Defining a vision for treatments experience

An experiential destination

As a worldwide leader in brick-and-mortar retail, Aesop faced a new challenge: expanding our treatment offerings while maintaining our signature approach. Our first task was to define the positioning of this enhanced service experience.

The core challenge was preserving the personalised and bespoke atmosphere of our existing single treatment room when expanding to a four-room space. This expansion led to a pivotal realisation: Aesop treatments needed to evolve beyond simple facials into fully experiential destinations.

Our strategy focused on engaging the five senses across three key pillars of service:

1. Access: Ensuring seamless booking and entry to our expanded facilities.
2. Care: Maintaining our high standards of personalised attention and care throughout the treatment facial
3. Experience: From room design to treatments menu, creating an immersive, multi-sensory journey unique to Aesop.

This approach allowed us to scale our treatment offerings while preserving the intimate, bespoke feel that defines the Aesop brand.

From idea to execution

After identifying the key dependencies and challenges, I developed a new vision for the customer journey. This vision was meticulously detailed in a comprehensive service blueprint, which served as a crucial alignment tool for all parties involved.

The blueprint outlined an experience that was aspirational and sophisticated, yet attainable. It provided a clear baseline for our teams to work from, ensuring everyone shared the same understanding of our goals.

Working closely with the strategy team, we fostered partnerships across internal departments. This collaborative approach facilitated open exchanges of ideas and feedback throughout the design and development process, ensuring that all perspectives were considered and integrated into the final product.

To bring our vision to life, we implemented a comprehensive service design strategy across several key areas:

1. Design and Experience: We developed a holistic service blueprint, from pre-visit considerations to post-treatment follow-up. This detailed blueprint identified critical touch-points for enhancement and outlined process and technology enablers, helping us uncover gaps and define future workstreams. Collaborating with Store Design and Facial Consultants, we translated this journey into multi-room treatment areas that offer privacy, tranquility, and a sensorial experience, all while embodying Aesop's aesthetic and values.
2. Technology Integration: Working closely with the Technology teams, we integrated advanced systems to support and enhance the customer experience. This included the procurement and implementation of a user-friendly booking platform, creating a seamless digital check-in process. These technological solutions not only improved operational efficiency but also allowed for greater customisation and convenience for our customers.
3. People and Process: To ensure consistent service delivery, we identified and implemented required training for facial consultants and customer service staff, focusing on product knowledge, treatment techniques, and luxury service standards. We established a robust feedback mechanism to gather post-treatment insights from customers, creating a continuous improvement loop for our service offering.
4. Marketing and Communication: Working with global marketing teams, we developed a communication strategy to effectively convey our enhanced treatment offerings across various channels, ensuring a cohesive brand experience from initial awareness through to post-treatment engagement.

This integrated approach ensured that all aspects of the service ecosystem were considered and optimised, creating a seamless and elevated customer experience that could be consistently replicated across multiple locations.

Overhauling the booking experience

Aesop’s previous treatments service were carried in single rooms across select locations. This meant, that appointments where often book months in advance, with very low cancellations. Given the Regent St store would now house 4 rooms, providing a streamline approach for customers and staff to management bookings became paramount. To bring this touchpoint to life, I partnered with technology BA’s to map the ideal booking flow and feature requirements to commence sourcing out of the box solutions. Once a platfrom was selected I over saw the design and customisation to make it feel like an Aesop service.

For Aesop, this project marked a new chapter in their legacy, demonstrating the value of innovation in the luxury space. It pushed the boundaries of what's possible in treatment experiences, setting new benchmarks in the industry.

As a designer, this project taught me invaluable lessons. I gained deep insights into the power of cross-functional collaboration in bringing complex service designs to life. I learned to balance brand heritage with innovation in luxury contexts, and how to effectively scale personalized experiences without losing their essence.

These insights have not only enhanced my approach to service design but also broadened my understanding of how thoughtful design can transform both businesses and customer experiences.

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