Since we launched Google Workspace last October, we’ve heard from many of our customers—from global enterprises to small businesses—about the new ways they’re connecting, creating, and collaborating, often across living rooms, time zones, and continents. This response propels us on our mission to build for the future with a solution that’s flexible, helpful, and inspires innovation. We’re proud to support the millions of customers and billions of end-users who trust Google Workspace to bring their own future visions to life. 

Today, we’re excited to announce new innovations in Google Workspace that will further empower all the ways work happens—and deepen its impact—in an ever-changing world. These updates include a frontline worker solution, a set of features to help people find more time and focus, and powerful tools for strengthening collaboration.

Learning from our own transformation

At Google, like many of the organizations we support, we’ve been in a state of change, experimentation, and transformation this past year, as we reimagine what work will look like in the post-pandemic future. According to a Gartner survey, 90% of respondents plan to allow employees to work remotely at least part of the time even after the COVID-19 vaccine is widely adopted. This hybrid blend of at-home and in-office work will become the norm for many businesses. 

As a company, we’ve been focused on how we can make this new hybrid work model support collaboration and innovation, and enhance inclusion and wellbeing for Google employees. We’re especially interested in what we call collaboration equity, or the ability to contribute equally, regardless of location, role, experience level, language, and device preference. We’ve been experimenting with ways to bridge the gap between the in-person and the “somewhere else” by pushing our technology and the physical spaces of our campuses to be more inclusive. We’re looking for ways to maximize participation everywhere we can—from personal desk space to conference rooms to group collaboration areas.

Google Workspace is at the nexus of Google’s own transformation. After all, Google Workspace was built in the cloud to power flexible, real-time, anywhere creation and equitable collaboration. Whether it’s with our Google Meet Series One hardware kits that enable safe, touch-free meetings and use Google AI to create immersive and inclusive experiences for all. Or the ways we help people focus their time and attention with intelligent, proactive suggestions that thoughtfully connect distributed content, people, and conversations. Or the features that promote inclusion, like live captions in multiple languages, so that everyone can participate effectively in video meetings. 

It’s all part of Google Workspace’s mission to enable a hybrid work experience that enhances collaboration, strengthens human connection, and increases wellbeing for people—wherever they are and however they work.

And we’re inspired to hear how Google Workspace has been at the center of our customers’ evolving work plans, helping to forge human connection during a time of change for businesses like Sony Pictures Imageworks and Airbus. 

“As we look to the next chapter in the future of work, Google Workspace will continue to keep us connected, wherever we are. Google Meet helps us build trust and relationships, not only within the studio, but with a worldwide network of talent. And Chat is our go-to for sharing ideas and feedback during production meetings in real-time. Google Workspace is how we work together to create together!” 
– Mike Ford, VP, Software Development and Systems Engineering at Sony Pictures Imageworks 

“Airbus has spent the past year thinking about what it actually means to return to work and we’re looking to support greater flexibility with Google Workspace in a leading role. In 2020, we held 5.6M Google Meet sessions and we now have more than 70,000 shared Drives where people collaborate. Google Workspace has changed the way people work at Airbus and that will continue as the solution empowers the hybrid work reality.” 
– Andrew Plunkett, Airbus Vice President Digital Workplace

New ways to help businesses make an impact in changing times

Today, we’re announcing new tools and features to help people make the most of their time, collaborate equally, and deliver more impact. We’re also announcing new security tools with Assured Controls and expanded Data Regions coverage. Assured Controls will allow customers to make decisions about how to control provider access, while expanded Data Regions coverage helps customers choose where their data is geographically located at rest.

Enabling collaboration equity on the frontlines
From nurses to grocery store associates to warehouse employees, essential frontline workers have played a crucial and often heroic role during the pandemic. Despite their importance, those on the frontlines seldom have access to the same collaboration and communication tools that keep knowledge workers informed and connected. As a result, frontline workers often resort to their own personal devices and apps to get the information they need, when they need it. 

In the coming weeks, we’ll be launching Google Workspace Frontline with these challenges in mind. This will open up communication and collaboration channels between frontline workers and corporate teams in a way that’s safe and secure. Workspace Frontline is a custom solution that includes communication and collaboration apps like Gmail, Chat, Docs, Drive, and more, as well as business-grade support and security features like advanced endpoint management that help keep a company’s data secure. 

