Service Design: A hot topic with a long history

In the past few years, Service Design has hit the marketing lexicon as the latest and greatest path to marketing success.  A close look, though, would suggest that Service Design is an activity that many leading edge marketers have been practicing for years.

The goal of a Service Design program is to provide customers a quality of service that meets their needs.  Wikipedia states, “The backbone of the Service Design process is to understand the behavior of the customers, their needs and motivations.”  Specifically, Edvarsson and Olsen say Service Design is a detailed description of customer needs to be satisfied and how they are to be satisfied.  They set out four steps in the process:

1. Service Operation; the way in which a service is delivered
2. Service Experience; the customer direct experiences of the service
3. Service Outcome; the benefits and results of the service to the customer
4. Value of the service; the benefits the customer perceives as inherent in the service weighed against the cost of the service

Now it’s possible for this explanation to get very complex.  We could talk about the “service design matrix.”  Or the “multitude of theoretical systems used to accurately design systems in order for them to remain competitive and to continue to attract customers.”  Or we could refer to a particular quote we loved from Frontier Services Design that said, “Service Design can be hard to explain because it should be so damned simple and obvious, right?”

So what do we conclude?   We certainly agree a deep understanding customer behavior and motivation is critical to uncovering services that would set any marketer apart.   And the way in which the service is delivered must be on target so that the customer perceives added value.  And, of course, the ultimate tale of the tape is that the service should be experienced in a way that causes greater customer loyalty.

But we’ll also say all these are simply a restating of an old maxim.  That to deliver on the needs, wants, wishes and desires of customer in a way that stands apart from competition is the key to on-going success.  And yet, we’d also take a thought from the Service Design concept that is indeed valuable.

Does McDonald’s worry that the speed and accuracy with which they serve their customers is an important distinguishing service for them?  Does Apple worry that its tech savvy staff may be confusing some customers by talking over their heads?  Is U.S. Cellular concerned that they are not serving customers when in-store merchandising and signage renders customers more confused than illuminated?  Of course, they are.  But they have learned that understanding customer behavior should be intricately tied to the way programs are created and put in place and how staff is trained and motivated to execute them properly.

Call it Service Design.  Call it Actualizing Insights.  Call it Strategic Consulting.   What they all agree is that research is not just about providing information; it is about making sure strategies for better serving the customer actually are put in place as a result of information.

Ultimately, what was true then and is true now is that any service-based organizations must continually reexamine, rethink and redesign their service delivery systems to become more profitable, efficient and effective for their businesses.