Customer Loyalty in the Ecosystem & Subscription Age

As any non-iPhone user in the US well understands, being one of the lone #android users amongst your friends and family you are often treated as an outcast. Excluded from text threads because you are the green bubble and it “screws up the thread for everyone else.”

I have carried this burden with pride throughout my adult life as I’m a technology fan. I used to sell touchscreens to Android device suppliers (think everyone but 苹果 ). For this reason, I was not going to contribute to the competitors' bottom line, plus the Android capabilities exceeded what iOS did (and still do), and let’s be honest, the picture taking quality is far superior with Android devices over their iPhone equivalents to this day.?

This was one of my primary entry points into the 谷歌 #ecosystem. In my current professional life as an Alliance leader, I understand even more the value of embedding customers into an ecosystem and how that makes a company like Google very successful. Google makes a ton of different products that I’m a heavy user of: YouTube Premium, Google Photos, Chrome, YouTubeTV, Maps, YouTube Music, Calendar, Documents, Sheets, #gmail, Chat, etc. This list also consists of hardware devices that enable me to better access and use their software - Google Fiber, Fitbit (now part of Google) , Google #pixel phones.

Once inside of their suite of solutions, where everything just works better together, #loyalty to that brand naturally increases. This loyalty is paramount in the world we live in today with subscription business being the standard model. Google has to continue to earn my loyalty on a daily basis so that I continue to stay a paying subscriber.?

For this reason, I was distraught as a Google advocate, for how they handled my recent customer experience with a non-functioning Google Pixel 5a phone, my primary way to access their entire ecosystem I’m paying to use. When my phone froze on Saturday of the long Labor day weekend, after completely shutting down with no chance of restarting, I went online and attempted all the recommended troubleshooting tips and tricks. When none of those worked, I reached out to Google via chat. This experience so far wasn’t bad as the live representative attempted to help me real-time with additional troubleshooting efforts remotely. This is where it took a turn.?

When those efforts failed, Google’s only response was to ‘please visit a location of our partner repair company (ubreakifix)’. Of course, those stores aren’t always the most conveniently located, and aren’t open on Sundays. Late on Saturday of Labor Day Weekend, including Monday travels, I booked an appointment for Tuesday.?

Following a weekend with no form of communication, nor use of Maps on the drive to the airport, nor my boarding pass at the airport, nor calling a ride share car on my way home, I took the phone in on Tuesday. Ubreakifix did a fine job troubleshooting it themselves attempting a new battery, but that didn’t solve the issue. Instead, it was labeled as an ‘unrepairable phone’, which, still under warranty, meant a free replacement. I was hoping they would allow me to just walk into one of the local carriers and get a new device and be on with my life. But instead, Google asked me to ship them the phone, allow them to troubleshoot it themselves, and if they can’t resolve it, they will send me a new phone in the next ~10-days.?

I’ve now been without a phone for 4-days and they suggested I wait another 10 or more??

I pushed back and explained that the phone was critical to my daily job and needed a replacement ASAP (who isn’t a phone critical for these days?!). The best they were able to offer me was shipping me a refurbished replacement that I had to pay for upfront, and is still scheduled to arrive in the next 3-7 days. Only after I mail in the ‘unrepairable phone’ will they refund me. All in, this means I will be without a phone for at least a week in a best case scenario, notably not using many of the subscription services I’m still paying for because I’m choosing to be a green bubble.?

The alternative if I were an iOS customer would have been driving to an Apple Store on Sunday, where they would have troubleshot the device in-person at their store, deemed it unrepairable and handed me a phone I could have walked out the door with that day.?

In the current subscription world we live in, #customerexperience is paramount if you want your customers to be loyal to you and your ecosystem. Being penny wise and pound foolish will cost you in the long run.