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26 Examples of a Service Model

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A service model is the way that a firm offers intangible value to customers. This is usually a short statement that describes how you deliver services. The following are illustrative examples of a service model.

Self-Service

Providing tools to customers such that they can serve themselves. For example, an airline that allows you to change the dates of a flight with a webpage or app.

Honor System

A system where the customer is trusted to serve themselves. Customers are asked to follow a set of rules and there is no monitoring or control system in place to confirm that they do. For example, an office food service where employees are trusted not to take certain food items home.

Personal Service

Service that is provided by professionals on a one-to-one basis. For example, a bank branch with tellers who can help you send a money transfer.

Group Service

Service that is provided on a one-to-many basis such as a tour group whereby a tour guide leads a dozen or more people through a city.

Managed Service

Managing complex processes for customers on a proactive basis. A managed service can include the work of trained professions or be completely automated. In many cases, both automation and labor are used. For example, a security company that completely manages security for a building using both automated monitoring and incident response teams.

High Touch

A high touch service offers extensive access to highly skilled professionals in a domain that is often automated or managed by relatively unskilled staff. For example, clients of an investment bank who execute trades by phoning up highly skilled equity traders who can execute large transactions efficiently.

Utility

A utility is a service that allows a customer to automatically use more or less of a resource in real time. This includes traditional utilities such as electricity and water. It is also common for cloud technologies to offer utility services whereby customers can scale up and down their use of technology on the fly. This includes software as a service, platform as a service and infrastructure as a service.

On-Demand

The delivery of value to a location immediately upon request. For example, an ebook that you can order from a mobile device and immediately begin to read.

Personalization

The automatic tailoring of a service to a customer without the customer asking such as an internet search engine that changes search results based on a user's recent searches that indicate the user's intent.

Customization

Allowing the customer to change the service to their own liking such as a hotel that allows customers to request what type of pillows they prefer. This request would typically be made once and the hotel would remember the customer's preference each time they stay.

Bespoke

A service that is completely designed to the customer's requirements. This involves a process of consultation whereby the customer is given advice with the freedom to make their own choices. For example, a tailoring service that can produce unique suits to the customer's specifications in consultation with a skilled tailor.

Request & Response

Services that allow a customer to submit a request whereby they have to wait for a response. For example, an ecommerce site that allows a customer to cancel an order online but they must wait several hours to see if the cancellation was accepted.

Realtime

A service that provides immediate fulfillment of a customer request such as a takeout coffee service that provides a coffee seconds after you order it.

Scheduled

A service that is provided according to a schedule such as a morning catering service for an office.

Just-in-time

A service that is automatically provided when it is needed. For example, a building maintenance service that automatically replaces smoke detectors just before they expire.

Single Point of Contact

Providing a single person that a customer can contact with requests or inquiries. For example, a maintenance company that gives a homeowner the phone number of a customer service manager they can call whenever they need something fixed. This is done to create a relationship with the customer such that they feel they are dealing with a person as opposed to a business or a bureaucracy.

Sales & Service

Services that are tightly bound to a sales process. For example, vehicle sales whereby the salesperson who sells you a car is the person who calls you when the vehicle requires a service appointment. This is used to build a relationship with the customer to sell to them again when the car needs to be replaced.

Red Tape

A service that requires the customer to follow complex regulations, processes and procedures such that an administrative burden is placed on the customer. For example, a telecom company that asks a customer to coordinate a complex process to investigate why their bill has an error. Red tape is characteristic of completely dysfunctional organizations and ethically questionable practices such as failure demand.

Customer Convenience

Services that make things easier for the customer as compared to standard industry practices. For example, an ecommerce company that offers thousands of physical locations that can process returns without the customer having to engage in cumbersome processes such as printing return labels.

Service Tiers

The practice of providing different service models to different sets of target customers. For example, a bank that provides self-service investments for regular customers and investment advice from a certified advisor to wealthy customers.

Service Culture

The human elements of customer service. For example, a hotel with talented customer service staff with a friendly demeanor, diligent attitude and temperament for dealing with difficult situations while remaining calm, friendly and professional.

Service Environments

The physical and virtual environments where the service occurs. For example, a hotel that offers peak experiences due to its attractive natural setting, architecture and interior design.

Customer Experience

Customer experience is every interaction between your firm and the customer. This includes elements such as communications to the customer, product experience, in-store experience, environments, brand culture and customer service. For example, a theme park with a complex service model that includes elements such as brand image, buying tickets, standing in line, food service, guest services, security, events, entertainment and service environments.

Customer Journey

Customer journey is an approach to service models whereby the customer experience is viewed as a series of interactions beginning the first moment the customer becomes aware that the service exists.

Brand Ecosystem

A brand ecosystem is the customer experience across multiple related offerings of products and services. For example, the services offered by a luxury hotel combined with third party services in the hotel such as restaurants, spas and shops. The ecosystem of a chain of hotels would also extend to customer experience across all of its properties.

Brand Culture

A brand culture includes any element of the customer experience that is beyond a firm's control such as the way that customers use services. For example, a theme park where visitors commonly wear costumes and brand merchandise to signal enthusiasm.
Overview: Service Model
Type
Definition
The way that a firm offers intangible value to customers.
Related Concepts
Next: Self-Service
More about service design:
Business Model
Concept Testing
Customer Experience
Customer Journey
Customer Needs
Customer Service
Market Research
Self Service
Service Analysis
Service Marketing
Service Metrics
Service Model
Service Planning
Service Positioning
Service Strategy
Service Value
More ...
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