What does CX stand for?

You’ve probably heard of UX (User Experience), but have you ever heard of CX? Don’t worry if you haven’t, you’re not alone. In fact, the term “CX”, or “Customer Experience”, is not as widely known as it ought to be. That’s why, in this article, you’ll find out everything you need to know about Customer Experience including what it is, why it matters and how to manage it effectively. 

Customer Experience defined

The Customer Experience (CX) refers to the overall impression a customer has of a brand throughout their buying process. As soon as a person hears about a brand, their Customer Experience can be tracked and will indicate how they feel at every point of the relationship. 

Customer Experience can refer to how they feel about: 

• Receiving email newsletters.
• Buying products or services.
• Seeking customer support.
• Advertising or marketing campaigns. 
• Using the brand website. 
• Engaging with the brand on social media channels. 
• Communicating with the brand directly. 

Customer experiences vary, but in essence, it’s all about how your brand makes customers feel, how easy it is for them to communicate with you, and how personalised your communication is to them. So, if you can offer them an inviting, helpful and valuable experience, your Customer Experience will be considerably higher. On the other hand, if your service is disjointed and multiple issues are cropping up for them, your Customer Experience will need improvement. 

The significance of Customer Experience 

Having access to resources has made it easier for customers to make informed decisions for themselves, so businesses need to nurture their customers before they go elsewhere. That’s why providing an enjoyable, natural, and stress-free Customer Experience is key to retaining loyal customers and encouraging repeat purchases.

The following are the key benefits of a good Customer Experience: 

• Existing customers are more likely to advocate for your brand and generate organic business growth. 
• Customers will identify your brand as one they want to engage with.
• A customer-focused approach gives you an edge over your competitors.  
• Your customer retention will be higher. 
• You won’t need to spend as much on attracting new customers. 

How to measure Customer Experience 

Once you decide to prioritise your Customer Experience, it’s essential to have a way to track it. That’s where using quantifiable metrics like CSAT, NPS and CES are incredibly useful. Let’s dig into what each of them offers: 

Customer Satisfaction surveys (CSAT)

Customer Satisfaction surveys are a great way to measure how happy customers are because they ask targeted questions at strategic moments in the buyer’s journey. Typically, a CSAT question will ask a customer how satisfied they are with a certain interaction they’ve had with a brand. The answer is usually ranked on a scale from 1-5 or 1-10 and will help you to assess what is going well and what needs improvement. For inspiration, take a look at these CSAT survey questions. 

Net Promoter Scores (NPS)

Net Promoter Scores are one of the most commonly used metrics in customer feedback because they are simple and widely recognised. An NPS asks a customer how likely they are to recommend the business to someone else and, like a CSAT, the answer is measured on a scale, usually 1-5 or 1-10. However, it is worth noting that an NPS score is an increasingly irrelevant metric that won’t give you the relevant insights you need to improve your Customer Experience. 

Customer Effort Scores (CES)

Customer effort scores track how easy it is for a customer to interact with a brand at any point in the customer journey. That can include anything from buying a product to finding help at a service desk. A low CES score indicates it was a smooth, hassle-free process while a high CES score indicates they struggled to find what they needed and felt frustrated. If you want to implement a CES survey, check out these helpful tips. 

How to manage Customer Experience 

It can be a daunting task to launch a customer feedback strategy, but doing so is the best way to ensure your Customer Experience is consistently positive. That’s why there are so many intuitive and user-friendly tools to make customer feedback management simple. If you're looking for a platform to manage your customer feedback, we’ve compiled this list of top 10 recommendations to help you. 

Having a consistent and proactive approach to your customer feedback will allow you to improve your customer’s experience and generate healthy business growth. By managing it with easy-to-use software you can track how the Customer Experience evolves and where you need to focus your attention next.  

Review Tui's new CX software - coming soon

To ensure businesses have the best tools, Review Tui has been developing new and streamlined customer service tools to make feedback management easy. It includes survey-building, real-time reporting and feedback analytics so that you can implement a successful customer feedback strategy all from one location. 

Later this year, the software will be launched and we’d love for you to share in the journey. If you want to get existing updates, helpful feedback tips and invite-only access, join the waiting list now.  

If you’d rather get started today, you can use our Guide to Implementing a Customer Feedback Strategy to develop a process that works for you. You’ll find all you need to know to make the most of your customer’s input as well as how to improve your Customer Experience.