We’ve also made it easier for business teams to build custom AppSheet apps directly from Google Sheets and Drive, so that frontline workers can digitize and streamline their work, whether it’s collecting data in the field, reporting safety risks, or managing customer requests. By closing the gap between the frontline and the corporate team, we’re giving frontline workers secure access, on any device, to the information they need to be at their best.

Managing time and attention 
To help people save valuable time, we’re excited to share that using Google Workspace with Google Assistant is now generally available. You can ask Google what’s next on your work calendar, to quickly join meetings, or to send a message. Google Assistant is currently available for Google Workspace on supported mobile devices and is in beta for smart speakers and Smart Displays, like Nest Hub Max. Google Workspace customers can learn how to enable this feature for their users here.

Elsewhere on the time management front, a key trend we’re seeing in today’s workforce is the juggling of professional and personal responsibilities, with many employees now working in “sprints,” like two- to four-hour blocks of time instead of the traditional workday. As more businesses embrace a flexible, hybrid model, we expect this trend to continue, and we’ll all need tools to help us achieve better work-life balance and make the best use of our time.

In the coming weeks, we’re releasing an integrated set of features in Google Workspace that help people easily share their work hours and location, while also finding more time to focus on what matters most. Features like segmentable working hours, recurring out-of-office entries, and location indicators let employees share their availability and location with their colleagues. Meanwhile, a new event type—Focus Time—lets people minimize distractions by limiting notifications during these event windows. All these availability and location indicators will show up seamlessly across Google Workspace, as teams engage with Calendar, Meet, Chat, and Gmail. We’ll also be delivering Time Insights to Google Workspace users (visible to the employee only, not their manager), so that employees can assess how they’re spending their time against their own priorities.

Strengthening collaboration equity for all
Ever since we pioneered real-time document editing fifteen years ago, collaboration has been a cornerstone for Google Workspace. In the coming months, we’ll make collaboration more equitable and accessible in a number of ways. First, we’re creating second-screen experiences in Google Meet for those using a mix of devices to host their meetings, like Google Meet hardware for those in conference rooms and Nest Hub Max for those at home. With new second-screen capabilities, people can present and fully participate in the Google Meet experience, including with chat, polls, and Q&As, from any device, no matter where they are.

And specifically for those joining meetings from their mobile devices, we’re making it easier to have a bigger impact on a smaller screen. We’re rolling out mobile tile view so you can see more people at once, while split-screen and picture-in-picture support on Meet mobile will help you seamlessly chat or browse your Gmail without missing the visual thread of a meeting. Mobile support for background replace, Q&A, and polls will also help you stay productive and connected on the go.

Live streams will also become more powerful and inclusive in Google Workspace with the addition of Q&A, polls, and live captions (in English, Spanish, German, Portuguese, and French). And because we recognize how organizations are connecting across different groups of people, we’re also enabling live streaming across multiple Google Workspace domains within the same organization. 

Finally, to give teams even more ways to connect and collaborate, we’re adding Chat, Jamboard, and Calendar to Google Workspace Essentials.

Building the future of work—together
If there’s a mantra that captures the last year of work, it might be “flexibility in the face of change.” It’s how our customers and our own employees have bridged the physical distances to continue making an impact in a rapidly changing world. As work continues to evolve for all of us, Google Workspace is committed to providing a solution that’s flexible, helpful, and that fuels innovation. We’re also committed to enabling collaboration equity wherever and however we can. At its core, this has been our mission for more than a decade and we’re excited to partner with our customers and users to continue bringing it to life.

It’s been quite a year. In general, and for work. Just the other day, I read a new study from Pew Research that shows 71% of people are currently working from home, and 50% of employees say they want to continue working from home at least three days a week. That’s more than half of people wanting to be remote over half the time!

As we’ve been navigating our own return to the office here at Google, one thing has become more clear than ever: the browser is no longer just a portal to the internet—it’s one of the most critical components of our tech stack. And we know we’re not alone in this. As our organization, and other organizations of all sizes, transition to a more hybrid way of working, it’s absolutely key to have a modern browser that’s built to support both admins and end users. 

