APRIL  I  2025  I  DEEP DIVE INSIDER PROFILES 

At On Running, customer experience operates as an extension of the brand's core athletic philosophy—fluid, responsive, and precision-engineered for individual needs. The Swiss running shoe company approaches CX as a seamless journey where digital touchpoints, physical retail spaces, and post-purchase support work together like a perfectly balanced stride. This creates a distinctive rhythm of engagement that mirrors the flow state runners seek, where every interaction adapts to the customer's position in their personal running journey, from casual jogger to competitive athlete.

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The glass doors slide open at On Running's Zurich headquarters, revealing a space that feels more like an athlete's training facility than a corporate office. Morning light streams through floor-to-ceiling windows, illuminating the words "feel, don't think" etched onto glass partitions. A group of employees in running gear huddle around a table covered with shoe prototypes and customer feedback notes, their conversation animated as they debate the placement of a support structure in a new trail model. "This customer says the midfoot feels too rigid on technical descents," says Lisa Müller, pointing to handwritten notes from a customer test session. She grabs a prototype, flexing it with her hands. "But if we soften it too much, we lose the stability that our marathon runners love." The room goes quiet as everyone considers the challenge.

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Markus Freund, On's Head of Global Customer Experience, watches the exchange with satisfaction. "This is how we work," he explains later, as team members disperse to their workstations. "Customer experience isn't a department here—it's a conversation that happens everywhere, all the time. We don't want people to notice our customer experience. The best experience is one that feels completely natural—like the right running form. You only notice it when something disrupts your rhythm."

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Engineers of Experience

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In On's prototype lab, a room humming with 3D printers and materials testing equipment, a customer's voice plays from speakers mounted on the wall. It's a recorded interview with Miguel, a Spanish ultrarunner who called customer service about blisters forming during his 100-mile races. His detailed description of when and how the problem occurs has become essential listening for the development team. "Play it again," says Olivier, one of On's founders, who has stopped by the lab unexpectedly. The team falls silent as Miguel's accented English fills the room once more. Olivier closes his eyes, visualizing the problem. "We need to feel what he feels," he tells the team. "This isn't a materials issue—it's a movement issue."

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This scene captures the essence of how On Running began in 2010. Founders Olivier Bernhard, David Allemann, and Caspar Coppetti sought to revolutionize the sensation of running. Their technical innovation—hollow pods on the sole that compress and then lock to provide both soft landings and powerful takeoffs—emerged from an obsession with how running actually feels. That same sensory-driven approach defines their customer experience today. A row of workstations features screens displaying real-time customer interactions flowing in from global touchpoints. Each conversation is tagged not just with practical data but with emotional indicators: confusion, delight, frustration, surprise.

Sofia Mendes, who leads On's digital experience team, points to a cluster of conversations tagged "unexpected friction" that appeared overnight. "These all came from Japan—customers trying our new fit finder tool on mobile devices. Something's not translating correctly in the experience." Her team is already deploying a fix, but more importantly, they're reaching out to each affected customer personally.

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"When we first expanded beyond Switzerland, we faced a challenge," Mendes explains, pulling up a prototype of their next-generation fitting system on her tablet. "How do you recreate the personalized experience of a small specialty running store at a global scale? Our answer was to build technology that disappears when it's working right."

The screen shows a 3D rendering of feet in motion, with pressure points highlighted in different colors. "Most size advisors ask you what size you wear in another brand. That's like asking what car you drive to determine what bike you should ride," Mendes says with a laugh. "We ask how you run, where you run, and what happens to your feet during long runs. The answers tell us what you actually need."

Behind her, a wall displays hundreds of photos of feet—blistered, callused, perfectly healthy, all labeled with detailed notes. Before coding a single algorithm, On had their running specialists document thousands of fitting sessions, noting every question they asked and observation they made. These human insights, not abstract data points, form the core of their digital experience.

