A Framework for CX Transformation
Summary
In this session, you will learn about Verizon’s model for transforming and scaling our CX operations and design practices, and how establishing a set of Experience Principles has played a critical role in elevating and democratizing CX across the organization.
Key Insights
-
•
Verizon’s design group is positioned within marketing, influencing how design interacts with business units and leadership.
-
•
Differentiating CX from UX is crucial; CX encompasses all brand interactions, not just digital interfaces.
-
•
Design maturity spans from evangelism (raising awareness) to operations (embedding design in decision-making). Verizon sits between these stages.
-
•
A well-articulated purpose and guiding principles are foundational for elevating design impact within large organizations.
-
•
Experience principles should reflect company values, customer needs, and baseline industry best practices.
-
•
Using simple, familiar language for principles broadens adoption beyond design teams to non-design employees.
-
•
Leadership buy-in, especially from the CMO, can unexpectedly propel principles into company-wide brand strategy.
-
•
Piloting customer surveys that directly map experience principles to metrics enables tangible measurement of design impact.
-
•
Operationalizing principles requires creating practical tools like evaluation checklists and workshop activities for teams.
-
•
Cross-functional collaboration between design leadership, design ops, and other stakeholders is key to successful CX transformation.
Notable Quotes
"Customer experience refers to the collection of interactions someone has with the brand, agnostic of channel or touchpoint."
"Our design group is positioned under marketing, which informs who champions and promotes design within the company."
"Design maturity shifts focus from evangelism to operations as organizations strengthen their design impact."
"We realized we didn’t have a well-articulated purpose or guiding principles for the types of customer experiences we aspired to deliver."
"Experience principles are meant to align business goals with customer needs for everyone, not just designers."
"Using language that’s already common within the company helps principles feel natural and easy to adopt."
"Our CMO incorporated our experience principles into the brand strategy, which was a huge and unexpected boost."
"We’re piloting surveys that ask customers how honest, simple, or reliable their experience was, then turn that into a score."
"Principles at this level act like a company mission that product teams can translate into their own more specific design principles."
"Creating experience principles helped democratize design decision-making across teams inside and outside the design group."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"An accessible product is not only the right thing to do, it’s also good for business."
Erin WeigelReal-world lessons to improve your conversion rates
June 26, 2024
"When you ask a question, try to ask one at a time so the model doesn't get lost."
Daniel KorczynskiWhy AI Is Bad at Research (and how to make it actually useful)
March 10, 2026
"Design is really a team sport, and we are investing in specialists to help with design systems, operations, research, and content strategy."
Kim LenoxLeading Distributed Global Teams
May 20, 2019
"We don’t have to restrict ourselves to playing the canary in the coal mine. We can design the harm out of our products before they’ve even taken flight."
Brendan JarvisFraming Tomorrow by Questioning Today
June 8, 2022
"Any change we make in healthcare can mean the difference between life and death, so timing is everything."
Carol MassaDesigning Health: Integrating Service Design, Technology, and Strategy to Transform Patient and Clinician Experiences
December 3, 2024
"Only 33% of businesses conduct research throughout the whole product lifecycle to inform product and business decisions."
Dr Chloe SharpUsing Evidence and Collaboration for Setting and Defending Priorities
November 29, 2023
"Civic action as proof of concept to get government moving, to get the wheels turning was really interesting."
Sarah Auslander Betsy Ramaccia Gordon RossInsights Panel
November 18, 2022
"My job was to find out why. Why was he frowning? Why was he sighing?"
Susan Simon-DanielsWar Stories LIVE! Susan Simon-Daniels
March 30, 2020
"Sharing your automation scripts and articles can get four times more attention than traditional case studies."
Farid SabitovAutomatization for Large Enterprise Teams
January 8, 2024
