An important marketing metric used to evaluate how well firms perform on the five service quality dimensions is the __________, which refers to the area between customers' expectations regarding their desired service and the minimum level of acceptable service.

Zone of tolerance with respect to a service refers to, the acceptable range to a customer, that lies between the perceived desired level of service expected and the minimum level of service acceptable.

The service which the customer anticipates or expects to be delivered by a firm is referred to as predicted service.

Customer expectations do not depict a single level of expectation, rather they follows a range of expectations. This range is represented as zone of tolerance.

If the service received lies in the zone of tolerance, the customer would be satisfied. If it is higher than the desired level, the customer would consider it exceptional.

In case the service received falls below the minimum level of acceptance, the customer would be disappointed and feel deceived or tricked.