Topic outline

  • The third theme of the course is customer-centric service systems.

    For many service operations the measurable customer experience is the guiding principle of service management. This module deals with what constitutes a customer experience, how customer experiences are created within service systems, and how you can use service design to create service systems that consistently create compelling customer experiences.

    After studying this module you should have a high-level understanding of 1) what are customer experiences and what they consist of, 2) how service design can help in creating good customer experiences, 3) service design in general, what are its aims and what it focuses on (and if it is in any way different to product design)

    You also will get a bit deeper look into two common 'tools' in service design: 4) customer journey mapping (sometimes also called user journey mapping) and 5) service blueprinting.


    NOTE: As this module overlaps the exam week of period III there are more self-study materials and only one 'live' session.


    WEDNESDAY 17.2. Customer experiences in service

    Pre-reading article & presentation article is Understanding customer experience throughout the customer journey. You can assign yourself into the presentation team here.

    NOTE: You can skip or skim the following sections: A research Agenda for Customer Experience (but read Table 2 on p. 86) and Appendix. You can also skim the section on Customer Experience Measurement.

    This article describes what customer experiences are, what they consist of, how they unfold over time, and what are customer journeys and their relationship to customer experiences. It also discusses role of customer journey mapping and service blueprinting. 

    After reading the article and watching the article presentation and reading the slides (available on Tuesday 16.2. 10 am), do a peer-review of the presentation (for those NOT participating in the presentation team).

    Also watch these two videos:

    • Principles of Human-Centered Design (Don Norman) (2m55s)
    • How to create a customer journey map (3m50s)

    After reading the article and watching the videos, and attending the lecture, please take the quiz to test your learning.

    Further information on role of service design in creating compelling customer experiences please read:

    Link to the day's presentation material.

    Week of Wednesday 24.2. (NO session as period III exam week):
    This week is fully self-study at your own pace. Read the article Service blueprinting: a practical technique for service innovation, and watch the following videos:

    • 4 Key Components of Service Blueprints (2min19s), / Sarah Gibbons, Chief Designer, NNGroup
    • Service blueprinting FAQ / Sarah Gibbons, Chief Designer, NNGroup (5min34s)


    Then, write Learning diary on customer-centric service systems: Write a short reflective online learning diary on the key topics and your learning.



    Voluntary further materials

    Materials and readings possibly from both scientific and non-scientific sources - which go beyond the requirements in the module. These do help the interested student to delve deeper into the topic - while the videos, podcasts, and practitioner oriented materials may provide a bit different take on the topic of the module.

    • West, S., Stoll, O., Østerlund, M., Müller-Csernetzky, P., Keiderling, F., & Kowalkowski, C. (2020). Adjusting customer journey mapping for application in industrial product-service systems. International Journal of Business Environment11(3), 275-297.
    • Patrício, L., Fisk, R. P., Falcão e Cunha, J., & Constantine, L. (2011). Multilevel service design: from customer value constellation to service experience blueprinting. Journal of service Research14(2), 180-200.
    • Palmer, A. (2010). Customer experience management: a critical review of an emerging idea. Journal of Services marketing, 24(3), 196-208.
    • Yu, E. and Sangiorgi, D., 2018. Service design as an approach to implement the value cocreation perspective in new service development. Journal of Service Research, 21(1), pp.40-58.
    • Iriarte, I., Hoveskog, M., Justel, D., Val, E., & Halila, F. (2018). Service design visualization tools for supporting servitization in a machine tool manufacturer. Industrial Marketing Management71, 189-202.
    • Kimbell, L., 2011. Designing for service as one way of designing services. International Journal of Design, 5(2), pp.41-52.
    • Calabretta, G. and Kleinsmann, M., 2017. Technology-driven evolution of design practices: envisioning the role of design in the digital era. Journal of Marketing Management, 33(3-4), pp.292-304.
    • Maechler, N., Neher, K. and Park, R., 2016. From touchpoints to journeys: Seeing the world as customers do. McKinsey and Company.

    Podcasts:

    NOTE: these are practitioner made and -oriented podcasts. You should be able to find the audios from via your preferred podcast service by searching the podcast name and then browsing to the episodes. There are some interesting observations, info and links in the shownotes in the links below, however.