The Service Innovation Checkup is a tool and part of the Ten-Types-Of-Innovation macro method (also described here). The seventh of the Ten Types Of Innovation describes innovations that use a service to increase the usability and obvious function of a product and thus its value.
Service innovations
often make a product easier to use or reveal functions to a user that he or she would otherwise overlook. Service innovations solve problems and increase the appeal of a product. Used intelligently, you can even raise the value of boring products to the level of enticing experiences that customers will come back to again and again.
Common examples of service innovations include benefit extensions for products, maintenance plans, customer support, information and training, and warranty extensions.
This type of service is becoming increasingly digitized – a state of affairs that does not always thrill customers. The fact is that the customer communicates more and more often with electronic interfaces. But whether face-to-face contact happens person-to-person or to automated technology: Service can be the most distinctive part of a buying experience, or the invisible safety net that customers rely on without ever seeing it.
Successful service innovations in practice:
– HYUNDAI: In the midst of the recession, the carmaker offered its buyers a special insurance policy in 2009: The customer could return the car along with all financing contracts within the first year if he lost his job.
– Men’s Warehouse: with every suit, the menswear chain offers a free ironing service at any of its stores in the United States. This benefits men on business trips.
– Sysco: One of the largest food suppliers offers special services for restaurants and commercial kitchens that it supplies. In a tight market, Sysco has created additional value for its customers such as business reviews and free behind-the-scenes consulting on menu design and logistics.
