Too often in this nascent industry called “service design,” practitioners, students, professors and pundits seem to love to endlessly debate the meaning of “service design.” Invariably, the definitions become long, complex and too abstract for most outsiders.

As I was thinking about a way to describe service design in simple terms – to prospective clients, friends, neighbors, etc – it hit me like a ton of bricks:
Service design is about asking, “How can I help?”

- How can I help make your flight better, less stressful, more meaningful, more fun, etc?
- How can I help you do business with me more efficiently?
- How can I help you in your time of need, (death, sickness, job loss, etc) as it relates to the service(s) I normally provide you?
- How can I help you get the information you need quickly?

But the key is in asking the question with a pure heart, as in, “How can I help you?” as opposed to “How can I help you help me make more money?” The fact is that if you truly add value – if you really help – then the money will naturally follow.

Sometimes, the help that a customer wants or needs is adjunct to your core business. Sometimes it logically comes before or after your typical point of engagement with that customer. And therein lies the opportunity to not only help, but to also create new revenue opportunities for your business.

In the end, if people would embrace this core idea of “how can I help” then the world of business – and the world in general – would be a far better place.

So… how can I help you?

How much time and effort does it take to go out and talk to your customers? I’m not talking about calling them on the phone. I’m talking about going out to where they work, live or play to engage in a meaningful conversation with them. To observe their surroundings; to see what they see and to feel what they feel.

Here’s a better question: what does it cost if you don’t talk with your customers?

In the case of the U.S. government and the Homeland Security Administration, one recent failed project has cost the U.S. taxpayers over $2 billion USD. Why? Because in the rush to get the project done, no one ever thought to go ask the people on the ground – the ultimate end-user or REAL customer – what they wanted or needed. No one put on their boots and suntan lotion to actually go out into the desert to see what people actually needed to do their job more effectively. Amazingly, this happens every day in business – from small projects to large, from new brand launches to roll-outs of massive software systems. Watch the brief video excerpt from 60 Minutes below to learn more…

Wawa is a very successful chain of convenience stores located in the Philadelphia area which has expanded into a number of states in the Mid-Atlantic region. Wawa has a great partnership with PNC Bank, wherein PNC runs the ATM network inside all Wawa stores. For years they’ve had “no charge” ATM fees for Wawa customers, so regardless of who your bank is, there is no charge for using the ATM. (Of course, this helps drive traffic to the store – get some cash, and while you’re there, grab a hoagie.)

There’s a great user interface feature on the PNC ATMs that I’ve never seen on any other network. Once you do a transaction, the ATM will ask you if you’d like them to remember this as your preference for the future. What PNC has realized is that when most people go to the ATM, they get the same amount of money every time. Whether that’s $40, $100, $150, chances are that you’re plugging in those same numbers each time.

To speed the process, they simply ask you: “We notice that you just plugged in $100; would you like this to be your default amount for future transactions“? If you say yes, then it’s all set up. Right now. I basically slide my card in, put in my pin number, and it comes up and prompts me: “default amount” or “other”? I press one button and am done. And by the way, that also includes language preference. Most ATM machines now prompt for multiple languages but again, why confirm your language preference for every ATM transaction?

Small steps, yet so simple and so brilliantly executed that you have to wonder why every ATM doesn’t do it. Kudos to PNC!

Think about this today: What steps or requirements or hoops are you putting your customers through that are unnecessary?

Here is something you can take to the bank: People love to talk about themselves.

As a result, your customers will give you the insight you’re looking for. The problem is – you have to ask them! This is a key issue in that a lot of companies just don’t ask their customers what they think, how they feel, what they want, etc. A lot of people think that market research has to be very complex with long surveys, and thousands of respondents.

Our experience – time and time again – is that you simply need to go out, sit down eye to eye with folks and have a conversation. Of course, you need to have enough conversations to get a good cross-section but in the words of Nike, “just do it!”

For the most part, you’re going to get pretty consistent answers pretty quickly if you actually have a sit-down conversation with people. And ask clarifying questions to get to the root of the issue. For example, “What do you mean when you say that?” or “That’s interesting – can you elaborate a bit more about that?” It’s useful to record the audio of these conversations and then have somebody – who was not involved in the conversations – review the transcripts to identify consistent themes that come out over and over and over again in those conversations.

What we’ve found is that while people have a problem filling out a survey because they don’t get around to it, they see it as a bother, etc. they are often glad (even thankful) to talk with someone from your company if they are approached in a direct, heartfelt conversational style. The approach is the key. When someone calls you with a survey, can’t you tell they’re reading it straight off the paper? No one wants to deal with that!

We’ve covered this theme before in other blog posts but it’s worth repeating over and over; the key to success in service design is to simply talk with your customers. That’s it.

