Designing the intangible An introduction to service design Jennifer Bove & Ben Fullerton
1. What? 2. Why? 3. How? 4. Case studies 5. What makes a good service experience? 6. Any questions?
1. What? 2. Why? 3. How? 4. Case studies 5. What makes a good service experience? 6. Any questions?
2 definitions:
Service design: A method for designing experiences that reach people through many different touch-points, and that happen over time. from: http://servicedesign.org/service_design/
Service design can be both tangible and intangible. It can involve artefacts and other things including communication, environment and behaviours. Whichever form it takes, it must be consistent, easy to use and have strategic alliance. from: Total Design: Managing the Design Process in the Service Sector. W & G Hollins, 1990
Let s unpack those statements a bit.
Intangible.
Many different touch-points.
Over time.
image courtesy of live work Studio Ltd. - http://www.livework.co.uk
What else?
Services are produced at the same moment as they are consumed - the customer is a co-creator of the service.
Services can be constantly monitored against success factors and incrementally improved on the fly.
1. What? 2. Why? 3. How? 4. Case studies 5. What makes a good service experience? 6. Any questions?
The service industry accounts for around 75% of the Western economy (currently!)
But services are rarely designed with the same care and attention to detail as products.
Better designed services lead to greater customer loyalty - from customers who pay more! - and more efficient business processes.
Service envy!
And by promoting use over consumption - encouraging people to use services rather than products - we also promote sustainability
1. What? 2. Why? 3. How? 4. Case studies 5. What makes a good service experience? 6. Any questions?
Service design isn t a new discipline.
The thinking, tools and methodologies come from interaction design - for software and products - so the process looks somewhat the same...
small man courtesy of live work Studio Ltd. - http://www.livework.co.uk
Design research: Internal (to the business) and external (to the customer and the world the service will exist in)
Example deliverables might include:
Personas
Service Ecology courtesy of live work Studio Ltd. - http://www.livework.co.uk
Essentially, design for opportunities: unmet customer and business needs.
Example deliverables might include:
Service Blueprint courtesy of live work Studio Ltd. - http://www.livework.co.uk
Experience Prototype courtesy of live work Studio Ltd. - http://www.livework.co.uk
Storytelling (Scenarios)
Touch-point Specifications
Go into production.
Release and monitor.
Techniques for doing this include:
RATER (SERVQUAL): Reliable Assurance Tangibles Empathy Responsiveness
Take learnings from this back into discovery, iterate, and improve!
1. What? 2. Why? 3. How? 4. Case studies 5. What makes a good service experience? 6. Any questions?
3 examples of real world services designed in a customer-centric way
Case Study 1 My BAA live work, London, UK
Raise awareness of the BAA brand in the mind of the traveller.
We visited Heathrow.
We talked to passengers.
That s BAA.
We created personas
We created a framework based on the existing customer journey
We used that framework to generate service propositions
Then we illustrated what those propositions might look like
We also created business rationale and principles
And finally, we walked our personas through their new travel experience.
Case Study 2 Favor Link IDII, Italy
Make the day to day life of the working mother just a little bit easier
We interviewed working moms
We mapped their routines
Then we analyzed their days
We created user scenarios
And designed a service concept
We created an experience prototype
And created interface designs
We tested the application with mothers
Case Study 3 Streetcar live work, London, UK
Improve the customer experience of a great idea.
We mapped and evaluated the existing experience...
...and highlighted pain points where the experience could be improved.
We created a service blueprint to describe how the service should behave.
...and that helped to focus on those touch-points that needed improving.
Following these improvements, Streetcar became the fastest growing car club in Europe.
1. What? 2. Why? 3. Case studies 4. What makes a good service experience? 5. Any questions?
6 opportunities for designing service quality
1. Responsiveness
Design for different circumstances.
Services are multi-functional
Services are multi-functional
Services are multi-functional
Services are multi-functional
2. Consistency
Tangible evidence tells customers what kind of service to expect.
3. Adaptable
Services should anticipate potential fail points.
4. Tailored
A service can learn from customer behavior and anticipate needs.
5. Efficient
Getting the internal business processes right will create a more consistent customer experience.
6. Rewarding
Service loyalty can be designed into the details.
another example of a reward
1. Responsive 2. Consistent 3. Adaptable 4. Tailored 5. Efficient 6. Rewarding
1. What? 2. Why? 3. Case studies 4. What makes a good service experience? 5. Any questions?