Help me brag about that positive thing I'm doing

Daniele Catalanotto
Mar 16, 2022
A Service Design principle about the pride of being a customer

Many energy providers allow you to pay extra to get green electricity. When you do so in the city of Lausanne, Switzerland, the electricity company does a smart thing.

You receive a confirmation email. And attached to the email, you find a kind of diploma that certifies you use now green energy.
My little bragging certificate shows we support green energy.

Like a diploma, it allows people to brag about an achievement. And like a diploma, it shows that your actions are really important. Diplomas exist only for the important stuff, right?

This little document works well! It transforms a boring admin task into something I can brag about.

So whenever your service helps customers do good, send a certificate to show it's important.

Little side notes

  • This is the second draft of this Service Design Principle.
  • I was able to reduce the lengths of this principle by 42% compared to the first version.
  • Once adapted, even more, this principle will be part of the book "Service Design Principles 201-300"
  • As always comments and feedback to improve this principle are welcome
  • If you have a personal story that goes in that direction it would also help if you share it 
Like 1
Patrick Marcelissen
May 11, 2022
clear to read the message from this principle. 
This also the field of gamification like giving a badge etc for some achievements.
Deirdre Malone
Oct 15, 2022
Even more so now in a paperless world where such things are so often overlooked 
Daniele Catalanotto
Oct 16, 2022
Indeed !
Daniele Catalanotto
Oct 31, 2022

The third draft of this Service Design Principle

We decide to pay extra for green electricity with Lausanne’s Industrial Services.

A few weeks later, we get a confirmation email with something that looks like a diploma.

It certifies we now use green energy. Like a diploma, it allows us to brag about it. We can show we did something important. Diplomas exist only for important stuff, right?

This little document transforms a boring admin task into something I can brag about (1).

So, let me ask.

For which positive action or achievement can you send a certificate to your customers or staff members?

Footnotes

(1) For more strategies like this, you can read more about gamification. — Gamification. Wikipedia. Available at https://extra.swissinnovation.academy/oqIQ accessed 31 October 2022.

Daniele’s notes

  • This is the third draft of this principle.
  • I’ve reduced the length of this principle by 18 % compared to the previous draft.
  • I’ve added a conclusion question to help the reader turn this principle into action.
  • I’ve added a footnote referencing the idea of “gamification” as suggested by Patrick Marcelissen