Unit rationale, description and aim

In a rapidly changing global marketplace, successful service firms are interested in enhancing service quality and creating a unique customer experience (CX) for their competitive advantage. This unit introduces contemporary services marketing strategies that can create positive customer experiences. Using models, frameworks and theories from services marketing, students will design creative service strategies and apply them to analyse the customer experience outcomes such as satisfaction, trust, commitment, word of mouth and loyalty. This unit also focuses on what a service firm can do to deliver customer experiences while considering global and ethical practices.

This unit helps students understand, analyse, and apply customers’ experience mapping and pain points for their overall journey from pre-purchase to post-purchase situations in a community-minded way. Students will learn about the ethical integration of AI technology tools in services.

This unit aims to prepare students for several service firm roles (including service marketer, service manager, service consultant, entrepreneur/small business owner, customer relationship manager) and assist them in developing skills and knowledge in managing a firm’s services through creative strategies and tactics to make effective and community-minded marketing decisions.

2025 10

Campus offering

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  • Term Mode
  • Semester 2Campus Attendance
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  • Semester 2Campus Attendance
  • Term Mode
  • Semester 2Campus Attendance
  • Term Mode
  • Semester 2Campus Attendance
  • Term Mode
  • Semester 2Campus Attendance

Prerequisites

MKTG207 Marketing Toolkit or MKTG100 Principles of Marketing

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

Explain core services theories and concepts in cus...

Learning Outcome 01

Explain core services theories and concepts in customer experience, marketing and service management.
Relevant Graduate Capabilities: GC1, GC9

Use relevant services marketing theories and conce...

Learning Outcome 02

Use relevant services marketing theories and concepts to support critical analysis of issues in services marketing and form well-reasoned and evidence-based recommendations.
Relevant Graduate Capabilities: GC2, GC7

Leverage digital technologies to engage effectivel...

Learning Outcome 03

Leverage digital technologies to engage effectively with social issues to support the dignity of the human person and advance the common good
Relevant Graduate Capabilities: GC2, GC10

Clear and effective communication of services ana...

Learning Outcome 04

Clear and effective communication of services analysis and recommendations in written format.
Relevant Graduate Capabilities: GC2, GC11

Professionally and clearly communicate relevant in...

Learning Outcome 05

Professionally and clearly communicate relevant information from appropriate high-quality sources to support points made, including accurate referencing
Relevant Graduate Capabilities: GC1, GC8

Content

Topics will include: 

  • The concept of services marketing, models and theories
  • Customer experience, experience mapping and customer experience management in the service context
  • Antecedents and consequences of superior customer-centric culture in service firms
  • Customer experience and contextual factors (e.g., Servicescape) in service firms
  • Service strategies to create customer experience outcomes such as satisfaction, trust, commitment, word of mouth and loyalty
  • Pre-purchase and post-purchase decision-making in services marketing
  • Service recovery
  • Service in local and global cultures
  • Ethical use of artificial intelligence and other technologies in services marketing

Assessment strategy and rationale

In order to pass this unit, students are required to demonstrate mastery of all learning outcomes and achieve an aggregate mark of at least 50%. Marking of each assessment task will be in accordance with rubrics specifically developed to measure student level of achievement of the learning outcomes for each assessment item.

Students will be awarded a final grade which signifies their overall achievement in the unit. The assessment strategy for this unit allows participants to sequentially develop their knowledge and skills in services marketing and customer experience to the point where they can understand, examine and apply relevant models and concepts to formulate strategies for real-world service firms. At the same time, students will also need to develop and demonstrate the ability to effectively and ethically critique AI and other service technology tools in a community-minded way.

The assessment tasks for this unit are designed for students to demonstrate their achievement of each learning outcome as indicated in the following Assessment Table.

Overview of assessments

Assessment Task 1: Service Audit Presentatio...

Assessment Task 1: Service Audit Presentation

Requires students to record an 8 minute presentation about the service processes and quality of a service firm in a specific industry. Students will identify the service offering and analyse it from a customer experience perspective. As an outcome students will map the customer journey and identify flaws in customer experience management that affect service quality.

Submission Type: Individual

Assessment Method: Video Presentation

Artefact: Video and slides

Weighting

20%

Learning Outcomes LO1, LO5
Graduate Capabilities GC1, GC8, GC9

Assessment Task 2: Service Blueprint Report ...

