A customer experience definition to guide organizations.
As pioneers in the field of customer experience we have conducted a great deal of research into what constitutes a “customer experience.” Much of this research was focused development of our four bestselling books on the subject. As we continue to better understand it, we also continue to refine our definition.
A customer experience is an interaction between an organization and a customer as perceived through a customer’s conscious and subconscious mind. It is a blend of an organization’s rational performance, the senses stimulated and the emotions evoked and intuitively measured against customer expectations across all moments of contact.
Importantly:
- A customer experience is not just about a rational experience (e.g. how quickly a phone is answered, what hours you’re open, delivery time scales, etc.).
- More than 50 percent of a customer experience is subconscious, or how a customer feels.
- A customer experience is not just about the ‘what,’ but also about the ‘how.’
- A customer experience is about how a customer consciously and subconsciously sees his or her experience.
It’s a complex process of understanding your organization’s relationship with your customers. When addressed effectively, customer experience eases customer acquisition, drives customer loyalty and improves customer retention.
- We help organizations improve their customer experiences by:
- Helping organizations develop customer experience strategies that deliver results,
- Undertaking specialized emotionally-based customer research methods we’ve developed in conjunction with some of the world’s most prestigious business institutions,
- Helping to define how customer-centric the organization is, and how customer-centric it wants to be,
- Designing emotionally engaging customer experiences,
- Measuring experiences organizations currently deliver, and
- Training leaders to become customer experience experts themselves.
Click here to learn about how you can begin the process of building a great customer experience.