What is Customer Experience (CX)?
The customer experience (CX) refers to the sum total experiences that a customer has throughout their contact with a brand.
From initial ad to post-purchase follow-ups, the customer experience is the customer’s perspective of their journey with your brand.
Many of today’s digital business models make the customer the first priority — since people have more buying choices than ever before, they also have more power.
Dissatisfied customers have little patience, and it won’t take much to drive them to competitors that offer better experiences.
Good experiences, however, can:
- Improve the customer’s perception of the brand
- Positively impact customer loyalty
- Increase the lifetime value of a customer
The customer experience is directly connected to other customer-centric concepts, such as:
- Customer service
- Customer care
- Customer journey
- Customer satisfaction
The customer experience can be thought of as the big picture. The concepts above can be considered parts of that whole.
To create great customer experiences, companies should create integrated strategies that optimize and measure all pieces of the puzzle.
In other words, effective customer experience management is essential. This requires taking a top-down view of the customer journey, managing the overarching experience, and optimizing it on a personal level.
Today’s businesses — digital or not — can all benefit from understanding, measuring, and optimizing their customer experience.
