Customer Experience

Customer experience (CX) is the sum of all experiences at various touchpoints a customer has with a supplier of goods and/or services, over the duration of their relationship with that supplier. This can include awareness, discovery, attraction, interaction, purchase, use, cultivation and advocacy. It can also be used to mean an individual experience over one transaction; the distinction is usually clear in context.

However, reviewing the ontology of customer experience, there is a disparity between this ‘experience as everything’ definition and its original intent, i.e., experience as in a personal and memorable experience that critically creates a distinct economic offer different from the goods sold and services delivered (ref: Pine and Gilmore).

As the economics of customer experience hang on the ‘distinct economic offer’ definition, one conclusion some commentators have made is that the ‘experience as everything’ definition is, in fact, a reworking of ‘service excellence’. Analysts and commentators who write about customer experience and customer relationship management have increasingly recognized the importance of managing the customer’s experience.

A company’s ability to deliver an experience that sets it apart in the eyes of its customers serves to increase the amount of consumer spending with the company and, optimally, inspire loyalty to its brand. “Loyalty,” says Jessica Sebor, “is now driven primarily by a company’s interaction with its customers and how well it delivers on their wants and needs.” (2008)