There are a lot of buzzwords thrown around in the customer sphere, but two of the big ones relate to experiences—customer and user. Although CX and UX are different and unique, they must work together for a company to have success.
User experience deals with customers’ interaction with a product, website, or app. It is measured in things like abandonment rate, error rate, and clicks to completion. Essentially, if a product or technology is difficult to use or navigate, it has a poor user experience.
Customer experience on the other hand focuses on the general experience a customer has with a company. It tends to exist higher in the clouds and can involve a number of interactions. It is measured by net promoter score, customer loyalty, and customer satisfaction.
Both customer experience and user experience are incredibly important and can’t truly exist and thrive without each other. If a website or mobile app has a bad layout and is cumbersome to navigate, it will be difficult for customers to find what they need and can lead to frustration. If customers can’t easily open the mobile app from an email on their phone, they likely won’t purchase your product. Likewise, if the product layout is clunky, customers likely won’t recommend it to a friend no matter how innovative it is. User experience is a huge part of customer experience and needs to play a major role when thinking like a customer.
Although UX and CX are different, they need to work closely together to truly be successful. Customer experience representatives should be working alongside product engineers to make sure everything works together. By taking themselves through the entire customer journey, they can see how each role plays into a customer’s overall satisfaction with the product and the company. The ultimate goal is a website or product that beautifully meshes the required elements of navigation and ease with the extra features that will help the brand stand out with customers.
When thinking about customer experience, user experience definitely shouldn’t be left behind. Make both unique features an essential part of your customer plan to build a brand that customers love all around.
Originally posted on Forbes.com
Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, author of More Is More, and keynote speaker. Sign up for her weekly newsletter here. Go farther and create knock your socks-off customer experiences in your organization by enrolling in her new Customer Experience School.