Mapping Experiences

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 9. Service Blueprints

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Background and history of visualizing services
• Lean techniques and diagrams
• Extending service blueprinting
• Elements of a service blueprint
• Case study: Expressive Service Blueprint

We live in a service-based economy, yet most organizations fail to provide good services. For all of the money invested in technical R&D, organizations tend to overlook development of their service experience. This is changing. More and more, organizations realize that customer experience is a source of growth and competitive advantage.

But good service design remains elusive. Part of the challenge is that, unlike physical goods, the transitions between touchpoints in a service are intangible. They unfold in real time, and then those moments are gone.

Service design is a growing field that seeks to prevent unintentional service experiences. The objective of service design is to take deliberate actions that create, deliver, and sustain positive service experiences over time, consistently and repeatedly.

A focus of service has historically been face-to-face interactions. But as the digital and the physical worlds of service blend more and more, service design extends into the design of digital services as well. As a result, service design is interdisciplinary, drawing attention from people in sales, marketing, product management, product design, interaction design, and user experience.

This chapter provides an overview and historical background ...