Why blended services are the future of business?
The search for empathy in a digital-first world
We are spending more time behind screens than ever before, especially during a world where social distancing is a priority and services become digital-first. According to J.M.Lang, screen time (amongst children) increased by 500% during the pandemic. As a result, we are introduced and adapting to new services as well. Job interviews are held from your couch, for example. But also a doctor’s visit, buying prescription glasses, or getting financial help, everything is shifting to online. Yet, does this mean we lose the human touch in services we are accustomed to?
Uber uses a blended service model by doing the digital ordering and last-mile delivery with couriers.
image: Uber
A new type of service combining the best of both worlds
The fact that we are buying our clothes online does not mean we can’t discuss something with sales assistants anymore. China’s no1 shopstreamer Viya prove the contrary, in a world where mobile shopping experiences can be engaging and fulfilling. We are not saying that every service should have streamers or video calls, not in the slightest. The point is: there are many ways and methods of engaging your customers with digital services while still keeping a high human touch.
Zappos is another example: This shoe store set an ‘unwavering focus on delivering the best possible service experience for [their] customers’. This does not only include help with your right shoe size or return form, but also help you with finding the best pizza place in Florida, or anything else you might want to know. This friendliness and human touch creates loyalty in customers, attracted not only to Zappos’ shoes.
How blended services look like
On the digital side, services appear in the form of websites and applications. On the physical, they manifest themselves in personal interactions such as luggage drop on airports, cabin crew service during flights, or real-time chatting. The combination of personal interaction and the power of digital platforms is what makes a blended service. This type of service has a customer journey with either a combination of online and offline touchpoints or a fully digital one, where service agents are present digitally, adding up to excellent customer experience. From awareness to loyalty, a digital component receives a high-touch human element.
blended services model - ktc
Let's take online banking as an example. Almost all banks turned into primarily online services, you check your account online, make transactions through your phone. But what made you choose for your bank? It might simply be the interest you get at that bank, yet you probably also checked the added value of that bank in comparison to the others. Maybe it gives you financial help, the possibility to automate transactions or savings for you, the bank notifies you when you are almost out of money or it even helps you with insurances! A bank that really knows how to get you emotionally engaged is N26, already starting their slogan with ‘the bank you’ll love’.
How to build a blended service?
Creating or improving your current service can be done by designing an ideal buyer journey for your service. Follow these steps and start creating blended touchpoints on your service:
image: Maven Clinic
Specify your customer profile
Who is the star of your blended service? It needs no explanation that you design for a specific set of users. Therefore, describe those as good as you can and use tools such as personas to make them come to life. Check our customer needfinding page for more information on it.
Define the service outcome.
Here you define the service objective: what incredible benefit are you offering to the customer? What problem are you solving for your customer? In this phase, you empathize with your customer and prove that your service idea is unique. Get inspired by leading blended service examples like Picnic or Maven Clinic.
Define the desired service sentiment.
The sentiment is what makes the service unique, some call this the desired customer experience. What do you want your customer to feel while consuming the service? Do you want him to feel part of a community, to deliver an exclusive feel, make her feel welcome, in control, etc? This part recognizes the importance of creating something that touches the heart rather than the mind, to design for loyal customers and referrals.
Ideate and map the service assets
In this step, you map the assets you have to provide the service and the ones you will still have to develop. Based on the service sentiment, brainstorm on intentional actions, steps and touchpoints, and choose if a digital or physical solution is the best option. Also, by making use of customer experience principles like Peak-End rule, you strategize which elements should impact the customer most and contribute to your service sentiment.
Consolidate in a blended customer journey to-be
Rationalize all touchpoints for the customer and the steps towards the service outcome, from awareness of the service to consuming it and referring it to others. Your end visualisation is a blended service with digital and physical layers, which complement each other on delivering service goal and sentiment.
The benefits of blended services
All examples shown explain ways to humanize your business. The thing they have in common is the added value of their product or service that makes you come back again and again.
The scalability of digital, combined with a human touch: Automate what you can, and focus on converting. The digital layer provides shoppers and service providers with tools to speed up purchases. Comparing features, interactive product selector, smart filtering, and more bring the right items to the right customer. And when they are in the evaluation phase before payment, the service agent comes in to close the deal.
More impact by leveraging data to make your customer’s life easier. Improve service quality and recommendations by gathering customer data. Product preference, average order value (AOV), and demographics are just some of the data organizations can use to build a better buyer persona, and provide excellent service.
Setting yourself apart from the competition: in a world where consumers interact with at least 3 different screens per day, you need a way to set yourselves apart. The most important thing is to get emotional engagement from your customers.
Blended services are an entirely new approach to digitization and business transformation. They are what makes customers come back. It is about getting a feeling of empathy with the users you might not always see, but they see you.
For more information, check our pages below:
Business Design →
Add a service layer to your product and create a long-lasting relationship with your customers.
VIDEO - Blended Services
Learn the basics of blended services and why should you know about it, with our strategic designer André Moreira Dias.
