Using empathy to redesign Google Ads (and a shape-wear tip)
I was researching web design firms for a client. I had been tasked with pulling together a short list of agencies that could help them modernize their web presence. I found that I could get a quick sense of a web design firm by looking at their portfolio of past work.
This is how I found Commando.
Cool design. But mostly I liked their product. They claimed to have found the Holy Grail. Non-constricting shape-wear that shapes. Two clicks later and I was a customer. And when my package arrived I became a delighted and (perhaps) more svelte customer.
So wear is the rub?
Well back at work Commando kept popping up on my screen in the form of a Google Ad. There was a lovely woman in undies: it was distracting AND revealing. Did I really want my colleagues to know my search history?
Google Ads make me crazy. I hate them.
Google needs to take a page out of the Design Thinking playbook and build some empathy. If Google asked for my thoughts, I would share these pain points:
Fear of the search. Google Ads give me pause. When I am considering a search such as “tasteful and discrete neck lift,” I hesitate. Not only because I would like to gracefully embrace aging but also because it may result in ads I don’t want on my screen when I working next to someone on the plane.
Playing my hand. Google Ads give away secrets that I would like to keep. This is incredibly frustrating. I don’t want my children to know that I have been considering an X-Box for Christmas or my husband to know that I have been looking into the Hotel Vermont for a get away (with him).
Clutter. When I am in research mode I want to focus. Google Ads are like a photo bomber. I feel angry when they arrive uninvited even when the product being promoted is something I may find desirable.
Does Google care that the design of their ad platform causes me to feel fear, frustration, and anger? Probably not, but…
I suspect I’m not the only unhappy searcher. In this post Google outlines the steps (there are many) a user must take to disable or “mute” unwanted ads. I further suspect instructions to remove expensive ad content do not make advertisers happy. I believe Google has an opportunity to apply empathic – human centered design. There is an important nuance here. “Human centered” is broader than “customer centered.” Google could only benefit by finding a space where the needs and desires of searchers AND advertisers synch up. A Design Thinking challenge could ask this question:
“How might we (Google) design an ad platform that delights our searchers AND provides extraordinary value for our advertisers?”
The design challenge assumes that many solutions could exist that would feel good to both searchers and advertisers. The design team would begin by building empathy for stakeholders by discovering their pain points, needs, wants, and desires.
I shared pain points above. Here is a list of things that I value and desire as a Google searcher:
I want to use Google search to do research, to help my kids look things up, and to search for products and services.
I want control over when I see ad content.
I desire discretion.
I want to know about specials and offers from brands I love.
I appreciate clean and minimal design.
Looking at my pain points and what I value and desire, designers could then come up with insights about “searchers like me” (a persona):
“It seems that Tamara would place high value on an ad platform interface that is aesthetically pleasing, that shares deals and offers from the brands she loves (or might love based on search history), and that she may view on her own terms (separate from her other search activities) when she is in the mode of buying.”
I think an ad platform designed with those insights in mind could be a win for some advertisers too. What I love about Design Thinking is how it can be used to develop solutions that work beautifully for multiple parties whose interests at first seem in conflict.
If I were to gain traction influencing future iterations of the Google Ad platform, my next challenge might go to the television networks: "How might advertisers get their message out to older men without parents being questioned about erectile dysfunction between football plays?"
Well, one can hope…