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Jared Lewandowski, Head of Design & User Experience, Presence & Commerce at GoDaddy
If you haven’t visited GoDaddy lately, it’s time to take another look. With a recent rebrand and the introduction of GoDaddy Guides and new web and marketing tools, GoDaddy has shed its skin and PR issues of the past. Today, their focus is on simplicity and helping entrepreneurs at every stage of their journey.
Over the past five years, Jared Lewandowski has been working with GoDaddy’s team to elevate the user experience. As Head of Design & User Experience, Presence & Commerce, he’s seen the team grow from five to 40 to 100 designers, with plans to take that number even further.
As Jared says, GoDaddy has outgrown its awkward teenage years and really come into its own lately. Learn more about GoDaddy’s new brand, their focus on empathy and how they’re surfacing insights to help entrepreneurs gain an advantage.
Carl: Please welcome to The Bureau Briefing, Jared. How's it going, Jared?
Jared: Hello, I'm doing well. How about yourself?
Carl: Doing really good. Now, we had talked about this earlier, you've been at GoDaddy for almost four years or over four years now. Is that right?
Jared: Yeah, I'm approaching five years, which is a tie for the longest I've been with any company. It says a lot about the company, so it's a lot about the work. I have no intentions on leaving at this point. So I think yeah, things are good and it's been a long time, but it's been a fun ride.
Carl: This is what's amazing to me is, in this space as a design leader, so many people, they're shifting jobs every couple of years. You are going to be a GoDaddy coming up on five years now you said, and one of the things we had talked about recently. That just kind of really hit me was, your focus on empathy. Now, for those who don't know, you're the head of design and user experience at GoDaddy. So could you talk for just a minute about your beliefs on how to run that job? Like how you focus on user experience?
Jared: You bet. First of all, clarifying a little bit here. I did start as kind of the head of UX and design. We have since grown, so we have a very extensive leadership team at this point. I don't know I could take that title. I would love to.
Carl: It's a big one.
Jared: It's a big one. I'd love it and I’d hate it at the same time, but we have a really great leadership team. And it does require a lot of, I think to build at the scale that we've built. When I started there, the team and the product I was working on, there was five of us. I would say we were all somewhat dysfunctional. We weren't in the right places, we weren't working on the right things. From that point to now, we have scaled the team to over 40 designers just within the product that I am over or participating.
Jared: Across the company, we've about hit a hundred designers and we hope to take that even further. I think part of that, there is a lot of, how do we get from a tough spot to a better spot? How do we build teams? It's not just empathy for our users, it's empathy for our team, it's empathy for our stakeholders. All of that stuff plays a part and it's been, like I said, a very fun ride. There's lots of good stuff ahead. We have, like I said, a really great leadership team. We just hired two VPs, sort of leader UX team globally. So super excited about what they have in store and excited to work with them. But yeah, empathy, I could go on and on. There are several threads of steams around empathy that I could share with you.
Carl: Well, let's back up for a second. Let's go back to when you were first coming into GoDaddy, as an organization GoDaddy had a little bit of struggle. There was a perception issue. I have no doubt that some of that lingers on today. So when you were first coming in, what was your thought process about coming into a role around working for the end user at an organization that was kind of struggling?
Jared: That's a good question and a great point. I think it was not good for some people, it was good for some people. I think that's important to remember. Things rub people the wrong way all the time. It did work. I think, that's one of the things Bob Parsons, he knew how to market and he knew how to get name recognition. Nine out of 10 people know what GoDaddy is. They've heard of go.
Carl: It's another point [crosstalk 00:03:29].
Jared: Because of this. So it actually works in our favor. Now again, nobody plans for these things by any means. But we really do want to work with what we've been given. I think we have a lot that we have, as far as the offerings. We had a lot of a la carte services, we always try to put our hands a little bit of everything. When I joined, it was more about how do we get the small business owner to be successful online, in an easy way and an affordable way. We've always had the affordable corner sort of covered.
Jared: I think what we really lacked was this easy way. How do we get this done easily for them, because their life is hard enough. I'll tell you, I grew up in Nebraska and I helped a lot of people. I think all of us in this field has helped a lot of family and friends build websites, build businesses or try to. Whereas like to go to IT person in the family. So I learned very quickly that what's interesting about people trying to have an idea and want to start something with it. It's not that they need your help to get it done. They need your help to understand what's going on. I think that's the real kicker. That's the thing that we're really focused on right now, is how do we give them the insights?