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The Lab Store Philosophy

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On a rainy Tuesday evening in Tokyo's Shibuya district, the On Running Lab Store glows like a minimalist gallery against the neon chaos outside. Inside, something unusual is happening: despite closing time approaching, staff members aren't ushering customers out but engaging in deep conversation with a young woman in running clothes spattered with mud.

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Takashi Yamamoto, a running experience guide at the store, listens intently as she describes a pain in her arch that develops around kilometer fifteen of her long runs. Instead of immediately suggesting a shoe, he invites her to the analysis zone—a custom-built treadmill with integrated pressure sensors and slow-motion cameras. "We're trained to have genuine running conversations," Yamamoto explains as the customer runs on the treadmill. Her gait appears on screens around them, pressure points illuminated in real-time. "After each shift, we record themes from these discussions. What problems are runners facing? What do they love or hate about their current shoes? What terrain are they exploring?"

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The screens reveal a subtle collapse in her arch after about two minutes of running—precisely when fatigue would begin to set in during a longer run. Yamamoto shows her the footage, and together they test three different models of shoes. The customer leaves with a pair that provides targeted support exactly where her form breaks down, along with a personalized strength routine designed to address the underlying weakness. What's remarkable isn't just the technology but what happens next. Yamamoto spends thirty minutes after the store closes documenting the interaction, tagging the video analysis with specific observations, and uploading everything to On's global database where product teams will review it the next morning.

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"A casual customer comment about toe blisters during downhill trail runs helped identify a fit issue that led to a subtle but crucial modification to the Cloudventure trail shoe," he says, pointing to before-and-after prototypes displayed like artifacts in a museum case. "The customer who made the observation received a note six months later with a pair of the updated shoes, asking for feedback on the changes. That customer became our most passionate advocate in the Japanese trail running community."

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The Lab Store concept exists in every On retail location globally. In Barcelona, store manager Emilia Costa arranges a display of shoes not by category but by running experience—a subtle but significant difference. "People come in thinking they know which model they want based on reviews or what elite athletes wear," Costa says, greeting regular customers by name as they enter for an evening community run. "But after experiencing our gait analysis, about 70% leave with a different model than they initially thought they wanted. They're buying for their actual needs, not for marketing."

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The Feedback Evolution Engine

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In a light-filled corner of On's headquarters, far from the traditional basement location of most customer service departments, the "Evolution Engine" team gathers for their morning ritual. Projected on the wall are six customer conversations from the previous day—two positive, two negative, and two that presented unique challenges. The team discusses each in detail, not to evaluate the service agent's performance but to extract deeper insights about the customer experience. "We don't outsource our customer service," says Freund, joining the session. "Every support person is an On employee who undergoes the same immersive product training as our retail staff. They need to truly understand running to provide meaningful support."

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The first conversation features a customer named James who contacted On about a squeaking noise in his CloudFlow shoes after 200 miles. Instead of the expected resolution—an apology and replacement pair—the transcript shows something entirely different: the support agent, a former track athlete named Pierre, recognized a pattern from similar reports and connected James with Martin Herzog, a senior product developer, for a video call. "That 15-minute conversation gave us more actionable insights than weeks of lab testing," says Herzog, who joins the meeting with a disassembled shoe in his hands. "We discovered the noise happened only with a specific running gait on certain surfaces." He points to a modified component that will be incorporated into the next version. "We fixed the issue, and now James is flying to Zurich next month to test the prototype with us."

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The Evolution Engine extends beyond customer service. On a nearby wall, a digital dashboard tracks the transformation of customer feedback into product and experience improvements. Each suggestion follows a visible journey from initial contact through evaluation, testing, and implementation. Team members add digital sticky notes directly to the board, creating an evolving conversation around each potential change. Regina Schmidt, who trains On's customer service teams, points to a node on the dashboard with dozens of connected feedback points. "This cluster led to our new half-sizing in the Cloudswift," she explains. "It wasn't any single complaint but the pattern that emerged across hundreds of conversations. Our best customer service people are those who get excited about problems. A complaint isn't a failure—it's valuable information."

