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 under marketing, informing their decision-making and advocacy dynamics.
-
•
Design maturity influences how design teams can impact beyond their own group, involving cross-functional teams such as policy and finance.
-
•
Verizon’s CX transformation framework organizes design capabilities under focus areas like people and portfolio to systematically manage impact.
-
•
Creating experience principles that are broad and channel-agnostic enables adoption across diverse teams beyond designers.
-
•
Experience principles articulate how experiences feel and behave, complementing traditional visual branding guidelines.
-
•
Leadership buy-in, especially from the CMO, was critical and happened organically, amplifying company-wide visibility of the principles.
-
•
Language choice in principles is crucial; using familiar company terms aids in adoption and reduces alienation of non-design teams.
-
•
Experience principles can be linked to measurable KPIs, elevating design impact to the same level as business goals.
-
•
The process of adopting and operationalizing experience principles is ongoing and requires continuous practice, feedback, and iteration.
-
•
Balancing succinctness and meaningful detail in principles is key; one-word attributes resonated better at Verizon’s high organizational altitude.
Notable Quotes
"Customer experience or CX refers to the holistic picture of the customer relationship, beyond just digital UX."
"Verizon’s design group makes up about one third of our marketing employees, which is small for a large corporation."
"Design maturity dictates the amount of influence or impact design has even outside of the design group."
"Experience principles needed to be channel agnostic and team agnostic to speak to a broad company audience."
"Language, language, language — matching familiar terms within the company was the most important factor in adoption."
"Meaningful experiences are useful, simple, and reliable; human experiences are personal, caring, and supportive; responsible experiences are honest, ethical, and sustainable."
"Our CMO was creating a brand strategy at the same time, which amplified and elevated our experience principles unexpectedly."
"Teams are starting to have interesting conversations: is this honest? Is this not honest? That alone is a huge deal."
"Creating the principles took about two to three months, but adoption is ongoing and will take a year or more."
"Experience principles are a critical step in democratizing design and equipping teams to make customer-centric decisions."
Dig deeper—ask the Rosenbot:
More Videos
"UX research needed to be a team sport involving all disciplines rather than the few learning on behalf of the many."
Monty HammontreeThe Future of UX Research (Videoconference)
December 3, 2020
"You have to engage every layer of the system—from local communities to NGOs and government power structures—to create change."
Liz EbengoThe Burden on Children: The Cost of Insufficient Post-Conflict Services and Pathways Forward
December 4, 2024
"I tell people to find inspiration from existing designs and bring those into your wireframes to look like real products."
Billy CarlsonTips to Utilize Wireframes to Tell an Effective Product Story
June 6, 2023
"The better question is who are we excluding when we talk about inclusive design."
Saara Kamppari-MillerInclusive Design is DesignOps
September 29, 2021
"Communication is mundane but key: sending an email full of mistakes to an executive changes their entire impression of you."
Ian SwinsonDesigning and Driving UX Careers
June 8, 2016
"Amy Tibido used to call what I was doing dusting the content — tidying words without solving the underlying problem."
Jonathon ColmanHow to Maximize the Impact of Content Design
January 8, 2024
"A wave is really just a sprint but defined by the outcome we want to achieve, not just a time frame."
Maria SkaadenContinuous Design: One eye on the horizon and the other on the next wave
November 8, 2018
"Python is great for writing scrapers, and these large language models are great for writing Python."
Bryce Benton[Demo] AI-powered UX enhancement: Aligning GitHub documentation with USWDS at Austin Public Library
June 4, 2024
"You have to apply multiple perspectives to the data so you don’t oversimplify or misinterpret the patterns."
Marc FonteijnFirst Insights from the 2025 Service Design Salary(+) Report
December 4, 2024