The good news is, Chrome is made for this! Literally. It’s purpose-built for flexible work—and as the future unfolds and businesses’ needs continue to evolve, we’re committed to making sure our browser is even easier to manage, even more secure, and even more helpful, so all of us can be more productive. 

What’s next for Chrome

As we design and build Chrome to be a stronger asset for the enterprise, we are focused on these key areas:

1. Simple management
2. Modernized security 
3. Productivity enhancements 
4. Helpful integrations 

We’ve already made great strides in all four areas, with more exciting releases to come soon. Let’s take a closer look at what’s new and available right now, what to look forward to, and how each feature is equipping Chrome browser-based businesses (and their users) for what’s next.

When it comes to simple management there have been a lot of exciting developments—Chrome Browser Cloud Management is built for this new hybrid reality, giving IT teams the advantage of powerful and flexible management capabilities both in the cloud and on premises, so they always have the visibility and insights they need to make more informed decisions, quickly. 

With recent new releases admins can:

1. Track all versions of Chrome from one place. Our new daily version report allows IT teams to see all versions, including minor versions, in a single report to support compliance and make it easier to see and manage their entire deployment.
2. Report on apps and extensions across the organization. A new Apps & Usage report provides helpful visibility into all installed extensions, Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), Chrome apps, and Android apps. You can see versions and permissions for each individual app and even force install or block, right from the report. 
3. Remotely troubleshoot and clear browser data. This is one of my favorites because not only is it incredibly helpful, it was created from customer requests! Admins (and a lot of service desk employees) told us how useful it would be if they could clear an end user’s browsing data, cookies, and cache remotely – and our team made it happen.
4. Extension management improvements. Coming this summer: extension request workflow will empower admins to change the behavior of Chrome Web Store so that end users request extensions and admins then approve or deny the installations from a centralized list in Admin Console. Another new release is extension details, where admins can now find out exactly what extensions are installed where, who makes them, what resources they’re using, and all other extension-related details – also right from the Admin console.  

Of all of our priorities, modernized security often feels most urgent. In a recent security report, 65% of US and UK employees said they received a phishing email during the remote working period initiated by COVID-19.  Further, a study by the Ponemon Institute found that 41% of responding organizations had dealt with an attack involving the compromise of employees’ passwords, costing an average of $267,408 per organization. Between the regular emergence of new threats and the increase in targeted mobile attacks, our new ways of working definitely demand a fresh approach to security. 

• BeyondCorp Enterprise, our new modern zero trust solution, enables secure access to critical apps and services with integrated threat and data protection, all delivered through Chrome browser, was introduced in January 2021. Its agentless approach simplifies the admin and end-user experience. We also just launched BeyondCorp Enterprise protected profiles to help organizations protect their extended workforce, including contractors, frontline workers, and anyone working from home who needs to securely access corporate resources from shared or unmanaged devices. 

To learn more about Google’s approach to modernizing security, tune into the Wall Street Journal’s Advancing Security in the New Business Environment event tomorrow from 10:35 am – 10:55 am EST, with very own Parisa Tabriz (Head of Chrome Engineering, Product Management and UX) and Phil Venables (CISO of Google Cloud). 

When it comes to productivity enhancements, I’m proud to share that we’re consistently releasing features that support users no matter where they’re working. Now that the browser is where so much of our day-to-day work happens, it’s more important than ever before to build in new ways to save time and work together while apart. 

Recently released productivity-boosting features include:

1. A faster way to take action right from the address bar. Chrome Actions is a feature we launched last year,  where you can simply type in commands such as “clear browsing data ” or “open incognito window”and get down to business in just a few clicks. We’re excited to announce new Chrome Actions are now available through our beta channel! Try one of these actions to check it out: “ Run Chrome safety check,” “Create doc,” and “Manage Google Account.”
2. Link directly to highlighted text. If you like to share snippets and quotes from articles or websites with your colleagues, you’re in luck. Now, instead of sharing the URL link from the address bar, you can take advantage of the new “link to highlight” feature in Chrome to point to the specific content. Simply choose the content you want to share, right click, select “Copy link to highlight,” and then send the link – to the exact part of the page you want people to see. It’s available for desktop and Android now, and coming soon for iOS. 
3. Decreased Chrome CPU usage. This means more battery life, less heat coming off of your device, and less fan noise. 🎉 🙌🏻
4. And there’s more! To explore additional productivity features, check out this blog post. 

