Customer experience and customer service are words used interchangeably in the world of CX. However, there are major differences between the two. In this blog we will learn the difference and the roles of each segment.
Customer Experience And Customer Service: The Definition
What is customer experience?
Customer experience is the experience of a customer based on their interaction with the brand. It is an overall perception the customer has of a brand based on their interaction at every touchpoint. It is about how the company makes them feel. This includes digital experience and experiences in the offline stores.
CX focuses on the overall customer’s journey to encourage repeat purchase and gradual brand loyalty. CX covers social media presence, website and application experience, pricing and features. It also involves different modes of communication, periodic feedback collection, product upgrades, loyalty rewards and post purchase assistance.
What is customer service?
Customer service is a service to enable customers to solve their problems, increase satisfaction scores and help them avoid high friction touchpoints in the journey. Typically, a support team member (company representative) will directly solve support tickets and issues raised. Issues can be resolved over phone calls, email or chat support (with a human or an AI intervention). Sometimes, a support member can also be physically present for a product demonstration. For example, to show how to use a dishwasher or a washing machine to a first time user.
The main role is to provide support. Here, the team provides one on one interaction with people who have raised concerns or grievances. A representative’s main agenda is to prevent customer churn, meet expectations and gain higher retention rates. This also includes sharing thank you notes to your patrons for their continued business. Customer service is a major part of CX protocols.
How to know if people are happy with the customer service?
CX professionals can share post-call surveys. There are standard metrics to measure post-resolution satisfaction status. This is done by in-app 5-star ratings, or customer effort score (CES metrics).
5 star ratings can come with 5 types of emojis- ranging from happy – neutral – sad. Customers can rate their satisfaction level as per the emoticons.
“How would you rate our resolution process?”
Very happy
Happy
Neutral
Unhappy
Very unhappy
Customer service representatives can also share rating systems in-app, after a chat or call with a customer. They can also share an email directly to the respondent. If you want to get instant feedback on your customer service, opt for AMP emails for a high response rate.
On the other hand, customer effort score measures the amount of effort a customer has to take to resolve the issues. Lower scores denote higher customer service efficiency. The CES survey asks one simple question:
“The company made it easy for me to solve my problem”
Strongly agree
Agree
Somewhat agree
Neutral
Somewhat disagree
Disagree
Strongly disagree
Customer Experience vs Customer Service: Who Is Responsible?
When it comes to customer service, the responsibility of assisting and supporting customers lies with the customer care and support teams. The service representatives handle customer inquiries and resolve any issues that may arise. Customer service plays a vital role in shaping the overall customer experience.
In contrast, customer experience is a company-wide effort. It involves various departments, including customer service, marketing, product development, and operations. It is important for businesses to deliver exceptional customer experiences that require collaboration across different teams and functions. Customer service is a major part of CX and is equally responsible for overall satisfaction.
Customer Service vs Customer Experience: 3 Key Differences
Let us explore the 3 key differences between CX and customer service.
1. Reactive type of approach vs proactive type of approach:
Customer service has a reactive problem-solving approach. This is necessary when people face problems during any interaction- purchase, product usage, complaint tickets, refund status etc. People will reach out to support representatives immediately. It is imperative to solve their pain points at the earliest to prevent unhappy customers, churn rate and negative brand impact.
CX is a proactive approach that happens continually.
CX is responsible for a bird’s eye view of a company’s ecosystem. This includes various journey touchpoints of website analytics, social media sites, funnel drop off points, metrics from support team. Marketers need to periodically enquire after their users, take feedback to improve brand experience over time.
2. A single type of event vs a relationship type of event:
Customer service refers to an isolated event. It happens when a customer reaches out for help to make a complaint or ask for assistance. This is measured by average resolution time and satisfaction metric such as customer effort score (CES) results.
CX refers to a relationship of a consumer with a business. It combines multiple interactions, actions, purchases and an ongoing relationship. It consists of multiple events. Some metrics used are retention rates and customer health scores to identify brand loyalty.
3. Holistic type of overview vs single person overview:
CX is a holistic overview of an entire customer journey. It runs from initial enquiry to purchase , post purchase and positive word-of-mouth and testimonials. Different industries have various lengths of journey with their user base. It includes multiple touchpoints at omnichannel platforms. The main aim is to ensure that people have a positive experience which in turn, builds brand advocates.
Customer service occurs on a one-to-one basis. It refers to a specific interaction of a customer with the business. Representatives are responsible for solving problems, offering assistance and closing support tickets with quick resolution. This interaction can happen with an AI or with human intervention.
Made for Each Other: why you need customer experience and customer service together
How a business works depends on retention and engagement rates. For this to happen, brands need to create delightful scenarios, remove high friction points and increase positive word of mouth.
- Brand value depends on the number of positive experiences you can create for your consumers. One way to do this is by social proof. This includes website reviews, third party testimonials, social media mentions and positive satisfaction metrics on surveys. People who have had a positive brand experience are more likely to come for repeat purchase. Keep systems in place to offer a higher level of customer satisfaction.
- Customer service is a hotbed for direct customer feedback. Marketers can collect direct candid feedback to improve processes for CX. By capturing concerns, problems, businesses can improve on product features, cover knowledge gaps and process requirements accordingly.
- The customer service teams can get bombarded with queries or often have to handle direct implications of a poor CX. Good customer experience in an ecosystem can reduce the pressure on support teams. To avoid this, companies need to focus on presenting brand offerings in a clear and concise manner to avoid people from leaving. There can be a website or mobile app where pricing, product information, navigation instructions are clearly visible. This will avoid unwanted hassle.
- Churn rates and loyalty metrics depend on customer service team members. A people-facing role can be stressful. People get frustrated when they don’t have calls answered or complain tickets have them hanging. Employees can be trained to handle complaints and turn it around for a positive experience.
Conclusion
Customer service vs customer experience: customer service is a small part of a greater CX protocol. More than being a ‘versus’, it is collaboration between the departments. However, they are two sides of the same coin. Moreover, CX is not a one time strategy making exercise. It is a continuous process of improving your business. Ensure that you create positive experiences as a team and leave customers delighted at every interaction at every touchpoint.
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