Jared: How do we give them the knowledge they need to be successful? So they can use a product, they can look... Now kind of look past GoDaddy of who it was, but now of what GoDaddy's doing for them. We've gone through a tremendous amount of rebranding. We just announced a new logo, it looks phenomenal. We have a really great brand team, just getting better by the day. They have done a great job as far as the image goes. Kind of how we want to be, where we want to be positioned. We have a new CTO or CEO, Amman. He has done a great job. Again, all of this is sort of a group effort with the whole company. But back to where we are, just from where the product is. The way the product looks, the way the product acts. The way the product makes you feel, have to support that. That's kind of where we are today, as far as practice and challenge.
Carl: This is really interesting. What you just said a minute ago is, it's not about helping them get it done. It's about helping them understand what's going on. So it's not about a functional aspect of checking a box, it's about giving them a little bit of confidence.
Jared: It is. It's letting them know why they're checking that box. Or maybe checking that box for them, telling them what they need to do after that box has been checked. People, I think in general, especially entrepreneurs, they're very good at something. That's why they're entrepreneurs. Typically, they're looking at a service like GoDaddy, because they're not good at something. One thing great entrepreneurs do, is they outsource things they aren't good at. I think one thing we have to remember here as it is, it's about helping them get that advantage. Doing what we can, knowing what we know, to help them get there. It's less about the act of doing, more behind the, why am I doing it, and how can I do it better?
Jared: If somebody can use, come into the product and leave. Feeling a little smarter, a little more successful. They have a little bit more of an advantage than we've done our job. That's essentially what we're trying to do and where we're headed. I think again, that starts to transcend kind of any history. Because as humans, obviously, we're very interested in the now and how we're feeling now, and feelings are very powerful. As we use these products, we start to feel better about ourselves. We start to feel like, wow, I could not have done that. I'm so glad they were able to help me. That really goes a long way. It's kind of, again, just kind of redirecting, kind of helping people understand where we're headed and what we're trying to do.
Carl: So let's talk about that user experience for a second. I haven't used the product. I haven't had to host a website in a long time. I have one, but it was already there when I got here, that kind of stuff. So what is that experience for somebody, if they log in? Do they have a human helping them out of the gate, or is it an optional thing for them?
Jared: Actually, yes. We pride ourselves in that, we have what we call, GoDaddy guides. These are people, and if you've ever called any GoDaddy customer support, you'll know what I mean. They're the most friendly, the most helpful, the most patient. They are essentially what we want our product to be. That feeling of, I've called in frustrated. If something's not working or you've built me for something, I didn't know it was going to come out. You're like, what the heck? I've got a hundred dollars on my account for you for some reason. What the hell, you leave there going, wow, this is fantastic. I am going to be lifelong GoDaddy customer. You guys are amazing. We get these things all the time. We pass them around internally, so that we can see and we can kind of... We can witness firsthand kind of that after effect, that we'd like our product to give our customers.
Jared: But yeah. I mean you, you can call the guys anytime you want. You can talk to them like any other human being, we don't have... We don't why it's solely on just chats or messages or emails or phone. It's just literally just, hey, you can call in and have your own GoDaddy guide help you through things. It is probably one of our core experience pillars, if not probably the best one. Just because it is sort of that that differentiator. Everything's a little better when you're talking to a human, you feel a little less frustrated, a little... You feel like you're actually getting heard, you can speak how you want to speak, and get where you need to go quicker.
Carl: You can speak how you want to speak so long as you don't use certain language. That's been my experience. Because at that point they're like, you know what, I don't have to listen to this.
Jared: You should try that Carl. Try call a GoDaddy being as rude as you can, I guarantee you'll leave there just floored. It is impressive.
Carl: It's funny, because I do appreciate it when somebody who's on the other end of that phone is allowed to be real. That's something that you don't get a lot of. I will say. With Delta, at one point, I ended up on the phone with a representative. She said, you know what? What happened to you sucks. I was like, did you just say it sucks? She was like, yeah, I'll probably get in trouble. I was like, maybe you won't. I will defend you to the end of time. I was like, you just told me you understand how I feel. So if you ever think you're going to get in trouble for that, you let them know they can call me. Because you just made me a happy customer. So there is something about that, about that reality of the individual who can walk you through something.
