“This is Service Design Thinking” is a comprehensive guide to understanding the relatively new field of service design. The book is structured around five key principles: User-Centered, Co-Creative, Sequencing, Evidencing, and Holistic. Each principle is elaborated with specific methodologies, tools, and examples to help practitioners effectively implement service design in their work.

Description: This principle emphasizes the importance of designing services around the needs and experiences of end-users. Understanding user behavior, context, and needs is critical for creating valuable and effective services.

Action: Conduct user research to understand the needs and pain points of your target audience.

Example from the Book: One concrete instance is the use of personas, which are fictional characters created based on real user data. These personas help designers empathize with users and keep their needs in focus throughout the design process.

Description: Service design involves multiple stakeholders, not just designers and users. Engaging various stakeholders, including employees, management, and even customers, in the design process leads to richer insights and more robust solutions.

Action: Organize co-creation workshops where stakeholders can collaborate and share ideas.

Example from the Book: The book highlights the case of a hospital where various healthcare providers, patients, and administrative staff were involved in the design of a new patient admission process. Their combined expertise led to a solution that balanced operational feasibility with patient satisfaction.

Description: Services unfold over time, and this principle acknowledges the importance of creating detailed service blueprints that map out every interaction and touchpoint within the service journey.

Action: Develop a service blueprint to visualize and plan out the entire service process.

Example from the Book: A retail bank used service blueprints to map customer interactions, from entering the bank to finalizing a loan application. This exercise identified several pain points that were previously overlooked.

Description: Making intangible services tangible through physical artifacts can enhance users’ experience and trust in the service.

Action: Create tangible touchpoints like branded materials, confirmation emails, and physical tokens that serve as evidence of the service experience.

Example from the Book: An airline company used boarding passes, in-flight magazines, and branded tokens as part of creating a cohesive and tangible service experience.

Description: A holistic view ensures that all aspects of the service are considered, including back-end processes and emotional impacts on users.

Action: Use customer journey maps to cover multiple dimensions of the service, ensuring that every part of the user’s experience is optimized.

Example from the Book: A public transportation service used customer journey maps to understand the emotional highs and lows of commuters. This led to improvements in signage, scheduling, and customer service training.

Purpose: Create representative profiles of users to better understand their needs and behaviors.

How to Use: Combine demographic information, user motivations, and behavior patterns into detailed personas.

Example: The book describes the creation of ‘Anna,’ a busy executive who prefers digital banking. Design teams used Anna’s persona to streamline online banking features.

Purpose: Map out the service process in detail, highlighting customer actions, frontstage (visible) and backstage (invisible) employee actions, and supporting processes.

How to Use: Start with a high-level overview and gradually add more detail to capture every interaction and touchpoint.

Example: In a hospitality setting, a service blueprint helped a hotel chain identify bottlenecks in check-in and room service delivery.

Purpose: Visualize the customer’s entire journey through the service, identifying key touchpoints and emotional states.

How to Use: Document every step of the customer journey, noting high points, pain points, and opportunities for improvement.

Example: A telecom company used journey mapping to track the user experience from purchasing a phone plan to using customer support, revealing critical gaps in the onboarding process.

Purpose: Identify and understand the various stakeholders involved in the service, outlining their relationships and influence.

How to Use: List all stakeholders and map their interactions and influence on the service design process.

Example: When designing a public library service, stakeholder mapping revealed the critical role of local schools and community organizations in driving user engagement.

Purpose: Create low-fidelity to high-fidelity models of the service to test and iterate on its design.

How to Use: Start with simple sketches or mock-ups before moving to more detailed and interactive prototypes.

Example: A start-up prototyped a new subscription service by first creating basic wireframes, then using these to gather user feedback before building a functional beta version.

Purpose: Identify and analyze all points of interaction between the user and the service.

How to Use: Catalog each touchpoint and evaluate its effectiveness, consistency, and user experience.

Example: A supermarket analyzed touchpoints from advertising to in-store experience, leading to redesigned signage and improved customer service training.

Purpose: Continuously update and refine personas based on new user insights and evolving needs.

How to Use: Regularly review and adjust personas to reflect changes in user behavior or market conditions.

Example: An e-commerce company periodically revisited their personas to account for seasonal shopping trends and new buyer demographics, ensuring their platform stayed relevant and user-friendly.

Situation: A utility company faced consistent customer dissatisfaction due to a complicated bill payment process.

Action: Using service blueprinting, they mapped the entire payment process, identifying areas for simplification and enhancement.

Outcome: The redesigned process included more intuitive online payment options and clearer billing statements, resulting in higher customer satisfaction and reduced call center inquiries.

Situation: A financial services firm wanted to improve the onboarding process for new clients.

Action: They used customer journey mapping to identify pain points that new clients experienced during onboarding.

Outcome: The firm introduced a welcome kit and a dedicated onboarding touchpoint, reducing client onboarding time by 30% and improving overall client satisfaction.

Situation: An online retailer noticed high cart abandonment rates.

Action: By creating personas and analyzing customer feedback, they identified issues in the checkout process.

Outcome: Simplifying the checkout flow and providing more payment options decreased cart abandonment, leading to increased sales.

“This is Service Design Thinking” provides an essential framework for understanding and applying service design principles. Through its user-centric, co-creative, sequenced, evidenced, and holistic approach, it equips practitioners with the tools and methodologies necessary to create impactful service experiences. By incorporating service blueprints, customer journey maps, personas, stakeholder maps, and prototyping, service designers can address various challenges and innovate effectively in any industry. The book’s numerous examples and actionable advice offer rich insights, making it an invaluable resource for anyone looking to enhance their service design practices.