Smaply 3.0 is coming check it out
Smaply 3.0 is coming check it out
Smaply 3.0 is coming check it out
Smaply 3.0 is coming check it out
Smaply 3.0 is coming check it out
Smaply 3.0 is coming check it out

pieces from service design, user experience, design thinking, customer experience –

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Hot off the press

November 7, 2023

The biology of collaboration: a human-centered perspective on process management

Katharina Rainer
Katharina Rainer
sparkling blue DNA string on dark background
October 17, 2023

A Guide to Design Thinking Workshops

two people standing in front of a paper workshop journey map
September 5, 2023

Designers as the voice of the most excluded people: an interview with Lou Downe

Katharina Rainer
Katharina Rainer
Lou standing on a stage and speaking to an audience. Dark background.
August 21, 2023

Navigating excellence: crafting a Hotel Customer Journey Map for unforgettable stays

Isabel Grillmayr
Isabel Grillmayr
towels and shampoo, illustrating a hotel's bathroom

Browse all articles

a scaffold as an analogy to a framework
August 22, 2023

The Customer Journey Framework: A Guide

A customer journey framework acts as a compass, breaking down the intricate tapestry of the customer experience into manageable segments. It allows organizations to decipher the nuances that shape customer interactions. In this article, define the concept, differentiate it from related ones, and provide an overview on main components and tools.

Katharina Rainer
Katharina Rainer
towels and shampoo, illustrating a hotel's bathroom
August 21, 2023

Navigating excellence: crafting a Hotel Customer Journey Map for unforgettable stays

In the realm of hospitality, delivering exceptional guest experiences is paramount. Hoteliers keen on leaving a lasting impression need to understand every touchpoint a guest encounters during their stay. This understanding is where the concept of the hotel customer journey comes into play. By charting out each phase of a guest's experience, hoteliers can fine-tune their services to perfection. In this article, we'll delve into the essence of a hotel customer journey map, providing a comprehensive guide on its creation and sharing an example.

Isabel Grillmayr
Isabel Grillmayr
measurement band
August 11, 2023

How to measure Customer Experience: it’s More than Metrics!

In today's business world, understanding how customers experience your brand can be the key to success. This article dives into measuring customer experience, looking at relevance, metrics, KPIs, and the data beyond. An article packed with insights and advice on creating a measurement strategy to enhance your CX analysis.

Michael Steingress
Michael Steingress
Two women speaking with each other, smiling across the cashdesk in a salon
August 1, 2023

The basics of customer experience management: all you need to know

Customer experience management is a strategic approach that focuses on creating exceptional product/service experiences for customers. It involves understanding and meeting customer expectations, addressing their needs, and fostering long-term loyalty. By consciously managing the customer experience, organizations can build strong relationships with their customers and differentiate themselves from competitors. In this article, you learn everything about customer experience management and how to get started.

Isabel Grillmayr
Isabel Grillmayr
woman in a laboratory, wearing gloves and looking into a computer screen
July 19, 2023

Case study: Shaping employee experience at Bayer

In this case study Francis Chay, Global Employee Experience Lead at Bayer, shares how he and his team are optimizing employee experience and making it easy to keep an overview on the manifold platforms and processes used throughout the company.

Katharina Rainer
Katharina Rainer
supermarket shelves from above
June 28, 2023

Customer journey mapping in retail: increasing perceived safety and trust in a supermarket

Customer journey mapping in retail can help take the customer by the hand and together walk through times of perceived high risk. In this article, we look at how the retail sector can use this tool to create customer-centered services, how to create journey maps, and what they look like.

Paul Cook
Paul Cook
a road symbolizing the way into the future
June 14, 2023

The 5 most outstanding trends in customer experience management in 2023

The pursuit of customer-centricity has led organizations to continually evolve their strategies to meet the continuously changing expectations of their customers. To succeed in this dynamic environment, businesses must stay ahead of the curve and embrace the industry’s latest customer experience trends and opportunities. In this article we delve into the exciting trends of customer experience management, exploring the emerging changes that are reshaping the way organizations engage with their audience. 

Michael Steingress
Michael Steingress
an illustration of a service blueprint without any text, just a visual on black background
May 25, 2023

Using Service Blueprints to design customer-centered processes

Service blueprinting is a method to better understand and optimize the processes that impact customer experience. It enables businesses to identify areas for improvement and make changes to enhance customer satisfaction. This article guides you through all you need to know about service blueprints: their main elements, benefits, as well as some examples and tools you can use to create one.

Katharina Rainer
Katharina Rainer
three women discussing and calculating in a business context
May 15, 2023

Use cases and types of customer journey maps: workshop, project, and management maps

Journey maps have the power to create a competitive advantage for organizations, but what types of journey maps are out there and what are they used for? In this article, you get more detailed insights about the three main types & use cases of journey maps.

Isabel Grillmayr
Isabel Grillmayr
an orchestra playing in a theatre
April 26, 2023

Customer journey orchestration: what it is, benefits, and tools

Customer journey orchestration is the process of delivering a consistent and personalized experience to customers across all touchpoints and channels. It enables businesses to optimize their operations, improve customer satisfaction and loyalty, and drive revenue growth. In this article, we'll explore the benefits of journey orchestration, best practices for implementation, as well as some tools and technologies that can help streamline the process.

