Would You Like Service With That?

8/14/2019 Would You Like Service With That?

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/would-you-like-service-with-that 1/9

Would you like service with that?

An Exploration into Service DesignStrategy within Automotive RetailingBrad Eperiece Series, Summer 2008

By Cris Bedord ad Aso Lee

Karo Group



2 Service as a System o Customer Eperieces

3 Begiig to Solve te Problem

4 Case Study: OpeRoad Auto Group

6 Iovatio ad Service Desig

Idustry

Automotive, Retail

Autors

Cris Bedord, Aso Lee

Keywords

Automotive, service, desig, retail, eperiece ecoomy,

Operoad, Toyota

AbstractService desig is a system o tougtully eecuted customer

iteractios. Cris Bedord ad Aso Lee eplai tat it is

a disciplie tat as bee aroud or some time, becomig

a critical elemet i wat is ow reerred to as te eperiece

ecoomy. I tis cotet, tey aalyze a spectrum o desig

strategies tey developed or a auto dealersip i Vacouver

tat, witi a year o eecutio, cotributed to a 28 percet

icrease i sales.

Copyright permission

Desig Maagemet Istitute

Reprit #08191BED38

Tis article was rst publised i

Design Manage ment Review Vol. 19 No. 1

All rigts reserved.

Table o Cotets



1B R A n D E x P E R I E n C E S E R I E S Summer 2008

ThE InCREASED COMPETITIOn fOR customers

ad customer loyalty drives orgaizatios

ad brad maagers to costatly revisit te

questio o wat customer service meas

ad ow to best deliver “good service” i te

variety o veues ad cotets i wic custom-

ers seek product or advice, or iteract. Peraps

te strogest evidece tat service desig is

worty o our reewed attetio was howard

Scultz’s letter to customers earlier tis year

as e aouced is retur to Starbucks as

CEO ad is promise to make “te Starbucks

eperiece as good as it as ever bee ad

eve better…i te way stores look, i te way

people serve you, i te ew beverages ad

products we will o er.”

Wile service desig is obviously ot a

ew cocept, it as become icreasigly

relevat over te past decade. Te ecoomy

as sited dramatically toward growig

customer demad or a level o persoalized

service tat as bee lost to big-bo retailers,

discouters, ad volume mercadisers wo

sacriced most, i ot all, aspects o customer

service i te pursuit o greater prots romlow margi products.

Yet, as istory as taugt us, price is bot te

lowest commo deomiator ad te worst

dieretiator, drivig compaies to move back

toward a service model ad a more uma

coectio. Tus te eed or desigig better

service ad services.

>> But wat eactly is service desig? Ad ow

is it dieret rom wat we curretly term

eperiece desig? Te trut is tat oe is a

etesio o te oter, as as bee described

so well i Josep Pie’s ad James Gilmore’s

popular book, Te Eperiece Ecoomy1.

Pie ad Gilmore argue tat everytig ca be

commoditized, ad tereore to keep customers

loyal tere eeds to be a emotioal coectio

betwee te goods ad te services compaies

provide. It’s precisely tis coectio tat we

call te “eperiece.” Te Dais Desig Cetre

oers a particularly useul deitio o

service desig:

Service design as a term generally refers to

design of systems and process around the idea

of rendering a service to the user. The typical

medium for presenting the service is through the

business of commercial or noncommercial entities

(for example, pizza delivery, public healthcare,

airlines). Very often, the service element is

attached to a physical product or offering, but

at times it can be purely an intangible offering:

for example, legal consultation2.

Most service is deployed troug wat

are commoly reerred to as touc poits.

Tese could be i te orm o virtual iteraces,

pysical iteraces, ad people. for eample,

i a bak te touc poits are te ATM macie,

credit card, prited statemet, call ceter repre-

setative, brac oce, olie bak, ad so o.




Service as a System oCustomer Eperieces

I we tik o service desig as a complete

system o cosidered customer iteractios,

te all o sudde te role o desig ad teeed or desig tikig ad desig strategy

become icreasigly importat or te market

success o service brads. Ulike may

products ad most packaged goods, services

are ote itagibles, ad te caracteristics o

good service ca be deed quatitatively

ad qualitatively, tagibly ad itagibly.

Cosider a airlie tat lets you book your

tickets ad prit your boardig passes olie,

provides a igt tat leaves ad arrives o

time, gives you a seat tat is comortable,

serves ood tat is palatable, ad provides

a eperiece tat eels sae, delivered by

elpul ad uderstadig attedats. Tese

are all goals tat eed to be cosidered

witi a overall system tat we reer to

as service desig.

