Background
This casestudy is a design challenge by a Fortune 100 company, I tried to solve in 6hrs (In Dec — 2023). They tasked me with developing a Service Blueprint to enhance the customer service experience. I tackled this assignment with a comprehensive approach, mapping out the entire customer journey and identifying key interactions and processes.
In this blog, I am sharing the process and workflow I followed to solving the task. You’ll find the task as it was given to me, alongside the solution I proposed. My approach was to create a detailed visual representation of the service process, pinpointing opportunities for refinement and innovation. This solution not only met the task requirements but also demonstrated my ability to think critically and offer actionable insights.
Task
“Arcade Mania is a video game chain, with locations all over the country. Their machines all operate on digital tokens, which can be purchased within the arcade from either a central kiosk or a main desk, operated by two to three employees. Getting the digital tokens from the employees or the kiosk can take several minutes and there is often a line. Customers can also take part in a membership program online where digital tokens can be loaded onto their account. The UX team has been hired to identify a new solution that will reduce wait time and improve overall user experience for customers, employees, and other internal users at Arcade Mania. Arcade Mania has agreed to give access to current data, customers, and employees.”
This is the task I got in the interview to solve.
Process
The below diagram shows the process I followed the complete the task
Understanding the Task
I began by taking a close look at the problem to really understand it. It’s not just about the obvious issues, but finding the deeper cause. Where figuring out the reasons behind the problem helps us know what to fix first.
Problem Statement
Arcade Mania is facing long wait times at their token kiosks and main desks, leading to a frustrating user experience for customers and employees. The current token purchasing process is inefficient and time-consuming.
Objective
- Identify and understand the root causes of long wait times.
- Develop a new solution that reduces wait times and improves the overall user experience for customers, employees, and other internal users.
- Create a service blueprint to visualise the end-to-end user experience, touch points, and processes involved in token purchasing.
Research Goal
- Understand the current token purchasing process from the perspectives of customers and employees.
- Identify the pain points and challenges faced by customers and employees during the token purchasing process.
- Gather insights into customer preferences and expectations for token purchasing.
User Journey Mapping
After defining the problem, I Created a simple archetype — persona to represent our user. I gave them a name and a story, which helps us see them as a real person, not just a number. This makes it easier to understand their needs and design for them.
After creating the persona, I create a journey map to spot any issues they might face. This journey map is a tool that outlines the user’s full experience, pointing out where they might struggle. It guides us on where to focus our efforts to make their experience better.
Task Flow
To ensure internal clarity, I outlined a simple, step-by-step task flow for our front-line employees (The Main Desk). This is our guide for consistency and efficiency, detailing the who, what, and when of everyday tasks. It’s about making the daily routine as easy as possible, so the employees can focus on delivering exceptional service.
Service Blue Print
Then, I developed a Service Blueprint to capture the end-to-end process, involving all stakeholders. It’s a comprehensive diagram that lays bare every touchpoint, front stage actions and backstage action that supports the user experience. This is our strategic overview, ensuring that every cog in the machine is aligned and working together.
The image outlines a customer’s journey through a service, marked by interactions with various touchpoints like kiosks, employee (The Main Desk), and a mobile app.
It starts before the customer enters the service and follows them as they navigate through the process, engage with employees, use technology for transactions, and eventually leave. This journey is broken into time segments to detail the length of each interaction.
Behind the scenes, the blueprint details actions the customer doesn’t see, like employees logging transactions and updating inventory. Support processes are in place to keep track of customer interactions and concerns, providing opportunities to enhance the service.
Touchpoints throughout the journey are identified as chances to improve, such as making kiosks more personal or enriching the in-store experience with interactive elements. The entire map is a tool for service providers to see where they can make a customer’s experience smoother and more enjoyable.
Recommendations from Research
Finally, I consolidated all our insights into actionable suggestions. These recommendations are the culmination of our research, designed to iron out kinks and enhance the user journey. They’re our strategic moves towards a more seamless and engaging experience for all involved.
Plan for doing User Research
- Find why membership didn’t work or working — Survey, Feedback (If not we can improve the work on the strategy to boost the membership)
- Data for how many customer are there based on the Time, Date- Observing, Diary Study (We can find high traffic time and take some extra measures to tackle the crowd )
- What is the satisfaction rate in the Kiosk Machine? — Survey (If the rate is low or average we can improve experience of the Kiosk)
- Main Desk satisfaction rate — Survey, Feedback (If the rate is low or average we can improve experience of the Main Desk)
- Try to figure out what is the average time to purchase a token in Kiosk vs. Main Desk vs. Online (App). — Observing, Diary Study (We can find which medium is fast and increase the no.of interactions medium there)
- Get feedback from Main Desk Employee about what is ineffective in the current system — User Interview, Observing (We can find realtime problem faced by main desk )
- Can do a comprehensive competitive analysis to find a better and faster solution in the industry. — Competitive Analysis (We can find if competitor is using any better option)
From all these data we can take decisions to where to concentrate to fix the waiting issue.
Challenge for me
Hopefully I gave my best to visualise and recommend some of the possible solution to tackle the pain point.
- By not knowing what form of digital token - so I took card form of Digital token (Commonly used).
- And in the membership part — If I know about the membership in detail like price, flow and medium to purchase. I think I might recommend some more detail visualisation and recommendation
Learnings
I’ve learned about service blueprints and the process of creating one. This technique stands out from other user experience methods I often employ in my day-to-day work. It requires stepping back to gain a comprehensive understanding of the full process, rather than focusing solely on the user experience within digital interfaces. This approach extends well beyond mobile and desktop applications, showing me how to adopt the mindset of a service designer to improve the entire service experience.
