University of Gävle's Article Named Best of the Year

A group of researchers at the University of Gävle has won an award for the best scientific article of the year in the prestigious journal "Journal of Service Theory and Practice." The article demonstrates how companies can more effectively compensate their customers when something goes wrong.

Typically, when a company sells a service or product to a customer and makes a mistake, the customer receives some form of financial compensation.

The award-winning article shows that it is possible to make the customer just as satisfied with a lower compensation if the right service strategy is used.

"For example, if you order food to take home from a restaurant and discover something is missing when you get home, it is common to be offered compensation from the restaurant. The strategy involves flipping the perspective and asking the customer what they would like as compensation, while also informing them of the usual compensation amount. The compensation companies need to pay out then tends to be lower, and the customers are equally satisfied," says Patrik Sörqvist, professor of psychology and one of the article's authors.

Precise Amounts Reduced Claims

The article also shows that the amount consumers request tends to be lower if the standard compensation is expressed precisely. For example, a standard compensation of 247 SEK, compared to 200 SEK, led to a reduction in consumers' total claims against the company.

The article, "The demand-what-you-want strategy to service recovery: achieving high customer satisfaction with low service failure compensation using anchoring and precision effects External link.," was awarded the prize for the best scientific article of the year with the motivation that it contributed something new to an already well-established field of research.

The award-winning article was authored by the university’s researchers Peter Ek, Benny Berggren, and Patrik Sörqvist, who worked on it together with students Nathalie Kron Frostgrip, Jesper Björkman, Hanan Mazraeh, and Micael Pihlgren.