What is CX?
CX Definition
CX ( customer experience ) encapsulates everything a business or an organization does to put customers first, manage their experiences, and deliver on their needs.
CX: Universe of all things.
Customer experience (CX) refers to how a business engages with its customers at every point of its buying journey—from marketing to sales to customer service and everywhere in between. In large part, it’s the total of all interactions a customer has with your brand. Every channel and touchpoint within your company’s CX matters, and the quality of those experiences impacts the customers from becoming repeat customers or brand ambassadors.
What’s the difference between Customer Service & Customer Experience?
Customer service is a single spoke in the overall CX universe and generally speaks to services that support direct interactions with your user to create great customer experience, while CX is an accumulation of all user interactions with your brand.
Why is CX important?
CX has become critical for every business in every sector and every market. Customers can research, compare and grade a business’s products and services in seconds from the palm of their hands.
A business CX can either impact the success negatively or positively very quickly. Higher revenue, customer retention and loyalty, growth, brand reputation, and unlocking new markets can all be linked to a mature CX strategy.
The research supports the importance of CX in today’s markets.
Forbes reported 66% of consumers would be more loyal to a company that delivered satisfactory customer experiences, 65% would recommend the company to others, and 48% would spend more money with the company.
80% of customers own a smartphone, and they use it constantly, with 69% shopping more and 44% using different technologies, such as mobile apps or voice-activated devices, compared to pre-COVID times.
Deloitte reports that customers aren’t limited to one channel or experience, and more than 60% engage with companies through multiple channels.
American Express research revealed that 7 out of 10 consumers would spend more money to do business with a brand that offers elevated customer experiences.
How to design optimal CX.
Every organization and sector can vary slightly, but the principles that create optimal CX remain the same. The following are some principles to deliver an optimal CX to your customers.
Analytics: Understanding the customer journey in all the channels where customers engage with your brand. Be observational and reactive to the data (what does the user do and want from your brand).
Proactive Personalization: CX is subjective, so interactions and touchpoints must be personalized.
Connectivity: Offline customers no longer exist; exercise ongoing cross-channel interactions and conversations.
Customer Empowerment, self-service convenience: Engaging customers to participate in conversations with your brand and provide accessible answers through digital experiences.
Reachability: Ensure your brand is easy to interact with and is being applied across all channels. Adopt omnichannel strategies to enter into conversations across all touch points.
Adopt & Apply Design Thinking: Approach your CX problems using structured methods, gather data, generate creative solutions, and apply a human-centered approach to your customer’s interactions.