Our final area of focus is all about giving Chrome customers more choice with helpful integrations. We’re actively partnering with best-of-breed organizations to bring integrations —and your favorite tools— into Chrome, to create a more seamless and productive experience across the board. Stay tuned on this as we’ll have more to share later this year. In the meantime, hear from our Modern Computing Alliance partners, such as Box, HP, RingCentral, Okta and VMware, as they explore many of the most important questions about returning to the office.

We’re constantly thinking about how we can help people and organizations adapt and thrive as they begin to return to the office. See below for three events from the team that cover how to make the transition to hybrid easier for your team, be sure to check them out.

Modernizing Your Approach to Security session at the Wall Street Journal’s Advancing Security in the New Business Environment event

• Tomorrow June 2, 2021
• 10:35 – 10:55 AM EST
• Register here

Chrome Insider: Browser tips & tricks for IT admins

• June 10, 2021
• 10:00 AM  – 11:15 PT
• Register here

Editor’s note: Today’s guest post comes from Indian social media platform ShareChat. Here’s the story of how they improved performance, app development, and analytics for serving regional content to millions of users using Google Cloud. 

How do you create a social network when your country has 22 major official languages and countless active regional dialects? At ShareChat, we serve more than 160 million monthly active users who share and view videos, images, GIFs, songs, and more in 15 different Indian languages. We also launched a short video platform in 2020, Moj, which already supports over 80 million monthly active users. 

Connecting with people in the language they understand

As mobile data and smartphones have become more affordable in India, we noticed a large new segment of people, many in rural areas, being welcomed onto the internet. However, many of them didn’t speak English, and when it comes to accessing content and information—language plays a significant role. Instead of joining other social media sites where English reigned supreme, new internet users chose to join language or dialect-specific Whatsapp groups where they felt more comfortable instead.

So, we set out to build a platform where people can share their opinions, document their lives, and make new friends, all in their native language. ShareChat simplifies content and people discovery by using a personalized content newsfeed to deliver language-specific content to the right audience.

Given the high-intensity data and high volume of content and traffic, we rely heavily on IT infrastructure. On top of that, a large number of our users rely on 2G networks to post, like, view, or follow each other. Our platform needs to deliver great experiences to people who are spread out across the country and different networks without any reduction in performance.

The right cloud partner to support future growth

ShareChat was born in the cloud—we already knew how to scale systems to serve a large customer base with our existing cloud provider. But like many companies, we struggled with over-provisioning compute and storage to accommodate unpredictable traffic and avoid running out of storage. With demand rising for local language content and an increase in online interactions in response to the COVID-19 crisis, we realized that we would need a more efficient way to scale dynamically and allocate resources as needed.

Google Cloud was a natural choice for us. We wanted to partner with a technology-first company that would make it easy (and cost-effective) to manage a strong technology portfolio that would allow us to build whatever we wanted. Google is at the forefront of technology innovation and provided everything we needed to build, run, and manage our applications (including creating an efficient DevOps pipeline to fix and release new features quickly). 

We had a few issues in mind at the start of discussions with the Google Cloud team, but over time, as we got information and support from them, we realized that these were the partners we wanted in our corner when it came time to tackle our most challenging problems. In the end, we decided to take our entire infrastructure to Google Cloud.

To support millions of users, we deploy and scale using Google Kubernetes Engine. While we analyze our data using a combination of managed data cloud services, such as Pub/Sub for data pipelines, BigQuery for analytics, Cloud Spanner for real-time app serving workloads, and Cloud Bigtable for less-indexed databases. We also rely on Cloud CDN to help us distribute high-quality and reliable content delivery at low latency to our users. 

We now use just half the total core consumption of our legacy environment to run ShareChat’s existing workloads.