Michael Steingress
Michael Steingress
Adam explaining something to workshop participants. A wall with sticky notes and other artefacts is visible in the background.
April 25, 2023

The power of theater in design: an interview with Adam Lawrence

Professionals working in the field of experience management represent an array of skills and knowledge: designers and managers, researchers and engineers, data-driven and creative folks, CX, UX, EX… the profession has many faces. We are thrilled to have a leading figure of the global service design community share some of his background, his knowledge, and a few insights into his work: please meet Adam Lawrence!

Katharina Rainer
Katharina Rainer
A female receptionist behind a desk talking to a man in an office environment.
April 11, 2023

Journey mapping for customer success teams

Customer journey mapping is important for customer success teams because it helps them to better understand their customers' needs and pain points, which in turn helps them to improve the overall customer experience. By mapping out the customer journey, teams can learn how to better support customers on different channels like the helpdesk, phone, or forums – leading to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Zsofia Szatmari-Margitai
Zsofia Szatmari-Margitai
A woman testing out virtual reality goggles in an office environment.
March 28, 2023

We don’t innovate products or services – we innovate how they are delivered

People often talk in general terms about “products and services” in reference to what they offer their customers. In this short article we suggest that this distinction is incorrect, and even harmful to the ability to innovate how services are delivered.

Cambrian Berry
Cambrian Berry
people working on infographics and journey maps
March 14, 2023

Business cases of journey maps: examples of using journey maps for various challenges

Journey maps are a useful tool for many organizations and they have countless use cases. When looking at it without any preoccupation, it’s a series of steps in chronological order. This sequence of steps is triggered by a certain event.

Isabel Grillmayr
Isabel Grillmayr
A group of women smiling in the camera, in the background there is a bridge.
February 28, 2023

Seeding service design: an interview with Birgit Mager

Professionals working in the field of experience management represent an array of skills and knowledge: designers and managers, researchers and engineers, data-driven and creative folks, CX, UX, EX… the profession has many faces. We are thrilled to have one of the most crucial community members share some of her background, her knowledge, and a few insights into her work: please meet Birgit Mager!

Katharina Rainer
Katharina Rainer
yellow background with white arrows and little plus and circle icons
February 14, 2023

How to embed service design in organizations [with in-depth white paper]

Now that there is extensive proof service design can have a positive impact on shaping & improving experiences, organizations started building in-house teams to foster this further, just as agencies had before them. Many industry-leading organizations are scaling up their in-house teams, they need to start managing multiple service design projects and teams across different departments simultaneously. This causes another layer of complexity and challenges. In this article, we look at 10 ways that help to embed service design in organizations.

Marc Stickdorn
Marc Stickdorn
A modern building with lots of greenery in front of a blue sky.
February 1, 2023

Designing for sustainability: challenges and opportunities

Each year a growing number of companies and consumers take into account the massive impact the production of consumer goods and the range of services have on the environment. Designing for sustainability is becoming increasingly important in today's world, as we face growing concerns over climate change and the depletion of natural resources. In this article, we discuss challenges, opportunities, and a best practice example.

Isabel Grillmayr
Isabel Grillmayr
the melted gondola, piece of art placed in Aspen to point towards climate change
January 17, 2023

Planet-centered design: how service design can help combat global warming

As the world is warming, discussions about how to reverse it are also heating up. World leaders recently met at the COP27 to hammer out the requirements, actions, and measures that need to be taken to tackle global warming. One thing is clear, global warming is an issue that can no longer be ignored, and requires global action. Individuals, families, communities, organizations, businesses, governments, and yes, service designers must change their behavior to a more sustainable mindset.

Paul Cook
Paul Cook
Patricia Stark writing on a sticky note on the wall.
December 15, 2022

Co-creating our future: an interview with Patricia Stark

Professionals working in the field of experience innovation represent an array of skills and knowledge: designers and managers, researchers and engineers, data-driven and creative folks, CX, UX, EX… the profession has many faces. We are thrilled to have a truly inspiring CX expert share some of her background, her learnings, and a few insights into her work: please meet Patricia Stark!

Katharina Rainer
Katharina Rainer
Adam standing in front of a board with sketch notes
December 1, 2022

Designing rituals: an interview with Adam Cochrane

Professionals working in the experience design field represent an array of skills and knowledge: designers and managers, researchers and engineers, data-driven and creative folks, CX, UX, EX… the profession has many faces. We are thrilled to have a service designer working in the field of financial services share some of his work and his background: please meet Adam Cochrane!

Katharina Rainer
Katharina Rainer
person looking at customer experience insights
November 29, 2022

9 Customer Journey Mapping Benefits for your Organization

Customer journey mapping comes with benefits on different levels. In this article, you learn how customers and organizations benefit from CJM and where this value comes from.

