If you want to make a service that works well and makes your users happy, in a decent amount of time, then you need to engage in testing and prototyping.
How is this different than what most companies do? Because most companies don’t invest in testing, especially with the user in mind. They make services that they think are good, that benefit their company, then launch them into the world and wait to see what happens.
Few companies are spending the time to thoughtfully create service design with the intention of creating a desirable service for their users. They’re not walking through their own services in the shoes of the customer. And most companies aren’t taking advantage of feedback, analytics, and big data to improve their services.
This is an opportunity for you to make a real difference with customers. Customers are used to bad services. Make yours better than the rest.
How? By testing and prototyping.
Here are 3 tools you can use to make sure your service goes above and beyond your customer’s expectations.Mock Ups
Design teams tend to create mock ups for products, but why not for services? A mock up is physical model of a product or service so that the designers and testers can visualize the process. They might include a collage of pictures or illustrations. They are the precursors to prototypes.Constructive Interaction
During this tool, users or potential customers walk through the service while talking out loud everything that they are thinking at each step. Evaluators literally get into user’s heads to know if they like something or not. This tool is better if two users go through the service at the same time.Usability Testing Tools
There are several ways to find out how easy a service is to use. You should test users in as realistic settings as possible to get accurate results.- You can observe different users going through the service without them knowing you are watching.
- You can watch them, then ask them why they made each action.
- You can also give them a set of tasks with a service and have them fill out a short survey after each task with specific questions.
Service Design Testing and Prototyping Takeaways
- Testing and prototyping your service is how you make sure your service is functional, useful, and desirable.
- Mockups are physical models of the service.
- Constructive Interaction is where customers walk through the service speaking what is on their mind at each point.
- There are three main ways to test usability, but all are about observing customers going through a service and getting in their head.