Final answer:
Customers assess service performance on the basis of desired and adequate service levels. True understanding of these expectations is crucial for delivering customer satisfaction and maintaining loyalty.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement is true: Customers indeed assess service performance based on what they desire and what they consider acceptable. This concept is central to the field of marketing and customer service, where understanding customer expectations is key to delivering satisfactory service. Customer expectations can be categorized into two levels: desired service and adequate service. The desired service represents the service level customers hope to receive, which is often a combination of what they believe 'can be' and 'should be' provided. The adequate service, on the other hand, is the minimum acceptable standard below which service quality is considered unsatisfactory.
Companies often strive to understand these two levels of expectation to properly manage and exceed customer service perceptions, which can lead to greater customer satisfaction and loyalty. Metrics such as SERVQUAL can help businesses quantify the gap between customer expectations and actual service performance, thereby identifying areas for improvement.