Design & Service Experience
Summary
,Week 1: Intro to DSE
User Driven Design: “How to create an environment for users, where they feel welcome and safe, can
enjoy their stay, and feel free to do what they choose to do, and act in a way that is profitable to them and
their environment?”
The Service Environment > The theatre as a metaphor:
● “The Performance” (i.e. the service delivery process) with ‘lots of little surprises’
● “The Actors” (i.e. consumers, employees, automated social presence)
● “Backstage” (i.e. service operations)
● “The Stage” (i.e. the servicescape): the style and appearance of the physical surroundings and
other experimental elements
● “The Script” (i.e. the norms, rules and protocols)
Evidence Based User Driven Design
Traditionally, environmental design is about building good/attractive environments based on creativity,
intuition and practical requirements. In this course, environmental design is evidence based and/or theory
driven.
Target outcomes:
● Enhancing customer engagement
● Customer experience and customer satisfaction
● Behaviour change
● Communication quality
● Enhancing societal impact
“Environmental Psychologists specialize in bridging the often large gap between building designers and
the people who will work, study or live in such buildings” (Gifford, 2007)
Environmental effects depend on..
● Activities at hand… (complex vs simple tasks, concentration or fun)
● Dynamics of the situational context (e.g., peak or peak off hours, supermarket or bakery)
● Goals & Needs of consumers and/or employees > the interplay between emotional and
motivational states
● Touchpoints to trigger responses
Consumer Driven Design: Dimensions of the servicescape
, ● Space and Function: A rchitectural and interior design features (architecture, spatial layout,
furniture, functionality)
● ackground characteristics (lightning, temperature,
Ambient conditions, store atmospherics: b
scent, sounds, music, colour schemes)
● Signs, symbols and artefacts: c orporate artefacts, corporate style, signage (wayfinding,
orientation)
● Social cues: other consumers (online and offline), staff, automated social presence, crowding
Implications to design
● Holistic approach: environments are complex, everything depends on everything else; what is
relevant and what is not? What interactions between the digital, physical and social environment
are relevant throughout the customer journey?
● Literature: plagued by contradicting findings.
● So, we are looking for general mechanisms, underlying processes that explain the effects of
environmental design
● … in relation to users’ characteristics/goals/traits/states/styles
, Bitner (1992) - Servicescape, the impact of physical surroundings
on customers and employees
The effect of atmospherics, or physical design and decor elements, on consumers and workers is
recognized by managers and mentioned in virtually all marketing, retailing, and organizational behavior
contexts. The ability of the physical environment to influence behavior and to create an image is
particularly apparent for service businesses such as hotels, restaurants, professional offices, banks, retail
stores, and hospitals. The physical environment is rich in such cues and may be very influential in
communications the firm’s image and purpose to its customer. The physical setting may also influence the
customer’s ultimate satisfaction with the service.
A typology of servicescape
The way the physical setting is created in organizations has barely been tapped as a tangible
organization resource. Management of the physical setting typically is viewed as tangential in comparison
with other organizational variables that can motivate employees, such as pay scales, promotions,
benefits, and supervisory relationships. Similarly, on the consumers side, variables such as pricing,
advertising, added features, and special promotions are given much more attention than the physical
setting as ways in which customers can be attracted to and/or satisfied by a firm’s services. A clear
implication of the model presented is that the physical setting can aid or hinder the accomplishment of
both internal organizational goals an external marketing goals. Figure 1 is a typology categorizing service
organizations on two dimensions: type of service organization and complexity of the servicescape.
Conceptual Framework
Though the typology in Figure 1 highlights the relative complexity of environmental decisions across
different types of service organizations, it does not explain what behaviors are influenced, or why, or how
one would go about planning and designing an environment to achieve particular objectives. Figure 2
shows a framework for addressing those questions and for exploring the role of physical environment in
service organizations. The framework suggests that a variety of objective environmental factors are
perceived by both customers and employees and that both groups may respond, cognitively, emotionally,
and physiologically to the environment.