Isabel Grillmayr
Isabel Grillmayr
Sticky notes on a desk.
November 15, 2022

Trauma-responsive design: an interview with Rachael Dietkus

Professionals working in the experience design field represent an array of skills and knowledge: designers and managers, researchers and engineers, data-driven and creative folks, CX, UX, EX… the profession has many faces. We are thrilled to have a design strategist from the fields of social work and mental health share some of her background, her learnings, and a few insights into her work: please meet Rachael Dietkus!

Katharina Rainer
Katharina Rainer
Notebook and open book sitting on a couch with a yellow and a blue pillow, next to it a table with a cup of coffee and another book.
November 8, 2022

Customer experience online course & certificate [Free]

In this course, you get an overview of the most important methods and tools of customer experience management. It consists of 5 modules, going into the details of personas, journey mapping, and stakeholder mapping.

Isabel Grillmayr
Isabel Grillmayr
Visualization of a journey map hierarchy with three zoom levels and dedicated journey map managers.
November 3, 2022

What is Customer Journey Management and how to get started?

Effective customer journey management is vital for businesses to remain competitive and relevant in today's market. It helps to optimize every step of the customer journey and thus ensuring customer satisfaction, building brand loyalty, and driving revenue growth. In this article, you learn the basics of customer journey management: What is customer journey management? Why is it so important? What are the tasks and skills of a customer journey manager? And what are essential tools for customer journey management?

Katharina Rainer
Katharina Rainer
photo of a young female doctor doing eye surgery
November 2, 2022

11 impressive examples of how to design healthcare experiences

We collected a few great practice examples from all over the world to demonstrate that sometimes it doesn’t take much effort to ease difficult situations – it just takes empathy and the knowledge of pain points.

Isabel Grillmayr
Isabel Grillmayr
A group of people standing around a bar and smiling into the camera.
October 25, 2022

Understanding gender to design tourism services: an interview with Sylvia Prunthaller

Professionals working in the experience innovation field represent an array of skills and knowledge: designers and managers, researchers and engineers, data-driven and creative folks, CX, UX, EX… the profession has many faces. We are thrilled to have a truly inspiring CX expert share some of her background, her learnings, and a few insights into her work: please meet Sylvia Prunthaller!

Katharina Rainer
Katharina Rainer
A hand taking a photo of a journey map with a smartphone.
October 20, 2022

The basics of customer journey mapping

A customer journey map is an end-to-end visualization of your customers' experience. In this article, you learn how this method can help you to better understand your customers' expectations and needs, and how to use these insights to significantly increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Antonia Cramer
Antonia Cramer
print of a table and a graph next to a notebook
October 18, 2022

11 good reasons to fight for your customer experience budget in times of recession

In economically stable times, we try to design customer experiences (CX) that make us stand out from the competition and that ideally make our customers loyal and share their experiences with others. In other words: we try to get rid of experience debt and create products and services that meet customers’ expectations. However, we tend to forget a crucial element of any good relationship: the promises we give need to be valid in good and in bad times.

Michael Steingress
Michael Steingress
Marc standing on a stage with people watching him and a presentation with a white slide in the background, that says: "Disclaimer, I don't know anything about the future"
October 4, 2022

Working towards clear goals: an interview with Marc Fonteijn

Professionals working in the experience innovation field represent an array of skills and knowledge: Designers and managers, researchers and engineers, data-driven and creative folks, CX, UX, EX… the profession has many faces. We are thrilled to have a truly inspiring CX expert share some of his background, his learnings, and a few insights into his work: please meet Marc Fonteijn!

Katharina Rainer
Katharina Rainer
sticky notes on a wall
August 31, 2022

10 things you only know if you work in service design

Working in the field of service design takes patience and dedication. It does not matter in what phase of the innovation process you are – you’re probably familiar with the following ten situations.

Zsofia Szatmari-Margitai
Zsofia Szatmari-Margitai
illustration of a a journey map with sticky notes and a pen
August 17, 2022

Best Customer Journey Mapping Tools [Free & Paid]

Customer journey mapping tools are crucial because they enable businesses to visually depict and analyze the end-to-end experience of their customers. These tools provide a comprehensive view of customer interactions, pain points, and touchpoints across various channels, helping companies identify areas for improvement and optimization. By fostering a deep understanding of customer perspectives, journey mapping tools facilitate the creation of more tailored and seamless experiences, ultimately enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Katharina Rainer
Katharina Rainer
books in a shelf
August 1, 2022

Service design glossary

We all make assumptions, every day. One of the biggest ones we often make is that the people who are listening to us will understand the meaning of what we are saying. Sometimes this mutual clarity of understanding will be inconsequential, however, sometimes it might actually matter. So let's take a little bit of time to get on the same page, reduce some communication errors and bring some more ease into our communication. A good first step on this journey will be to clarify the language we are using, and what it means.

Cambrian Berry
Cambrian Berry
colorful wall with sign: "accessible entry"
June 21, 2022

38 examples of how to design for diversity, inclusion and accessibility

Users of products and services are diverse; they have different needs, abilities, interests, and desires. As service designers / CX managers we must consider diversity, and design for it. But how can we make products and services inclusive and accessible to everyone? We collected a few best practice examples from all over the world to show: Sometimes it doesn’t take much to design for diversity. 

