Customer experience vs customer service: Make smart investment decisions

What is customer experience?

Customer experience (CX) is the result of all the interactions a customer has with a brand during the customer’s journey. It includes everything, from the sales process to the product or service, to customer service. Customer experience refers to the overall relationship between a brand and its customers and it has a great impact on a company’s bottom line.

Customer experience is shaped by three different factors:

Products/services. Your products or services must be tailored to your customers’ needs. Research and customer feedback are very important to constantly improve your offer according to your customers’ needs.

Employees. Your employees are at the forefront of your business. Customers want to speak with staff that is friendly and approachable, whether they are sales representatives or support agents. Keeping your employees happy, motivated, and engaged is crucial to your company’s success.

Processes. To get all things working seamlessly, from the moment of discovery to the post-sale experience, companies have to streamline their processes, uncovering inefficiencies and working towards a holistic customer service approach.

The customer experience is spread across many different channels: brick-and-mortar, website, social media, phone,, etc. It’s very important that customers have the same experience, regardless of the channel through which they interact with your brand. For that, an omnichannel engagement strategy is fundamental.

What is customer service?

Customer service is part of the customer experience. It refers to a single event in which the customer seeks support during the customer experience. Simply put: customer service is what a brand provides, and customer experience is what customers remember.

Customer service can be delivered through self-service options (such as chatbots or FAQ pages) or human agents. More than simply answering questions, customer service must truly listen to the customer and be capable of offering the best possible solution to their queries.

According to the Talkdesk Research™ report The future of customer loyalty, a good customer service strategy has:

Ease of resolution. This is a critical differentiating factor in the minds of consumers. Resolving an issue at the first contact is ranked as having the highest impact on the likelihood to continue working with a company in the future. Regardless of the path a consumer takes to resolve an issue, they must leave the interaction feeling they have accomplished their goal.

Consistency. Customers now expect to communicate with businesses using digital channels first, and have the option to switch the conversation to another channel, if needed. More than 69% of customers value this ability to transition to different channels while engaging with an agent.

Connection. Customers’ loyalty is increasingly driven by their overall connection to a brand. That means, among other things, that they are paying close attention to companies’ positions and actions within a broader social context. As a result, agents, who are already expected to serve as brand ambassadors, will need to be able to speak about social themes that customers care about.

3 fundamental differences between customer experience and customer service.

Now that we know the definition of customer experience and customer service, let’s look at the three fundamental differences between them.

They have different moments. A key difference between these two terms is that customer experience relates to the overall interaction, while customer service is a one-time event. Customer service is a component of the overall customer experience.

They have different success metrics. While Net Promoter Score® (NPS) and customer satisfaction (CSAT) are good metrics to gauge how the brand CX is performing, other key performance indicators (KPIs) such as service level, first contact resolution, and average speed of answer will give you better insight into the customer service performance.

They have different owners. While the customer support department is accountable for delivering high standards of customer service, the customer experience responsibility is shared across the entire organization. Customer experience involves numerous touchpoints and requires all departments to constantly work together to improve it. From the customer service team to the sales team, everyone is responsible for giving customers a seamless, pleasant experience at every touchpoint.

How to make smart CX investment decisions.

Which comes first? The chicken or the egg? The answer is clear: one can’t exist without the other. That’s exactly the same with customer experience and customer service. Customer service is a crucial part of customer experience, and one can’t have a good customer experience if the customer service isn’t that great. When customers don’t get the support they need, they feel frustrated and lose trust in the company.

Customer experience and customer service may be different concepts, but they work side by side to deliver the best outcome for customers. So, if you’re planning to improve customer service, you’ll need to look into the customer experience—likewise if your goal is to deliver a great customer experience.

It might sound like a daunting task to look both into customer experience and customer service and come out with an investment plan, but there are some tools to help you with the process:

Start with a good example of how customer service impacts the overall brand experience.
Then, watch this webinar and learn how to turn your vision of a better customer experience into a reality.
Finally, deep dive into CX investment decisions with the help of our ebook A buyers’ guide to smart customer experience investments.