User experience focuses on the experience that the end user encounters when they use your software product, whereas service design focuses on how that user experience is created for the customers.
Imagine you come across an issue that prompts you to connect to a company's customer support team. For this, you must be able to initiate the live chat to communicate your problem to the agent.
The interactions you have while you communicate with the agent - the chat box interface, the ease of communication while conveying the issue, and smooth navigation on the website - make up the user experience.
Whereas the ability of the customer support agent to resolve the issue promptly, get back to you with the necessary solution and details, and assist you in any of these and other tasks, are all part of service design.
Poor service design will leave a bitter taste in your product the customer. At Dezy It, we create journey maps to craft a better user experience for our users. We create an empathy map to understand the user's emotions and feelings.
In the above scenario, the chatbox interface shows a glitch every few seconds, or the customer cannot get in touch with the customer support team due to the unavailability of a live chat option altogether. This will upset the user experience and impact the company's brand identity.
For an optimal user experience, achieving positive interactions at every touch point of the user's journey is crucial. Some major touch points that can make or break your user experience are :
CTA buttons: Ensure your Call-to-action buttons are clear and compelling and prompt the users to click and take action for booking a demo, starting a free trial, or completing a purchase. For this,
Use bright colours and white space to make the button stand out.
Have CTA's spread evenly throughout the web page.
Homepage: The most crucial customer touchpoint is the user's first impression of your website. Use your homepage to help the users understand your product's value and how it can assist them to solve their problem statements. For this,
Create an attractive header
Build a smooth navigation flow
Set clear, defined goals
Onboarding: Customers expect a smooth, hassle-free onboarding experience. The primary onboarding goal should be to minimise churn and maximise user satisfaction. It will help you build long-lasting relationships with your users. For this,
Optimise your welcome emails
Collect user feedback with the help of tools like Hotjar and Enterpret.
Now, let us see how service design can assist in creating the perfect user experience in the above scenarios.
The main goal of Service Design is to create appealing and user-friendly customer-centric services. It can be achieved by resource allocation to tailor to the customer's journey, product management to enhance the product so it meets the customer's needs and creating guidelines for smoother workflows. At Dezy It, we focus on Service Design because we believe that our client's products should be appealing and user-friendly. Check out how we used Design Sprints, a design thinking methodology, to offer fresh insights for our clients' user journeys.
To give tangible and intangible brand experiences that lead to a positive and delightful user experience, some principles of service design ought to be followed :
Build the service around your users.
Be consistent in your messages.
Involve users in every step of the process
User Experience and Service Design collaboratively determine the brand identity and the customer experience with the product. It's not one or the other.
You must streamline internal processes to ensure a smooth user flow and improve customer experience. The service blueprint is a strategy for service design and advancement. It can help identify problems and work on the business back-end on how a service works and fits into the customer experience. Ensure you're focusing on the UX as well as the Service Design of your product while creating customer-centric services.