Differences Between Customer Experience (CX) and Customer Success (CS)

Date
October 16, 2024
Read Time
4-5 minutes
Category
Customer Experience

Businesses have become more and more focused on creating positive customer experiences. But what does that really mean? You may hear terms like Customer Experience (CX) and Customer Success (CS) and they may even be used interchangeably — but they represent distinct approaches with different goals and strategies. It is important to understand the differences between customer experience and customer success and learn how to develop effective customer-focused strategies. boostCX offers powerful customer experience management tools that can be tailored to fit various industries — including automotive, financial, retail, and more — helping you achieve success in both areas.

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Customer Experience (CX) vs. Customer Success (CS)

While both CX and CS focus on creating positive experiences for customers, they have distinct approaches and goals. CX aims to create positive and engaging experiences across all touchpoints to foster satisfaction and loyalty. CS focuses on helping customers achieve their desired outcomes using a company's product or service. 

Customer Experience — CX encompasses all interactions a customer has with your brand, from initial awareness to post-purchase support. It focuses on creating positive and engaging experiences across all touchpoints to foster satisfaction and loyalty.

Customer Success — CS is about partnering with customers to help them achieve their goals and extract maximum value from the products or services you have to offer. It's a proactive approach that focuses on guiding customers towards success and gaining value from their relationship with your business.

Customer Experience vs. Customer Success: Areas of Focus

Customer experience strategies cast a wider net than customer success, creating positive impressions at every stage of the customer journey, from initial awareness and interactions with your brand to their post-purchase experience and beyond. It's about crafting a seamless and enjoyable overall experience at every step along the way. Customer success adopts a more targeted strategy, focusing on helping customers achieve specific goals and maximize the value they receive from your product or service. This may include providing proactive guidance, personalized support, and resources that empower customers to successfully utilize your products or services.

Customer Experience vs. Customer Success: Strategy

CX strategies often involve mapping the customer journey, identifying pain points, and implementing improvements to enhance customer satisfaction. This approach helps streamline processes, improve communication, or personalize interactions to create a more seamless and enjoyable experience for customers. CS strategies focus on providing the support and resources customers need to successfully utilize a product or service and achieve a specific outcome. This could include onboarding programs, training materials, ongoing support channels, and proactive guidance for customers.

Customer Experience vs. Customer Success: Customer Relationships

CX strategies aim to build positive relationships and create connections between your brand and your customers. This involves creating a consistent and enjoyable experience across all facets of the business, from the initial interaction to post-purchase support. It's about making customers feel valued and appreciated at every touchpoint, so they become repeat buyers and brand advocates. CS involves developing deeper relationships with key customer segments after they have made a purchase, providing personalized support and guidance to help ensure their success. This might involve assigning dedicated customer success managers or offering tailored onboarding programs.

Customer Experience vs. Customer Success: KPIs

CX Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) often include metrics like customer satisfaction (CSAT), Net Promoter Score (NPS), customer acquisition rate, customer conversion rate, and customer churn rate. These metrics measure how satisfied customers are with their overall experience and how likely they are to recommend your brand to others. The KPIs analyzed with a customer success strategy focus on metrics like customer lifetime value (CLTV), customer retention rate, customer effort score (CES), and repeat purchase rate. These metrics measure how successful customers are in achieving their desired outcomes using your product or service.

READ MORE: Top 25 Stats that Show the Value of Customer Experience

When you are looking at ways to improve your business processes, it is important to understand the differences between customer experience and customer success. While they represent different approaches, they are complementary and essential for building a successful and customer-focused business.

Contact boostCX today to learn how our solutions can help you excel in both customer experience and customer success!