Exploring Service Design Through a Service Safari: My Experiment and Findings
Service Safari is an event that encourages employees from all levels of an organization to shadow customer-facing employees and observe their interactions with customers. The goal of this exercise is to gain a better understanding of customer needs and help the organization identify opportunities to improve customer service.
Service Safari is used by customer service teams in a variety of industries, including hospitality, retail, food and beverage, healthcare, education, and more. It is used to help customer service teams better understand customer needs and provide personalized, high-quality service.
I was once asked to practice Service Safari in a space of my choice where a service is being performed. I was asked mainly to submit a presentation especially with:
- a description of the situation. What happened? (step-by-step description of the contact with the service and the person
representing it) - people — who did she/he see, meet, talk to?
- point of contact: what did she/he see — boards, signs
- what made me happy? What was cool, pleasant?
- what made me uncomfortable? What was unpleasant, difficult, problematic
- my ideas/observations, notes/comments
Results of experiment
Situation description
My most recent service safari adventure was to visit a clinic. On entering the clinic, I immediately noticed the name sign, information boards and furniture on display. Waiting for me at reception was a friendly and helpful lady who quickly gave me information and instructions on how to wait. She prepared a patient card for me and asked me to fill in the form. Afterwards, she led me to the doctor’s office.
People
The main person I interacted with was the receptionist who was waiting at the entrance. She was very helpful and polite. She introduced herself to me and told me how to complete all the paperwork. She asked me to fill in a form and explained all my questions. The smiling staff helped me along the way and the doctor was very professional and knowledgeable.
Point of contact
At the point of contact I saw a signboard with the name of the clinic, information boards and furniture on display. The reception area was cosy and tidy and the staff were dressed in uniform. They were friendly and ready to help in any need.
Which made me happy
I was impressed by the friendly and professional staff. Everyone was friendly and eager to help. The receptionist was very helpful and polite and the doctor was educated and knowledgeable.
What made me uncomfortable
The only thing that made me uncomfortable was that the clinic did not have enough resources to provide enough services.
My ideas/observations, notes/comments
I think the clinic should invest in more services to provide a better service. Additionally, it would be advisable to introduce an online application for booking appointments to make life easier for patients.
Conclusions
Service Safari is an effective customer service method that allows companies to identify customer needs, observe customer behavior, and better understand customer satisfaction. The Service Safari experiment was successful in identifying customer needs and improving customer satisfaction. Companies can use Service Safari to gain insights into their customer base, identify customer needs, and improve customer service. Service Safari can be used to help companies create a customer-centric culture and provide better customer service.
