Putting Customers First: Customer Experience vs. Customer Service

In today’s competitive business landscape, creating exceptional customer experiences has become a crucial differentiator for companies across industries. But what does customer experience exactly mean and how does it differ from customer service?

In this post, we will define customer experience vs customer service and how they affect customer retention and business success. To help you understand these concepts further, we also list their major differences as well.

What is customer experience?

Customer experience (CX) refers to the overall perception and impression that customers have of a brand based on their interactions and experiences throughout their journey. CX encompasses every touchpoint, including pre-purchase, purchase, and post-purchase interactions. 

Customer experience is all about the customer’s entire journey. Customer experience begins at the moment the customer discovers the brand, like visiting your website or social media page to post-sale. 

A customer’s experience is molded by three Ps: product, process, and people.

Product

Even with the best processes and people, it would be impossible to provide excellent customer care if the product or service you offer misses the mark. Your product or service needs to meet your target market’s needs. And to do that, it is important to have a deeper understanding of your target market. Knowing your customers allows you to create solutions to their problems.

People

Not everyone excels in customer interaction. So, to provide customers with the best possible experience, team members who interact with customers should be properly trained and excel in the job. If no one is skilled enough yet, you can invest in their comprehensive and continuous training. It can cost the business some money, but it also offers great ROI. 

Process

Even if the product matches the need of the target market and the team consists of the right people, providing exceptional customer experience would remain challenging if there is no sound process. People do not like inconveniences and confusion. A good process is efficient, scalable, repeatable, and constantly improving.  

The importance of customer experiences these days cannot be overstated. It is pivotal in building brand loyalty and driving revenue growth. 

When customers have positive experiences, they are more likely to become loyal advocates who refer others to the brand. Satisfied and loyal customers also tend to make repeat purchases, spend more, and contribute to the long-term success of a business.

What is customer service?

Customer service refers to the support and assistance a company provides its customers before, during, and after a purchase. It involves a range of activities aimed at addressing customer needs, resolving issues, and ensuring a positive overall experience.  

In a nutshell, customer service is all about helping customers. Your business provides customer service when you answer customer inquiries, show them how to use a product, and address complaints.

For example, a customer received a defective product. They will contact customer service to figure out what to do with the product they’ve received. 

Four factors characterize good customer service:

1. Personalized

Good customer service begins with a human touch. By personalizing your interactions with customers, you’re showing them that your business cares. They are likely to choose you again over your competitors.

2. Competent

Customers usually reach out to customer care professionals because they need assistance with something unfamiliar. For example, they may not know how to make the product work. The people you assign to this position should be knowledgeable enough and can provide answers or solutions to all customers’ concerns. 

3. Convenient

Customers often prefer getting in touch with a customer service representative through the channel most convenient to them. It can be text, social media messages, email, etc. To provide good customer service, offer support through all communication channels. This way, you can reach out to buyers on channels they are already using.

4. Proactive

Customers don’t like waiting. So, to make customer service great, providing fast responses is important. You should always have a team available to help customers and answer their questions. 

Customers also appreciate companies that take the initiative to reach out. For example, the website is on schedule for maintenance, proactively reaching out to the customer so they know beforehand. The situation may be inconvenient for them, but they would appreciate it if you kept them in the loop.

Customer service has a huge impact on customer satisfaction and retention. A company that prioritizes exceptional customer service creates a positive impression and builds trust with its customers. When customers feel valued and supported, they are more likely to develop a sense of loyalty toward the brand.  

On the other hand, poor customer service can lead to dissatisfaction, frustration, and even customer churn. No customer would want to repeat business with a company that does not fix customer issues. Worse, negative experiences can tarnish a company’s reputation and result in lost business opportunities.

So, build your customer service strategy around the four customer service factors mentioned above and your customers will surely have a hassle-free and positive customer experience. If you want to win over more customers, a customer success manager may help.

Both customer experience and customer service play crucial roles in shaping a customer’s perception of a brand, but they are distinct concepts that should be treated with equal importance. By understanding the unique value each brings, businesses can develop strategies to put customers at the forefront, fostering loyalty, advocacy, and sustainable growth.

Customer Experience vs. Customer Service: What’s the Difference?

While they are related, customer experience and service have distinct characteristics that set them apart. Let’s explore the main differences between them.

1. Focus

A major distinction in customer experience vs. customer service is the focus. Customer experience refers to customers’ overall perception and impression of a brand throughout their entire journey, from initial contact to post-purchase interactions. It encompasses every touchpoint and interaction a customer has with a company, including marketing, sales, product quality, customer support, and more.  

While not all customer journeys will look the same, they will involve more than one interaction with the company. 

In contrast, customer service specifically relates to customer assistance and support when they have specific needs, problems, or inquiries. It’s just a part of the customer experience. Some customers don’t even take part in the customer service process. 

2. Scope

Another major difference between customer experience and customer service is the scope.

Customer experience has a broader scope as it encompasses all aspects of the customer’s lifecycle, from pre-sale to post-sale. The scope cannot be pinned down to a single interaction. As long as the customer is interacting with the business, customer experience is continuous.

On the other hand, customer service has a narrower focus and concentrates primarily on addressing customer inquiries, complaints, and issues, ensuring their needs are met promptly and satisfactorily.

3. Approach

Customer service and customer experience also differ in terms of approach. Customer experience takes a holistic approach to customer care, aiming to create a positive, seamless, and memorable experience for customers at every stage of their journey. It involves understanding customer expectations, designing customer-centric processes, and continuously improving interactions to deliver value and exceed expectations. 

Customer service, on the other hand, is reactive and responsive, focusing on resolving specific customer problems or concerns. It involves providing prompt assistance and effective resolutions to ensure customer satisfaction.

4. Metrics

The last major difference between customer experience and customer service is the metrics used to gauge the quality of these aspects of a business.

Net Promoter Score (NPS), customer effort score (CES), and customer satisfaction score (CSAT) can be used to evaluate the quality of customer service. Resolved tickets, customer feedback, and average resolution times are also useful metrics for gauging customer service effectiveness.

Meanwhile, you can evaluate customer experience using customer retention rate, customer churn rate, and customer lifetime value. These are broad-level metrics that can provide you with the big picture of how your CX efforts work for your business.

Customer service and customer experience may differ, but they are inextricably linked and are crucial for business success. 

Put Your Customers First

If you want to enhance your customer experience and build stronger relationships with your customers, Podium can help. Podium is a communication platform for local businesses that helps you manage and improve online reputation, customer reviews, messaging, and payments, and more—all in one place.

As covered above, responsiveness and convenience are two critical factors when it comes to positive customer experience. And Podium Inbox can help. This solution allows your business to easily manage communication with customers via multiple channels and tools in one place. You can also easily gather valuable feedback from your customers through Podium Text and Google Link Review Generator. Feedback provides crucial insights into areas where you can improve your products, services, or processes, ultimately enhancing the overall customer experience. 

The platform also allows you to manage and respond to customer reviews across various platforms from a single dashboard and with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) to expedite the process.. By responding promptly and professionally to reviews, you show your commitment to customer experience and satisfaction—which ultimately builds trust and credibility.

In addition to review management, Podium offers robust customer messaging capabilities. You can conveniently communicate with your customers through text messages, web chat, and other channels, allowing real-time and personalized interactions. You can significantly enhance the overall customer experience by providing quick and efficient responses and fostering loyalty and positive word-of-mouth referrals.