Service evidence
The objects, spaces and messages that make a service visible, since the service itself is intangible, and that people use to judge its quality.
What problem it addresses
Explains why a good service can go unnoticed: if nothing shows it, the person doesn’t know it happened.
An example
A hotel room that gets cleaned while the guest is out.
The work is the same; only what the person can see of it changes.
Why it happens
A service can’t be touched or tried before using it.
The person looks for clues in what they can see: spaces, objects and messages.
Those clues shape their judgment of the service’s quality.
Applications in design
Use it like this
Review each step of the service: what does the person see that proves something happened?
Avoid
Piling on messages that add nothing: evidence should confirm something real.
Don’t fall for it
What happens backstage also needs a visible signal in the frontstage.
1992
What the research says
Mary Jo Bitner proposed a framework for studying how a service’s physical setting influences the behavior of customers and employees (Bitner, 1992).
Debated evidence. It is a conceptual framework that organizes research from several disciplines, not a single experiment.
Connections
Used in
Authors and works
- 1977
G. Lynn Shostack
Argued that services need tangible evidence to be perceived.
- 1992
Mary Jo Bitner
Proposed a framework for how a service's physical setting influences customers and employees.
Sources
Original sources
- Shostack, G. L. (1977). Breaking free from product marketing. Journal of Marketing, 41(2), 73–80. View source: Shostack, G. L. (1977)
- Bitner, M. J. (1992). Servicescapes: The impact of physical surroundings on customers and employees. Journal of Marketing, 56(2), 57–71. View source: Bitner, M. J. (1992)
Last reviewed: