Service designed from the outside in

In the family way...

Most companies on this planet are conceived from the inside out, starting with the offering. They have some kind of service or product, in various forms, and they want you to buy it. Their entire structure exists to support the offering, and find customers that match it.

Take new car dealerships, for example. Typically, they are contractually bound to one manufacturer and sell that one manufacturer's whole range, from sports cars to people movers to citymobiles to executive saloons. The upshot - a typical car dealer has a showroom full of cars - and about one particular model which is of interest to any given customer.

It's a nightmare for the salespeople ("should I dress fashionably or conservatively?"), and it's a nightmare for the customer ("I want a cheap runabout - I'd better go and visit six different dealers...").

At familycars.de the concept is far smarter. They sell only family cars - from a bunch of different manufacturers, and out of a single showroom. The whole experience is well designed - with activities for kids, childcare, family-friendly opening times (a miracle in regimented Germany), play areas inside and out, free dvd players for those long journeys - and even family-oriented financing.

But their approach goes far beyond experience design - it is a completely customer-centric service design, from the core out. Brilliant! Terrific! And they are quite deservedly being showered with prizes...

If you think about it, it's an obvious path to success. So...

... why are there still a thousand Product Managers out there for every Customer Segment Manager?

Photo by freeparking at flickr

Make it tellable

Normal folks don't talk dpi, they tell stories

Cool new printers are like leaves in a forest these days, and it's terribly hard to make any one stand out. Even super-duper printer-fax-scanner-copiers are now serious yawn-material. But when my good buddy and colleague Markus bought himself an HP machine last week, he called me straight away to rave about one feature.

"You put in your memory card," he says, "and it prints thumbnails of all your photos."
"Uh, OK," I reply.
"Wait, this is the cool bit. On the printout, there are little boxes next to the thumbnails. You tick the size you need, and put the paper back in the machine. It reads your ticks and prints the pics you want automatically!"

Now, I don't know if this is HP's own idea, or if it's even new, but it's solid gold experience design for two reasons.

Firstly, that is a brilliant interface. People are much happier with pens and papers than with even the best computer menus - and you can pass a piece of paper around. Choosing the pics to print becomes a social experience on the sofa or in the cafe, without the sickly light and cricked necks of too many people trying to see the same computer monitor. Excellent work!

Secondly, that design feature is something that it is really easy to talk about. And this is important.

Remember, a lot of technical development results in improved specifications - say, a higher dpi or printing speed. There's not much you can say about that, except "well, it's better quality" or "yes, it's a bit faster". Hardly gripping stuff - and well on the way to Commodity City.

HP's clever user experience gimmick is different, because it gave Markus a story to tell - and helped him endorse a product he was excited about without boring us with geeky spec-numbers.

Pine and Gilmore argue that the experience economy is about creating memories. You could also say that experience design is about creating good stories - that bring all the benefits of word-of-mouth marketing.

Question for the week - what part of your offering is easily "tellable"? What makes a good story, for people to pass on to their friends?

Storyteller pic from travel_aficionado at flickr

7#3 d3v1c3 #45 b33n m0d1f13d

IT'S ADAM'S BIRTHDAY
Not saying how old he is, but does that matter? Let's just say it's a good one.

Anyway... time for you to come up with some extra-creative birthday wishes.

Me? I wish him the groundbreaking discovery of the secret of Step 2.
And, of course, all things bright and beautiful. And cake.

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There was even going to be a party for you. A big party that all your friends were invited to. I invited your best friend the companion cube. Of course, he couldn't come because you murdered him. More quickly than any test subject on record. It wasn't brave. It was murder. Now there will be no party associate to pick you up for your party. Not even if you assume the party escort submission position.

L00k at me still talking when there's science to do... goodbye.