Value in use. Why do customers choose a particular service

Transcription

1 Value in use or Why do customers choose a particular service

2 Contents of this lecture Introduction to the concept of value in use Discussion in groups on value in use Round-off; value in use and human-centred design Optional literature accompanying this lecture: Vargo, Stephen L. & Lusch Robert F. (2004). Evolving to a new dominant logic for marketing. In Journal of Marketing, 68 (January), Vargo, Stephen L. & Lusch Robert F. (2008). Service-Dominant Logic: Continuing the Evolution. In Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 36, 1-10 Sandström, S., Edvardsson, B., Kristensson, P & Magnusson, P. (2008). Value in use through service experience. In Managing Service Quality, 18(2),

3 Value in use What is value? And why does he keep saying in use?

4 Value? Easy linguistically, complex concept No clear definition Value as exchange Value as sign Value as experience

5 Framework for understanding value in use Service dominant logic Theoretical framework from service marketing and service management Developed from a company perspective Service as a perspective on economic transactions Rather than the opposite of goods

6 Service dominant logic Service is the fundamental basis of exchange Service as a perspective on value creation Value is defined by the customer Companies can only offer value propositions Services are co-created by the provider and customers Focus on relationship between provider and customer

7 Service as a perspective on value creation Service is to help someone achieve a goal To achieve one s goal is to have value created for oneself Creating value is thus a service

8 Value is defined by the customer It is the customer (or user in design-speak) who can say if what was done for her provided the desired outcome In commercial settings this means that if the value expected isn t delivered we might have unhappy customers to deal with If the customer expected something which we don t deliver we have a marketing problem, not stupid customers

9 Companies can only offer value propositions If it is the customer who decides if what we offer provides value, this means that we can only offer what is called a value proposition Value proposition = The value we think we can provide for a customer A company thus needs to focus on having all the pieces needed to deliver value in place Products People Routines

10 Services are co-created by the provider and customers Since companies can only prepare the prerequisites for a service, the role of customers in realising the service becomes interesting As the customers need to play an active part in having a value delivered to them they become co-creators of the service This means that a service cannot happen without the participation of both provider and customer This is not self-evident as one can think, at least not for traditional marketing theory

11 Focus on relationship between provider and customer All this leads to a focus on building a relationship with the customer over time so they become returning customers If we focus on building a relationship it becomes important to; Deliver the value customers expect Make sure the experience of getting the value is enjoyable, or at least durable

12 However! Service dominant logic is not the only perspective arguing along these lines Service logic Customer-dominant logic Service dominant logic is however the most well-spread

13 To summarise; Value in use is the perspective that the value of a product or service doesn t exist until it is being used (before that it is only a value proposition)

14 15 min break

15 Group discussions Which values does X provide? And how does value relate to human-centred design?

16 Group discussions Discuss which value is provided by: Shoes A sports car Traffic lights Broken traffic lights A clock A smartphone A prison

17 Group discussions Discuss the value which the service in your project offers What is the value proposition? How is the value delivered? Also discuss in which ways the service is co-produced my customers and the service employees/products? In your redesigns: How can you make sure you deliver the value you think that you deliver? Which value do customers expect to get from using your system?

18 Round-up Value in use and human-centred design

19 Converging mind-sets The service-dominant logic perspective means that (service) marketing and management in earnest are taking the user-centred perspective to heart Design has been working in a user-centred fashion for decades and are experts in understanding people s needs and adapting things according to these needs This means that for the first time business on a large scale are starting to look at design as something more than styling, and see the design process as something which can give a competitive advantage

20 Value in use in human-centred design The notion of value in use offers designers a language to discuss our perspective in a more business-like fashion It is also a good starting point for those new to design in knowing what to focus on when they start their design efforts and can guide all stages of the process: User research (what is the desired value?) Ideation (how can we deliver the desired value?) Prototyping/testing (are we delivering what we think we deliver? do we have all the components needed to deliver what we want to deliver?) Implementation (keeping an eye on that we don t obscure the value through late changes) Value in use very similar to value as experience (traditional design perspective) 20

21 Any final questions? 21