TY - CHAP
T1 - A toolkit for multisensory service design
T2 - Cases in leisure services
AU - Friedrich, Pirjo
AU - Bäck, Asta
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - How do the human senses affect customer experience? How
can one gather data on the multisensory service
experience and, in turn, use sensory data to improve
existing services or create new ones?
These are some of the questions we studied in our
recently completed project 'Matkailijan moniaistinen
palvelukokemus' ('Tourist's multisensory service
experience'), or MMP, in 2010-2012. We carried out the
project in collaboration with the Laurea University of
Applied Sciences, and the Tekes Tourism and Leisure
Services programme supported the work financially. VTT
contributed expertise in service design methods,
especially the Owela online co-creation platform. We
studied how online tools can be used to evaluate, create,
and develop leisure services from a multisensory
perspective.
Competition for people's time and money is fierce, and
service providers need to improve their services
continuously if they are to meet and surpass customers'
needs and expectations. Appealing to multiple senses is
one opportunity to provide a stronger sense of
authenticity and experience and to increase the
attraction of leisure services. Our key theoretical
assumption was that customers are active co-creators of
service experiences
[1, 2]. Since each experience is unique, we can only
estimate and create prerequisites for pleasant
multisensory experiences.
Another foundation for service design is consideration of
the total service experience, which is influenced by four
elements: access sacrifices, service quality, effort
sacrifices, and the experience of the actual value
proposition the service offers [3]. Access sacrifices
refer to the effort needed to come to the site: e.g., are
the transport connections good / are there enough parking
places? Service quality refers to how all the practical
things related to the service function: e.g., are tickets
easy to buy, and does the equipment function safely and
correctly? Effort sacrifices cover the actions needed for
enjoyment of the actual service: Is the weather too hot
or cold? Are the queues very long? The value proposition
of a leisure service such as an amusement park might be
to give moments of thrills and excitement and to immerse
visitors in a world very different from their everyday
life. Senses and their interaction play an important role
in all these areas.
AB - How do the human senses affect customer experience? How
can one gather data on the multisensory service
experience and, in turn, use sensory data to improve
existing services or create new ones?
These are some of the questions we studied in our
recently completed project 'Matkailijan moniaistinen
palvelukokemus' ('Tourist's multisensory service
experience'), or MMP, in 2010-2012. We carried out the
project in collaboration with the Laurea University of
Applied Sciences, and the Tekes Tourism and Leisure
Services programme supported the work financially. VTT
contributed expertise in service design methods,
especially the Owela online co-creation platform. We
studied how online tools can be used to evaluate, create,
and develop leisure services from a multisensory
perspective.
Competition for people's time and money is fierce, and
service providers need to improve their services
continuously if they are to meet and surpass customers'
needs and expectations. Appealing to multiple senses is
one opportunity to provide a stronger sense of
authenticity and experience and to increase the
attraction of leisure services. Our key theoretical
assumption was that customers are active co-creators of
service experiences
[1, 2]. Since each experience is unique, we can only
estimate and create prerequisites for pleasant
multisensory experiences.
Another foundation for service design is consideration of
the total service experience, which is influenced by four
elements: access sacrifices, service quality, effort
sacrifices, and the experience of the actual value
proposition the service offers [3]. Access sacrifices
refer to the effort needed to come to the site: e.g., are
the transport connections good / are there enough parking
places? Service quality refers to how all the practical
things related to the service function: e.g., are tickets
easy to buy, and does the equipment function safely and
correctly? Effort sacrifices cover the actions needed for
enjoyment of the actual service: Is the weather too hot
or cold? Are the queues very long? The value proposition
of a leisure service such as an amusement park might be
to give moments of thrills and excitement and to immerse
visitors in a world very different from their everyday
life. Senses and their interaction play an important role
in all these areas.
M3 - Chapter or book article
SN - 978-951-38-7968-6
T3 - VTT Research Highlights
SP - 41
EP - 46
BT - Highlights in service research
PB - VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
CY - Espoo
ER -