John Cradden discovers the key differences between customer experience and user experience, and recommends how SMEs can apply both to improve satisfaction and loyalty.
Just when you think you understand what the term ‘user experience (UX)’ is, along comes another one that seems to have the same meaning: ‘customer experience (CX)’. Indeed, many experts use the terms interchangeably.
However, there is a distinct difference between the two terms, and understanding this distinction can help small businesses get to grips with why they should incorporate both UX and CX as key elements of their long-term business and marketing strategies.
“The line between UX and CX isn’t always clear, especially as digital experiences increasingly shape our overall perceptions of brands”
Probably the clearest explanation of the differences between UX and CX comes from usability consultancy Nielsen Norman Group, founded in 1998 by two pioneers of UX design, Dr Jakob Nielsen and Dr Don Norman.
It points out that CX is what UX used to be defined as, and that the term UX has evolved to describe a more specific and functional kind of interaction.
The power of UX
According to Nielsen Norman Group, UX was originally defined as the totality of digital interactions that users have with an organisation, its services and its products – but at a time when a website via a desktop computer was the primary form of such interactions.
But now that there are multiple channels of digital interaction, include email, SMS, apps, messaging platforms, social media platforms and online forms, and all via a range of different devices, the definition of UX has evolved.
It now refers to a user’s thoughts, feelings and impressions as they go through a specific interaction, which is usually a stand-alone task such as filling and submitting a form, buying an item, or using a chatbot.
The joy of CX
CX, on the other hand, encompasses the entire journey that a customer has with a brand or organisation, covering every touchpoint — from advertising to customer support to post-purchase follow-up. It considers how a customer perceives their relationship with the brand or organisation, including first impressions, reputation, becoming a customer and making repeat purchases.
Having explained the distinction between UX and CX, which term you use is not actually important as long as you understand the difference in scope between the two areas and the aims of each. What they share in common is the goal of improving experiences, and some of the activities involved will inevitably overlap, but the way in which they address the goal will be different.
UX and CX in practice
For example, a UX team will be focused on helping end-users complete individual tasks successfully with minimal friction and with a sense of satisfaction, or make interactions easy and accessible as possible for all users.
In practice, this could include activities like:
- Designing a platform for single interactions, such as a website, chatbot or an online form
- Undertaking product research and developing user personas
- Creating specifications and prototypes
- Testing and tweaking versions of designs using feedback from end users
- Running usability tests and ‘heat maps’ for the platforms to identify obstacles that users are facing when trying to complete a task
- Updating the information architecture for a user interface to make it easier to navigate
A CX team on the other hand, will be concerned with broader activities like:
- Researching and mapping out customer journeys that involve a range of interaction points
- Conducting customer satisfaction surveys to gauge how customers feel about interacting with the brand in general
- Reviewing customer service tickets to pinpoint recurring customer issues
- Surveying social media platforms to see what customers are saying about the brand
- Working to influence company culture, encouraging a mindset among all staff members that puts customers first
Many of these activities can be done by small teams of people on tight budgets. For UX, there are many useful and free for designing, wireframing and prototyping tools like Figma, Scratch and Canva.
You can conduct simple user testing to measure the impact of your UX design, such as website or page loading speed, time spent on task, and adoption rate.
For CX, it can be simpler than you think to collect customer feedback in whatever form it exists, whether that’s reports from customer services, chatbots, complaints, or even low-cost online surveys.
In terms of measuring the impact of CX initiatives, you can gauge customer satisfaction scores, but also customer loyalty using the ‘net promoter score’ or NPS, which is a metric for how likely a person is to recommend your business to others. Don’t overlook the churn rate, which is the number of customers you are losing in a given period – and why.
As the Nielsen Normal Group reminds us, the line between UX and CX isn’t always clear, especially as digital experiences increasingly shape our overall perceptions of brands.
This makes it more important to focus less on the distinctions and more on the shared goals of both disciplines: to create meaningful, positive experiences that foster loyalty and satisfaction. Regardless of whether you call it UX or CX, what matters is prioritising users’ and customers’ needs across every interaction.
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