Service Blueprint to connect journey & operations
A service blueprint is a visual overview of how an organisation delivers a service to a customer, across all channels and touch points.
Trusted by 65M+ users and leading companies
Suppose your organisation is a restaurant. On your Service Blueprint, you will find a guest who dines (the customer experience), the interaction with the waitress (the frontstage), and a chef in the kitchen (the backstage). You will see that everything is connected and has an influence on the dining experience. A Service Blueprint gives you the overview that allows you to orchestrate everything to achieve an optimal customer experience.
This sounds more difficult than it is: Use this template and the instructions to make a Service Blueprint yourself! From our experience as service design agency working with lots of organisations, we guide you step-by-step and also provide you with tips and examples for how you can use a Service Blueprint for better collaboration in your organisation.
Our instructions for making your own Service Blueprint:
Service scenario: Identify the service you would like to be blueprinted (i.e. visit a restaurant, buy a product, departure for a flight, etc.), and break it down into a set of steps. This will be your starting point to fill in the Service Blueprint template.
Customer actions: Take your customer's perspective and identify the actions he/she takes or experiences in each of the steps of the service scenario (i.e. enter restaurant, order meal, pay the bill, etc).
Touch points: Identify every interaction that takes place between your organisation and the customer (i.e. telephone, physical, pin machine, etc.). Visualise these touch points in the circles on the 'line of interaction'.
Front stage actions: Define the actions that are taken by your organisation in each of the steps, that are visible to the customer (i.e. welcome guests, take the order, clear the table, etc).
Define the actions that are taken by your organisation in each of the steps that are invisible to the customer (i.e. order to kitchen, cook the meal, dishes, etc) under the ‘line of visibility’.
Supporting processes: Identify processes, systems or tools, that support the front- and back-stage actions. These can be related to IT, HR, Finance, suppliers, etc.
Connections & flow: Use arrows to connect dependencies or correlations between the customer actions, frontstage actions and backstage actions (i.e enter restaurant -> welcome guest).
Update: alternative approach with actors!
We've added a second approach (including template) in which you don't specify actions for front- and backstage, but for all involved 'actors'. This approach is especially useful if you want to get a clear picture who is doing what when in your service delivery, which helps to improve the orchestration of all activities.
This template was created by Essense.
Get started with this template right now.
User Interview Template
Works best for:
Desk Research, Product Management
A user interview is a UX research technique in which researchers ask the user questions about a topic. They allow your team to quickly and easily collect user data and learn more about your users. In general, organizations conduct user interviews to gather background data, to understand how people use technology, to take a snapshot of how users interact with a product, to understand user objectives and motivations, and to find users’ pain points. Use this template to record notes during an interview to ensure you’re gathering the data you need to create personas.
Service Blueprint Template
Works best for:
Desk Research, Operations, Market Research
The Service Blueprint template is a visual tool for designing and optimizing service experiences. It provides a structured framework for mapping customer journeys, identifying touchpoints, and aligning internal processes. This template enables teams to visualize the entire service ecosystem, uncover pain points, and innovate solutions to enhance customer satisfaction. By promoting customer-centricity and collaboration, the Service Blueprint empowers organizations to deliver exceptional service experiences and drive sustainable growth.
Darts Template
Works best for:
Design
It is a common mistake to assume that all ideas, tasks, or features are equally important. However, in order to achieve the best results and focus on the most critical elements, it is necessary to determine what takes priority. This approach allows you to prioritize and concentrate on what requires immediate attention while postponing the remaining aspects for later. The Darts Template is designed to limit the amount of content that can be placed in the center, forcing your team to consider priorities before taking any action.
Idea Drafting Template
The Idea Drafting Template encourages you to tap into your innate creativity by drawing pictures to quickly generate ideas. The sketching process stimulates a cycle of creativity that supports the development of concepts. By externalizing your thoughts through sketches and seeing them visualized, you can generate variations and continue the creative process.
Empathy Map Canvas by Jack León
Works best for:
Research & Design, Market Research
Empathy Map Canvas is an essential tool for capturing user insights. By visualizing what users think, feel, and experience, you can create more effective and user-friendly designs. This template is perfect for teams focused on user-centered design.
4P Marketing Mix Template
Works best for:
Marketing, Brainstorming, Workshops
Product, Place, Promotions, and Price. Starting with this template (and those 4Ps) you can choose the best way to take your product or service to market. The secret is to create just the right mix—deciding how much each P needs in terms of investment, attention, and resources. That will help you build your strengths, adapt to the market, and collaborate with partners. And our tool is the perfect canvas to create your marketing mix and share with teams and across your organization.