Customer Experience versus User Experience

I just read an interesting post on Leisa Reichelt’s blog tackling the subject of “Customer Experience v User Experience” so I thought I’d attempt to articulate my thoughts on the subject.

The U in UX stands for ‘user’. A user in this context is a person who interacts with a computer system. During the advent of e-commerce UX suddenly found itself thrust into the limelight as it was thought that UX was one of the major contributors to determine product success – and failure where there was a lack of a coherent UX. However the users of the computer systems in the context of ecommerce, were no longer just mere users – like in the old days of desktop software –they were now potential 'customers'. These customers have quite different characteristics to users and they behave in different ways because they have higher needs, motivation and choice.  A customer will do what they need to in order to inform their purchase decisions; to make sure they are buying the right product, at the right price to meet their needs. This behaviour will invariably take them to various different places sources online and also offline. So the experience a customer has, is all encompassing and should consider passive and active experiences across all channels, not just the online channel.

A few years back I was engaged as a UXer by @alancolville, at what is now Virgin Media, to help design the hardware and the software for a new cable TV product. We began thinking about the ‘user experience’ but soon migrated into thinking more broadly about the total customer experience. Along with @damienread we took into account the broader experience ecosystem that included everything from online/video/TV and phone-based customer service and support, online/ offline and TV-based sales and marketing channels, operational support of installations, disconnections, fault-repairs and upgrades. It became a full-service customer experience programme.

This is where customer experience and service design actually become one and the same because you need to design for the full cross-channel customer experience. When you are dealing with a premium product of that complexity and a customer base who has choice through highly competitive offerings and a voice on public internet forums you need a much more holistic and strategic view. To play effectively in this kind of game there needs to be organisational changes to create an empowered cross-siloed, cross functional team who are responsible for delivering a customer experience that synchronised both internally and externally. Customer data and intelligence needs to be centralised so that all channels can benefit from the shared learning’s, then understand and act on the strengths and weaknesses in whole customer experience.

Here are some principles to consider when developing a customer experience strategy:

·      “Know me” – recognise and respect customers’ identities, preferences and behaviours across channels. If they have signed-up online and completed a customer profile, don’t make them do it again in-store to join your loyalty scheme.

·      “Do it once” – if customers move between channels to complete a purchase, minimise repetition of effort on their behalf to complete the deal. For example if a customer starts a mortgage application online but decides to finish the application in a branch, because they need some face-to-face support, don’t make them start the application from the beginning.

·      “Be consistent” – customers don’t see channels they see a single brand. If your experience or product offerings are different across channels there should be a very good reason for it.

·      “Be relevant” – design for everyone pleases no-one, so ensure that the design of the experience is focussed on the most important customers. Sure all customers are important, but you need to prioritise who the most important customers are to your business and make their experience relevant.