Building a Scalable CSAT Mechanism to Raise UX Maturity in Amazon Devices Operations
Building a Scalable CSAT Mechanism to Raise UX Maturity in Amazon Devices Operations
Amazon Devices Operations relied on a mix of legacy third-party systems, custom internal tools, and manual workflows executed through spreadsheets, ticketing systems, and email. These tools supported mission-critical device development processes, yet many workflows lacked UX oversight, structured customer feedback, or clear indicators of success.
Teams frequently struggled with onboarding, low adoption, and recurring usability issues. Retrospectives pointed to a deeper problem: the organization was shipping features without understanding whether they solved the right customer needs.
Success was measured by delivery speed, not customer satisfaction. UX was often deprioritized, and stakeholders lacked the mechanisms needed to identify and act on meaningful user insights.
To move the organization forward, it needed a simple, scalable, and repeatable way to listen to customers that fit into existing development rhythms and did not add operational burden.
Although user research was the obvious solution, stakeholders were reluctant to adopt it. They believed additional customer outreach would slow delivery and duplicate existing work.
To change this perception, I needed to introduce a lightweight mechanism that:
Integrated seamlessly into current workflows
Generated meaningful and actionable insights
Demonstrated value quickly so it could earn leadership trust
Scaled across dozens of products without adding overhead
The challenge was not to add “more research,” but to change how the organization thought about customer experience altogether.
I created a CSAT framework that gave teams a clear, repeatable way to understand customer sentiment. The mechanism combined short in-workflow surveys, targeted follow-up interviews, and structured leadership reviews. It delivered real insight with minimal disruption.
To gain early support, I authored a white paper that positioned CSAT as a complement to existing KPIs. It demonstrated how a closed feedback loop would:
Reveal usability issues earlier
Improve onboarding and adoption
Allow teams to prioritize work based on customer impact
Strengthen accountability through longitudinal data
This narrative helped leaders understand that customer satisfaction was not a “nice to have,” but a strategic necessity.
I ran an initial pilot with two willing product teams. Through several CSAT cycles, we refined the process and improved clarity, participation, and insight quality. The pilot proved that this lightweight mechanism could deliver deep value without slowing development.
As results became more compelling, adoption grew. Teams began requesting CSAT to validate features, reduce onboarding friction, and guide prioritization decisions.
The CSAT mechanism transformed how Devices Operations evaluated success and made product decisions.
Adoption expanded from two pilot teams in 2020 to ten teams by 2021, eventually influencing the organization’s largest program, which established a vice president–level CSAT goal in 2022.
Monthly business reviews began incorporating CSAT trends as a standard indicator of product health.
Product and engineering teams shifted their prioritization toward customer-identified pain points rather than feature requests.
Multiple teams deepened their engagement with UX and adopted end-to-end research and design workflows.
The mechanism remained active and widely used even after my transition to AWS in 2022, demonstrating its durability and long-term value.
The CSAT framework became a core part of how Devices Operations teams evaluate their work and became a significant step toward sustainable UX maturity.
The success of this initiative reinforced an important leadership belief: raising UX maturity is less about adding more UX processes and more about creating mechanisms that change how teams think and decide.
By introducing a simple, scalable tool that fit naturally into existing rhythms, I helped shift the organization from feature-driven development to customer-centered decision-making.
The mechanism continues to influence prioritization and product evaluation years later, demonstrating the lasting value of systems that balance rigor, simplicity, and cultural fit.