What is Service Design A tale of two coffee shops

Summary

The video explains service design by comparing two neighboring coffee shops that sell the same coffee at the same price. What sets them apart is how well each designs the overall service experience.

• Coffee Shop A assembles a team and spends several months developing a mobile app without first learning what customers need. As a result, the app offers little value.
• Coffee Shop B starts with customers and considers their entire experience—before, during, and after a visit. This broader perspective may reveal opportunities beyond an app, such as improving staff tools, payments, store layout, training, communications, or products.

The service-design approach

1. Research customers’ experiences

   • Talk with customers to understand what they do before, during, and after using the service.
   • Map their journey, noting both positive and difficult moments.
   • Use the findings to identify opportunities for improvement.

2. Involve people across the business

   • Learn from in-store colleagues about their day-to-day work.
   • Consider the founder’s original vision and involve marketing, suppliers, and other relevant teams.
   • Bring these perspectives together in workshops to clarify business objectives and what the service should achieve.

3. Develop and test ideas

   • Create service concepts and test them with customers.
   • Assess the technology needed to deliver them.
   • Use a service blueprint to document the supporting processes and systems.

4. Design the whole service, not just one feature

   • Customer-facing improvements—the front stage—might include an app, staff tablet tools, an updated payment system, staff training, a redesigned store, social communications, or new product lines.
   • The backstage includes the systems and capabilities that support those experiences, such as digital infrastructure, performance measures, CRM, and delivery partners.
   • These elements need to work together and be refined over time.

Three principles of service design

• Customer-centric: Put customers at the heart of decisions so the service meets real needs.
• Co-created: Design with customers and people across the business to help ensure the service is technically feasible and viable.
• Holistic: Connect interdependent experiences and service components, including those customers do not see, so the service works as a whole and can grow beyond its initial idea.

Service design is not only what makes someone choose one coffee shop over another; it is also what makes them return and recommend it to others.

Speakers and sources

• Narrator: The video’s presenter, who is not identified by name in the subtitles.
• Mark: The person cited as the source of the opening quote. The surname is unclear in the auto-generated subtitles.