A happy customer is a loyal customer, which is why delivering an exceptional customer experience is vital. But what exactly do we mean when we talk about customer experience? Too often, people use the term interchangeably with customer service. However, they’re not the same – although they are both critically important to fostering positive customer relationships. Here’s what to know about customer service vs. customer experience and how to excel at both.
Customer Service is a Subset of the Customer Experience
First things first. What’s the difference between customer experience and customer service? When we talk about the “customer experience,” we’re talking about the overarching set of interactions a customer has with your brand – and the impression they take from those interactions. That experience can be shaped by all manner of things, including product design, branding, pricing, packaging, marketing, and social media outreach.
What about customer service? Customer service is a part of the experience where a customer interacts with your sales or support team to gather information or seek support for your product or service. The customer support function can arise at various parts of the sales funnel, including where customers are ready to convert or are requesting support post-purchase. Given how human-centric customer service is, it’s a core part of customer experience and has a significant impact on whether your customers walk away with a positive perception of your business.
The names may be similar, but brands need to be careful about conflating customer service with customer experience – or assuming that the customer service department is wholly responsible for the customer experience. Customer service is an important touchpoint, but it’s just one part of that overall experience.
Delivering an Exceptional Customer Experience
Delivering an exceptional customer experience is all about anticipating your customer’s needs – and getting ahead of them every step along the way. To do so, today’s companies need to have their finger on the pulse of who their customers are, what they want, and how their needs and expectations can be met. Because while great quality customer service is never bad to have, it doesn’t make up for shortfalls in other areas. Picking up the phone in a timely manner is only a win if your customer is having a positive experience overall. If your branding is off-base, your shipping is slow, and your instructions are unclear, it won’t matter how quickly your reps answer or how knowledgeable they are – your customer is already having a bad time.
One way to ensure your customer experience is delivering on expectations is to invest in an end-to-end customer experience platform like ACD’s. With its ability to integrate into your sales software, its powerful customer analytics, and its real-time call monitoring, our all-in-one customer experience platform can help you better understand your customers, their pain points, and where and how your organization can improve how you do things. The upshot? You’ll not only be able to deliver better customer service, but you’ll be able to tweak your overall business offering to deliver a dramatically improved customer experience.
Elevate Your Customer Service With ACD
Ready to provide improved customer service and an improved customer experience? Talk to ACD Direct about how our integrated platform can elevate your brand at every point along the sales funnel. From helping identify product or service gaps to providing robust customer insights, we can put you on track to deliver a customer experience without rival. For more information about our cloud-based services, talk to us today!
