Building a sustainable business and brand

Service Design in a nutshell

Let's imagine two car rental services, both renting the same cars at the same price. It is the service design that makes you rent from one company and not the other. By developing user-friendly experiences relevant to your customers and your brand, the designed service adds value to the car you rent. Service design is the process of designing and enhancing services to make them more effective, efficient, and enjoyable for the people who use them. It takes a holistic approach that aligns all aspects of a company, including its products, employees, partners, tools, systems, website, social media, brand design, and marketing campaigns.

The holistic approach

To create an excellent service that turns customers into brand advocates, all these components must interact seamlessly with one another. Technology is a strong enabler, but there is far more to look into from a service design perspective. So much that it may seem overwhelming. But don't worry. In simple terms: Just start and never stop. Begin creating a minimal viable service and utilise user and data-driven feedback to learn where and how to improve.

Designing a service is a game of inches that never ends. If you stay ahead in the game, you must constantly invest in outpacing the competition and commit to incrementally improving your service while making it more efficient. Your competitors might have the same product, but when you keep putting in the hard work, they will not be able to copy your service.

Mapping is the silver bullet

Mapping is an important driver of progress in service design. It's a method that uses focused workshops to zoom in on the many different aspects of your service. The outcome of any workshop is a map, hence "mapping". It helps you understand the customer's journey, identify pain points, and opportunities for improvement. Different types of maps exist, such as customer journey maps, service blueprints, and ecosystem maps. The mapping process involves a multidisciplinary team from both the client and the agency side. It's a collaborative process that requires input and feedback from all stakeholders.

New Story's expertise

At New Story, we have been one of the first agencies in the Netherlands to fully commit to co-creation and service design. In more than a decade, we have learned what it takes to genuinely involve stakeholders and keep them focused and energized throughout the mapping phase. More importantly, we are fully equipped to translate the insights we obtain with mapping to an ever-evolving digital landscape. We have all methods, models, expertise, tools, and systems in place to create winning services, as we have done for Sunny Cars, Van der Valk, Vogelbescherming and many others.

Let the game of inches begin

No matter the size of your company or your product, New Story believes that any company can benefit from a well-designed service. It will help you create a sustainable engine of growth and strengthen your brand along the way. Contact us today to learn how we can help you build a customer-centric service that reflects your brand DNA throughout the entire customer journey.

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