A Service Design Principle on how to reduce the number of interaction points and still inform well your customers. This principle is inspired by a story shared by community member Guy Martin.
You’re buying some special sausage from your local butcher. Yummy! He gives you a tip to cook well this specific sausage. You arrive home, and obviously… you don’t remember the advice. You think: “what could go wrong? It’s just a sausage like any other!” So you cook the sausage as you usually do, and… it tastes like shit!
This new exciting and costly meal is a big disappointment because you couldn’t remember the tip of your butcher. Was it your fault, or could the butcher help more?
Guy Martin (1) went through a similar situation, but happily for him, his butcher is clever and has an inspiring way to fix this problem! One day as Guy is buying some special meat. The butcher gives him advice about how to cook it. The smart butcher doesn’t stop there. He makes sure that the tip is also printed directly on the receipt. Smart!
A photo Guy Martin shared with the receipt from his butcher.
The way the butcher serves Guy Martin is smart. It’s smart because Guy doesn’t have to remember the advice. It’s also smart because it builds on what’s already there. So the butcher doesn’t overwhelm our friend Guy with a new tool he has to learn. Finally, it’s smart because it’s cheap as there is no need for the butcher to spend time and money building something completely new.
Sometimes I feel that as service creators, we try to add a new touchpoint or way of interacting with every further information. It’s as if you went to a restaurant and received a new cutlery tool for every new dish. Sure it sometimes makes sense. But imagine having 12 forks and 12 knives on your table. That would be a bit overwhelming.
There are already so many interaction moments, emails, papers, and bills we share with our users and staff.
Maybe we don’t need to add another interaction but just make the ones we already have a bit smarter and valuable.
So let me ask you: how can you help your users remember the precious information you share?
What’s something you already give where you could place tips and advice?
(1) A big thank you to Guy Martin for having shared with the community of co-creators the service experience that inspired this Service Design principle.
Alternative titles
Here a few ideas of alternative titles for this principle:
Put the information in the paper I already have: the original title, might be too focused on the receipt thing when it can be used for other mediums too.
Don't add an extra interaction: gives a broader meaning to the story, I think I'll go with this one for now.
If you have ideas of a better title, let me know.
Little side notes
This principle is based on a story shared by Guy Martin from which we extracted together several different principles. Thanks Guy for sharing such an inspiring tip!
This is the first draft of this Service Design Principle.
As always feel free to share comments, feedback or personal stories to improve this principle.
5 comments
Deirdre Malone
Oct 13, 2022
Love this principle. Less exciting, but something that has bugged me recently, this is also true of parking tickets, but more to do with waste. Many times here in Argentina, you take the ticket, pay, and you get another one to get out, even though the first ticket has a barcode on it that calculates what you have to pay!
Daniele Catalanotto
Oct 19, 2022
The second version of this Service Design Principle
You're buying some special sausage. Yummy! Your local butcher gives you a tip to cook it well. Later in the day, you obviously don't remember the advice when it's time to cook. You think: "what could go wrong? It's just a sausage!" So you cook it like any other sausage, and… it tastes like shit!
This new exciting and costly meal is a big disappointment. Because you can't remember the tip of your butcher.
Things don't have to end like this. That's what Guy Martin's story (1) can teach us. One day as he is buying some fine meat. His butcher shares with him some cooking advice. But here, this clever butcher adds the tip directly to the receipt. Smart!
The way the butcher serves our friend is smart. It's brilliant because Guy doesn't have to remember the advice. It's also smart because the butcher doesn't overwhelm our Guy with a new tool he has to learn. Instead, he uses what's already there. Finally, it's smart because it's cheap. The butcher does not need to spend time and money on a new fancy recipe app.
There are already so many emails, papers, and bills we share with our users and staff. But still, we often add a new way of interacting.
So let me ask you:
How can you help your users remember the precious information you share? What's something you already give where you could place tips and advice?
Footnotes
(1) A big thank you to Guy Martin for having shared with the community of co-creators the service experience that inspired this Service Design principle.
Daniele’s notes
This is the second draft of this principle.
I’ve reduced the length of this principle by 34% compared to its first draft.
I don't have the details, but in the photo (see one of the first posts above) it seems printed. But it doesn't have to be highly technological. In fact, he could have written it by hand on the receipt. It could even add a bit of a lovely "human" touch ;)
Your recipe made me want to buy meat :P
Daniele Catalanotto
Oct 30, 2022
The third draft of this Service Design Principle
You’re buying some special sausage. Yummy! Your local butcher gives you a tip to cook it well. Later, when it’s time to cook it, you obviously don’t remember the advice! You think: “what could go wrong? It’s just a sausage!” So you cook it like any other sausage, and… it tastes like shit!
This new exciting and costly meal is a big disappointment.
Guy Martin’s story (1) shows us that things don’t have to end like this. When Guy buys fine meat, his butcher adds his advice directly to the receipt (2). Smart!
It helps Guy remember the advice without being overwhelmed with a new tool. Instead. The butcher uses what’s already there. That’s smart and inexpensive (3).
So let me ask you:
How can you help your users remember the precious information you share? What’s something you already give (4) where you could place tips and advice?
Footnotes
(1) A big thank you to Guy Martin for sharing the service experience that inspired this principle with the co-creator community.
(2) In Guy’s experience the advice was printed on the receipt, but it doesn’t have to be so technological. In fact, the butcher could have written it by hand on the receipt. And that’s maybe even more lovely.
(3) The butcher does not need to spend time and money on a new fancy recipe app when he can just use the receipt that he already has to give to clients.
(4) There are already so many emails, papers, and bills we share with our users and staff. But still, we often add a new way of interacting.
Daniele’s notes
This is the third draft of this principle.
I’ve reduced the length of this principle by 38 % compared to the previous draft.