Assessment Task 2: Service Blueprint Report

Students will prepare a 1500-word report, including developing a  service blueprint to improve the service delivery model and making recommendations. Assessment 2 will build on the initial service marketing review conducted in Assessment 1.

 Submission Type: Individual

Assessment Method: Service Modelling and Recommendation Report

Artefact: Written report

Weighting

40%

Learning Outcomes LO2, LO5
Graduate Capabilities GC2, GC8

Assessment Task 3: Service Improvement Report ...

Assessment Task 3: Service Improvement Report

Requires students to develop a 1500-word report featuring a service innovation or a recovery plan for the service examined in the first and second assessment. The plan should focus on services marketing strategies that improve the customer experience. Students will also need to critique recommendations made by AI before providing their own

Submission Type: Individual

Assessment Method: Recommendations Report

Artefact: Written report

Weighting

40%

Learning Outcomes LO3, LO4, LO5
Graduate Capabilities GC1, GC10, GC11

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

The learning and teaching strategy is based on student engagement in the learning process by participation in workshops or equivalent and practical activities designed to reinforce learning. Workshops and equivalent support students to actively participate in the construction and synthesis of knowledge both individually and in small groups. By taking part in activities, students will systematically develop their understanding of the key aspects of services marketing and, in particular, build skills in creating a positive customer experience in pre-purchase, purchase and post-purchase decision making for a service. Students will work on a project that allows them to understand the customer journey and map the service consumption process. The experiential approach underpinning this unit's learning and teaching strategy extends to practical and analytical approaches used in services marketing and user experience based on 'real-world examples. Students will also be guided to effectively engage with artificial intelligence in a community-minded way through assessing and critiquing an AI-generated response to the assessment task before improving upon it themselves.

Mode of delivery: This unit is offered in different modes. These are: "Attendance" mode, "Mixed" mode and "Online" mode. This unit is offered in three modes to cater to the learning needs and preferences of a range of participants and maximise effective participation for isolated and/or marginalised groups.

Mixed Mode

In a mixed-mode, students will require intermittent face-to-face attendance determined by the School. Students will have face-to-face interactions with lecturer(s) to further their achievement of the learning outcomes. This unit is structured with required upfront preparation before workshops. The online learning platforms used in this unit provide multiple forms of preparatory and practice opportunities for you to prepare and revise.

Online Mode

In an online mode, students engage in asynchronous learning and participate in the construction and synthesis of knowledge, while developing their knowledge. Students are required to participate in a series of online interactive activities to enhance their learning including knowledge checks, discussion boards and self-paced exercises. This approach allows flexibility for students and facilitates learning and participation for students with a preference for virtual learning.

Representative texts and references

Representative texts and references

Wirtz, J. 2022. Essentials of Services Marketing (4e). Pearson Education

Chitty, W., D'Alessandro, S., Gray, D. and Hughes, A., 2019. Services marketing.

Zeithaml, V.A., Bitner, M.J. and Dwayne D.. Gremler, 2018. Services marketing: integrating customer focus across the firm. McGraw-Hill Education.

Aliekperov, A., 2020. The Customer Experience Model. Routledge.

Cambra-Fierro, J., Gao, L.X., Melero-Polo, I. and Trifu, A., 2021. How do firms handle variability in customer experience? A dynamic approach to better understanding customer retention. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services61, p.102578.

Kuppelwieser, V.G. and Klaus, P., 2021. Customer experience quality in African B2B contexts. Journal of Services Marketing.

Pecorari, P.M. and Lima, C.R.C., 2021. Correlation of customer experience with the acceptance of product-service systems and circular economy. Journal of Cleaner Production281, p.125275.

Babin, B.J., Zhuang, W. and Borges, A., 2021. Managing service recovery experience: effects of the forgiveness for older consumers. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services58, p.102222.

Weber, K. and Hsu, C.H., 2021. Banding together in a festival context: Examining effects of a joint-stakeholder external service recovery. Tourism Management83, p.104204.

Shams, G., Rather, R., Rehman, M.A. and Lodhi, R.N., 2020. Hospitality-based service recovery, outcome favourability, satisfaction with service recovery and consequent customer loyalty: an empirical analysis. International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research.

Bonfanti, A., Vigolo, V. and Yfantidou, G., 2021. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on customer experience design: The hotel managers’ perspective. International Journal of Hospitality Management94, p.102871.

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