User Experience (UX) and Customer Experience (CX)

In the world of Digital Transformation, UX & CX are extremely important to keep all the stakeholders engaged. But what is different between them?

User Experience-UX is when customer starts interacting with website, mobile apps or the products. It is measured in clicks to completion, success rates, abandonment rate etc. Good UX gives customer an ability to:

·        Find any information on your website easily and quickly

·        Search web pages with ease

·        Complete a desired task without any hassles

Customer experience-CX encompasses all the interactions a person has with your brand at all the different touch points like desktop, mobile, call center, marketing, sales etc. It can be measured in overall experience, brand loyalty, recommendation to others. Good CX gives customer an ability to:

·        Have a pleasant, helpful interaction with the organization

·        Feel positive and happy about it

·        Spread the happiness socially and via word of mouth

UX & CX can be simply explained with Airline Company. When you book the flights on their website, check the status on the mobile app, store your e-boarding pass, email it etc. is all UX. When you actually come to airport terminal and see long queues for check-ins, very less agents helping customers, no communication on departures, lost bags etc. is all about CX.

Another great retail example is Amazon. When you land on their website, do the search for the products, select the product, putting it into the cart and finally pay for it is all about UX.

When you call the customer service for any returns or refunds or problems about orders,  the time you have to wait on the call, how their service rep politely answers your queries, how quickly you get your refunds or able to return your products without any hassles, is all about CX.

While designing UX, many designers just focus on pretty looks & features. But they need to avoid information overload, too much text, cluttered forms and keep it simple for users. They should focus on one core functionality and make it really simple for your user to access, use and become great at that functionality.

You might have the best advertising, brand recognition, sales team, customer service representatives, and organizational structure (all CX-related items), but if customers’ interactions with your website, mobile app, software or other product (all UX-related items) create barriers to completion of the desired tasks, overall CX fails.

Some of the best customer experience brands today are Apple, Disney, Google, Coca Cola, Amazon, BMW, Sony and Louis Vuitton.

·        Instagram app has clear focus on camera button

·        Airbnb uses very simple visually appealing app for users

·        Amazon uses positive psychological techniques to drive sales.

Hence UX can make the biggest difference in your new product, and will help you truly connect with the users but later CX has to improve it further.