Good experience design makes for a happy customer

I had a great reminder this weekend that a well-designed end-to-end product experience builds loyalty and increases CSAT. I woke up Saturday morning to find my Nest thermostat wasn't working. Another family member had set it up so I wasn't all that familiar with the UI or the app, but I jumped right in and saw on the app that it was no longer connecting to my WIFI. The app easily led me to the relevant Support article.

The article had simple to follow instructions. I also found that the device UI was great - an easy to learn navigation and selection construct. Unfortunately, after following the troubleshooting steps, it still wouldn't connect. The article said if I found myself in this situation to contact Google. Of course at this point, I figured this was how I would be spending my entire morning. Instead, I found myself delighted by the well-crafted support flow.

From my app, I selected to receive a call back which supposedly would take under 5 minutes. I filled out a few fields and hit the "call me" button. Almost instantly, I received a call and was talking to a very nice man. He had clearly received the information I had submitted, already knew what my problem was and what I had done to self serve, and was ready to help with whatever was next.

To start, he needed the serial number so I pulled off my Nest and flipped it over to read off the number. This is the only area of improvement I encountered; the numbers were very tiny and in a gray font. I've got good eyesight and found them nearly impossible to see in a well lit hallway. After I muddled my way through deciphering zeros from the letter O or D, I was told my device was under warranty and since I had tried all of the things to reconnect, a new device would be sent to me. I confirmed my email address and said goodbye to the nice man. After the 5 minute support call, I stayed on the line to do the 3 question survey to give them praise. I never do the surveys. 

By the time I'd hung up, an email arrived in my Inbox with further instructions. All I had to do was click a box to confirm my mailing address and some details about a credit card hold and voila, new Nest was on its way.

We've all dealt with tech issues and the challenges of resolving them. As an experience designer, I'm particularly on the lookout for points of friction but this experience was fantastic and nearly friction free (don't forget those light gray numbers). The handoffs between touches were perfect - I didn't have to repeat myself or be transferred to different support staff. Every interface I dealt with was well designed and worked as expected. In the end, I wasn't annoyed that my thermostat failed, I was singing the praises of Google Nest and how well they took care of me as a customer. Well done, Google Nest!

#experiencedesign #servicedesign #customerexperience #customersupport #userexperience #GoogleNest Google