Introduction
Ambient conditions in service marketing are the physical features that relate to the senses of sound, scent, temperature, size/shape perception, and lighting/colour scheme. Reflectively, the conditions of ambience in service business environment are a cluster of the above elements which may alter a customer’s perception of a service, either subconsciously or consciously. This paper presents a critical examination of each of the five dimensions of ambient conditions and their influence on customer response to a business service environment.
Ambient Conditions
Customers tend to adopt a holistic view of the ambient conditions as influencing their levels of satisfaction in the service business industry. Ambient conditions directly influence the psychological, emotional, and even cognitive moderators that control the perception of customers towards a service. This “means that the same service environment can have different effects on different customers, depending on what they like” (Gill, Sharma, Mathur, & Bhutani 2012, p. 194). Therefore, there is need to establish the relationship between each ambient condition and the perceptions of customers towards a service environment.
Sound
All types of music tend to have a strong effect on behaviours and views of a customer in any typical service setting. Reflectively, the aspects of harmony and tempo have a holistic influence on different ages and service environments (Lovelock & Wirtz 2011). For instance, fast rhythm composition may augment the level of stimulation experienced by a listener and actually make a customer to be in a hurry in an eatery environment so as to minimize the duration of arousal, especially when the music is too loud. On the other hand, slow and soft music may make a customer to sit comfortably in a restaurant and enjoy his or her meal without nervousness. Therefore, a restaurant with slow and soft music is likely to attract more customers than a restaurant with high tempo music (Frow, Ngo, & Payne, 2014). From this example, it is necessary for a restaurant to properly tune its music in order to ensure that customers are given ample time to enjoy their meals. In the end, soft music may actually attract more customers from testimonies of satisfied clients.
Scent
Reflectively, “an ambient smell is one which pervades an environment, may or may not be consciously perceived by a customer and is not related to any particular product” (Han & Ryu 2009, p. 491). This means the power of smell is very influential in the service business environment, irrespective of the size or number of services in one place. For instance, a strong scent coming from a coffee restaurant may catalyse an involuntary response to the need to drink coffee (Birdsall & Johnston 2010). In such a case, a customer will eventually have to get into the eatery and order for a cake. The existence of the correct scent has a considerable influence on the evaluative, sentimental, and spontaneous reactions to services. When the response generated is as a result of the right scent, the purchasing intention will be increased in the same magnitude. Therefore, service marketers are expected to understand that scent may be used to attract, relax, and influence the purchasing behaviour. For instance, in a dental clinic’s reception area, the presence of an appropriate scent may be meant to relax the clients. On the other hand, an appropriate scent in a gym may motivate the client to put in more efforts in exercising as a result of the adrenalin rush.
Size/shape perception
Reflectively, “spatial layout refers to how furnishings, counters, machinery and equipment are etc are arranged” (Verma 2007, p. 29). This condition has an intrinsic ability to directly affiliate the quality of a service to the environment, in terms of quality and attractiveness. Customer satisfaction may be persuaded by the kind of perception that a customer creates about a service. When the perception frame is positive, the buying behaviour and decision to become a repeat-customer will be directly proportional. On the other hand, a negative perception frame may turn away a potential customer who would have otherwise turned into a repeat-client. For instance, in the restaurant service business environment, spacious rooms and well presented food may positively influence the customer’s perception of class and quality in such a restaurant. On the other hand, narrow halls, small windows, and low roof may create a negative perception frame of a customer, who may declare services in such restaurants as low quality.
Lighting/colour scheme
Customers tend to create perceptions from colour or lighting as part of the bigger representation of the anticipations about quality or class of the services to expect (Verma 2007). The elements of hue, value, and chrome in colour have the potential of influencing the perception of customers towards the ‘warmness’ or ‘coldness’ of a place. For instance, “warm colours encourage fast decision making and are good for low-involvement decisions or impulse buys” (Gill et al. 2012, p. 193). In relation to the restaurant service environment, a warmly painted restaurant is likely to influence the perceptions of the customers on quality of services. Besides, food presented in a bright plate may actually influence the customer to request for more food, especially when the food is equally appetising. On the other hand, dull colours in a restaurant environment may act as a repellent to customers who may associate such colour to a tensed eating environment. Therefore, service marketers must choose the right mixes of colour and lighting to positively influence the perception of customers towards services being sold.
Temperature
According to Verma (2007), warm temperature has the potential of creating an involuntary response to the service environment, especially when the temperature is optimal for such an environment (Verma 2007). Reflectively, warm temperatures may induce the feeling of comfort, which directly influence the customers’ buying or acceptance perception towards a service. Therefore, service marketers may effectively use targeted marketing strategy “in areas where the temperature is at an optimum level to heighten the impact of the marketing message and increase purchase intent” (Verma 2007, p. 54). For instance, in the gym environment, maintaining warm temperature has the potential of quickly making a customer to relax and feel comfortable with exercises. On the other hand, very high temperatures may reduce the activities of clients and eventually affect their perception on quality of services in the gym environment. Therefore, service marketers have the responsibility of optimising temperature that is likely to positively appeal to potential customers as an attraction and retention strategies.
Conclusion
It is apparent that ambient conditions have a potential of making the service environment more attractive, comfortable, lively, and ideal for customers, who are often influenced by the initial voluntary or involuntary acuity frame.
Reference List
Birdsall, C & Johnston, N 2010, “Achieving brand-driven business success”, Design Management Review, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 67-74.
Frow, F, Ngo, V & Payne, A, 2014, “Diagnosing the supplementary services model: Empirical validation, advancement and implementation”, Journal of Marketing Management, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 138-171.
Gill, A, Sharma, S, Mathur, N & Bhutani, S 2012, “The effects of job satisfaction and work experience on employee-desire for empowerment: A comparative study in Canada and India”, International Journal of Management, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 190-200.
Han, H & Ryu, K 2009, “The roles of the physical environment, price perception, and customer satisfaction in determining customer loyalty in the restaurant industry”, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 487-510.
Lovelock, H & Wirtz, J 2011, Services marketing: People, technology, strategy, Pearson Prentice-Hill, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.
Verma, E 2007, Services marketing: Text and cases, Pearson Education, New Delhi, India.