Customer-centred service starts with a specific customer
By Fiona van Iersel
Minerva Empowerment
E-Services Marketing
25 May 2025

Tide Dry Cleaners offers a useful way to connect service features with the customer’s underlying job. Convenience, quality and trust are not just pleasant extras; they shape what someone is trying to accomplish by handing over their clothes (Christensen et al., 2016).

I would start by connecting each feature to a particular need. After-hours collection and a drive-through may be valuable to a time-poor commuter. Someone focused on keeping garments in use may ask different questions about care and longevity. Segmentation, targeting and positioning help make those differences explicit (Kotler & Keller, 2016).

The price question belongs alongside that work. As Zeithaml (1988) explains, perceived value involves benefits and sacrifices, including time and effort as well as money. A premium can feel worthwhile when the service saves a difficult journey or removes uncertainty. A loyalty programme might add value, but it cannot compensate indefinitely for an unreliable core service.

Brand familiarity and convenient technology can contribute to differentiation. People and surroundings also shape the experience: staff training, a welcoming store and a clear process help make a promise tangible. Pine and Gilmore’s (1999) experience perspective is useful for seeing how those elements work together.

Customer satisfaction and willingness to recommend can help monitor the result (Reichheld, 2003). The important connection is between the intended benefit and what customers actually experience. Start with whom the service is for, explain why the features matter to them, then check whether the promised value arrives.

References

Christensen, C. M., Hall, T., Dillon, K., & Duncan, D. S. (2016). Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice. Harper Business.

Zeithaml, V. A. (1988). “Consumer perceptions of price, quality, and value: A means-end model and synthesis of evidence.” Journal of Marketing, 52(3), 2–22.

Kotler, P., & Keller, K. L. (2016). Marketing Management (15th ed.). Pearson.

Pine, B. J., & Gilmore, J. H. (1999). The Experience Economy: Work Is Theater & Every Business a Stage. Harvard Business Press.

Reichheld, F. F. (2003). “The One Number You Need to Grow.” Harvard Business Review, 81(12), 46–54.