Google Cloud delivers better outcomes at every level 

By moving to Google Cloud, we saw major benefits in several key areas: 

Zero-downtime migration for users

At the time of migration, we had over 70 terabytes of data, consisting of 220 tables—some of which were up to 14 terabytes with nearly 50 billion rows. Due to our data’s interdependencies, moving services over one at a time wasn’t an option for us. 

Even though we were migrating such large volumes of data, we didn’t want to impact any of our customers. Latency spikes for out-of-sync data might affect message delivery. For instance, if a message or notification was delayed, we didn’t want to risk a bad user experience causing someone to abandon ShareChat. 

To prepare for the move, we ran a proof-of-concept cluster for over four months to test database performance in a real-world scenario for handling more than a million queries per second. Using an open-source API gateway, we replicated our legacy data environment into Google Cloud for performance testing and capacity analysis. As soon as we were confident Google Cloud could handle the same traffic as our previous cloud environment, we were ready to execute.

Using wrappers, we were able to migrate without having to change anything in our existing application code. The entire migration of 60 million users to Google Cloud took five hours—without any data loss or downtime. Today, ShareChat has grown to 160 million users, and Google Cloud continues to give us the support we need.

Scaling globally to meet unexpected demand

We rely on real-time data to drive everything on ShareChat by tracking everything that goes on in our app—from messages and new groups to content people like or who they follow. Our users create more than a million posts per day, so it’s critical that our systems can process massive amounts of data efficiently. 

We chose to migrate to Spanner for its global consistency and secondary index. Unlike our legacy NoSQL database, we could scale without having to rethink existing tables or schema definitions and keep our data systems in sync across multiple locations. It’s also cost-effective for us—moving over 120 tables with 17 indexes into Cloud Spanner reduced our costs by 30%.

Spanner also replicates data seamlessly in multiple locations in real time, enabling us to retrieve documents if one region fails. For instance, when our traffic unexpectedly grew by 500% over just a few days, we were able to scale horizontally with zero lines of code change. We were also launching our Moj video app simultaneously, and we were able to move it to another region without a single issue. 

Simplifying development and deployment

On average, we experience about 80,000 requests per second (RPS) –nearly 7 billion RPS per day. That means daily push notifications sent out to the entire user base about daily trending topics can often result in a spike of 130,000 RPS in just a few seconds. 

Instead of over-provisioning, Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) enables us to pre-scale for traffic spikes around scheduled events, such as holidays like Diwali, when millions of Indians send each other greetings. 

Migrating to GKE has also enabled us to adopt more agile ways of work, such as automating deployment and saving time with writing scripts. Even though we were already using container-based solutions, they lacked transparency and coverage across the entire deployment funnel. 

Kubernetes features, such as sidecar proxy, allows us to attach peripheral tasks like logging into the application without requiring us to make code changes. Kubernetes upgrades are managed by default, so we don’t have to worry about maintenance and stay focused on more valuable work. Clusters and nodes automatically upgrade to run the latest version, minimizing security risks and ensuring we always have access to the latest features.

Low latency and real-time ML predictions

Even though many of our users may be accessing ShareChat outside of metropolitan areas, it doesn’t mean they’re more patient if the app loads slowly or their messages are delayed. We strive to deliver a high-performance experience, regardless of where our users are. 

We use Cloud CDN to cache data in five Google Cloud Point of Presence (PoP) locations at the edge in India, allowing us to bring content as close as possible to people and speeding up load time. Since moving to Cloud CDN, our cache hit ratio has improved from 90% to 98.5%—meaning our cache can handle 98.5% of content requests. 

As we expand globally, we’d like to use machine learning to reach new people with content in different languages. We want to build new algorithms to process real-time datasets in regional languages and accurately predict what people want to see. Google Cloud gives us an infrastructure optimized to handle compute-intensive workloads that will be useful to us both now—and in the future.  

The confidence to build the best platform

Our current system now performs better than before we migrated, but we are continuously building new features on top of it. Google’s data cloud has provided us with an elegant ecosystem of services that allows us to build whatever we want, more easily and faster than ever before. 

Perhaps the biggest advantage of partnering with Google Cloud has been the connection we have with the engineers at Google. If we’re working to solve a specific problem statement and find a specific solution in a library or a piece of code, we have the ability to immediately connect with the team responsible for it. 

