Customer Stories | Google Contacts

Google Contacts Leverages ShuttleCloud to Power Onboarding for Millions of Users

Contacts is Google's primary online address book manager. It's available as a standalone service, within Gmail (Google's free email service), and as a part of Google's business-oriented suite of web apps, Google Apps for Work.

The Contacts team wanted a process that would help onboard new users by importing contacts seamlessly from their previous webmail providers.

They chose ShuttleCloud and the results are as follows:

RESULTS HIGHLIGHTS

1.3M

contacts imported daily by an average of 4,500 users

247

The number of address books providers available to Google users

96%

of contacts imports are completed within 20 seconds!

The Challenge: Helping millions of users import their address books

Google Contacts' original solution only allowed users to import contacts via CSV and vCards. The Contacts team wanted to improve on this process by onboarding users in a more seamless manner.

They were specifically looking for a solution that incorporated the following features:

• Allowing the user to stay within the Contacts UI.
• Increasing the number of webmail providers that could be imported from.
• Removing steps for the user in the import process.

The Solution: A RESTful API that supports 247 webmail providers

ShuttleCloud is the leading solution for large enterprises seeking email and contacts importing-it has provided Gmail with a similar integration for 4+ years. Taking this into account, the Contacts team asked ShuttleCloud for a solution that provided the following:

• A RESTful API that can be called from anywhere in the Google Contacts UI, providing a password-free integration for users uploading their contacts into Google's ecosystem.
• Access to address books from 247 email providers, including:
• All major US internet service providers.
• Email providers in areas of low geographical penetration.
• The ability to support extra providers upon request.
• The new process allows users to log in and import contacts from their previous webmail provider, all within the Contacts interface. This eliminates the need to visit separate websites and download/upload CSVs and vCards.

The Result: The quick and seamless way to import address books

Since partnering with ShuttleCloud, an average of 4,500 users import more than 1.3M contacts daily into Google's address book manager.

Improving the user experience by simplifying the import process, keeping users inside the Contacts interface, and upgrading to a quicker service: 96% of imports are completed within 20 seconds.

Definitely, a key feature that enhances the Contacts' user onboarding process, successfully satisfying the needs of millions of users worldwide.

What is Google Contacts?

Google Contacts is a powerful online tool that allows its users to sync and organize contacts for both the user and the vast array of Google

products. Launched in 2009, its features now include:

• Merging duplicate contacts.
• Restoring deleted contacts.
• Sorting contacts for easy navigation.
• Arranging contacts by groups of friends, family, or colleagues.
• Importing contacts from 247 webmail providers.