At te same time, compaies all too ote use

specic iitiatives to bolster a brad tat are

tied to oly oe acet o a customer’s eperi-

ece. Te problem wit tis approac is tat

a sigle elemet i ad o itsel will ot cage

te customer’s overall perceptio o te

orgaizatio.

for eample, airport ceck-i kiosks ad web

ceck-is are eciet ad make good use o

te latest iormatio tecologies. however,

tey are probably te least powerul i

cagig a passeger’s eeligs toward a

airlie, as te brad equity tey build is easily

lost we baggage drop lies are ecessively

log, security is backed up, ad teir luggagelads i a dieret city ta tey do. We you

cosider te may actors ivolved, especially

i qualitative situatios, it becomes arder

to cotrol quality ad or orgaizatios to

maage outcomes.

Service desig is tereore a igly relevat

cocept we tikig about improvig a

orgaizatio’s brad. To tik about service

desig is to tik o a iger plae ad ot

at te level o te desig o a specic product,

eviromet, or iteractio. Istead, tik

o a customer eistig witi a system o

eperieces—ad ask ow all tese tigs

work togeter ad i support o oe aoter.

Staples is a compay tat as used service

desig to dieretiate itsel i te market

troug its “easy butto” program. Te easy

butto started out as a advertisig ad

brad-buildig campaig cetered aroud

te small to medium-size busiess ower ad

te “customer pai” ivolved i te time-

cosumig task o procurig oce supplies

ad equipmet. Te advertisig campaig,

wic eatures a pysical red butto tat we

pused says, “Tat was easy” (Staples’

brad promise), sigies te eceedigly

well implemeted ad eecuted service desig

iitiative tat as eabled te compay to

deliver o te “easy” promise. Doig so was

o simple task, as it required a strog ocus

o sta traiig to desig te desired uma

iteractios, as well as te tecical oes.

As a eample, istead o sales associates

askig te proverbial “Ca I elp you?”

we customers eter te store, Staples

sta associates are traied to ask “Wat

ca I elp you d today?” Te ocus is o

“…to think about service

design is to think on a higher

plane and not at the level of the

design of a specific product,

environment, or interaction.”

>>




solvig specic customer eeds i a persoal

way. Te program as ot oly symbolized

customer eeds but also led to iovative ew

products ad outstadig market success. Te

pilosopy o maimizig buyig coveiece

eteds ito te pysical ad olie soppigeperiece as well. Staples redesiged its

stores to be smaller ad less cluttered. Selvig

systems were made lower i te rot o te

store, aordig better visibility to te spaces

i te rear ad peripery. It developed

specialized websites to target specic types

o corporate buyers. Te tedious task o

collectig receipts, barcodes, ad orms to

apply or mauacturer rebates is adled

troug a service called EasyRebates, wicelectroically submits all product ad purcase

iormatio to te mauacturer or processig.

Te easy butto evetually evolved ito a

mii-desktop applicatio tat allows customers

to make orders ad query Staples.com witout

avig to visit te website. Te oly customer

complait was tat pusig te easy butto

o te website did’t respod wit te audio

payo! Ater more ta 15 years i busiess,

Staples realized tat low prices were’t good

eoug—te key to really dieretiatig itsel

was to desig a easy soppig eperiece.

But peraps te real proo tat tis service is

well-desiged is te act tat te compay

ow gets twice as may complimets as it

does complaits.

Wile Pie ad Gilmore suggest tat te

eperiece ecoomy actually evolved rom

te service ecoomy, te service or meas by

wic value is redered or a customer is still

a valid driver o a overall eperiece ad

deserves cosideratio. Tis raises questios:

how does oe egage i service desig? Ad

wy is it so callegig? Coosig to look atte subject o service desig rom te perspec-

tive o busiess processes eables te etire

orgaizatio to revisit te way it is structured to

deliver services to its customers, ad to eplore

wic tools, traiig, ad metrics are required

to esure cotiuous maagemet o te

customer eperiece.

Begiig to Solve teProblem

Te larger your orgaizatio, umber o

products, or veues ivolved i rederig

a service, te more comple tis system

becomes. however, witout te broader view

o te cotiuum o customer eperieces, your

eorts may be patcy ad ave little eect o

your orgaizatio ad its overall brad success

i te market. To begi to develop a picture

o your service oerig ad system, it is useul

to eplore a variety o itercoected desig

disciplies.

“…the greatest opportunity

for differentiation comes from

designing and delivering a betterdealership experience, not from

leveraging the automotive brand.”