As a result, we have experienced a massive boost in our confidence. We know that we can build a really good system because we not only have a good process in place to solve problems—we have the right support behind us.

This April, Gmail will be 18 years old. That’s a big milestone, given that email as a medium just turned 50.

Launched in 2004—with its 1 GB free storage, conversation based grouping, and enhanced search capabilities—Gmail quickly became one of the most popular email services in the world.

What started off as Paul Buchheit’s side project is now part of Google Workspace, a solution that’s used by over 3 billion users. 

Yet despite this growth and Gmail’s long history, the product continues to find new ways to delight its users with great experiences, new features, and constant innovation.  

How does the product team do it? 

To help us unpack this question, I interviewed Matthew Izatt, Product Lead for Gmail.

Matthew has been building and growing Gmail for the last 10+ years. He started off in mobile where he built the Android and iOS apps for Gmail, and eventually he became the lead product owner for all of Gmail’s front end. He also led the development of the new Gmail in 2018, which was a complex rebuild of the technical architecture and visual design, along with the addition of multiple enterprise focused features. Since then, he has been leading Google’s charge on redefining how we work as the product lead for the Workspace Platform and Partnerships efforts with a team of over 100.

What follows is an edited version of our interview. 

Mustafa Kapadia: Matt, thank you for joining us. Now, before we jump into how your team does its magic, can you please share with me some of the challenges you face when you build a new feature or experience on Gmail?

Matthew Izatt: Thanks Mustafa. And I think this is a great place to start.

One of the biggest challenges is that Google Workspace is used by over 3 billion users, and while that is great, there are many different ways of using our product. It’s not like a doorbell, where there is only one way of using it. With Gmail, it’s like an infinite Swiss army knife, where everyone has their own favorite way of using the product.

Second, Gmail is a critical product for many of our users. Yes, it’s fun to use, but people use it to get important work done—sending job proposals, emailing with their kids’ teachers, or booking medical appointments. This is why we have to be careful about what we experiment with and what we roll out. We can’t just throw things out there and see what works. We have to do our homework.

Third, we have to constantly innovate and think outside the box. Email is an old product, but it continues to evolve. Every day we have new startups reinventing email and challenging the big players. If we are to remain a market leader, we literally have to rethink the product every few years. Which is why creating the new Gmail was so much fun. 

Mustafa: I don’t envy you. This is not an easy product to build. Going back to something you touched on: Given these hurdles, how do you build these great experiences? Is there an example that you can share with us?

Matt: A specific example I always like to share is the story of how we came up with the right display density on our thread list. The thread list is your inbox; it’s the list of all the messages that you have. The display density is how that information is presented to you.

In Gmail you can choose to have fewer messages with a lot of information about each message. Or you can choose to see a larger number of messages with much less information about each message.

It really comes down to your preferences. And it’s one of the reasons why so many users like using Gmail. In fact, being able to set inbox display preferences is actually one of the top 10 most used settings within Gmail.

Mustafa: So you were really trying to give users choice on how they would like their information presented?

Matt: Exactly. Now, we could have added 100 different levers so that every user could customize their email feed to an infinite degree. While that is possible from a coding perspective, it’s not practical for three reasons.

First, infinite choice sounds good on paper, but in reality, too many options creates a confusing user experience. Second, development would take many months—maybe even a year. And third, it would be a long-term maintenance nightmare. 

Mustafa: So how did you go about doing it? Share with me the inner workings of Gmail in Google Workspace. How is the sausage made? 

Matt: Well, it came down to four key steps, working closely with our amazing UX Research team.

First came the primary research to find out if building this experience was worth doing. After all, what is the point of building it if no one wants it? For this we actually sat down with real users inside and outside of Google to understand their needs.

Second, we brainstormed 100 potential solutions and narrowed them down to 8 options. Then we mocked up each of the 8 options to see how they looked.

While it would have been easy to just pick the option we liked the most and build it, we wanted to create what our users want, not what we like the most. So we took those options and surveyed the users from step 1 again. We specifically asked them to rank their preferences across three dimensions: Love It, Hate It, or Meh!

