As clients move through their buyer journey, they would want a seamless process at every touchpoint.
Customer experience is one of the most pressing topics in business today. No wonder various organizations are investing more time and resources into building a stronger customer experience.
As a matter of fact, Bare International confirms that companies that invest in customer experience have a higher stock growth. That being said, more companies are investing in different mechanisms to up their customer experience.
But how does customer experience differ from customer service? People usually use these two terms synonymously, but to come up with marketing strategies, it’s a must to differentiate the two.
In this article, we’re going to elaborate on customer experience and its components, while also defining what customer service is.
What is customer experience?
Customer experience is the overall perception of a client towards their sum of interactions with your business. Customer experience includes every single occurrence a customer interacts with a company.
That encompasses all stages of the customer journey—from seeing the marketing materials before they become a customer, their sales experience, receiving the quality of the product or service to post-purchase activities.
Experience is an integral part of the overall view of a customer journey. It encompasses the different touchpoints they had. The ultimate goal of providing a good customer experience is to boost customer satisfaction.
To deliver a good customer experience, businesses are finding ways to become more proactive. Companies should be able to detect and correct problems that customers encounter on their buying journey.
Customer experience can be measured with the use of a net promoter score or NPS. This metric tracks the likelihood of a customer to recommend your establishment to a peer or a friend.
What is customer service?
Gartner states that the customer service department is the one responsible for customer retention. As you gain more loyal customers, you’re also extending long-term customer relationships.
Customer-facing employees such as customer and technical support representatives are required to possess a set of customer service skills to provide customer service.
Customer service covers all kinds of help and assistance that a customer needs towards a product or service. It includes technical troubleshooting, billing, subscriptions, and other sales-related issues.
While customer experience can be determined with NPS, customer service is measured through customer satisfaction surveys or CSAT. CSAT directly asks customers how satisfied they are with the experience.
Although there are other metrics available to measure customer service and customer experience, these two are the most common.
That being said, customer service falls under customer experience. It is one of the components that affect the overall customer experience.
If you want to know what are the other components of customer experience, just keep on reading.
The three components of customer experience
When we say customer experience, it includes your clients visiting your company’s website. It also includes the conversation they had with a service agent or a sales rep, or even the product ads popping up on their Instagram feed.
With this in mind, the customer’s experience is composed of these three components:
People (Customer service)
Your customer service support team plays a very indispensable role in determining customer experience. It can be a negative or a positive experience for your customers depending on the handling of your agents.
The goal of your customers is to speak with attentive and helpful employees that could provide answers for all their needs. Customers expect the right assistance whether they’re personally communicating or on a call with an agent.
Product (Product design)
Customers wouldn’t reach out to your brand if they don’t find your products and services effective and beneficial.
In the height of the pandemic, for example, most companies have transitioned to automate their processes. This includes the options for customers to make changes to their orders and process refunds via self-service software.
This component includes technical solutions, the nitty-gritty of products and services, and the brand’s ability to adapt to the ever-changing needs of the consumers.
Process (Technology)
Who doesn’t want a seamless and memorable experience as a customer?
As clients move through their buyer journey, they would want a seamless process at every touchpoint.
Your technology systems and software needed for the customers to make orders, chat support as they shop, or post-shopping feedback are all part of your work process.
Investing in the right technology could improve your payment process, customer support system, and overall business operations. With a smooth working process, your clients could enjoy their buying experience more.
Importance of customer experience
Yes, customer service and customer experience are two different concepts. Customer service plays a big role in delivering a remarkable customer experience.
That means these two are detrimental to establish better and long-lasting relationships with your existing and future customers.
If you think delivering great customer service along with seamless customer experiences is an unbearable task, you don’t have to do it alone. OP360 is here to help you provide a more refined customer experience at every step of the customer’s journey.
