A promise without a great delivery is worthless

Life is becoming increasingly complex. So are organizations. Whether it comes to health care, education, telecommunications or personal finance: the call for customer focus sounds louder every day. Only very few companies and organizations truly succeed in creating a flawless customer experience.

The way companies are structured often determines how service delivery is planned and realized. Unfortunately, the logic of the organizational structure and internal processes rarely coincide with the logic for the customer or recipient of the service. Internal and external processes are quite difficult to align.

Due to this, touch points with a big impact for customers are not always in focus with the marketing or communications department. This can seriously affect a meticulously constructed brand and the company’s reputation. And if there is one thing that’s really expensive it’s repairing reputational damage...

Listen and engage

The old saying “better to prevent than to cure” is applicable here. Listen to your customers because they know very well what they want and what a positive service experience entails. Services should be functionally distinct. Recognizable, reliable, surprisingly positive. Logical in the eyes of the customer and appropriate to the brand promise. The methodology that we use to engage in the design of new services or the improvement of existing services is called Service Design.

Service Design in practice

Together with a number of our client’s customers we establish what could be improved in the service process. Which journey does the customer make? At which point in an application or sales process do potential customers pull out and why is this? Which issues lead to loss of confidence or outright anger with customers? Or to delays in the process or towering call center costs for the company?

In an iterative design process, the customer needs are matched with the conditions and possibilities of the company. We aim to integrate the service into the daily lives of customers. We search for a service level that is both effective and efficient. We won’t be satisfied until customers remember a positive brand experience and are happy to share their enthusiasm with colleagues, friends and relatives.

Further reading online:
Seven things you need to know about marketing in the 21st century
Service design according to Wikipedia
Service design according to The Guardian
This is Service Design Thinking – the site about the book

Watch and listen:
Tim Brown urges designers to think big
Tim Brown: Change by Design
Designing better service experiences
Steven Johnson: Where good ideas come from