When I first approached the Customer Experience transformation at Under Armour, I knew we were facing more than just a typical business challenge. This was about reimagining how a performance-driven brand could truly connect with its athletes—not just through products, but through an entire ecosystem of experience and understanding.
The story begins in a moment of critical reflection. Between 2019 and 2020, Under Armour was experiencing a profound disconnect. Our Net Promoter Scores were plummeting, purchase likelihood was dropping, and the pandemic had mercilessly exposed the fragility of our digital and omnichannel capabilities. It was as if we were a high-performance athlete suddenly struggling with fundamental movements.
Several pressing issues made CX transformation a priority:
The strategic objective set before us was to reimagine the CX ecosystem, addressing operational inefficiencies while building long-term emotional connections with customers.
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed weaknesses in Under Armour's digital experience, omnichannel services, and operational processes. Between 2019 and 2020, NPS dropped 14 points, purchase likelihood fell 12%, and CSAT decreased 2%. These declines reflected customer frustrations with limited digital capabilities and returns processes. To recover, UA needed to deeply understand customer behaviors and pain points to redesign experiences that supported their needs and rebuilt loyalty.
Under Armour's customer experience was broken—a disconnected journey that betrayed our performance-driven brand promise. The data sat unused in organizational silos, while customers navigated a fragmented landscape of online and in-store interactions that felt more like obstacles than opportunities.
Under Armour's customer experience was broken—a disconnected journey that betrayed our performance-driven brand promise. Our data sat unused in organizational silos, while customers navigated a fragmented landscape of online and in-store interactions that felt more like obstacles than opportunities. We weren't just facing technical challenges; we were confronting a fundamental misalignment between our brand's potential and our actual customer experience. Each disconnected touchpoint was a missed chance to truly understand and serve our athletes.
The Focused Performer deserved more—a seamless, intuitive journey that matched the precision and passion they brought to their own performance. Our transformation would become about bridging those gaps, turning operational challenges into opportunities for genuine connection.
The transformation journey started with deep, empathetic research. We didn't just collect data; we sought to understand stories. Through extensive workshops and cross-functional collaboration, we mapped out the intricate landscape of customer experiences. Imagine bringing together customer insights, marketers, customer suppor, regional teams—all focused on one goal: truly seeing our customer.
What emerged was a revelation. Our customer data wasn't just numbers in a spreadsheet—it was a narrative waiting to be understood. We discovered that customers weren't just looking for athletic gear; they were seeking a partner in their performance journey. Each touchpoint—from mobile app to in-store experience—needed to reflect that partnership.
Our approach was both methodical and human-centered. We developed personas and journey maps that went beyond traditional market research. These were living documents that captured the emotional and functional needs of our Focused Performer. We created a toolkit that would allow the organization to continuously evolve its understanding.
We took a 5-step process to align on real consumer pain points and opportunities to drive meaningful experiences and innovations.
We created 9 global personas represently our "Focused Performers" across run, train and team sports.
We then utilized data to map key journeys for these personas.
These journeys were mapped across 4 stages of the experience wheel.
We compared consumers attitudes to the experience we offered...
---and realized that we were falling short of their needs and expectations.
We synthesized global insights to define key themes and strategic oppotunities.
We then used jobs-to-be-done to reframe these opportunities into "How Might We's" statements for solutioning.
Design Thinking workshops and our CX toolkit were socialized across the organization to solve problems within each team.
Reflecting on this project, I'm struck by several profound learnings. Data is powerful, but only when it tells a human story. Alignment isn't about agreement—it's about creating a shared vision that everyone can rally behind. And true innovation comes from the willingness to see your customers not as market segments, but as individuals with complex, meaningful lives.
Go-to-Market: Dedicated Runner
Conceptual Storyboards
The results were transformative. We didn't just improve metrics—we fundamentally changed how Under Armour thought about customer experience. Conversion rates increased by 15%, mobile app traffic grew by 30%, and we scaled inventory visibility to 80% of markets within the first year. But more importantly, we repositioned the brand to resonate deeply with Millennials and Gen Z, creating a connection that went far beyond transactional interactions.
This initiative not only addressed immediate challenges but also established a customer-first mindset and scalable frameworks for sustained growth and innovation.
We weren't perfect. There were areas where we could have moved faster, dug deeper into regional nuances, or provided more comprehensive training. But we had created something remarkable—a framework for continuous, customer-centric innovation.
This wasn't just a project. It was a transformation of mindset, a reimagining of what it means to truly serve athletes. We didn't just solve operational challenges; we created a new way of thinking about customer experience that would continue to evolve long after the initial project concluded.
In the world of business transformation, success isn't about reaching a destination. It's about creating a continuous journey of learning, adaptation, and genuine connection.
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