>>

“Second, the design had to

support the dealership’s new

sales vision, which intended

to shift the power and contro

from the sales associates to the

customer—something that

was almost unheard of in the

automotive retailing world.”

>>




Te key is to start wit a solid deitio ad

a clear uderstadig o te problem you’re

tryig to solve. Customer eperiece mappig,

or te process o storyboardig ad documetig

te variety o possible scearios wit detailed

iteractios ad outcomes, is a useul measo probig ad ucoverig opportuities to

desig a better service. Tis tecique requires

tat all aspects o te customer eperiece

be coected by a set o specic services

ad iclude all te customer touc poits.

Visual idetity ad brad laguage idicate

relatiosips trougout te orgaizatio,

remidig employees, as well as customers,

o te presece o a larger system.

Te eperieces customers ave are te direct

result o teir persoal iteractios wit sta,

products, services, ad tecology-based

delivery systems, suc as websites, kiosks, ad

voice automatio. new researc i beavioural

sciece suggests tat wat matters most i te

service equatio is customer perceptio. Tis

remids us tat service desig is about atte-

tio to detail, as eve a sta member’s ailure

to say “tak you” ca leave te customer wit

a perceptio o ierior service. Lookig oropportuities to iuece positive perceptios

sould be part o te service desig process.

Case study:OpeRoad Auto Group

Service desig i may ways also ivolves

meetig previously umet customer eeds.

Cosider te case o OpeRoad Auto Group,i Vacouver, Caada. Tis is a dealersip

brad Karo Group elped to create. Te

real work bega wit te recogitio tat te

problem OpeRoad was tryig to solve lay

ot i sellig more cars but rater i provid-

ig better service. Most dealersips ail to

recogize tat teir job is ot to create te car

brad ad te car eperiece; tat’s te job o

te car mauacturer. (I act, i may cases te

customer as already decided wic veiclee or se wats to buy beore set tig oot i

te dealersip.) Tus te greatest opportuity

or dieretiatio comes rom desigig ad

deliverig a better dealersip eperiece, ot

rom leveragig te automotive brad.

Tis required a uge sit i tikig tat

ecessitated a total orgaizatioal cage

i te compay (figure 1). Wat we set out

to desig was a ew kid o dealersip, oe

wit strog street appeal tat would icrease

oot trac. We also eeded to itegrate te

sales ad service areas ad to take customer

service strategy to a ew, iger level. To do

all tis, we ad to address a variety o strategic

busiess issues.

first, te dealersip wated to maimize te

available oor space i order to geerate te

igest sales per square oot possible—witout

sacricig te customer eperiece. Tis

meat retikig all aspects o mercadisig,

as well as ormulatig a variety o customer

eperiece scearios. Secod, te desig

ad to support te dealersip’s ew sales

visio, wic iteded to sit te power

ad cotrol rom te sales associates to te

customer—sometig tat was almost ueard

o i te automotive retailig world. Tird, ad

Growth &Profitability

Consistent,QualityService

OpenRoadFacilities

Strong,Trusting,

Team-basedCulture

CustomerLoyalty

CustomerSatisfaction

EmployeeSatisfaction,

Loyalty &Productivity

figure 1. Karo cosidered ow te service desig or

OpeRoad, a car dealersip, could ecourage beaviours ad

cultural cages tat would lead to te creatio o ecellet

customer eperieces ad drive growt, as well.




most importat, was to create a comortable

eperiece tat ecouraged customers to

sped more time i te dealersip ad discover

more about OpeRoad.

Wat we developed was a iovative retail

eviromet ever beore see i te market:

oe tat supported iormed product decisios

at all levels o sales ad service. Te curb

appeal came rom a system o stackig cars

o te outside o te sowroom tat served

bot as iovative mercadisig ad ullled

our goal o maimizig available oor space

(figure 2). Log, curved widows created

a epasive view o products ad optios.

We posted te OpeRoad Auto Group

“eperiece promise” at te door so tat we

customers etered, tey immediately kew

tey, ot te sales associates, were i cotrol

o te buyig decisio.

We itroduced te idea o Iteret kiosks tat

allowed customers access to iormatio tat

would assist tem i teir buyig decisios

(figure 3). We desiged te retail displays to

be iormative ad educatioal i muc te

same way as oe would d iormatio i a

museum or iterpretive ceter.

