What Is Client Experience?
Silence is a statement that is open to gross misinterpretation.
Customer experience (CX) has gained popularity over the past decade, but customer experience management (CXM/CEM) hasn’t kept pace. This gap needs to be addressed. Businesses are realizing that CX gets them closer to understanding customers’ feelings, thoughts, and buying behaviors. CX offers a more structured approach to understanding customers better, which can lead to improved preparation and delivery of positive experiences. This, in turn, leads to more engaged employees and more satisfied customers—exactly what CXM/CEM is designed to achieve.
Executives, marketers, and technologists are increasing their investments in CX because the return on investment is now too significant to ignore. So, what exactly is CX?
What is CX?
There are commonly accepted mainstream definitions as well as more technical explanations.
The Conventional Definition of CX: All the interactions customers experience with a brand over time.
The Technical Approach We Use at CX Pilots: The set of highly subjective experiences that reside in a customer’s memory or are experienced in the moment. These experiences are influenced by both logical and emotional drives, which in turn may lead to specific behaviors.
If you’re like many, you might have questions about the jargon distinguishing all these X’s.
What’s the Difference Between UX and CX?
CX stands for customer experience or client experience, and it’s sometimes called customer or client success. UX, or user experience, focuses more narrowly on the user’s interaction with a single product or service—usually in the context of digital interfaces like websites or apps.
Key Distinction:
- CX (Customer Experience): Encompasses all interactions a customer has with a brand, influencing future behavior such as repeat purchases. It includes all user experiences with specific products or services.
- UX (User Experience): Focuses on specific, contained experiences a customer has with a particular part of a product or service, like navigating a website or using a remote control.
In other words, while both UX and CX aim to describe the logical and emotional aspects of a customer’s experiences, CX covers a broader range, incorporating all of UX and much more.
How Are B2B and B2C CX Different?
CX has a deeper history on the consumer or retail side, where the goal is often to sell more volume to more people. In retail, customers are more easily segmented into predictable groups, allowing companies to use CX to better understand buyer trends and behaviors.
In contrast, B2B CX involves more complex offerings, sold to more complex buyers under stringent buying conditions. Success in B2B CX requires understanding that multiple people often make buying decisions under varied conditions. Companies that understand these decision-making dynamics are effectively practicing B2B CX.
For example, a company that understands the 110 customers worldwide who need a $890,000 replacement part for an offshore oil rig also considers the $1,400,000 in specialized labor required for installation. In such cases, making a wrong decision can have catastrophic consequences.
On the other hand, a company focusing on how new couples think about cleaning efficiently helps sell more Swiffer Mop replacement pads. This is an example of B2C CX, where the consequences of a poor decision are negligible.
The Importance of CX Across the Board
Whether you’re working on a specific product’s appeal to a wider audience (UX), refining a loyalty program for a regional bank (B2C CX), or facilitating the purchase of reusable parts for SpaceX (B2B CX), you’re focusing on the experience people have with an offering. It’s crucial work. Understanding these differences helps everyone appreciate the effort involved.
Do you find yourself asking any of these questions? Below are some common questions and CX solutions to consider.
- How should your company approach customer experience?
- CX solution: Value Exchange Planning
- How do we initiate CX into our organization?
- CX solution: CX Training, Value Exchange Planning, CX Strategy and Roadmap
- How do we really know how customers feel about our product or service?
- CX solution: CX Assessments & Diagnostics
- How do we know if our company culture is ready to adopt a CX mindset?
- CX solution: CX Assessments & Diagnostics
- How do we manage CX efforts across the company?
- CX solution: CX Governance
- How do we measure the effects of our CX efforts?
- CX solution: CX Metrics
- How do we reduce regrettable churn and improve client retention?
- CX solution: CX Assessment, Customer Journey Mapping
Are you ready to elevate your customer experience management (CXM) strategy and drive unparalleled growth? It's time to bridge the gap between understanding your customers and creating unforgettable experiences. Whether you’re in B2B or B2C, the key to success lies in mastering CXM.
Don’t let silence lead to misinterpretation—take charge of your customer interactions and turn insights into action. Embrace the full potential of CXM to boost customer satisfaction, employee engagement, and overall business performance.
Join the movement towards exceptional customer experiences. Discover how you can leverage CXM to transform your business today.
