The difference between customer service and customer experience (and why it matters)
CS versus CX
In today’s age of the digitally native customer, it is more important than ever to provide an exceptional experience for your customers at every touchpoint with your brand. Converting prospects into customers and customers into brand advocates is a function of your product's performance, but also the performance of your entire brand throughout the customer journey.
But what exactly is the difference between customer service and customer experience? And why does it matter?
Customer service is the direct interaction between a company and its customers, usually in an effort to retroactively resolve a problem or issue. It is typically considered a “transactional” interaction, meaning that there is an exchange of value (i.e. the customer pays for a product or service). Customer service also tends to be very reactive where a given customer has a problem and is seeking a solution from your business.
Customer experience, on the other hand, encompasses the entirety of the customer’s journey with your brand. This includes the customer’s first exposure to your brand, through every touchpoint along the way, to post-purchase loyalty and advocacy. This means that customer experience must take into account not only traditional “customer service” interactions, but also marketing, sales, product/service design, packaging, shipping, and proactive outreach when things go wrong. Essentially, anything that touches the customer can impact their experience. These touchpoints should be methodically designed by your cross-functional teams to reduce friction at every step of the way.
Why does it matter if you provide good customer service OR good customer experience? At Rush Order, we think of customer service as a subset of the overall customer experience. Designing, implementing, and executing a great customer experience includes the transactional nature of CS. However, great CX goes far beyond CS by looking at the customer's experience more holistically and proactively. Providing good customer service is just part of the toolbox, whereas good CX is paramount as part of digital natives' shopping experience.
How to develop and how to measure great CX is the topic of many other blogs and entire books. However, as a starting point, here are the four key areas to focus on.
1. Omnichannel support
Omnichannel customer support is a type of customer service that aims to provide a unified experience for customers no matter how they choose to interact with a company. This generally includes using traditional channels such as phone and email, as well as newer channels such as social media and chatbots. By opening the lines of communication and meeting customers in the channels they prefer, customer satisfaction inevitably increases. Also, by providing a consistent experience across all those channels, companies can reduce the chances of customers becoming frustrated or feeling like they are not being heard.
Additionally, omnichannel customer support can help companies track and respond to customer complaints more cost-effectively. When customers can choose the support channel they prefer, it makes the process easier and faster for them. This means customers are less likely to become frustrated and reach out to your CS team multiple times or, worse, switch to a competitor.
Businesses that provide omnichannel customer support also benefit from increased customer loyalty and satisfaction. In fact, a study by Forrester found that 89% of customers who had a positive experience with an omnichannel brand were more likely to recommend that brand to others.
Thus, by providing omnichannel customer support, businesses can not only improve the customer experience but also increase loyalty and sales.
2. Personalized & Proactive Support
Personalized recommendations are another key component of a great ecommerce customer experience. Customers should feel like you know them and their needs, and that you are able to provide them with products and services that they will love. Use data from previous interactions to make personalized recommendations to each customer. Again, there are lots of third-party plugins and tools out there to make this an easy lift.
Proactive support is also a critical expectation of today's digitally native consumer. If a shipment is delayed or an item is out of stock, customers should be hearing from you before they figure it out on their own. Reducing friction in the shopping experience again increases the likelihood of brand loyalty and referrals and decreases the cost of delivering customer service.
3. Back to Basics: Provide Excellent Customer Service
As mentioned above, we consider CS to be an integral part of overall CX design. Excellent customer service is essential for any business, but it is especially important for ecommerce businesses. Customers should feel like they can reach out to you with any questions or concerns, and that you will be quick to respond. Make sure you have a dedicated customer service team in place to handle all inquiries and learn how to measure your CX team's performance. From basic hold or response times, to CSAT surveys and CES tracking, commit to a handful of key CS metrics you can monitor over time.
4. A User-Friendly Website & Check Out
A user-friendly website is another crucial component of a great ecommerce customer experience. Customers should be able to easily navigate your website and find what they are looking for. Make sure that your website is designed with the user in mind, and that it is easy to use on all devices.
A seamless checkout process is also essential for creating a great ecommerce customer experience. If your checkout process is long, complicated, or requires too much information from the customer, you are likely to lose sales. Make sure that your checkout process is as short and simple as possible. Shopify has become the 800 pound gorilla as far as shopping platforms go, but countless other "off the shelf" and customizable solutions exist.
Measure and track your Customer Effort Score (CES) on an ongoing basis. Continue to tweak your processes, agent training, business rules (e.g. returns and shipping policies), and product features and performance to improve CES over time.
Parting Thoughts
Here is a CS versus CX comparison you're welcome to download. If you haven't already done so, subscribe to our monthly CX newsletter for more tips, tricks, and insights to up your CX game.