Jared: Right. And I think one thing we're really excited about is infusing that into our product. Whether that's through copy, whether that's through how we want to message our customers. Using the product or whether or not we want to GoDaddy guide to get infused into the experience and help them walk through with them. They are very real. I think that's the one thing. This good. GoDaddy has his roots, it's kind of in our DNA to sort of kickass, as they say. We've just kind of are real by nature. I think that's what attracted me to the company. It does feel real. It feels like family. Family is very real, very unpredictable, very awesome and very... They're just who they are. I think you can hear that, when you're calling the GoDaddy guides, you are calling our C3 or customer service, you're talking to any of us. I think we're all very real, whether you hear us presenting. Hopefully we can get to a point where that's being emulated through the product.
Carl: Well, let's talk about that for a second. So you said you just went through a rebrand, what role did you play? Were you more on the outsides of it or did you help guide it at all?
Jared: No, I'd say nothing to do with it. I was happy it was happening. We are sort of that stuff kind of happens on its own, it's kind of done very carefully, very thoughtfully. But we did kind of... We get little updates here and there, but for the most part I knew very little about it. I think I found out when everybody else did, what the new logo was, and kind of where we're going. I do know that's been a very big topic of conversation, this GoDaddy head. If it was going to stick around, it was ever going to leave> it did.
Jared: It took some time. I think when I started there, it was still the scribbly GoDaddy with the GoDaddy head. That stuff worked, don't get me wrong. But I think we reached a point now, where we kind of went through our teenage years and now we're these young adults. We're a young adult, I guess you could say. We've kind of ready, we're like trying to be... We want to help, we want to be trusted, and we want to be heard. We want the opportunity to help people. And I think this rebrand has done a great job expressing that.
Carl: So if you don't mind, I haven't seen any of the rebrand. Can you describe just a little bit of what it's going to be and why it doesn't... Like how it accomplishes making people feel more engaged?
Jared: You can still search for GoDaddy. I mean, you can see the new logo. The rebrand itself was made for simplicity. It's very modern, very clean. It does help. It gets out of the way, I should say. And the product can really shine. It's very, like I said, very simple, very easy to see. One thing about GoDaddy just, from a UI standpoint, and I'm glad we're getting better at it. I used to look at some of these pages in the product, it would just be these glaring oranges, glaring yellows, glaring greens and all over competing for each other. It's really hard to get away from some of that brand in the product. Like I said, our brand team has done a great job, all the way from like awareness and marketing, all the way into just getting a job done in the product.
Jared: Doing product design, kind of how the brand should evolve through that customer journey. I would recommend you just try it out. Go ahead and look at some of our templates, our templates of like go around and GoDaddy and sign up for a website. I mean, if you want to just play around, you've got 30 days. We don't bill you any... You're not going to get billed. You can get in there, play around and see for yourself kind of the innovations that we have. Kind of how far we've come, kind of how the product feels compared to where it may be. Now, I will say there are parts of the product that are still far behind. We're updating this incrementally, so you'll see parts of the product are still in very old brand. But you'll see the difference, you'll see that contrast much better.
Carl: I'm looking at the logo right now, because as you said, and I have access to the internet. I can type in GoDaddy logo, and there it is. I love, the first thing that came up was from creative block, and it says new GoDaddy logo is a massive improvement. So congratulations, because we all know that design Twitter and design web is very vicious. But it's kind of a heart, it's kind of this like, it's a shape that's got the G in it.
Jared: Correct.
Carl: But how far from the squiggle, the orange hair, green glasses guy, is that?
Jared: It's a testament Carl, to where we're going. Kind of where we want to be, and kind of who we want to be seen as. Like I said, I mean there's a lot that went into that logo. We were anticipating some kickback, as all rebrands and new logos typically gives. But we were pleasantly surprised by the response. I don't know what it is. I just know I feel good when I look at it, it feels like something I can depend on. So I think it is sort of a heart and it is meant to sort of, hey, we care about you and where you're going.
Jared: We want you to succeed. Like I said, this whole aspect of the human piece of this, around our GoDaddy guides is a large part of where we're headed. Just that feeling that we do care. We're here for you, we're going to talk to you, how you want us to talk and where we want you to go. We're going to help you. We speak the same language. I think it does so much of that. It kind of says a different thing to everyone. So it's also what I like about it.
Carl: How long ago did this transition happen? When did the new logo go live?
