What is customer experience?
The customer experience (CX) is a customer’s overall perception or impression of their interactions with a brand. The customer experience consists of all the dealings they’ve had with the company’s people or products.
The touchpoints someone has with a brand occur throughout their customer journey, from an inquiry response to the product’s unboxing to the return process. Companies provide intentional support and create moments of enjoyment to shape the customer experience.
Customer experience software tracks client interactions across channels and monitors satisfaction data. These tools help brands reduce friction and improve customer outcomes.
Importance of customer experience
While creating a desirable product or service is essential, customer experience also plays a pivotal role in a company’s overall success. An excellent CX sets a business apart from its competitors. In general, customer experience:
- Drives word-of-mouth marketing. When customers enjoy an outstanding interaction with a brand, they often recommend the company to someone else. For example, if they unbox a product with high-quality packaging and engaging copy, they might post a video on social media or tell a friend.
- Increases customer satisfaction. Positive CX creates moments that impart happiness. A customer who gets an unexpected, personalized note or a helpful resolution from customer support may report higher satisfaction with the brand.
- Builds brand loyalty. A customer who has consistent, positive connections may become an exclusive fan over time.
- Steers revenue. With more word-of-mouth marketing to draw in more prospects and improved client satisfaction to increase retention, enhancing customer experience boosts sales and revenue.
Ways to measure customer experience
Improving the customer experience is one way for companies to increase their client base and make sales. This makes customer experience an important element to track. Businesses quantify CX through specific metrics created from survey response data.
- Net promoter score (NPS): This metric measures customer loyalty. In a survey, the company asks, “How likely is it that you would recommend us to a friend or colleague?” Customers respond with a numerical rating between 0 and 10, with 10 being the most likely.
- Customer satisfaction (CSAT): Companies measure their customers’ level of contentment by asking, “How would you rate your overall satisfaction with the [goods/service] you received?” Customers provide a rating.
- Customer effort score (CES): A newer rating than the NPS or CSAT, the CES is equally as insightful. This measures the amount of effort a customer must exert to make a purchase revealing the amount of friction in the CX. Customers are asked, “How easy was it to deal with our company today?” Different companies use different rating scales, like asking customers to rate their opinion on a scale of 1-7 or “difficult, neither, or easy.”
Customer experience best practices
Creating a successful customer experience takes more than just delivering the right product or service on time. To ensure a high-impact CX throughout the buyers’ journey, a company can:
- Create a smooth website experience. If a customer has to work hard to complete a transaction or find a product, they may become frustrated. Companies should design their websites to be fast and reduce the number of form fields at checkout.
- Provide quick responses. If a customer has to wait too long to get an answer to a question, they may move on to a competitor. Companies can use chatbots, live chat, and self-service options to reduce customer wait times.
- Leverage social listening. Companies who engage in social listening, or watching for mentions of the brand on social media, can address issues quickly and prevent customer churn. Social media monitoring software makes it easy to monitor multiple channels at once.
Customer experience vs. customer service
Customer experience is a broad term that captures each interaction a buyer has with a brand and the overall impression created by all of those touchpoints. It’s proactive in nature, meaning that the company works to anticipate and surpass customer expectations.
Customer service refers to the ways a company supports customers. It encompasses methods like customer help desks, chatbots, call centers, and social media messaging. Customer service is often, but not always, a reactive measure in response to a problem. Customer service is one aspect of the overall customer experience.
Learn about options for customer service software here.
Kelly Fiorini
Kelly Fiorini is a freelance writer for G2. After ten years as a teacher, Kelly now creates content for mostly B2B SaaS clients. In her free time, she’s usually reading, spilling coffee, walking her dogs, and trying to keep her plants alive. Kelly received her Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Notre Dame and her Master of Arts in Teaching from the University of Louisville.