Isabel Grillmayr
Isabel Grillmayr
woman stamping a document
June 14, 2022

Legal design: how to innovate the experience of law services with journey mapping

For the legal profession, customer experience is of the utmost importance. Legal practitioners are constantly in contact with people in delicate situations. May it be going through a divorce, being accused of a crime, or having experienced severe financial or bodily damages, oftentimes the very fate of the affected individuals is at stake.

Andreas Seelos
Andreas Seelos
Cambrian Berry in front of a workshop wall
May 31, 2022

Catalyzing innovation: an interview with Cambrian Berry

Professionals working in the experience innovation field represent an array of skills and knowledge: Designers and managers, researchers and engineers, data-driven and creative folks, CX, UX, EX… the profession has many faces. We are thrilled to have a truly inspiring CX expert share some of his background, his learnings, and a few insights into his work: please meet Cambrian Berry!

Katharina Rainer
Katharina Rainer
Shoes and handbags displayed in a nice store.
May 25, 2022

7 products and services that improve experiences in shopping and retail

In some cases, small changes and improvements make a big difference for customers when consuming a product or service. In the following examples you get an idea of how service design could improve shopping and retail experiences. Enjoy!

Isabel Grillmayr
Isabel Grillmayr
A profile image of Christof Zuern
May 17, 2022

Everything is connected: an interview with Christof Zürn

Professionals working in the experience innovation field represent an array of skills and knowledge: Designers and managers, researchers and engineers, data-driven and creative folks, CX, UX, EX… the profession has many faces. We are thrilled to have a renowned CX expert share some of his background, knowledge, and a few insights into his work: please meet Christof Zürn!

Katharina Rainer
Katharina Rainer
Visualization of a journey map showing multiple channels
May 11, 2022

Ask Marc – about managing CX across online and offline channels

In this webinar, we talked about how to manage customer experience across online and offline channels. The main question was what the challenge of omnichannel customer experience management is. Furthermore, we looked into the details of how you can research experiences beyond digital analytics. Also we will look into why qualitative data is so important and how you can manage experiences if they happen out of your reach.

Marc Stickdorn
Marc Stickdorn
Gerry Scullion talking with a group of people.
May 3, 2022

Service designers as facilitators of conversations: an interview with Gerry Scullion

Professionals working in the experience innovation field represent an array of skills and knowledge: Designers and managers, researchers and engineers, data-driven and creative folks, CX, UX, EX… the profession has many faces. We are thrilled to have a renowned CX expert share some of his background, his learnings, and a few insights into his work: please meet Gerry Scullion!

Katharina Rainer
Katharina Rainer
A photo of houses on the hillside with colorful facades
April 26, 2022

8 products and services that improve customer experience in architecture, interior, and building

In the following images, you can see some extraordinary experiences in the field of architecture, interior design, and building that might be helpful and convenient –or, in some cases, even life-saving. The examples range from easier evacuation in case of emergency, over clever space-saving hacks in hotel rooms, to a practical and fancy-looking way of storing skateboards in schools. 

Isabel Grillmayr
Isabel Grillmayr
laptop with lettering about designing simple experiences
April 12, 2022

15 inspiring service design quotes for a customer-centric mindset

What is service design? One question, many potential responses. In the end, there is no such thing as the one and only answer to it. It’s a mindset, a way of working and thinking, something you have to experience and embrace. We’ve collected a few voices that instantiate the spirit of service design.

Isabel Grillmayr
Isabel Grillmayr
Notebook with sticky notes and a pen. One note says: Design a feedback form.
April 5, 2022

5 Principles of service design to make your CX project a success (oops, actually it’s 6!)

We all know about the power of customer experience. When it comes to improving the experience of a service or product, basing the innovation project on service design principles may be fundamental to achieving your goals consistently.

Juan Alves
Juan Alves
a man standing next to a road with headphones, waiting for the bus and listening to something
March 29, 2022

The 30 best podcasts about customer experience, service design, design thinking, human-centered design, UX/UI…

Working on customer experience needs expertise in diverse fields: service design, architecture, UX/UI design, business and management, ... just to name a few. Therefore, it can be hard to find the right podcast for yourself. We’ve collected a few of them for you to learn more about the CX focus area of your choice, and listed them with the publisher's description.

Katharina Rainer
Katharina Rainer
Phone scanning a QR code of jewellery.
March 22, 2022

Omnichannel customer journey maps – designing experiences across channels

Have you ever visited a store, tried on some clothes, used your smartphone to compare prices – and in the end bought everything online? Undeniably, omnichannel experiences are becoming more and more habitual, and we don’t need to go too far to verify consumers’ behavioral changes.

Juan Alves
Juan Alves
A stakeholder map paper template with sticky notes to visualize the stakeholders.
March 8, 2022

4 efficient stakeholder mapping techniques

Curious about stakeholder mapping techniques that can help you to improve engagement during a project? In this article you will not only learn why, but also how to use stakeholder maps.

Juan Alves
Juan Alves
A friendly doctor looking after a woman who just gets her bloodpressure checked
February 23, 2022

What is patient journey mapping and how to do it?