Over the past month, I’ve been doing a good bit of air travel and due to layovers, have had the opportunity to experience a number of airports in quick progression. These airports include Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, Miami and Key West.

Airports are interesting from a service design perspective because they serve as an aggregation point and hub for a wide variety of other independent services (both commercial and governmental) in an environment that is charged with stress caused by time (arrivals, departures, delays), security clearances, risk of life and limb (from engine failure to terrorist plots), crowds, money (hundreds or thousands of dollars at stake via airfares) and purpose (from business travel to once-in-a-lifetime vacations to your father’s funeral.)

So you would think that the designers of airports would take all of these factors into consideration when designing an airport. I could write a whole paper on this topic (note to self: do it!) but for now, I will share these quick observations:

- Chicago – Beautiful airport, but where are the electrical outlets? Travelers are sitting on the floor plugging their phones and laptops into any outlet that is available. There is a whole social dance that takes place when one has to approach a fellow traveler and ask, “Can I use that other plug?” This is an untapped business opportunity. (See “Dallas” below.)

- Dallas – Nice airport, but what is with the layout of the restrooms? Virtually everyone in an airport has something slung over their shoulder or is dragging something behind them on wheels, right? In this airport, it is impossible not to bump into fellow comfort-seekers as you enter, exit and awkwardly wait around because they have few too many toilets. (I can only imagine that this problem is even worse for the ladies.) However, you can easily juice up your phone or computer at any number of charging stations, which are essentially electrified billboards that serve a purpose.

- Key West – After a few days in paradise, you really don’t want to leave. So the airport has built an faux outdoor lounge next to the gates where, once you’re through security, you can enjoy your last Mojito before you board. It’s a clever laid-back layout built in a glass enclosed atrium, complete with a boardwalk, sand, beach chairs and Jimmy Buffet tunes. However, keep an eye on your watch because the airport’s pubic address system does not provide boarding alerts in this little respite. (Maybe this is designed to get you stay longer in the Keys?)

Once again – as in most service design “misses” – these all are very easy issues to address if only airport designers and their municipal clients would actually go and watch what people do, and then ask those people what they want and need. It is far less expensive to design and build it right the first time, than it is to go and correct these issues after the fact. If there is any space that should be designed to minimize stress and hassle (besides hospitals), it should be our airports that serve as non-stop, human transport switches.

Since I often refer to the famous quote, “the road to Hell is paved with good intentions” I was intrigued by an article in today’s Wall Street Journal entitled, “When Good Deeds Turn Bad” by Jefffery Zaslow. (Don’t ask my why the WSJ titles it one way in the paper edition and then titles it – “Doing Bad by Doing Good” – in the online edition. Also, don’t ask me why the search function on their website is so awful – that’s a topic for another post!) Anyway…

The article is a good one for anyone involved in service design. Zaslow points out a number of examples of people with good intentions, but bad results. While many of the examples are from the world of charity, the lessons directly apply to business and the design of services. From the article:

‘Most of us want to be effective, he says, “to make the world better. But before you help people, you have to ask them, ‘What do you need? What do you want?’” Every day, we see reminders of the limitations, and even the dangers, of good intentions. In Haiti, U.S. missionaries who said they only wanted to save orphaned children ended up arrested on child-trafficking charges. In Asian countries hit by the 2004 tsunami, residents still shake their heads over the warehouses filled with unusable donations, including winter coats and stiletto shoes. And earthquake-ravaged Chile is sure to receive its share of “useless aid” in the days ahead.

And from another section:

Ms. Hogan tells of going to a village in Peru where an aid group brought in tourists to help build public toilets. The group ran out of money and time, the tourists ended their volunteering vacations, and the toilets were never completed. The aid group had thought access to restroom facilities was needed to boost living standards, Ms. Hogan says. “But when I asked people in the community what they wanted, they said, ‘What we really needed was irrigation, and to have our bridge fixed, so we could take our goods to market.’” The never-completed toilets were gaping holes that had to be covered. Villagers feared their children would fall in.

We see these types of well-intentioned efforts all the time among businesses. At best, the companies really do (mistakenly) believe that they are working in the best interest of their customers. At the worst, the companies actually seem to have a sub-conscious contempt (see our previous post) for their customers and the very people who will be using the service. Either way, it comes down to a simple (almost too simple?) bottomline: JUST ASK.

This is what we do for our service design clients via ethnographic research; we go out and talk with their customers (internal or external) and have conversations. We observe, engage and ask questions. Then we compile those findings and bring them back to reveal what people want. This works for everything from service design, to volunteering, to parenting and spousal relationships.  It’s absolutely amazing what you can learn when you put aside what you think is right, and just ask.

We have a saying that we share with our clients when talking about service design: “Add value and money will follow.”

