Service design is about understanding the relationships between a business and its customers. Service blueprints help us to map and plan these relationships. As we mentioned here, most businesses often have one thing in common. They all have a complex patchwork of systems and working practices that have grown organically over the years. This is where service blueprinting comes in. Blueprints are a powerful tool that helps visualise, analyse, and improve the entire customer journey.
A service blueprint is more than just a diagram. It's a living document that maps out every touchpoint, interaction, and behind-the-scenes process that contributes to a customer's experience. It uncovers hidden pain points, highlights opportunities for improvement, and fosters collaboration between different teams within an organisation.
Whether it's an onboarding process for a wellbeing service, a matchday experience, or an improvement to a pension advisory service, we’ve used service blueprints to help us imagine ourselves in the shoes of customers. Service blueprints allow our team to identify and address potential issues in a journey before they escalate into bigger problems, they allow us to map our design hypotheses and metrics to specific parts of the journey in order for us to make data-driven decisions and they allow us to look at a service as a whole by considering the ‘front-stage’ the ‘back-stage’ and the back office admin functions required to deliver on the expectations of users.
From a personal perspective, we love how a service blueprint has the ability to bring people together, the artefact itself - often a large map in a physical location gives people an excuse to gather. Some of the most interesting conversations have been with people passing by, the blueprint has a unique ability to provide that forum. Equally important is the digitalisation of the service blueprint, we recommend an up to date version is provided throughout a project in order to streamline processes, give teams a clear understanding of progress and allow team members who may be remote the ability to provide their opinion.
How we create a service blueprint and its exact form depends on a number of factors. We look at the specific service journey we are mapping, we define who the ‘actors’ are, for example who the customers, employees and other parties involved are. Next we list all touchpoints from start to finish, including frontstage, backstage and admin. At each touchpoint we capture what each actor does and map their emotions. It's important that this is based on real evidence, so we base our decisions on facts and not assumptions. We use all this to discuss pain points and uncover opportunities for improvement, refining our blueprint over time.
We partner with you to turn service blueprints into actionable strategies. Our expertise in inclusive and backstage design ensures that every blueprint we create is comprehensive, empathetic, and tailored to your unique business goals. If you want to create seamless, memorable experiences for your customers or service users, get in touch. Let us show you how this powerful tool can transform the way you serve your customers. Contact us today for a personalised consultation.
Get in touch with the team to discuss your idea, project or business.
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