As we’ve already stated, service desig requires

a ull cosideratio o te customer’s eeds i a

variety o scearios. I keepig wit tis idea,

we desiged a coee louge, complete wit

automotive readig, resource materials, ad a

300-gallo aquarium ad kids’ play area tat

esured cildre’s etertaimet wile teir

parets spet upressured time cosiderig

a purcase decisio. (Cosider tat, rom a

cosumer’s viewpoit, te purcase epese

o a car is secod oly to tat o buyig a ew

ome). Te sowroom oor eatures tree

veicle displays wit movig-image screes

ad reective oor tiles tat create a sese o

color ad motio (figure 4). I additio to oter

veicles o te oor, tese displays create a

ocal poit or customers, geerate a desire

or discovery, ad brig te OpeRoad brad

eperiece to lie.

It is ater te car is bougt ad paid or tat

most customers really get to kow teir

dealersip—ad, iroically, tis is we

figure 2. Visually iterestig displays, icludig a system

o stackig cars outside te sowroom, welcome ad egage

ew customers, as well as maimize oor space.

figure 3. Iteret kiosks give customers access to pertiet

iormatio ad support te buyig abits to wic customers

are already accustomed.




customers requetly ave teir worst

eperieces. Te service desig strategy

or OpeRoad was quick to take tis ito

cosideratio, relocatig te customer rom

te greasy service bays to te sowroom caé.

Istead o orcig customers to wait i te backo te sop ad to drive teir veicles out o

te service bay, OpeRoad ow ecourages

customers to settle teir accouts i te comort

o te sowroom wile a attedat brigs

teir car aroud or tem.

Te results o tis service desig strategy

ave bee otig sort o remarkable.

Tey cotributed to a 28 percet retail sales

icrease i te very rst year, leadig to

OpeRoad beig amed te top-sellig Toyota

dealersip i all o Caada i 2006, ad to

its validatio as te oly Toyota dealersip

i wester Caada to receive te Presidet’s

Recogitio Award rom Toyota.

Iovatio ad ServiceDesig

Clearly, service desig oers may opportui-

ties or iovatio. We you look at a etireservice system wit a mid ope to makig

adjustmets i multiple dimesios, it elps you

make better decisios we itegratig ew

tecologies ad ew approaces. Te role

o desig is tereore uique, because it brigs

orward creative opportuities ad diverget

approaces to busiess problem-solvig tat

rarely come ito play. Ulike maagemet

cosultats, wo are ote ired to elp

compaies ormulate ew service strategies by

aalyzig ad optimizig wat already eists,

desig ca elp orgaizatios visualize uture

possibilities rom te customer’s poit o view.

I te process, tey ca ivet etirely ew

market spaces ad opportuities.

As oted earlier, te cocept ad practice o

service desig is ot ew. however, it is pos-

sibly a more uiversal way o brigig togeter

te may acets o desig ad busiess uder a

commo ramework o tikig. Desigers, by

teir ature, are geerally less willig to accept

tat tecological ad operatioal costraits

are acceptable reasos or ot cagig or

adaptig service delivery to meet customer

eeds. Desig tikig ca ad does create

a ealty tesio i te searc or better ad

more iovative ways to create ew systems,

desig ew services, ad deliver a eaced

customer eperiece, capable o truly elpig

service brads succeed i te market.

figure 4. Veicle displays o te sowroom oor oer movig-

image screes ad reective oor tiles tat brig cotet ad

cotet togeter to ecourage eploratio ad egagemet.

“…design can help organizations

visualize future possibilities from

the customer’s point of view.”

>>




C Bdd

pesident nd CEo f K G

Cris as elped a roster o blue- cip

cliets ocus ad streamlie teir brad

stories over a illustrious 25–year

career. Prior to Karo Cris eld seiorroles i some o nort America’s

most ormidable agecies, icludig

MBL/DDBO ad McKim Advertisig,

were e was te yougest ever

Vice Presidet i te rm’s 100–year

istory. Cris is a member o te DMI

Iteratioal Advisory Coucil ad is

regularly ivited to speak at desig

ad marketig evets i nort America

ad iteratioally.

A L

Diect, Cstme Exeience Sttegy

Aso as over 13 years eperiece

i bradig ad strategic maagemet.

Wit a educatio i computer sciece,

commuicatios ad e arts, Asoapplies a uique combiatio o

tecology, busiess strategy ad visual

desig to te strategic developmet

ad eecutio o creative cocepts.

Aso as become a leadig autority

o customer eperiece strategy ad

service desig, avig worked o

umerous ig prole projects i

Caada ad nort America.

referenCes

1. B. Josep Pie, James h. Gilmore 1999,

“Te Eperiece Ecoomy: Work is Teatre ad Every

Busiess is a Stage”, harvard Busiess Scool Press,

Bosto, Massacusetts.

2. Dais Desig Cetre, Copeage.

Authors

Would You Like Service With That?

Documents

Transcript of Would You Like Service With That?