Method: Customer Value Creation Planning

This activity is a natural follow on from the Value Exchange Activity, particularly after creating a collection of Customer Value Exchange Ledgers.

A. Introduction

It’s not enough to know what’s valuable. Something becomes truly valuable when it creates and delivers value to a person. So having discovered what is valuable to customers, the next step is making plans to create or generate that value.

In creating valye, you’ll want to think about What specific actions to take When, and Who will be involved in those actions. And to decide suitable measures for ‘how much’ value will be sufficient for the customer need or desire. These steps turns a conversation about value, from something abstract to something tangible. (Note: The tangibleness of any Value Element will be different to each person doing the translating.)

Working through these three questions, develop usable knowledge for Customer value creation.

1. What is Value? Identify Customers’ Value Elements with Value Exchange Activity
2. How is Value created and captured? Think about ways to create or capture that value for Customers.
3. How is Value measured? Define ways to know and measure that you are achieving the level/type of value sought.

B. Method

Determine what is value
1. Look at all Customer Value Exchange Ledgers you produced. Look for patterns and connections across the range of Value Elements you discerned. Note your insights and reactions.

2. Determine a useful summary set of Value Elements.

3. Expand the Value Element from a single phrase, to a meaningful sentence. For example, “Peace of Mind” becomes “I can relax, without anxiety, that things will be taken care of appropriately”.

4. Create a table with three columns correspond to the three aspects in the life-cycle diagram above:

a. Value to create
b. How Value is created or captured
c. How I will measure the minimum Value I seek

5. Put your words from 2 and 3 above in the first column.

Define how customers want that value created
6. For each Value Element, creatively explore different ways to create that value.
As much as possible talk directly with customers to explore with them the ways they’d like to get the value created. Many co-design methods can be used here for collaborative approaches of defining ways that value can be created.

Note: Consider the value Customers want to put IN – not just get OUT.

7. Think about what specific actions to take when; and who will be involved in those actions. This thinking can help you shape the products and services you offer your Customers. (Consider using the Value Proposition Canvas to align value to proposed Products and Services.)

8. Put the ways you desired Value to be created in the second column with enough information that your audience understands what you mean.

Define how customers prefer that value to be measured 
9. For each Value Element, define a set of measures using numbers so it’s possible to count, sum and calculate percentage achieved.

Ask Customers (or a representative group) to share their sense of How much value they want created/generated. If you can let them define the measures before you do – you don’t want to guide them into thinking like you, because this exercise is about them.

10. Put these measures in the third column of your table.

11. Now that you have defined value creation, use this knowledge for a meaningful discussion with other parties involved in any customer service development or delivery work.

12. Keep your planning output handy, for periodical monitoring and review about whether value is being created as expected and how much.

C. Example of planning output

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