Using service design to improve customer satisfaction in a housing association: case study
Part 2 of 3: Reflections from learners participating in Service Design in Practice
Service Design in Practice is a six month immersive learning and development programme which takes people with little or no experience of ‘Service Design’ to applying and practicing with the tools and approaches on real work based challenges.
But what do they end up doing? What does application of this way of working look and feel like?
We hear about four participants who experienced the full programme in this three part blog.
James Reseigh from Live West Housing Association used what he learnt on the programme to better understand the experience of their shared ownership residents and to make improvements.
The challenge
He and his team were initially tasked with improving customer satisfaction, which at the start of the project was standing at 55% — this didn’t compare at all well with other similar organisations. The board were rightly concerned and James was given the task of getting that number up from 55. But how?
Starting with discovery
He started by spending time in what we call ‘discovery’. So, rather than jumping straight onto the solution bandwagon, James spent time really understanding the problem he was trying to solve. He rapidly realised that both he and his team needed to question some of the assumptions that they held before they could start looking at potential solutions.
Working with their data analyst, they looked at what the numbers were really telling them. They noticed a pattern. Satisfaction reduced dramatically within the first year and then reduced more gradually thereafter. But why? And what was different about the 45% who were satisfied with their experience?
He and his team carried out targeted research, with people who represented the different lived experience of their service.
Defining the findings
Using this research data, they applied tools that James had learnt on the programme, including empathy mapping to help staff to really walk in the shoes of the people on the receiving end of the service.
They mapped out the customer journey, from initial engagement with the service to final exit, picking out the pain points and opportunities for service improvement at each step of the way.
This approach was entirely different from one which James and his team had taken before. It helped them to realise that the story around shared ownership satisfaction was a complex one. However, a few patterns began to emerge. For example:
- residents were telling them that after a while in the property, they felt trapped — often finding they were unable to move up the housing ladder, frequently in properties that no longer met their changing family needs.
- residents expected to increase their ownership percentage over time. Often feeling very disappointed when they realised that their dream would not become a reality.
- people felt disgruntled when rented properties were given a lick of paint and their shared ownership properties were left alone — even where it was often evident that they were paying more for their properties.
- Similar properties built on different development sites cost shared owners different amounts. This felt unfair to residents, especially when they realised that these costs were pretty random and not linked to property size or age. Instead being linked to loan gearing rates.
Idea generation
James says “we’d never got under the skin of the data before now”. Armed with this deeper understanding, James and his team were able to generate much better ideas to improve the experience of residents. Ideas like:
- offering flexible finance arrangements which makes staircasing (increasing the percentage that they own in the property) in smaller increments much easier for residents
- offering a variety of maintenance packages
- change the 2 minute call time target KPI for call centre staff to allow more time to discuss ‘staircasing’ ownership in their property and so providing an opportunity for people to realise their dream of increasing their ownership.
Prototyping and testing solutions
The programme helped James to think differently and approach the challenge with a fresh perspective and mindset. In particular, the programme helped him to recognise the importance of truly understanding what the problem looked and felt like from a residents perspective before diving into solution mode.
This insight has led to him being able to view the challenge with fresh eyes and come up with some innovative ways to improve customer satisfaction. Initially James said that he felt uncomfortable “having to go backwards to go forwards” as he is used to cracking on with things and getting things done. However, he now appreciates the value in gaining this understanding. James said that “the programme has made me think a lot more about the customer”.
‘Service Design in Practice’ is a six month learning and development programme, which takes people with little or no experience of using service design to applying and practicing these tools and approaches on real work based challenges.
Apply to participate in the next programme in January 2021 or contact me to discuss — I don’t bite! jo@weareserviceworks.com.
This is the second in a series of three posts about the exploits of some of our recent programme participants.
Next up — read part three about “Improving the ‘new employee’ journey using service design: case study”
Or if you missed it, read part one: “Applying a service design mindset to help a new housing association tenant app succeed: case study”
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At Service Works, we help government and third sector employees to design services that work through training, consultancy and workshops.
