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With choice and control at the heart of the NDIS, it is critical for providers to understand what quality actually means to participants and their families. Because that’s what attracts people to your service and keeps them there. One of the most established frameworks for understanding service quality from the user’s perspective is SERVQUAL (as in SERVice QUALity). Originally developed in the 1980s, it’s been widely used across industries like healthcare, banking, hospitality, education and tourism to measure how service users define and experience quality.
I love taking tools from other sectors and applying them to NDIS service delivery. They raise the bar on how we design and deliver NDIS services, improve the experience for participants and strengthen business outcomes. I’ve been talking about SERVQUAL in an NDIS context for more than a decade, and right now, as viability challenges bite across the sector, it’s more relevant than ever. Measuring how participants define service quality - and how your performance stacks up against those expectations - not only improves participant experience but also ties directly to your bottom line.
What is SERVQUAL?
SERVQUAL might sound academic, but it’s one of the most practical tools out there for understanding how people experience your service. At its core, it measures the gap between what participants expect and what they feel you actually delivered.
It’s not just another “How satisfied are you?” survey. Satisfaction only tells you if someone feels okay in the moment. SERVQUAL digs deeper by asking two questions side by side:
- Expectations- How important is this aspect of service quality to you?
- Perceptions- How well did we deliver on it?
By comparing these two, SERVQUAL shows not just how people feel, but where the gaps are and how much they matter.
It does this across five dimensions of service quality:
- Reliability
- Responsiveness
- Assurance
- Empathy
- Tangibles
Importantly, SERVQUAL isn’t a once-a-year tick-box exercise. Providers can put it into practice in different ways, from quick pulse checks after key interactions like onboarding or service delivery or quarterly surveys to track trends, as well as an annual deep dive for strategic planning and audits. The real power comes from using it regularly, feeding the insights into your quality improvement cycle and showing participants what changed as a result of their feedback.
Customising SERVQUAL for NDIS
One of the things I’ve enjoyed most over the years is adapting proven marketing and engagement frameworks to the nuances of the NDIS. The disability sector is unique - participants aren’t “customers” in the classic transactional sense. They’re people making deeply personal choices, within a regulated system, often about supports that affect their wellbeing, safety and daily life. The stakes are higher here than in banking or hospitality. If SERVQUAL is going to be useful in this context, it has to reflect what really matters to people with disability and their families.
That’s why the standard SERVQUAL model needs tweaking for the NDIS. In practice, this means capturing two perspectives: the participant’s voice through survey scores and the provider’s operational evidence through business data. Used together, they provide a more complete picture of service quality. Here’s how each of the five dimensions translates in an NDIS context:
Reliability (keeping your promises)
- What it looks like in the NDIS: Do your staff actually turn up when they’re supposed to? Do you deliver the supports you’ve agreed to?
- How to measure it: SERVQUAL survey scores on reliability, e.g. “My provider delivers the supports they agreed to, on time and as planned.” Pair with operational data, such as missed and cancelled shifts.
Responsiveness (being there when needed)
- What it looks like in the NDIS: When a participant calls, do you solve the problem or send them into voicemail limbo?
- How to measure it: SERVQUAL survey scores on responsiveness, e.g. “My provider responds quickly when I have a question.” Pair with operational evidence, such as average response time to participant queries or complaints.
Responsiveness (designing around people, not processes)
- What it looks like in the NDIS: Is your organisation flexible around the needs and preferences of participants or do you expect them to fit your systems and rosters?
- How to measure it: SERVQUAL survey scores on responsiveness, e.g. “My provider adapts supports to suit my needs and preferences.” Support with evidence of service customisation (flexible rosters, adjusted supports, participant requests actioned).
Assurance (trust through competence)
- What it looks like in the NDIS: Do participants feel confident that your staff know what they’re doing? One poorly managed manual handling incident is all it takes to lose trust and it puts both the participant and the worker at risk.
