.jpg)
Most companies chase "frictionless" experiences. They want to make things smoother, faster, and simpler. But what if frictionless isn't the finish line?
That's the question Emma Sopadjieva, Head of Customer Experience Strategy at Samsara, is asking her team to explore. In this episode of The Frictionless Experiences, she shared how Samsara is moving beyond just fixing pain points to reimagining experiences—creating what she calls "WOW moments" across the customer journey.
And it all starts with a mindset shift that turns a lot of CX thinking on its head.
"Technology is the tool, AI is the tool—experience is the outcome," Emma told us. "They're very different."
In an age obsessed with digital transformation and AI, that line stopped me in my tracks. Because she's right: technology can enable better experiences, but it's not the experience itself. What Emma and her team at Samsara are building proves that thoughtful, human-centered design—not just more automation—is what drives loyalty, growth, and delight.
From Fixing the "Ow" to Delivering the "Wow"
When Emma joined Samsara, she encountered something refreshing. Rather than simply asking her to address customer pain points, the company's leadership wanted to build something more substantial.
Samsara, a leader in connected operations and IoT, has always been known for its innovative products—solutions that truly make customers say 'wow'.
The company's first "wow" moment, Emma shared, occurred years ago when customers saw their fleet vehicles mapped in real-time rather than through static MapQuest screens. "They would sit in the trial meeting and say, 'wow, I've never seen this before,'" she recalled.
But as Samsara grew, its leadership realized that the same spirit of innovation could extend beyond the product to the entire customer journey—from first contact to renewal.
"We were so focused on product," Emma explained. She continued:
"Now it's about opening the eyes of everyone around the entire customer journey—not just product, but services, our digital platforms, our website, our renewal experience, our trial experience, our customer success and support experiences, our billing experience… all those moments where we can create wow."
So, they gave it a name: Project WOW.
Five Moments That Matter Most
To build Project WOW, Emma's team brought together Samsara's executives, product visionaries, and cross-functional leaders for a series of full-day ideation sessions. Their goal wasn't to fix what was broken—it was to imagine what extraordinary could look like.
"We got the executive team and several ideation workshops to gather ideas and crowdsource how we can wow at each moment," she said. "What is it to take something from a five-star to a ten-star experience?"
Through those workshops, they identified five key moments across the customer journey that mattered most. For each, they designed initiatives aimed at transforming functional interactions into emotional ones.
That shift—from problem solving to possibility shaping—is where the real innovation happens.
For a digital product manager's take, check out this episode of The Frictionless Experience with Jason Abdo, founder and CEO of Product Protege. He shares his product product management framework to continuously create 10-star customer experiences that WOW users and fuel business growth.
Turning CX Into a Company-Wide Discipline
Creating 10-star experiences takes more than a great product roadmap. It takes alignment, collaboration, and—most importantly—influence without authority.
That's one of Emma's biggest lessons from her years leading CX at companies like Medallia, Eventbrite, and ServiceNow.
"Really, what drives change is influence," she said. Emma continued:
"Customer experience teams don't own support, don't own customer success or product. They're adjacent teams that really understand what's going on with the customer journey and try to influence others to take action."
For Emma, that means making other leaders the hero, not the villain.
"A lot of times you're coming in and saying their baby's ugly," she laughed. "You need to make them the hero—show how the insights you have can help them drive success metrics so that they are the hero."
At Samsara, that approach enabled her team to partner closely with stakeholders across various functions. They meet regularly with leaders in product, services, and sales to share insights and co-design strategies—an effort that's as relational as it is analytical.
"When I'm at work, my calendar is all meetings," Emma said. "It's 12 meetings a day with different stakeholders to understand where they're coming from, what they're focused on, share insights, and create strategies together."
That's the work of CX done right: connecting the dots across the organization so customers experience one unified brand, not a collection of disconnected functions.
The Human Side of Technology
Samsara operates in a world where the physical and digital collide. Their platform combines AI-driven software and IoT hardware to help industries such as logistics, construction, and public services run safer and more efficient operations. That means their users range from executives managing fleets to drivers on the road.
"It's not just software," Emma said. "It's also hardware and IoT hardware combined that provides visibility in our customers' operations and digitizes their physical worlds."
Designing seamless experiences across that hybrid reality is no small feat. And it's where many companies stumble—throwing technology at every problem without thinking about whether it fits the human context.
That's why her team spends as much time connecting internal silos as they do building customer-facing ones.
"It's really our job to bring them all together… to think about the overall experience, not just their function," she said. "Destroying silos and building accountability to each moment."
That connective work is what makes Project WOW possible. When every team—from marketing to renewals—understands their role in shaping the customer journey, the entire experience feels more cohesive, human, and yes, wow-worthy.
Proving That "Wow" Pays Off
Of course, even the best experiences need to prove their value. That's where Emma's background in research and analytics comes into play.
At ServiceNow, she built models showing that "happy customers grow 24% faster a year than unhappy customers." At Samsara, her team uses regression and predictive modeling to show how even small improvements in NPS can lead to meaningful increases in revenue and retention.
She said:
"We have the right CX measures that then translate into financial measures. By improving strategic guidance for our customers, we can drive NPS up—and then see revenue increase within a year."
That kind of data doesn't just validate CX investments—it gives executives the confidence to keep pushing for WOW.
Why "Technology Is the Tool" Matters More Than Ever
As our conversation came to a close, I asked Emma what she thinks companies most often get wrong about digital experiences.
Her answer was instant.
She paused, then added something that's stuck with me since.
"You should be really thoughtful about when you invest in technology, when you invest in process, and when you invest in human."
In other words: technology should never overshadow the person it's meant to serve. The best digital experiences are invisible—they feel natural, intuitive, and human because the tech fades into the background.
And that philosophy doesn't just apply to customers. It applies internally, too. Her team is currently experimenting with AI-led interviews to augment research efforts—but only after carefully testing whether those experiences feel authentic, not robotic.
"I don't know how that's gonna go," she admitted. "Are people going to be frustrated that an AI bot is interviewing them versus a human? We're testing before we ever invest with customers."
That kind of intentionality—curiosity with guardrails—is rare in today's AI hype cycle. And it's exactly why Samsara's approach to CX feels so forward-thinking.
Experience as the Ultimate Differentiator
Project WOW isn't just about creating delightful moments for customers; it's about creating a lasting impression. It's about building a company-wide mindset that redefines what great experiences look like, both inside and out.
Samsara's commitment to 10-star experiences demonstrates that addressing pain points is no longer enough. The real opportunity lies in designing for emotion, meaning, and human connection at every step.
As Emma put it:
"Technology should disappear into the background, enabling a journey that feels more natural, more human-oriented."
That's the future of customer experience: not just frictionless, but memorable. Not just efficient, but extraordinary.
Because in the end: Technology is the tool. Experience is the outcome.
During the holiday rush, every shopper matters
Optimize the customer journey before the eCommerce event of the year.
