The document discusses the importance of designing seamless multichannel service experiences for customers. It notes that services involve multiple touchpoints across different channels like web, mobile, call centers, etc. and customers' experiences can be negatively impacted if the interactions between these channels are not coordinated (i.e. if there are "gaps"). It emphasizes that customer experiences should be approached from a human-centered perspective rather than just a "user experience" perspective, and that all parts of a service ecosystem can affect the overall customer experience. It provides several principles for crafting coordinated, empathetic multichannel experiences including understanding customer needs and motivations, aligning with their expectations, and iterating based on real-life testing.

1. Mind the gaps
Designing multichannel service
experiences for real people
Interaction14 South America El evento de Diseño de Interacción y Experiencia de Usuario más
importante de Latinoamérica.
B U E N O S A I R E S
Andy Polaine
@apolaine

2. Image source: Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum
Start with the people

3. "The thing that was really important was what was happening
between me and the software on the screen.”
Bill Moggridge on the GRiD Compass Computer
Image source: Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

4. Great screen UX design doesn’t help much if it’s always different

5. Especially when this happens

6. Or this - home-brew UX
Image Source: Rick Dolishny on Flickr

7. Services are not products

8. SERVICES ARE
MULTICHANNEL a
TIME-BASED

9. Web
ThirdParty™
Mobile
People
Products
Marketing
Print
Other Services
People A transitions
are crucial to the
experience
Services are ecosystems - every part affects the whole

10. Image source: Information Architects
There is no shortage of channels

11. Mind the gaps

12. Service gaps – Lavrans flying to New York with his family

13. Website-Call Center Gap
Website-System Error Gap
Website-Call Center Gap
Husband-Wife Expectation Gap
Call Center Staff-Check-In Staff Gap
Boarding Staff-Computer System Gap
The human service element finally wins

14. Cracks can accumulate to form an experience crevasse
Image source: http://www.summitpost.org/jeff-jumping-crevasse-dc-route-july-8-2006/207527

15. Nice touchpoint, shame about the rest of the experience

16. CRAFT A HUMAN EXPERIENCE
ACROSS CHANNELS,
NOT A “USER” EXPERIENCE

17. Everything is a microinteraction

18. Some touchpoints are thought through and branded

19. Some touchpoints “just happen”

20. If you don’t design it, somebody else will
Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/atoach/

21. If you don’t provide communication channels, somebody else will

22. If you don’t provide communication channels, somebody else will

23. How do the individual experiences join up to make a whole?
Image Sources: Andy Polaine. London/RoW: Stefan Kellner

24. Frustrations are as much about inaction as action

25. UNDERSTANDING PEOPLE,
RELATIONSHIPS a
UNDERLYING MOTIVATIONS

27. People are not trying to be a professional Amazon.com user

28. Find the underlying motivation and human experience
Image source: Flickr user Jon Large

29. Interaction with backstage people, services & systems
Image source: http://www.materialiste.com/culture/inside-amazon

30. Third party services affect the experience too

31. SOME GUIDING
PRINCIPLES

32. Design for needs, not wants

33. Understand trust — it’s delicate, but potent

34. Fake photo.
I made this up.
Jane, 32, lawyer. Loves her BMW, reads the Financial Times, lives in Notting Hill, London. Has a
boyfriend, but no children yet and wants to get ahead in her career first.. Likes the good things in life,
needs information fast, is constantly connected on her iPhone and iPad. Watches Homeland in the evening
with a bottle of Australian Cabernet Sauvignon.
Avoid demographic personas. Go for behaviours/actions instead.

35. Design with people versus for people
Image source: live|work

36. Be personal, human and authentic

37. Understand and stay on the customer’s preferred channel

38. Align service delivery with customer expectations (and don’t falsely raise them)

39. Look for unintended (non-)design. What is a “flat land toda”?

40. Look for unintended (non-)design. What is a “flat land toda”?

41. Fails are the great lost touchpoint opportunity. Design them!

42. Say sorry - apologies matter to people
Image source: michael_davies on Flickr

43. Actions speak louder than words…

44. …because small acts make a difference
Image source: CC Licence by Joshua Smith on Flickr
Image source: www.damnyouautocrrect.com

45. Define the tone of voice with the details

46. A BIT MORE
Look for opportunities to demonstrate empathy

47. It shows that you are human too, not just a corporation

48. Take care designing your touchpoints

49. But be aware of the context in which they will be experienced

50. Iterate prototypes and test the service touchpoints in real life with real people
Image source: live|work

51. Run pilot projects to bridge design, experience & business case
Image source: live|work

52. Remember people’s lives exist in a broader context, not just on screens
Image source: http://consumeconsume.com/post/13272453418

53. Life is messy and technology doesn’t always help
Image source: www.damnyouautocrrect.com

54. ¡MUCHAS GRACIAS!
andy@polaine.com
@apolaine
www.polaine.com
2 I co-wrote this!
Use POLAINE for 20% off here:
http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/
S ER V I C E DE S IGN
From Insight to Implementation
by ANDY POLAINE, LAVRANS LØVLIE,
and BEN REASON foreword by John Thackara
SERV ICE DES IGN by POLAINE, LØVLIE, and REASON

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¡Muchas gracias!
Mind the gaps – Designing multichannel service experiences for real people
Interaction14 South America
B U E N O S A I R E S
Andy Polaine