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The evidence of this philosophy appears throughout On's headquarters. In the product marketing area, copywriters test language directly with customers through video calls before finalizing product descriptions. In the retail design studio, scale models of store layouts include annotations from actual customers who were invited to critique the flow and functionality.

The Neighborhood Run Concept

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As evening falls across Zurich, a group gathers outside a local café—diverse in age, body type, and apparent athletic ability, but all prepared for a run. This isn't an official On event, but the company's influence is evident in more than just the shoes many participants wear. The gathering represents On's community strategy in action—grassroots, authentic, and deliberately low-key. "Big races are important, but the foundation of running culture happens in those Tuesday night neighborhood runs when it's raining and only five people show up," explains Thomas Weber, On's Community Experience Lead, who joins this local group whenever he can. "Those consistent, small moments build the authentic connections that define the running experience."

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Tonight, the group includes a mix of regulars and newcomers, including an older gentleman trying running for the first time and an elite athlete home from competition. Weber introduces them, steps back, and lets the natural dynamics of the group take over. The elite runner offers simple advice to the beginner, while others share route suggestions based on each person's goals for the evening. The On mobile app connects runners to these local groups and provides routes, pace matching, and post-run analysis. But crucially, the technology remains in the background. The app suggests meeting points at local cafés or parks rather than at retail locations, emphasizing community over commerce.

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"We measure success by continued participation, not conversion to purchase," Weber says as the group sets off, naturally separating into pace groups that ensure no one runs alone. "Many of our most active community members were customers of other brands initially. Some still are. That's perfectly fine—building genuine running culture ultimately benefits everyone, including us."

This long-term vision reveals itself in unexpected ways. At a café table after the run, conversation flows easily among people who were strangers hours earlier. Weber introduces a woman named Sarah, describing her as "someone who works with our athletes." Only through casual conversation does it become clear that she's an Olympic medalist sponsored by On, here simply as another member of the running community. "Our pro athletes aren't just marketing assets," notes Weber as Sarah offers technique tips to a new runner. "They're part of our product development and community teams. Their insights shape how we think about both performance and experience."

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Measured in Movement

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Back at On headquarters, in a quiet moment before the end of the day, Freund studies a wall displaying hundreds of customer emails, social media posts, and handwritten notes—a physical manifestation of customer connections in an increasingly digital world. One stands out: a letter from a 62-year-old woman who began running for the first time and completed a 5K in On shoes, writing, "I never thought of myself as an athlete until now." "Traditional metrics matter, but we also measure success through stories," Freund says, touching the letter gently. "How many customers feel connected enough to share their running journeys with us? How many send us photos from their first marathon? These emotional connections are what truly drive our business."

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The results of On's approach can be seen in their remarkable growth—from a small Swiss startup to a global brand challenging industry giants in just over a decade. Their Net Promoter Score consistently ranks among the highest in athletic footwear, and their customer retention rates outpace industry standards by significant margins. As On continues its global expansion, maintaining this philosophy presents challenges. Scale typically demands standardization, potentially threatening the personalized approach that defines their customer experience.

"Growth tests our principles," acknowledges Mendes late in the day, as she reviews designs for new digital touchpoints that will be deployed across twenty countries simultaneously. "But we're building systems that scale human insight rather than replace it. Technology should amplify our ability to connect, not substitute for it."

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This philosophy echoes the core innovation of their shoes—providing structure that adapts to individual movement rather than forcing a predetermined experience. As the workday ends and employees head out for their evening runs—some alone, some in groups, all in various On prototypes—the boundary between work and passion, product and experience, customer and community member blurs into a single, flowing movement. In customer experience as in running, On believes that the best results come when technology and humanity work in perfect rhythm, creating a flow state where both the brand and customer move forward together.