1) Perishability

It implies that services can’t be stored for later use or sale. In other words, services can’t be stored in an inventory or stock in the same way as a product.

This is perhaps the main characteristic of service because it might significantly affect the financial outcomes. When demands are consistent, the perishability of services is not a significant issue.

Notwithstanding, in the event of fluctuating demand, service providers might face troublesome times. Therefore, service organizations utilize different strategies for making an effective in between the demand and supply in the market. One such method is called demand shifting.

By using the strategy of charging various prices at various times, they move demand from peak periods to off-peak periods. Many service firms use this strategy to survive and make profits when the peak demand period is over.

Examples of perishable services include transportation services, event planning services, and airline ticketing services.

2) Fluctuating Demand

Service demand revolves around the great level of fluctuations due to the fluctuating demands of the service industry. Different changes in demand may take place occasionally, weekly, daily, or hourly.

A large portion of the services faces major demands in the peak hours while they have ordinary or low demand during the off-period time, and hence demand fluctuates in every service sector.

Professionals create and offer services by understanding the changing demands of their services and that is why fluctuation in demand is one of the important characteristics of services.

Examples of fluctuating demand are seasonal service firms that include snow removal and landscaping services.

3) Service Intangibility

It is one of the primary characteristics of services. It suggests that services can’t be seen, felt, tasted, or smelled. Users can’t try them in a way that they can do with products.This makes it hard for customers to know what they're buying before they buy it. To help with this, service marketing often focuses on creating a strong brand and using customer stories and examples to show the benefits of the service.

However, services also have tangible dimensions for example the place (massage parlor), gear (massage chair), and communication material (billboard promoting the massage parlor).

These substantial aspects are important for the experience that the users have after opting for the services. Additionally, these dimensions demonstrate service delivery and quality.

As may be obvious, theoreticalness is an interesting idea. While theoreticalness is one of the critical characteristics of services, they are rarely totally elusive. For most services, you will perceive that substantial components are essential for the experience. The center service, nonetheless, is in all cases immaterial.

Examples of intangible characteristics of services include consulting, accounting, banking, marketing, education, and healthcare.

4) Inseparability services

This one is again a significant characteristic of each service. Services are usually made and used at the same time. It implies that services are delivered and consumed simultaneously. This additionally involves that services can’t be isolated from the service providers. In opposition to services, products are created, then put away, later sold, and, in the end, they are consumed. While services are first sold, afterward created and finally consumed at the very same time. 

This means the person providing the service is a big part of the customer's experience. For instance, the experience you have at a salon depends a lot on the hairdresser. Service marketing must ensure that service providers are well-trained and capable of delivering a good experience every time.

Products can, after creation, be taken away from their manufacturers, nonetheless, services are offered at or close to the place of offering services. For example, while visiting a café, you request your coffee. And later you ordered some snacks.

Delivery of both of the items including the providers are integral parts of the services and therefore they all will be indivisible. In the world of services marketing, a service provider is also understood as a service.

Examples of inseparability services are travel and tourism, transportation, healthcare service, education, and entertainment.

5) Service Variability or Heterogeneity

Variability is the next and vital characteristic of services. Variability alludes to the way that the quality of services can fluctuate extraordinarily relying upon who offers them, how, when, and where. Even the quality of services is supplied simultaneously by two different individuals.

Though the brands do their best to ensure consistent service quality, still the service provided by them varies due to a wide range of factors. Due to the labor-sensitive nature, services incorporate a lot of contrast in their quality depending upon the service providers. We should consider an example, a major restaurant chain. As a famous restaurant chain, it might have gained popularity for offering better services than others.

Nonetheless, the service quality won’t always be the same. One representative might be extremely happy and give excellent services especially but there can be another representative who may have an awful day and have a little low energy level. Because of this, the quality of service level of the same service providers can be quite different. Hence, the features of a service provider can’t be uniform all the time.

Examples of services that may suffer from heterogeneity include hotel and restaurant services, legal services, and medical services.

6) User Participation

When we receive services from a service provider, we also participate in the process. Therefore, user participation is quite possibly one of the main characteristics of services, even in the event that it is often neglected.

To be sure, users take part in each sort of service offering. Even when you will not be expected to be where the service is performed, you will participate in each service offering.

Hence, it can be said that the services can’t be isolated from their provider, however, neither could it at any point be isolated from its users.

Examples of user participation include booking an appointment, giving feedback, or providing payment for services.

7) Lack of Ownership

This is again one of the characteristics of services that suggests that users can’t possess and store services as they can do with the products.

This nature of services is emphatically connected to a few other characteristics of services, like perishability, inseparability, and intangibility. The absence of ownership is very essential to comprehending services and their inherent nature

It is clear till now that services are an exceptional type of product that comprises activities, advantages, or satisfactions and is offered to be purchased, but which is elusive or intangible and doesn’t result in the possession of anything.

Examples of lack of ownership could be the renting of a car, or the use of a hair salon – none of which results in the ownership of something tangible.

8) Pricing of Services

Making price decisions for services is also a very important characteristic of services. The pricing decisions of services are affected by fluctuations in demand, inseparability, and perishability.

Different approaches to pricing are utilized in the process and they can be cost-based pricing, competition-based pricing, and demand-based pricing.

Examples of pricing of services are the charges that a hospital makes or the fees that an accountant may charge.

9) Skill orientation

When a product is offered, its purchase is based upon its utility value in comparison to marketing skills to sell it. In the same way, when it comes to service businesses, their fate will be based upon the skill of the service providers. Hence, the skillset and efficiency of the service provider are very important in optimizing the sales of the service firms.

Examples of services that are highly skill-oriented include IT services, consulting services, and engineering services.

10) Direct distribution

Services are generally offered through direct distribution strategies and methods.

While in product marketing, dealers, retailers, and wholesalers can be seen playing a major role in distribution, in service marketing, they all are generally absent, as direct distribution takes place.

How in some cases, service marketers take the help of agents for example insurance business.

Examples of services that require direct distribution include financial services, education, and healthcare. However, other service industries such as hospitality and entertainment may use indirect distribution methods such as agents and distributors.