- How to measure it: SERVQUAL survey scores on assurance, e.g. “My support workers have the skills and knowledge to support me safely.” Pair with training and competency records.
Empathy (seeing the person)
- What it looks like in the NDIS: Are you treating people like humans who want to live their best life or “plan numbers” on a roster?
- How to measure it: SERVQUAL survey scores on empathy, e.g. “My workers listen to me and understand my individual needs.” Combine with qualitative feedback about whether participants feel genuinely heard and respected.
Tangibles (the look and feel)
- What it looks like in the NDIS: Do your vehicles, houses, or staff appearance give participants confidence in your service, whether that’s clean and professional, or approachable and cool? Tangibles are subjective: what inspires confidence in one person might miss the mark for another.
- How to measure it: SERVQUAL survey scores on tangibles, e.g. “The physical aspects of the service (like vehicles, equipment and staff presentation) give me confidence in my provider.” Pair with participant feedback on facilities, vehicles, and staff presentation, plus organisational evidence like maintenance records or uniform policies.
A note on Responsiveness:
Responsiveness is a perfect example of why generic business tools need adapting for the NDIS. In the standard SERVQUAL model, responsiveness is about “being there when needed.” That matters, but it’s not the whole NDIS story.
Many participants, especially those actively involved in shaping their supports, want providers who are willing and able to adapt their services to their individual needs and preferences. Too often, providers become rigid in the name of service quality or meeting audit expectations. Ironically, this can mean they tick the compliance box but miss the mark on what participants actually expect.
That’s why I’ve extended the model to include two measures of responsiveness: “being there when needed” and “designing around people, not processes”.
Taking SERVQUAL to the next level with Net Promoter Score
SERVQUAL shows you the drivers of service quality - what participants expect, how well you deliver and where the gaps lie. But it doesn’t measure the strength of feeling and tell you whether that experience is strong enough to keep participants with you and bring others in. That’s where Net Promoter Score (NPS) comes in. NPS links service quality directly to business viability.
NPS is a simple but powerful tool. Participants answer one question:
“How likely are you to recommend us to a friend or family member?”
Responses are scored on a 0 - 10 scale:
- Promoters (9 - 10): Loyal enthusiasts who will keep using you and tell others.
- Passives (7 - 8): Satisfied but not enthusiastic. They could change provider if a better opportunity came along.
- Detractors (0 - 6): Unhappy participants who may leave and discourage others.
Your NPS is the percentage of Promoters minus the percentage of Detractors. The higher the score, the more willing participants are to put their reputation on the line by recommending you to others.
In the NDIS, that’s gold. Having participants who are willing to recommend you is critical because word-of-mouth referrals remain one of the main ways people choose providers. They don’t scroll websites or flick through brochures, they ask their friends, family or peers. Those recommendations feel authentic and trusted in a way no marketing ever can.
Here’s how SERVQUAL and NPS work hand-in-hand:
- SERVQUAL tells you why participants might or might not recommend you. For example, a gap in reliability or empathy shows where trust could be breaking down.
- NPS tells you whether they will recommend you. It’s the loyalty outcome that translates quality into viability.
Together, they form a powerful loop:
- SERVQUAL = the diagnosis (quality drivers).
- NPS = the result (loyalty, retention, referrals).
- Viability = the outcome (sustainable revenue, stable growth, stronger reputation).
Together, SERVQUAL and NPS give providers the clearest line of sight between participant experience and business survival. They move quality from being a soft, fuzzy concept to something you can measure, track, and act on. And they show how quality, loyalty and viability are all connected.
If you’re ready to dig deeper into some of the practical levers that strengthen NDIS business viability - including tools like SERVQUAL - join us at our upcoming workshop: Unlocking Provider Viability: Practical Levers for a Stronger NDIS Business. You’ll walk away with practical ideas for improving financial sustainability and a roadmap for action in your own organisation.
