In a recent LinkedIn Live broadcast, I was excited to be joined by Tiffany Snowden, Executive Coach and Head of Content Product Strategy at Google, and Matt Hartley, Head of Pixel Customer Care at Google, who shared their insights on the successful initiatives that led to Google being named the overall winner at the 2024 U.S. CX Awards.
The Pixel Support Hub
The centerpiece of Google’s award-winning submission was the Pixel Support Hub. Hartley explained that as Google entered the mobile phone market, it recognized the need to assist new users with onboarding and support. "We saw an opportunity for how we could assist them to get started with Pixel," he said. The Hub was created to streamline this experience by providing a single landing page for all user support needs, reducing product remorse returns, and ensuring seamless customer experiences.
Snowden added that a critical metric for the team was reducing user effort during the first 30 days of owning a Pixel phone. "We wanted to make sure that we were reducing the amount of effort it took in regards to them onboarding to the product," she said. The project involved creating a Pixel simulator to aid in customer understanding of phone features pre-purchase, and creating over 480 content assets across 17 languages to support new global customers.
Cross-Functional Collaboration and Leadership Alignment
Both Snowden and Hartley highlighted the importance of cross-functional collaboration in the project's success. Hartley emphasized the need for clear communication and alignment among various teams, including analytics, product, legal, marketing, and packaging. "We had some more in-depth planning sessions, sort of like war room style, to get everyone aligned and shooting off on the right trajectory before we would get started," he explained.
Snowden also mentioned the value of in-person collaboration. "There's a lot of value in in-person collaboration. And so that helped us think through some of our outlines and frameworks to define some of our user journeys and the overall intent," she said.
Hartley emphasized the importance of framing opportunities through the user's perspective and aligning around common goals tied to product outcomes. "It’s so important to have some defined success criteria so that we know and can show this is what we think we'll be able to do. This is where we are going," he said.
Implementation and Continuous Improvement
The implementation phase involved extensive content auditing, user feedback analysis, and A/B testing to ensure the content was effective. Snowden described the iterative approach Google took: "We have this term internally that we use a lot in terms of ‘launch and iterate.’ So we did a lot of that when it came to some of the content testing."
The Pixel simulator, a tool allowing users to experience Pixel features even before owning the device, played a crucial role in enhancing the user experience. "We find that it allows folks to not have to go into the store. They can utilize it in the comfort of their home," Snowden noted, highlighting its accessibility and convenience.
Google's Motivation for Award Submission
Snowden elaborated on why Google decided to submit their case for award consideration. "We wanted to make sure that we were contributing to the CX community. Historically, we have not made any entrances into these awards. Sometimes tech companies tend to be a little bit more insular and don't share," she explained. By participating, Google aimed to share their best practices and promote their commitment to customer experience as a preferred business discipline that drives better outcomes for customers, employees, and the bottom-line. "We wanted to make sure that there was awareness of the good work that Google is doing," she added.
Advice for CX Professionals
Towards the end of the session, Snowden and Hartley offered advice to other CX professionals. Snowden stressed the importance of making projects fun and engaging, which she believes contributes to overall success.
Hartley echoed this sentiment, adding the value of collaboration and continuous improvement. "There's this culture of continuous improvement, I think giving everyone an equal voice so that you're not just getting top down, but bottom up. Input is very important," he said.
Details on Awards International's Upcoming International CX Awards
The session also featured Vuk Vukanovic from Awards International, who shared insights about the value of award recognition and details on the upcoming International CX Awards. Vukanovic highlighted the rigorous judging criteria and the importance of evidence in demonstrating CX excellence. "Google clearly demonstrated how improvements in CX metrics such as customer satisfaction score and customer effort score impact the organization's financial outcomes," he noted.
He also emphasized the benefits of participating in such awards, including internal team motivation, external validation, and networking opportunities. "It's really good to reward your team to increase employee motivation and it's also good for team building," he said.
The International CX Awards will be held in London, with the final deadline for submissions on August 23 and the award ceremony scheduled for November 21. Interested participants can learn more and register on the International CX Awards website.
Catch the full-broadcast replay below:
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