Service Catalog Best Practices

Overview

Knowing that a service exists is not enough. A customer who wants to request a service needs to know exactly how to do it — what information to provide, what approvals may be required, what will happen after submission, and what they will receive when it is complete. When these details are absent or unclear, customers hesitate, submit incomplete requests, or abandon the process entirely.

Best Practice

For every service in the catalog, provide clear and complete request instructions that guide the customer from the point of deciding they need the service to the point of receiving it. Keep the instructions concise and step-oriented — customers should be able to read them in under a minute and know exactly what to do.

Benefit(s)

Clear request instructions reduce the friction between a customer deciding they need a service and successfully submitting a request. Incomplete submissions drop because customers know what information is required upfront. Follow-up questions from fulfillment teams decrease because requests arrive with the information needed to act on them.