Google

A model and research study to help Google advertisers become more customer-centric.

Sectors: Other. Year: 2024

We were commissioned by Google to prove that it is worth investing in putting customers first.

We created a customer centricity model to define what makes an organisation customer centric. Using that model, we built a self-assessment tool that generates a personalised report. This provides (1) a customer centricity rating for organisations to compare themselves against others, and (2) a set of recommendations to become more customer centric.

We published a white-paper to show leaders the value of customer centricity. And we ran a campaign to promote our findings.

Outcomes

  • 284 businesses surveyed (as of July 2024)
  • 853 white paper downloads (as of July 2024)
  • Proof that customer centricity pays off: customer centric organisations see faster growth, have more satisfied employees and are quicker to change.

The problem to solve

Google had a hypothesis: Their advertisers create better experiences when they have a culture of putting customers first. That makes them commercially successful and faster moving, also supporting Google’s business model. Customers, businesses and Google all benefit from customer centricity.

But Google needed to prove this hypothesis. They also wanted to know what actually makes a company customer centric. Finally, they needed to convince their partners why they should change their culture.

What we did

As a Google user experience partner, we did four things to address their challenge:

1. We created a Customer Centricity Model

A Customer Centricity Model is a framework to assess maturity and guide improvements.

To create ours we interviewed leaders in product, UX and optimisation. We reviewed other maturity models. And, we drew upon our work growing capability in user-centred design for organisations including Nationwide, SSE, and Hargreaves Lansdown.

We found that – unlike other models – we needed to assess the whole organisation, not just a design team.

That meant considering a range of capabilities – from how teams decide what to work on, to how leaders share strategy. Our model organises those capabilities into five dimensions:

  • People. The skills, organisation structure and culture needed to deliver good customer experiences.
  • Process. The processes that teams use to create, and support, products and services.
  • Governance. The methods managers use to form strategy, assess performance and make prioritisation decisions.
  • Facilities. The tools, and the physical and digital spaces that teams have access to
  • Communication. How strategy is communicated, and how different teams and departments communicate with each other.

Read more about our Customer Centricity Model

The five dimensions of our Customer Centricity Model.

2. We made a self-assessment tool

We created a customer centricity self-assessment survey for organisations to answer questions across the five dimensions. For example, in the ‘Process’ dimension we ask questions like “What insight goes into the product roadmaps you create?”.

Our customer centricity self-assessment survey.

The answers given are used to create a customer centricity maturity rating, and a personalised report.

Boards are motivated to act by competitors. So, our report provides an overall level of maturity, and how they compare to others in their sector.

Customer centricity report, with sector benchmark.

Organisations can also see how they score for each dimension, highlighting areas for attention.

We knew that if we wanted to encourage investment, our report needed to be action focused. So it includes a set of personalised recommendations. For example “Make research findings more accessible to everyone in the organisation”.

Personalised recommendations within a customer centricity report.

3. We published a white paper

Next, we needed to make a compelling case for organisations to invest in customer centricity. We surveyed 110 businesses across Europe, and we looked at their financial and employee satisfaction data.

We found that companies that scored the highest in customer centricity also had higher annual revenue growth, higher employee satisfaction and could implement change faster. We published these findings in a peer-reviewed whitepaper.

Read more about our study

Our white paper: ‘The state of customer centricity’.

4. We ran a campaign to share our findings

Together with Google, we ran webinars to share our findings with other organisations. And we spoke at international conferences including Conversions@Google, CanUX, and UXCon Vienna. This encouraged even more businesses to take the self-assessment and download our white paper.

Watch Giles at UXCon Vienna

Giles speaking about customer centricity at UXCon Vienna.

Outcomes

We proved the Google hypothesis. Our study showed that highly-mature, customer-centric organisations had:

  • Faster growth: 9x revenue growth
  • More satisfied employees: 90% had highly satisfied employees
  • More speed: 65% could deliver changes in weeks or months, not years

The results really surpassed our expectations

Rupert Whitehead Strategic Partnerships Manager, Go to Market EMEA, Google

As of July 2024, 284 organisations have assessed their customer centricity maturity.

We’ve also spread the message that investing in customer centricity delivers business growth. We’ve had over 853 downloads of our white paper, and we’ve delivered 11 webinars on Customer Centricity with over 2,274 attendees.

Learn more about Google

Stu Charlton

Reach out to Stu Charlton

Strategic Director