What is Customer Experience?

Every time you make a purchase, see an advertisement or call a customer support line, you’re interacting with a brand. And with each of these interactions, your perception of the brand can change — positively or negatively. That's the basis of customer experience as a field.

"Imagine a customer orders a pair of shoes online from a retailer," said Dr. Jolivette Wallace, an associate dean of business at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU). "An exceptional customer experience provides clear updates and gets the package on time with eco-friendly packaging. When the shoes don’t fit, they easily return them for free and get a quick refund with a discount for future purchases."

Wallace is a leader in higher education, a certified digital marketing professional and a successful entrepreneur. She said processes like these are designed to ensure that customers feel valued, respected and supported.

So, What Does Customer Experience Mean?

"Customer experience (CX) is the overall perception and emotional response customers have when interacting with a company, its products, services and brand," said Wallace.

She said customer experience is an area of business administration focusing on creating positive, seamless and meaningful interactions — whether online or in person — to build customer loyalty and satisfaction.

Learn more about business administration.

What is the Difference Between Customer Service and Customer Experience?

Customer service is an organizational function which manages customer relations, IBM reports. Some businesses have customer service departments, while smaller companies might have customer service built into other roles.

Customer experience, on the other hand, goes beyond the scope of customer service and includes brand interactions at any stage of a customer’s journey, starting from the first time you hear about a brand onward.

Why is Customer Experience Important?

In the internet age, customer experience might be more important for businesses than ever before. Opinions about different brands can spread quickly through “digital word of mouth,” according to Search Engine Land, which also means that brands can work to shape and change their reputations by incorporating customer feedback.

Successful CX satisfies the customer's needs and creates loyalty, according to Wallace.

"Companies cannot survive solely on one-time purchases," she said. "The seamless, personalized journey leaves the customer satisfied and loyal, leaving them likely to recommend the retailer and make future purchases."

In turn, this can make a company more profitable.

What Are Some Customer Experience Strategies and Concepts?

"CX involves learning how to design, measure, and improve these experiences to meet customer needs and drive business success," Wallace said. "There are so many great concepts."

Some related strategies and concepts include:

Customer Journey Mapping

You may decide to trace and map out a customer’s journey to envision their interactions with a brand. Wallace said this allows you to identify pain points and opportunities for improvement. 

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

This refers to the strategies and tools used to manage customer interactions, track data, and drive sales. "CRM systems help inform and enhance the CX by providing insights into customer preferences and behaviors," Wallace said.

Omni-channel Experience

Wallace noted that attention to the omni-channel experience ensures consistency and integration across multiple channels to provide a seamless experience — including online, offline and mobile.

Personalization

Some brands are prioritizing personalization — offering customers individualized experiences. According to a survey by Forbes, 81% of customers prefer a personalized customer experience.

Social Listening

Customers don’t have to come to you with their opinions for you to find out what they’re thinking. Also called social media listening, social listening is when companies search social media to see what customers are saying about their brand, Brandwatch said.

Careers in Customer Experience

"A career in customer experience requires a mix of technical, analytical and interpersonal skills," Wallace said.

Some CX careers you might pursue include:

• Customer Insights Analyst: Market research analysts, which could include customer insights analyst roles, made a median $74,680 in 2023, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports.*
  
  
• Customer Support Representative: Customer service representatives earned a median income of $39,680 in 2023, according to BLS.*
  
  
• Quality Assurance Specialist: Quality control inspectors earned $45,850 in 2023, BLS notes, while software quality assurance analysts and testers earned a median wage of $101,800 that same year.*
  
  
• User Experience (UX) Designer: Web developers and digital designers, including UX designers, made a median of $92,750 in 2023, according to BLS data.*

You may also find management roles in customer experience with titles such as customer experience manager, customer relationship manager or customer success manager.

Take a look at SNHU’s customer experience career guide to explore more possibilities.

How to Get Into Customer Experience

At SNHU, you could earn a bachelor’s in business administration with a concentration in customer experience to help prepare yourself to enter the field.

According to Wallace, students in this concentration will gain skills in communication, marketing, project management, data analysis, customer journey mapping and customer experience strategy. "Our CX concentration was skillfully designed by industry professionals addressing these critical needs and customer demands." she said.

She noted that the coursework in this concentration incorporates topics that are aligned to industry-related credentials, introducing you to a number of valuable business concepts.

"The customer experience concentration provides students with the opportunity to develop knowledge and skills needed to drive success in today’s consumer-centric business environment," Wallace said.

*Cited job growth projections may not reflect local and/or short-term economic or job conditions and do not guarantee actual job growth. Actual salaries and/or earning potential may be the result of a combination of factors including, but not limited to: years of experience, industry of employment, geographic location, and worker skill.