| 4.4.2.2 Professional orientation | 93 | ||
| 4.4.2.3 Engineering–marketing interface | 95 | ||
| 4.4.3 Conclusions | 96 | ||
| 4.5 IMPLEMENTING INTERNAL MARKETING | 97 | ||
| 4.5.1 Using taste testing as internal marketing | 98 | ||
| Chapter 5: Customer relationships | 101 | ||
| 5.1 UNDERSTANDING CUSTOMERS | 102 | ||
| 5.1.1 Value-creation networks | 102 | ||
| 5.1.1.1 Value-creation networks for water utilities | 104 | ||
| 5.1.2 Customer labelling | 105 | ||
| 5.1.2.1 Customer labelling in water utilities | 107 | ||
| 5.1.2.2 The beneficiary of a service | 107 | ||
| 5.1.3 Customer segments | 108 | ||
| 5.1.3.1 Implementing segmentation | 109 | ||
| 5.1.3.2 Persona’s | 110 | ||
| 5.1.4 Consumer involvement | 111 | ||
| 5.1.4.1 Involvement with tap water | 112 | ||
| 5.2 MANAGING THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE | 113 | ||
| 5.2.1 Process mapping | 114 | ||
| 5.2.2 Managing complaints | 115 | ||
| 5.2.2.1 Complaint decision tree | 116 | ||
| 5.2.2.2 Likelihood of complaints | 117 | ||
| 5.2.2.3 Service recovery paradox | 117 | ||
| 5.2.3 Promoting the value proposition | 118 | ||
| 5.2.3.1 Social marketing | 120 | ||
| 5.3 THE INVISIBLE WATER UTILITY | 121 | ||
| 5.3.1 Time price of water | 121 | ||
| 5.3.2 Customer relationships and invisibility | 122 | ||
| Chapter 6: Measuring the customer experience | 123 | ||
| 6.1 DEFINING QUALITY | 125 | ||
| 6.1.1 Quality, satisfaction and value | 126 | ||
| 6.1.2 Quality and service-dominant logic | 127 | ||
| 6.1.3 Perspectives of service-dominant quality | 128 | ||
| 6.1.3.1 Intrinsic service quality | 128 | ||
| 6.1.3.2 Extrinsic service quality | 129 | ||
| 6.1.4 Scope of service-dominant quality | 129 | ||
| 6.1.5 Measuring service-dominant quality | 130 | ||
| 6.2 SERVAQUA: A SERVICE QUALITY INSTRUMENT FOR WATER UTILITIES | 131 | ||
| 6.2.1 Core and supplementary services | 131 | ||
| 6.2.2 Technical quality | 133 | ||
| 6.2.2.1 The water quality continuum | 133 | ||
| 6.2.3 Functional quality | 134 | ||
| 6.2.4 SERVAQUA survey instrument | 135 | ||
| 6.2.4.1 Technical quality survey questions | 136 | ||
| 6.2.4.2 Functional quality questions | 136 | ||
| 6.3 VALIDATION OF THE SERVAQUA INSTRUMENT | 137 | ||
| 6.3.1 Quantitative data | 138 | ||
| 6.3.1.1 Customer characteristics | 138 | ||
| 6.3.1.2 Service quality | 138 | ||
| 6.3.1.3 Psychometric analysis | 139 | ||
| 6.3.1.4 Correlations between latent variables | 139 | ||
| 6.3.2 Qualitative data | 141 | ||
| 6.3.3 Conclusions | 142 | ||
| 6.4 REPORTING INTRINSIC AND EXTRINSIC QUALITY | 143 | ||
| 6.4.1 Water system performance index | 143 | ||
| Chapter 7: Implementing water utility marketing | 147 | ||
| 7.1 WATER UTILITY MARKETING SYNTHESIS | 149 | ||
| 7.1.1 Marketing mix | 149 | ||
| 7.1.2 Value proposition | 150 | ||
| 7.1.3 Internal marketing | 151 | ||
| 7.1.4 Service quality | 151 | ||
| 7.1.5 Customer relationships | 152 | ||
| 7.2 WATER UTILITY MARKETING PARADOXES | 153 | ||
| 7.2.1 Paradox of value | 153 | ||
| 7.2.2 Water quality paradox | 154 | ||
| 7.2.3 Involvement paradox | 155 | ||
| 7.2.4 Invisibility paradox | 155 | ||
| 7.2.5 Marketing waste water services | 156 | ||
| 7.3 FURTHER RESEARCH | 157 | ||
| References | 159 | ||
| Index | 179 | ||
| Appendix A: IWA Journal Abstract List | 183 |