Based on the user responses, we realized that 3 configurations would meet the needs of most users. These were the three options we developed and deployed to Google Workplace.

Mustafa: I love how you used data to guide your decision of what to build. This really is Google’s secret sauce—first-hand data collected from users.

Matt: Absolutely. Without their feedback, we would have never been able to narrow down to the 3 options that would satisfy most of our users.

Mustafa: Talking about risks: Getting user feedback and validating before you build is one way to de-risk your product, but you even de-risked your product launch strategy, correct?

Matt: Yes. Sometimes we launch features individually. Sometimes we launch them as a group. In this particular case, we had a lot of moving parts. We had a complete UI redesign, 10 or 12 new features, and architecture changes.

So to de-risk this, we put in place—I kid you not—a 26-stage launch process. We started off with the technical architecture changes—stuff that the user would not notice—to make sure that it was working. And we did it in small increments.

Then we rolled out a few features at a time, launching it first to our early access program—where users have opted in to receive updates. We measured their reaction and satisfaction first, and then moved on to the next group.

At every stage, we kept our blast radius small and put in these checks and balances where we could launch, measure reaction, and then reassess our strategy. And that worked out pretty well for us for this massive launch.

Mustafa: Agreed! Thank you for taking the time to talk to me. And good luck with building the next version of Gmail.

Matt: Thanks for having me.

Founded in 1853, clothing company Levi Strauss & Co. gained fame for their Levi’s® denim jeans. Over 150 years later, Levi’s is a globally-recognized brand that sells jeans and other apparel in more than 3,100 retail stores across 110 countries.

The summary

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Levi’s saw that their shoppers were investing more time in pre-purchase research. They realized that being able to provide customers with information around the clock in an easily accessible way could greatly improve interest, engagement, and eventually purchase behavior. In June 2020, Levi’s partnered with customer experience automation provider Linc Global to integrate Google’s Business Messages into Levi’s customer experience (CX) strategy and cross-channel chat experiences. Business Messages soon brought in customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores of over 85 percent, and drove 30x more store-related questions than Levi’s onsite web chat. In addition, most Business Messages conversations occurred outside store hours, allowing Levi’s to respond to inquiries more quickly.

The challenge

Levi’s knows customers want to drive these interactions on their own terms and timelines— and on their own preferred communications channel. With store hours often impacted by the pandemic, the company needed 24/7 service to answer the 30% increase in off-hours shoppers. Google’s Business Messages allowed customers to connect with Levi’s without visiting the website, going to a store or making a phone call. Anisa Kumar, VP Global DTC says, “Rolling out CX automation on web chat provided a new way for customers to find answers to their pre purchase and other questions that regularly resulted in a call to customer service. Launching with Google’s Business Messages was the logical next step in providing our customers with a best-in-class customer experience.”

The approach

Levi’s worked with Linc Global, a CX automation platform, to set up Google’s Business Messages on Google Maps for five, then 50, stores, before expanding to more than 200 stores. “Customers can message us through Google Maps even after stores are closed. They can search for products and see product information and availability at their local store, plus get details about hours and COVID-19 related updates to make shopping easier,” said Kumar. The company then added Business Messages on Google Search for a rich messaging experience that synchronized with their regular webchat channel. “Consumers can have their entire messaging experience be on Google—and then visit our website or a physical store to complete a purchase recommended to them in Business Messages,” says Rico Arrastia, VP Product & Experience at Levi Strauss & Co.

The results

Two months after launching Google’s Business Messages, Levi’s CSAT scores for the channel surpassed 85%. And four months after launch, Levi’s found that this new channel drove 30x more store-related questions than web chat.

Additionally, Levi’s noted that 31% of Business Messages conversations were product-related, indicating that shoppers preferred targeted engagement to unstructured browsing. For Levi’s, Business Messages helps cross-sell or suggest products to customers based on an individual’s past purchases, personal information, and behaviors.

Levi’s is now a big proponent of Business Messages as a way to meaningfully engage with customers and stand out from other brands. Arrastia shares, “Business Messages not only creates a stronger customer experience but also enables us to do a much better job at ‘hearing’ shoppers.”