Patient journey mapping is a powerful tool that allows healthcare providers to visualize and analyze the various touchpoints and interactions patients have throughout their healthcare journey. For this article, we talked to an expert service designer with many years experience as a paramedic and flight rescuer to learn: what is patient journey mapping? Why is it important? And how to create a patient journey map?

Katharina Rainer
Katharina Rainer
a bike standing in a room with art in the background
February 22, 2022

10 surprising examples of customer experience innovation from traffic and transportation

Sometimes it doesn’t take much to make a product or service come with a better customer experience. Here are some examples where (service) designers, based on the pain points they found and after some out-of-the-box thinking, further developed services that sometimes even go beyond the initial purpose.

Isabel Grillmayr
Isabel Grillmayr
visualization of journey map
February 15, 2022

Smaply's hottest features

Our journey mapping tool Smaply is based on our users' requests: what they need and what they wish for, that's what they get. And this is the result: Smaply's newest feature releases. Check out the most recent updates of the tool and learn how it can help you better manage your customer experience projects.

Klaus Schwarzenberger
Klaus Schwarzenberger
two smiling faces (Marc Stickdorn and Nicole Broeckling)
December 16, 2021

Ask Marc – becoming a human-centered organization

In this webinar, we talked about how to become a human-centered organization: What's the first step that you can take? What are challenges that you are likely to face? What are chances for first success moments? And who do you need to involve in the process?

Marc Stickdorn
Marc Stickdorn
a hand holding up 7 books
December 1, 2021

20 design thinking books to learn from and get inspired

We want books that are eye-opening; that show us the great work and initiatives of other people who care about making the world a better place; that inspire us to embrace, or even initiate change. And definitely books that remind us of our self-efficacy; that show us we can become more hands-on, become part of change processes.

Zsofia Szatmari-Margitai
Zsofia Szatmari-Margitai
loose puzzle pieces that indicate a challenge
November 24, 2021

Top 10 customer experience challenges and how to overcome them

Organizations are often not alone with the customer experience challenges they face and they grapple with rapidly changing contexts. How an organization faces these can determine whether it succeeds, or fails as it engages with its customers. So, within these conditions, what options do we have? In this article we will explore ten of the most pressing CX challenges being faced by businesses in 2023 and how to overcome them.

Cambrian Berry
Cambrian Berry
The lobby and waiting room of a hospital that looks very welcoming.
November 12, 2021

Social impact through service design: case studies from health and wellbeing

Three inspiring service design case studies that showcase people creating positive change.

Cambrian Berry
Cambrian Berry
visualization of power point slides on grey background
September 17, 2021

Ask Marc – about presenting journey maps

In this webinar, we talked about presenting customer journey maps: How to approach different audiences, how to tailor journey map details to stakeholder groups, and about types of visualizations and exports for different use cases. After watching this session, you’ll know how to use journey maps as boundary objects to bridge organizational and communicational silos.

Marc Stickdorn
Marc Stickdorn
Interviewee smiling into the camera
August 31, 2021

Case Study with Deutsche Telekom: how a customer-centred strategy can help drive innovation

Deutsche Telekom has been one of the earliest customers of Smaply. Now they share their experience with embracing journey mapping as a company.

Cambrian Berry
Cambrian Berry
employee working in a warehouse
August 3, 2021

Employee experience management: creating positive workspaces from acquisition to retention

A holistic approach towards employee experience management does not start with the onboarding process, nor does it finish with the offboarding process. In fact, it starts with attracting your employees and possibly ends with re-engaging your alumni. This article provides you with some answers to common questions: What is employee experience management? What are its benefits and challenges? And how to get started with EX management?

Melina Savvidis
Melina Savvidis
Display panes at an airport showing the departure and arrival of planes.
July 6, 2021

Customer journey mapping in tourism

Customer journey mapping has huge potential to change the travel & tourism industry in a positive way. As individual suppliers harness the potential journey mapping offers, they can craft more compelling experiences for their guests. Whether approaches are applied to services in a small hotel, or within a large destination management organization (DMO), journey maps can be created to suit different contexts and use cases within the travel industry.

Isabel Grillmayr
Isabel Grillmayr
Sheets of paper with a cup, a mouse and a pen.
June 30, 2021

Improving citizen experience: Customer journey mapping for government services

When was the last time you used a government service? Sometimes it can be hard to bring a particular service to mind because they often play such a background role in our lives, only standing out during moments when they inconvenience us. However, in people's everyday lives they benefit from a vast range of different government services that support the way that they, as well as their communities, are able to function.

Cambrian Berry
Cambrian Berry
Laptop with text: I design and develop experiences that make people's lives simple.
June 17, 2021

Service design implementation (Guide part 4)

When it comes to implementing service design, the first step many organizations take is often to run training programs for their team. Even though such workshop-style training is great to raise awareness of the topic and give a good overview of different tools and methods, it often remains hard for participants to apply the learnings in their day-to-day work. In this article, we will share some lessons learned on how to successfully bring service design into an organization so that it can be used to supplement and enhance existing ways of working.

