Friction in a customer experience rarely announces itself. People do not usually write to tell you the intake form was confusing or that no one called back. They just do not return, or they do not renew, or they tell a friend to try somewhere else.
By the time you notice, the cause can be hard to find. That is where a service blueprint helps.
What a service blueprint is
A service blueprint is a visual map of a service from the customer’s point of view, with everything that supports it laid out underneath. It was developed in service research and described in detail by Mary Jo Bitner, Amy Ostrom, and Felicia Morgan in California Management Review. The Nielsen Norman Group, a user-experience research firm, describes it as a way to see how people, props, and processes connect at each touchpoint.
A customer journey map shows what the customer experiences. A blueprint adds what your team and systems do to create that experience. That second half is where most fixable problems live.
The five components
At a glance
The five layers of a service blueprint
Adapted from Bitner, Ostrom, and Morgan (2008).
- Physical evidence is everything the customer sees or receives: your website, sign, email, invoice, waiting room, or welcome packet.
- Customer actions are the steps the customer takes, from first search to follow-up.
- Onstage actions are what your staff or volunteers do in direct contact with the customer.
- Backstage actions are what your team does out of sight, like preparing, scheduling, or checking records.
- Support processes are the systems and partners behind it all: software, payment, vendors, and policies.
Three lines separate these layers. The line of interaction marks where the customer and your team meet. The line of visibility marks what the customer can see. The line of internal interaction marks where frontline work depends on support systems.
Why the line of visibility matters
Many of the problems customers feel start below the line of visibility. A late confirmation email may trace to a manual step in scheduling. A confusing first visit may trace to a handoff between two volunteers. The customer only sees the result.
A blueprint lets your team see the connection. It also makes it easier to talk about without blame, because the conversation is about the process on the wall, not the person who was working that day.
Moments of truth and the full journey
Each time a customer interacts with your organization is what Bitner and colleagues call a moment of truth: a point where their impression is formed. Not every moment carries equal weight. The first contact, the first time something goes wrong, and the last impression tend to matter most.
It is also worth looking at the whole path, not only single touchpoints. In Harvard Business Review, Alex Rawson, Ewan Duncan, and Conor Jones argue that focusing on satisfaction at individual touchpoints can hide problems in the end-to-end journey. A blueprint shows both.
Compare your path with the alternatives
One of the most useful cases in the blueprinting research involves houseboat vacations at Lake Powell. The operator compared its experience with the luxury resorts guests might choose instead and used the blueprint to redesign the parts that fell short. Bitner and colleagues report the redesign was followed by fewer complaints and stronger customer loyalty.
The lesson for a small organization: blueprint your own path, then look at what your customers experience elsewhere. The comparison shows which gaps matter to them. David Edelman and Marc Singer make a related point in HBR: organizations that design the journey on purpose, step by step, create value their customers notice.
How StrideForward builds a blueprint with you
A blueprint engagement is usually a short, focused project:
- Choose the path that matters most right now, such as inquiry to first purchase, signup to first visit, or donation to renewal.
- Gather the evidence: a few customer conversations, a walk-through of the path, and input from the people who deliver it.
- Map it together in a working session with your team, so the knowledge stays with you.
- Prioritize fixes by impact and effort, then help you redesign and test the first one.
You leave with a clear map, a short list of changes, and at least one of them underway. If you want to start on your own first, our free Customer Experience Blueprint Starter Kit walks through the basics.
Apply it
Start a blueprint this week
- Pick one customer path, such as first inquiry to first purchase or signup to first visit.
- Write the customer’s steps across the top, one sticky note each.
- Under each step, add what your team does onstage and backstage.
- Mark the line of visibility, then circle the two steps with the most complaints or drop-off.
- Choose one of those two to improve in the next 30 days.
Tip: print this page or take a screenshot of this checklist to use later.
Related reading: The experience with too much friction. If you would rather build the skill yourself, NextReady Studio has a one-page blueprint you can make with sticky notes, and Thrive Vibes shows what a good trip teaches you about customer experience.
Common questions
What is a service blueprint?
A service blueprint is a visual map of a service that shows what the customer experiences and everything behind it: physical evidence, customer actions, onstage and backstage team actions, and support processes. Bitner, Ostrom, and Morgan described the method in California Management Review in 2008.
What is the difference between a customer journey map and a service blueprint?
A customer journey map shows the steps and feelings of the customer. A service blueprint adds the team actions and systems that create each step, which makes it easier to find the cause of a problem.
What is the line of visibility?
The line of visibility separates what the customer can see from the work that happens out of sight. Many customer-facing problems begin below that line, in scheduling, handoffs, or systems.
Can a small business or nonprofit use service blueprinting?
Yes. A small organization can map one customer path in a working session with sticky notes. Start with the path that has the most complaints or drop-off, and improve one step at a time.
Sources and further reading
- Mary Jo Bitner, Amy L. Ostrom, and Felicia N. Morgan, “Service Blueprinting: A Practical Technique for Service Innovation,” California Management Review 50, no. 3 (2008)
- Nielsen Norman Group, “Service Blueprints: Definition”
- Alex Rawson, Ewan Duncan, and Conor Jones, “The Truth About Customer Experience,” Harvard Business Review, September 2013
- David C. Edelman and Marc Singer, “Competing on Customer Journeys,” Harvard Business Review, November 2015
Keep going with StrideForward
Want a clear map of your customer experience?
We can build a blueprint with your team and help you fix the first step that matters.