Engine Service DesignThe Service Design Consultancy
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Engine Service Design
How do you build a relationship with customers once they have driven off the forecourt? Mercedes-Benz needed to tackle increased competition from independent garages and create a market-leading after sales experience that put service first and couldn’t be copied.
The Engine Service Design Team designed and developed an award-winning service model and experience for Mercedes-Benz dealerships, resulting in increased dealership visits and improved workshop efficiency. We also supported the design of a digital booking and service platform – a first for vehicle aftersales.
Client: Mercedes-Benz Duration: 18 months Retail | Mobility
Mercedes-Benz wanted to develop an after-sales service that would become a new industry standard and make service a reason to come back to Mercedes-Benz, time and time again.
Refreshing the view of customers and operations
Customers found it difficult to distinguish the service from Mercedes-Benz and cheaper independent garages and were increasingly choosing to go elsewhere. Despite the perception of Mercedes-Benz as a trusted brand, this wasn’t translating to their service experience and vehicle maintenance was largely seen as a necessary evil that customers didn’t trust. The Engine Service Design Team helped Mercedes-Benz build a comprehensive view of their customers and how the existing operation influenced the experience they received. Using this information, we developed a significantly improved model for service.
A more personalised service with greater predictability
Engine Service Design developed the first “digital-first” after-sales service, providing an unrivalled, personalised service experience for customers. This included being able to book and track your vehicle through the workshop, equipping staff with live customer information and providing more personalisation during the drop off, pick up and invoicing process. One of the biggest leaps, came from the use of historical data to develop fixed price service packages, removing the stress of unpredictable costs – previosuly a major frustration for customers.
Prototyping and piloting the service
We worked with the brand and a pilot dealership to detail the vehicle servicing experience from the ground up. The Engine Service Design team used a vacant dealership for full-sized prototyping of the experience, enabling us to work through the details and to communicate the ideas to the senior management. Once detailed, The Engine Team worked with three pilot dealerships to run a minimal viable version of the service for 6 months to measure its impact against the existing dealership services and experience. The results showed the service had a comprehensive impact.
“What started as a UK project has been rolled out to other countries and become a new standard for Mercedes-Benz dealerships globally.”
“The pilot site has consistently outperformed the national average since the launch of My Service”
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Identify the difference between what you do today and what your future customers don’t yet know they need. Reimagine the future.
Unlock new value by imagining, designing and piloting services and experiences your colleagues are inspired to deliver and your customers will love.
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How design-led companies get more of the right services to market faster
With this book, the authors show you how to instil an outside-in approach to strategy; moving away from a management approach that’s technology, marketing or resource optimization-led, to one that is customer-inspired and experimental with innovation.