Antonia Cramer
Antonia Cramer
A wooden table with a keyboard, a mouse, a phone, pens and other tools to work.
May 27, 2021

16 Customer Experience Tools for mapping, management, and researching CX

The number of customer experience tools out there is overwhelming. For people who are new to the field can be hard to gain an overview of which of them are useful for their work. In this article we will explore the potential of tools in the context of CX, what are some of the benefits of using digital tools, and finally we will conclude by taking a look at some specific tools from all phases, from research to customer experience management tools.

Cambrian Berry
Cambrian Berry
A woman working with a laptop, a cup of tea and a college block next to her.
May 19, 2021

What are service design tools? (Guide part 3)

When talking about service design tools, many people think of a customer journey map hanging on a wall and people pointing at sticky notes. In this article, we dive into the subject of service design tools and templates, what they are, and how they can be implemented during the different phases of a design process.

Antonia Cramer
Antonia Cramer
a group of people working together on a UX project
May 12, 2021

The service design process (Guide part 2)

Service design always follows an iterative design process, meaning that it follows cycles of learning, prototyping and improvement. Similar to design in general, service design is constantly evolving and improving. In this article, we explain the key components of a service design process and offer a framework for creating your own.

Antonia Cramer
Antonia Cramer
a bunch of colorful sticky notes with a pen on top
April 29, 2021

The basics of service design (Guide part 1)

Service design, or design thinking, is often linked with terms such as innovation (process), change, and improvement. But what exactly is it? And why is it important? In this article, we will explore some of the principles of service design, as well as the positive impacts it can have on your customers’ lives and the performance of your business. Learn more about the principles of service design and the impact it can have on your business.

Antonia Cramer
Antonia Cramer
vendor passing bread to buyer in a bakery
April 13, 2021

Practical service design approaches that help us build relationships with our stakeholders

The field of service design has emerged from a growing need for organizations to reconnect and re-establish closer relationships with their customers, staff members and other essential stakeholders. Through better relationships and a renewed sense of clarity for customer experience, many organizations have realized the potential that service design approaches offer for improving their ability to innovate, generating service value as well as improving the lives of the people they are trying to help. In this article, we will explore three vital relationship values, namely, communication, adaptability and support. We will also explore on a practical level how we can use service design tools in ways that bring these values to life in our organization to improve and strengthen our relationships.

Cambrian Berry
Cambrian Berry
many hands, each holding a lego play figure
March 25, 2021

Three essential relationships that help us deliver great services

Relationships are the invisible forces that bind our customers, employees, and other stakeholders together. By taking the time to understand the challenges and needs faced by each of these groups, we are much better placed to develop services that will each deliver towards their desired outcomes.

Cambrian Berry
Cambrian Berry
MacBook standing on a desk. On the screen a yellow couch is visible.
March 4, 2021

Create an e-commerce customer journey map with a free tool

Customer journey mapping in e-commerce is a diagram that illustrates the steps your customers go through in engaging with your online business. It starts when they first become aware of your products, to completing a purchase. It can extend to after-purchase care.

Antonia Cramer
Antonia Cramer
visualization of three different types of workshop groups on grey background
February 18, 2021

Ask Marc – about service design workshops

In this session, we talked about service design workshops: how to run a successful service design workshop? What are the upsides and downsides of in-person workshops and digital workshops? And how to connect the two worlds together?

Marc Stickdorn
Marc Stickdorn
arrows pointing upwards on yellow background
February 17, 2021

How to scale service design in organizations [with in-depth white paper]

This white paper outlines how to scale service design in an organization. It is the sequel to "Embedding service design in an organization". Starting with a short introduction on the difference of embedding and scaling service design, it then offers 10 tips from Marc and numerous quotes from other service design experts.

Marc Stickdorn
Marc Stickdorn
emotional journey of three personas on grey background
February 16, 2021

Ask Marc – measuring service design impact

How do you know if your service design project has been successful? How do you prove if your changes and improvements had impact? How can you use numbers to convince others of the effect of prior service design activities so you get budget for the next ones? In this session, we'll talk about measuring service design, the horrible experiences NPS and driver analysis can cause, and the importance of impact controlling.

Marc Stickdorn
Marc Stickdorn
little kids waiting for school to start in front of a building
February 2, 2021

Education journey mapping: understanding learning experience

Education has the power to change people's lives and the world we live in. By understanding and mapping the education journey, we are much better prepared when creating meaningful educational experiences and we can thus achieve better outcomes with our learners. Education journey mapping can help us understand and improve the education journey.

Cambrian Berry
Cambrian Berry
Image of a microphone
December 22, 2020

Ask Marc – about methodology silos

People call ‘it’ service design, design thinking, (holistic) ux design, experience design, to name just a few. Sometimes, organizations even have different teams under these labels – although they actually do the same stuff. On the other side, what some organizations call ‘service design’ might be completely different to what others call ‘service design’. Language matters. And the labels we use, often end up in methodology silos.