Jared: I would say, maybe a month ago. Probably just a month, yeah. We slowly went through it. We first fixed the squiggly GoDaddy, the marker GoDaddy name to a more sensor font. But we slowly moved towards that. The head was the last thing to go, it just worked. But it did eventually go and now we're here. So it's been a slow process, I'd say, over the course of two or three years. Just with that most recent, we've gone through different color schemes and things like that as well. This one's much more, I think, kind of where we want to go, as far as the feeling goes. But the logo, the actual image itself was just released maybe a month ago.
Carl: Okay. You've watched this transition over three years, as things slowly evolve. As someone who's in San Francisco, who is at GoDaddy in a fairly major role, when you are introduced to people, have you noticed any change in the way that they respond when they heard GoDaddy? Did you ever feel animosity early on and now it feels like things are getting better?
Jared: Yeah. I welcome that. I spoke a few times here in Silicon Valley and that's usually the first thing that gets asked when I opened up for a Q&A. Is kind of, hey, why are you working with GoDaddy? What is going on? I really welcome that, because it really does sort of remind me of this challenge, but it has gotten better. But I still have real good friends in the area who will send me a tweet or somebody would say like, hey, I just called in or hey, whatever this. It's nice to get that feedback. But it's also nice to know that we are making moves to get past that, it's going to be short-lived. People always have preconceived notions and sometimes that can get in the way. We're going to let the product speak for itself.
Jared: I think it's been fun to watch it. It's been fun to sort of be a part of it. I kind of feel like we're these underdogs, in a lot of the ways just because of that. But I do feel like it's been tremendous to sort of have that sort of pressure and that challenge. Where you can kind of fly and you can kind of coast with some of these really great designed type. Companies I like, I don't want to name any specific. But some of them are so well designed, you can kind of coast under that for a very long time. And I love that we just said, this is who we are, this is how we are, this is the mess that we are. We're getting better just like everyone else.
Carl: I want to say, when you signed up for design leadership in Koloa, I think was the first time that we met. I remember when your application came in, I just kind of looked at it like a dog that heard a weird noise. Hey, GoDaddy. Then the first time I talked to you I was like, this guy's awesome. I think there is something that we do as humans, where something hits us, we hold onto it and then we just paint whatever is around it with that same color. We struggle to let go. When the reality is all of us have had some moment in our lives where we did that thing, whatever it was.
Carl: If we were never given the opportunity to change it, get better and do all of those things, what a horrible world this would be. We'd all be stuck in that one time. So I just want to say, it's exciting to me to get back in touch with you. To see the logo and the changes that are going on and knowing that you're such a good person inside that organization. You wouldn't stay if it wasn't a good organization, if it didn't have good things going on. I'm not getting paid for this, but just to say, I'm really glad you're still there. I can't wait to hear about the next five years.
Jared: Awesome. I appreciate that Carl. It's one of those things that I usually, rarely take the path of least resistance. I looked at it for the challenge it was, I think any great designer can kind of see past that. I think any anybody who can kind of understand that the problem extends far beyond the product. It's much, if you can get past that, then you can start to look at just how the experience plays a part in a person's life. I think that says something. I think that's really where we are too, as a company, as we're growing this team, and kind of how I built the team. We've got a really great group of people working on this product, who all feel that way. They can all kind of get past certain things, kind of be focused on a really great experience. Let that experience sort of lead the way, let that experience be the conversation that changes their mind.
Jared: I didn't know that they were doing this. This is amazing. Kind of get pass that, eventually what'll happen is word of mouth is pretty powerful. I think we've done a great job. Our numbers are going up, we're doing amazing stuff and this isn't even the best of it. I think that's the best thing is you can kind of, you see how the stuff is made. It's kind of cool. I do appreciate those words Carl. It's been an adventure. It's been a really wild ride. It's been worth it, and it's getting better every day. Like I said, this team is getting better and better with the work we're doing, the problems we're solving are getting harder and better. So good stuff all around.
Carl: Well, I appreciate you being here today, Jared. Sharing with the community what's going on over at GoDaddy and really it's just exciting to see. Maybe I have to spin up a new site. I don't know.
Jared: Yes, please do. Let me know how it goes. I'm interested to see what you build and interested in your feedback.
Carl: It sounds good. I can't wait to meet my guide to everybody listening. Thank you so much, we'll be back next week all the best.
Image via GoDaddy
