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Customer Service VS Customer Experience: What’s the Difference?

Last Updated: March 2024

Customer experience is a term audible a lot nowadays. However, fewer companies understand the meaning behind it. On top of it, many confuse it with ‘customer service’ and use both terms interchangeably. In reality, while both concepts overlap with each other, they are hardly the same.

Let’s discuss how customer experience differs from customer service and why understanding these concepts in-depth can help you make better business decisions.  

 

The Case For Customer Experience

The customer experience (CX) is an umbrella that encompasses all customer interaction across various touchpoints and helps in shaping your brand image. This may include customer service, social media platforms, the payment process, and more.

Think about this: Customers have endless options to choose from today. Plus, they can easily access any product or service at their fingertips. So why would they choose to work with you?

A positive experience, in this case, is crucial to gain a competitive advantage and drive your business growth. Research shows that businesses focused on CX saw a whopping 80% growth in revenue (Nicereply). By investing time and effort in managing customer experience, you can effectively understand your target audience, retain them, and increase brand loyalty.

But how can you do that? Here are the top three pillars of CX management that you should know:

1. Customer Perception

Before designing a stellar experience, it is crucial to understand what your customers think about your offerings and brand image. By tapping into their feelings and thoughts, you can figure out what users expect from your brand and work on improving it.

2. Active Touchpoints

The way you communicate with your customers also matters. Studies state that an engaged customer will result in 23% higher profits when compared to an average customer (Lucidpress).

Evaluating your current touchpoints and investing in technology can help you communicate with your customers better and assist in providing prompt services. From subscription rewards to feedback surveys, you need to integrate active touchpoints across your customer journey.

3. Continuous Improvement

Businesses today need to go the extra mile to create an emotional connection with customers and establish brand loyalty. By actively listening to your customer’s needs and utilizing surveys, you can fix immediate issues and improve to fulfill their expectations.

The Case For Customer Service

Customer service is the assistance and support you provide to your customers. Studies indicate that 93% of customers will likely make repeat purchases with businesses that provide prompt customer services (Hubspot). This means that the support and engagement you provide can make or break your business.

Today, customers expect business to resolve their queries, troubleshooting problems, and order issues as swiftly as possible. Furthermore, they want brands to listen to them and provide them with personalized support.

Here are the  three ways you can nail the customer service:

1. Provide Omnichannel Customer Support

An organization must strive to provide convenient and swift customer support at every point of contact. Whether your customer wants to know about your product on social media forums or wants more information about a particular product feature, providing omnichannel support is crucial for the best user experience.

2. Use Analytics To Know the Pain Points

Even promising companies fail to use analytical data to pinpoint customer pain points. In this competitive business landscape, leaders need to consider hard data facts. By tracking crucial metrics, you can improve customer service.

3. Communicate Clearly

Whether it is verbal or written, clear, concise, and professional communication is a must. Look for a common ground to make a quick conversation. You can also send product guides or other materials when they are facing any troubleshooting issues.

Customer Experience VS Customer Service: Key Things to Know

As mentioned before, customer service is a part of CX that heavily impacts the brand image. While they are often mistaken as the same, there are many intricate differences that you should know.

1. Experience is a Long-term Investment

When you talk about CX, it is a long-term investment that requires you to evaluate all the touchpoints. While customer support is one part of the customer journey, where providing a seamless experience is extensive. CX typically involves improving every process of your business. No wonder fans line up for hours to get into an Apple Store for their brand new iPhone. It’s a testimony to Apple’s masterful long-term CX investment.

2. Customer Support is Reactive, While User Experience is Proactive

A proactive approach focuses on eliminating problems, not just responding to it after it has happened. When a customer interacts with your business, you want it to be as seamless as possible. On the other hand, reactive customer support is based on responding to events after they have happened.

3. CX Is a Cross-Functional Program

Customer experience is a cross-functional aspect of business that involves the collaboration of various departments. From the marketing team to the finance experts, every organization member actively participates in designing a seamless experience. Therefore, cross-functional collaboration is a top priority for businesses that wish to add value to their customer experience.

4. Transactional VS a Holistic Framework

While both concepts help in driving engagement, they follow different frameworks. Customer service is transactional, while CX follows a more holistic framework. Customer support is typically one-off transactions that are transactional. They take place during scattered instances of the customer journey.

On the other hand, CX targets all the interactions, transactions, and engagements during the customer journey.

Wrapping-Up

Customer experience is not just a buzzword anymore. It is a huge differentiator and a game-changer for brands. Research shows that 65% of customers are likely to be long-term customers if they experience positive association throughout their customer journey (emlifi).

By implementing the correct strategies and equipping your team with the right tools, you can empathize with your customers, grow your business, and build a lasting relationship with your brand.

Helplama Helps Change the Way You Engage With Customers 

Are you struggling to manage unending customer queries? At Helplama, we offer the best customer support systems to help you empower your customers and thereby build a customer-centric brand.

From live chat experts to email answering, we offer personalized services that fit the needs and specifications of your business. Our service is also geographically optimized, meaning the support we deliver is always native-like.

Be sure to connect with us at support@helplama.com to learn how our highly dedicated team can add value to your business.

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