Marc Stickdorn
Marc Stickdorn
photo of a sign that warns about the wet floor and danger of slipping
December 3, 2020

Reducing harm through service design - how we can positively shape our future

Creating a better world means both improving the way in which we deliver services now, while also improving the outcomes that result from our services in the future. Taking an ethical look at our service delivery, how can we continue to improve the ways in which we influence individuals, communities, and the systems that support life on our planet?

Cambrian Berry
Cambrian Berry
Emotional Journey Export from Smaply
December 1, 2020

Customer journey map examples: The ultimate industry collection

On this page, you get a collection of some useful customer journey map examples from different industries, such as airports, e-commerce, marketing, or telecommunication.

Isabel Grillmayr
Isabel Grillmayr
A man playing chess and drinking coffee.
November 18, 2020

Journey mapping in strategic planning

Customer centricity is the core of every successful business. Only if we plan and deliver products that solve real customer needs, our business will survive in the long run. Hence, having a clear understanding of what the customer needs and how we can meet these needs better than any other actor on the market is key to sustainable success.

Katharina Rainer
Katharina Rainer
Candidate journey mapping improving the hiring process
November 11, 2020

What is the candidate journey and how to successfully recruit with journey maps

Recruiters know: The candidate has moved into a powerful position and has changed our game. It’s not only on the candidate to apply and perform, but also on us recruiters to convince the candidate to become part of our organization. It’s on us to leave a good impression and to provide a great candidate experience in order to stand out and compete with other organizations. 

Melina Savvidis
Melina Savvidis
Selfie of Marc Stickdorn while recording a podcast
November 10, 2020

Podcast: talking about Journey Map Operations at 'This is HCD'

In this podcast, Gerry Scullion and I talk about Journey Map Operations and how projects in organizations impact customer and employee experience.

Marc Stickdorn
Marc Stickdorn
piggy bank with cash money
November 9, 2020

Customer journey mapping in banking: what it is and how to get started

Like many other sectors, the world of banking is facing persistent pressure to innovate within a society undergoing rapid technological, environmental and social change. Due to these changes, the way we engage with banks and access money isn't the same as it was five years ago. Short: the customer journey in banking has changed – and it's highly likely it won't be the same five years from now into the future. 

Cambrian Berry
Cambrian Berry
Women sitting at a table, discussing the importance of journey mapping in SaaS
October 21, 2020

Customer journey mapping in SaaS: innovating software experiences

As a software-as-a-service company that develops SaaS tools for journey mapping, this topic is at the very heart of our culture. Throughout the last few years, journey mapping has grown deeper and deeper into our daily routines, now we are using it along the entire business lifecycle, with the entire team, and not only on an operational level but also on a strategic level too.

Klaus Schwarzenberger
Klaus Schwarzenberger
Journey map focussed on the emotional experience of a persona
October 12, 2020

Beyond words: How to present a customer journey map that gets you buy-in

The way in which a customer journey map is presented plays an important role in engaging different stakeholders like clients or in-house teams. In this article we take a quick look at the basics of professional journey map presentations, including structure, formats and fundamental principles that help you to engage your audience.

Katharina Rainer
Katharina Rainer
stakeholder map on yellow background
October 9, 2020

Ask Marc – about stakeholder maps

In this session, we talked about the what and why of stakeholder maps, how to create and analyze them, and other types of system maps (value network maps and ecosystem maps). Also you'll get to know different use cases of stakeholder maps.

Marc Stickdorn
Marc Stickdorn
person looking at data on a wall, trying to find a way to cluster it
October 8, 2020

Customer experience data: how to structure CX data in the world of service design

So we have spent weeks and months collecting all types of customer data. By conducting interviews with our customers, doing desktop research, hosting workshops with our team, digging into KPIs, as well as many other approaches. Through this process, we have generated a large pool of high-quality insights – so large that it has become increasingly fragmented and difficult to find specific knowledge. So, what do we do now? How do we make a start when it comes to data management so that our resources are stored in clear, logical ways that are easy to access when we need them?

Cambrian Berry
Cambrian Berry
a person's hands leaning on a table with sharpies, color samples, files and coffee
September 30, 2020

Customer journey mapping in marketing

Customer journey mapping and marketing go so much hand in hand that one might think it’s self-explanatory. But just like for any other person, also marketers sometimes have a hard time empathizing with customers. Customer journey mapping can help marketers to ensure they act for the customers’ sake and that it’s really the customer who’s in the focus of what they’re doing – rather than tools and processes.

Katharina Rainer
Katharina Rainer
little girl and woman holding hands and walking away
September 22, 2020

Volunteer journey mapping: managing experiences with NGOs

Volunteer journey mapping is an important tool for nonprofits looking to create engaging and rewarding experiences for their volunteers. By mapping out the volunteer journey, nonprofits can identify pain points, opportunities for improvement, and ways to enhance the overall volunteer experience.

Katharina Rainer
Katharina Rainer
two people sitting on a bench, the sun is setting
September 10, 2020

Case study: using contextual interviews to understand employees in their work context

This case study shows how contextual interviews together with other research methods helped to understand people’s work environment, experiences, and pain points of delivery folks of gas cylinders. The study highlights the value of the triangulation of research methods.

