SERVICE BLUEPRINTING

Meaning of Service Blueprinting

Service blueprint is a picture or map that accurately
describes the service system so that different people
involved in providing it can understand and deal with
it objectively regardless of their individual point of
view.

A service blueprint is a diagram that displays the

entire process of service delivery, by listing all the
activities that happen at each stage, performed by the
different roles involved.
 Blueprint Components
Physical evidence

Customer actions

Frontstage or visible employee actions

Backstage or invisible contact employee actions

Support processes

Lines

Optional Categories
 Physical Evidence
• What customers (and even employees) come
in contact with. Though first in line, it’s
usually the last element added.
• Example: This category includes locations,
like a physical store or the company website,
but also any signage, receipts, notification or
confirmation emails, etc.
 Customer Actions
• What customers do during the service
experience.
• Example: Customers might visit the website,
talk to an employee (in person or online),
make a purchase, place an order, accept an
order, or receive something.
Frontstage or Visible Employee Actions

• What customers see and who they interact

with. For tech-heavy businesses, add in or
replace this category with the technology that
interacts with the customer.
• Example: Employees might greet a customer
visiting a physical location, respond to
questions through chat, send emails, take an
order, or provide status information.
Backstage or Invisible Contact Employee
Action
• All other employee actions, preparations, or
responsibilities customers don’t see but that
make the service possible.
• Example: Employees might write content for
the website/email/etc., provide approval,
complete a review process, make preparations,
package an order, etc.
 Support Processes
• Internal/additional activities that support the
employees providing the service.
• Example: Third-party vendors who deliver
supplies, a carrier service, equipment or
software used, delivery or payment systems,
etc.
 Lines
• Service blueprints also include lines to
separate each category, clarifying how
components in a service process interact with
each other. This allows employees and
managers to better understand their role and,
most importantly, possible sources of customer
dissatisfaction within a service experience.
Service blueprints also tend to have three
key lines:
• The line of interaction: direct interactions between
the customer and the organization.
• The line of visibility: separates what’s visible and
invisible to the customer – everything visible is above
the line; everything backstage is below the line.
• The line of internal interaction: separates
employees who have direct customer contact with
those who don’t directly support customer
interactions.
Example of Service Blueprint
 Optional Categories
• If you need more detail, you could also add a
timeline to show how long each step takes, some
kind of success metric to measure goals, or the
customer’s emotions throughout the process.
• Fundamentally, service blueprints center on the
customer. They allow for a clear vision of the
service design, which in turn helps organizations
refine their processes and deliver pleasing,
memorable customer experiences.
 Process of Blueprinting
Step 3: Map the
Step 1: Identify the Step 2: Identify the
process from the
process of customer or
customer’s point of
Blueprinted. customer segment.
view.

Step 6: Add Step 5: Link the Step 4: Map

person and contact
evidence of service contact employee
person activities to
at each customer needed support actions, onstage
action step. functions. and backstage.
 Benefits of Service Blueprinting
• A blueprint can be used to improve the design for an
existing service or to design a new service.
• A blueprint serves as a guide for implementing the
service plan by showing the sequence of steps
needed to deliver a service.
• Service unit managers employ blueprints in
their decision-making activities. Decisions on
setting the right strategy, resources allocation,
integration of service functions, and performance
evaluation, are taken with the help of Service
blueprints.
 Benefits of Service Blueprinting
• Detailed service blueprints help marketing and
communication people.
• Blueprinting reinforces a customer-oriented
focus among employees.
• It helps in identifying weak links in the chain of
service activities and facilitates continuous quality
improvement.
Thank you