What this means is that you should look at your business – your expertise – and find small, inexpensive ways to leverage that expertise for the benefit of either your existing customers,or prospective customers. Often, the net effect is huge.

Why? Because, supposedly, you are the expert in whatever you do. And consumers these days don’t have time to be experts in all things. So they are looking for what we call “editorial filters,” the companies or individuals who know something they don’t, that can point them in the right direction, make their lives easier, safer, richer, more convenient, etc. These are the “trusted advisors” in our lives. You would think that the those vendors who make the most money from us (think lifetime value) would be most incented to actually be a trusted advisor, and not just a provider of a commodity service. (Think bankers, lawyers, insurance companies, mortgage companies, auto dealers, airlines, etc.)

So imagine my dismay the other day when Allstate Insurance – who I have been with for over 20 years and in that time have probably given them over $35,000 of my hard earned cash – sent me a “Happy Birthday” email. Really? A birthday email? Does someone at Allstate marketing really consider this a best practice of “customer relationship management?” Come on folks. This is 2009!

There a plenty of ways for Allstate to add value to our relationship beyond paying a claim I might submit on average, once per decade. How about using that same email to direct me to that online video about the horrors of texting and driving that I could then send to my teenage daughter? (You know I have teenage daughter – she’s on the policy!) Or how about links to defensive driving classes and offering me a 5% discount for taking it? Maybe you could send me the annual list of the top 10 safest cars, as rated by an independent agency? Tips on how to make my car last longer? Anything… except a gratuitous birthday email!

And these are ideas I am coming up with off the top of my head. This is YOUR business – cars, safety, driving, technology, best practices, statistics, data. You have thousands of employees and massive investments in collecting and analyzing all this information. So why don’t you share a bit of it with me – your customer – to make me a better driver, a safer driver – and ultimately a better customer for YOU?

But you better hurry, because statistically speaking I only have about 40 more years of driving (and insurance payments) left!

Need some help figuring this out? Call us – you’ll be in good hands…

We just added four new PDF case studies to our website, which can be found on our client list page. These include case studies about:

- ColorQuick, a software company developing game-changing technology in the printing industry. Our ethnographic research turned up new and compelling benefits for their target market.

- BlackGold BioFuels, an energy technology company that has a patented system for converting waste products into high quality bio-diesel fuel. We helped them design new services that support the technology product, as well as innovative new business models for rolling out their products and services.

- A major hotel chain and our work with them on designing new service revenue opportunities related to rapid developments in the Connected-TV space.

- A major luxury retailer and a series of card sort exercises we did for them related to a new product design initiative.

Also, after a number of requests from our business partners, we created a one-page executive summary about Frontier Service Design that can be downloaded here.

Read, learn and enjoy!

We heard a story the other day from a large infrastructure service company that has over a thousand field service personnel on the road on any given day, around the country. One of the senior executives did a ride-along with one of these long-time employees and heard an interesting story.

“You know, I’ve been driving this van for about 16 years now, going to people’s homes to help them out, or going to troubleshoot at one of our field facilities. For years, I always felt that I was part of a bigger team of people, you know? I’d be driving along and I’d hear the dispatcher coming over the radio calling out assignments to different techs. I’d hear those voices go back and forth and I’d have a feeling for what was going on around me, you know? So, if maybe Jim got assigned to a big issue about a mile away and it was raining, I might swing by there to see if he needed help. Or I might check in with him on the radio. But ever since we got these GPS systems and smartphones a few years ago, I just get text messages from central dispatch telling me where to go next. I go through an entire day never hearing any human voices of people I work with anymore, and frankly, I feel like I’m out here all alone. In fact, I don’t even feel like I’m part of the company anymore.”

The beauty – and terror – of service design is that it all revolves around people. Certainly, we want to leverage technology to make every process run more smoothly but we also have to keep in mind the collateral damage incurred by such choices. In order to provide an outstanding customer experience, service personnel need to feel as though they are part of a larger mission, and community. How has technology disintermediated your employees from your own company and culture?

Every once in a while we take the Frontier team out on a field trip to experience new services and to think about service design. This week, we took a trip to Wegmans the legendary grocery store chain, that is expanding along the east coast of the United States.

This most recent store opened in a Philadelphia suburb called Collegeville, a few weeks ago. Prior to the door’s opening the first day, there were over 1,500 customers lined up outside. Keep in mind, they weren’t giving away anything for free – they were just opening for business!

Here is link to some photos we took that day inside the store. Beyond the selection and prices, Wegmans does a fantastic job creating a very comfortable and inviting shopping environment, while also staffing the store with outstanding people. (They hired 550 out of over 6,000 applicants.) They also pushed the state of Pennsylvania on the definition of what a grocery store could be, and ended up being able to sell six packs of beer. (For those of you who live outside of Pennsylvania, this is a big deal!)