Pranjali Pachpute
Pranjali Pachpute
motivating sign of learning
September 6, 2020

Make a content wish!

At Smaply we are attempting to make your life easier, with the service design products we create, as well as the content we produce that helps make these products more helpful. 

Cambrian Berry
Cambrian Berry
Learning card deck
August 19, 2020

Learning cards: experience research

Every project, whether it focuses on the customer experience or employee experience, requires a bit of research or data to make informed decisions. These learning cards on experience research help you to dig into the topic.

Isabel Grillmayr
Isabel Grillmayr
journey mapping toolkit
July 30, 2020

Free toolkit: journey mapping

Dig into the methods and practice of journey mapping and improving experiences with cheat sheets, case studies and other learning resources.

Katharina Rainer
Katharina Rainer
journey mapping templates
July 15, 2020

Templates for customer journey maps, personas and stakeholder maps

Journey mapping workshops often start with drawing on persona templates, customer journey map templates, and stakeholder map templates. In this article, we provide you with a few simple templates for pen-and-paper work and a short explanation of how to use them. Additionally, we present some digital templates for customer journey maps, personas and stakeholder maps.

Isabel Grillmayr
Isabel Grillmayr
journey map hierarchy
July 10, 2020

Ask Marc – about journey map repositories

In this session we talked about hierarchies of journey maps, how they can complement each other, also between different departments and the challenges of implementing such a method in organizations.

Marc Stickdorn
Marc Stickdorn
experience research toolkit
July 2, 2020

Free toolkit: experience research

Dig into the methods and practice of researching and improving experiences with cheat sheets, case studies and other learning resources.

Katharina Rainer
Katharina Rainer
close up of an antique map
June 10, 2020

A map is a map: how understanding geographical maps helps us create better journey maps

Maps have been a key tool for people since the dawn of humankind. Starting with fading sketches drawn in sand to Google Maps, maps have always provided information, context, and orientation. What helps us find our way through this world, also helps us to understand our customers and our business.

Michael Steingress
Michael Steingress
person with headset sitting at a desk
May 13, 2020

Employee journey mapping: shaping new work practices

Employee journey mapping has emerged as a powerful way to better understand what a work team really needs and wants – and shape a more fulfilling work environment that is perfectly aligned. This article introduces the concept of employee experience, explores its importance and shows how to bring it into action with employee journey maps.

Melina Savvidis
Melina Savvidis
cloud with lightning and heart on a grey background
May 5, 2020

Ask Marc – about experience research

In this session we give an introduction on how to do experience research. We talk about the differences of qualitative and quantitative research and why both of them are interdependent and crucial for an organization. And of course we answer all user questions, such as when to use which UX research methods, examples of ethnographic research and how to calculate the cost of research methods.

Marc Stickdorn
Marc Stickdorn
apartment building with balconies, where people sit
April 15, 2020

Remote experience research

Experience research is more important than before, as we need to deeply understand new contexts and act accordingly. As a researcher, we have the opportunity to learn more about behaviors and change products and services responding to crises. We have the knowledge and power to act responsibly and care about customer and employee experience.

Zsofia Szatmari-Margitai
Zsofia Szatmari-Margitai
two people hiking up a mountain in snowy conditions
April 1, 2020

Customer experience in times of crises

Why it’s so important to focus on your customers’ needs and expectations – especially in times like these.

Michael Steingress
Michael Steingress
journey map repository
March 30, 2020

The why and how of a journey map repository

A journey map repository allows you to organize all your journey maps and make it clear and accessible for yourself and your team. This is a crucial step towards using journey maps as a visual management tool and organizing all projects that impact experiences throughout the organization.

Katharina Rainer
Katharina Rainer
images showing the experience at an airport
March 20, 2020

Ask Marc – about personas on journey maps

In this session we talked about how to use multiple personas on one journey map to compare their experience. Also we included stakeholder groups into the discussion and learn how backstage activities and service blueprints are connected to personas.

Marc Stickdorn
Marc Stickdorn
experience researrch in restaurant
March 10, 2020

Case study: researching experiences in a restaurant

How is the customer experience in a newly opened restaurant? This article shows how our guest author Anna slipped into the guests' shoes and helped the restaurant managers to improve the service.

Anna Katharina Reisenberger
Anna Katharina Reisenberger
Person writing creating a persona
February 18, 2020

The basics of user personas

In this article we explain what user or customer personas are, why they are important and what you need to consider when creating them.

Antonia Cramer
Antonia Cramer
Marc Stickdorn smiling into the camera
February 14, 2020

Ask Marc – about personas

In this session we talk about how personas differ from market segments and other constructs, how to create and update them, and how to successfully embed them in organizations.

Marc Stickdorn
Marc Stickdorn
a sign that says: ask more questions
February 11, 2020

The basics of customer experience research

Improving customer experience needs a deep understanding of the entire customer journey and makes structured research the key to success. Customer experience is influenced by multiple online and offline channels, and often happens along a long time frame. These facts make it necessary to carefully evaluate what methods and tools are useful for each specific research and innovation goal.

Antonia Cramer
Antonia Cramer
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