Customer Journey vs. Customer Experience

The terms customer journey and customer experience are close to each other, yet there are some nuances. To highlight these, we will first explain the terms individually before going into the most significant differences.

What is a Customer Journey?

The customer journey is the path that a customer takes through touchpoints before completing a desired target action. This can be a concrete purchase, but also a specific micro-conversion such as filling out a form, subscribing to a newsletter, or registering in a customer portal. In all cases, this journey is divided into five phases:

• Awareness: the customer becomes aware of a product or service.
• Consideration: the customer informs himself and weighs up a claim.
• Conversion: the prospect becomes a customer and buys.
• Retention: the customer receives the product and is satisfied with it.
• Advocacy: the customer shares his customer experience with others.

Customer Journey Mapping

The customer journey can be visually prepared in a so-called customer journey map. It shows the customer’s path along the various phases and the contact with the respective touchpoints. With the help of the map, weak points along the journey can be uncovered. The map is therefore a good basis for the continuous optimization of the customer experience.

Before the map can be created, however, a number of preparations must be made. First, the target group must be defined and, above all, understood. Then, all relevant touchpoints must be identified and put into a chronological sequence.

The goal: a seamless Journey

The customer journey is not limited to individual departments, but must be viewed holistically across the entire value chain. The countless touchpoints conceal extensive processes that must be coordinated and harmonised. Both offline and digital touchpoints must be included.

What is the Customer Experience?

Customer experience (CX) is the experience that a customer has with a brand. It encompasses all points of interaction, from generating awareness to winning back customers. In other words, it refers to the relationship between a company and its customers. The decisive factor is how the customer perceives the experience. Positive memories promote customer loyalty and positively influence the value of one’s own company.

Customer Experience Mapping

Similar to the customer journey map, the experience map shows the customer’s journey from product discovery to purchase. However, the customer experience map goes further and makes visible what your competitors and your company are doing as part of this journey by taking into account reviews, testimonials, recommendations, support, etc. The experience map is also presented in phases and includes emotions, excellence factors, and needs in addition to the precise orchestration of an overarching experience.

The journey already mentioned can be treated as part of the experience map. In this way, the specific customer journey can be embedded directly in the target experience and the experience can be designed in a customer-centric way.

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What does Customer Experience Management mean?

Customer experience management (CXM or CEM) encompasses all measures for managing the customer experience and has become an indispensable part of modern marketing. The customer and his needs are always at the centre. Commercials or public feedback raise certain expectations about a company’s service offering. Customers should be able to derive maximum benefit from all touchpoints. To do this, they should have access to the information, service and offers they need at all times.

The customer experience can never be completely controlled, as this would mean that the perception, emotions and behaviour of the clientele can be controlled at all times. In addition, a large number of factors play a role in the customer experience. Some of them cannot be directly influenced by the company. These include, for example, content generated by users themselves, such as ratings and feedback, or the influence of external opinion leaders. However, companies have a great opportunity to decisively shape the experience through strategic considerations and follow-up measures based on them.

The importance of Customer Experience

Customer experience management is increasingly becoming a key competitive differentiation measure. Due to the increasing interchangeability of products, customers are increasingly differentiating companies through their experiences with a brand. It is therefore important to create an all-round positive experience.

Eine verbesserte CX beeinflusst unter anderem die Kundenbindung, Preis- und Zahlungsbereitschaft, Cross- und Upselling und Empfehlungen positiv. Parallel dazu sinken die Abwanderungsrate und die Kundenservice-Kosten.

Customer Experience Examples

Examples of poor Customer Experience

• The customer has long waiting times.
• An automated system makes it difficult to reach a support representative.
• Information has to be given multiple times.

How can the Customer Experience be measured?

The customer experience or the success of customer experience management can be measured and evaluated in various ways.

For example, a customer journey map can be used to determine which touchpoints are available for customer experiences, which can still be developed, and which have potential for optimization.

Although customer satisfaction is a key factor in evaluating the customer experience, it is not enough on its own. Analytics tools can be used, for example, to measure search history, page views, dwell time, and interactions. These data provide conclusions about customer intent. In order to find out the actual needs, preferences and interests of customers, they must be offered targeted interaction areas (customer profile, feedback, customer decisions, etc.). It is therefore essential to evaluate every feedback, whether positive or negative, and to translate it into measures.

Qualitative interviews are a tried and tested instrument for obtaining customer insights. Personal interviews or focus groups can generate knowledge that can be used to optimise communication and the product range. For example, knowledge about buying motives, beliefs and needs. In order to optimise the customer experience on an ongoing basis, it is advisable to obtain feedback directly and continuously at certain touchpoints.

Furthermore, the net promoter score (NPS) is a key figure that provides information on how high a customer’s willingness is to recommend a company to others. Three categories are distinguished: the loyal and satisfied (promoters), the satisfied and unmoved (passives), and the dissatisfied and unmoved customers (detractors).

Ways to improve the Customer Experience

The first step to improving the customer experience is to put the customer first. The following tips should help:

• Generate feedback loops: customer feedback reveals what the customer’s expectations are and where they are not being met. However, feedback also makes visible what is already working well.
• Offer an omnichannel experience: the customer must be offered a coherent experience on all channels, where conversations exist across channels and the entire context is always available.
• Act on a content management strategy: customers often prefer to help themselves rather than consult service personnel. User-centric content, customer communities, or chatbots can provide customers with important assistance. In addition, customers want to be provided with the right information at the right time. This is where the next point comes into play.
• Offer personalization: data-supported personalization based on past user behaviour, interactions that have taken place, or purchases made in the past create an individually tailored online experience. Users are targeted with content according to their interests or behaviour.
• Provide proactive experiences: staying one step ahead and anticipating the needs of your customers can create a compelling and personalised experience.
• Leverage data and analytics: having the right understanding of data helps optimise processes and deliver a compelling customer experience.
• Get a handle on your processes: there is nothing worse than fundamental errors in customer-facing processes. Digitization and associated systems (CRM, ERP, interaction analytics, etc.) can help here. Automated workflows (e.g., predefined messages for certain interactions) can also fuel excellence.
• Support customers with new technologies: artificial intelligences such as chatbots or virtual assistants can be used for quick and repetitive tasks. However, if these reach their limits, a seamless transition to human support must be possible. However, the use of such possibilities is to be handled situationally and is by no means a must.

Customer Journey vs. Customer Experience: The Differences

The customer journey is generally understood to be the path that a customer takes and includes all the points of contact that a company has with its environment. With the help of the journey, potentials and synergies are identified in order to further optimise the journey. The customer experience, on the other hand, is the perception of direct contact with the company from the customer’s point of view, i.e. The pure customer experience.

The customer journey is considered a strategy used in managing the customer experience. If you want to provide your customers with a memorable customer experience, you must always keep their journey and feelings in mind.

Therefore, the customer journey map differs from the customer experience map in the following points:

Customer Experience Map

Examples of poor Customer Experience

Examples of good Customer Experience

Takeaways

The customer journey is the journey that a customer takes with a company across various touchpoints. It is usually divided into five phases and can be visually represented in a customer journey map.

The customer experience describes the experience that a customer has with a brand. Positive experiences promote loyalty and have a positive impact on the value of a company. Customer experience management (CXM or CEM) encompasses all measures for managing the customer experience. CXM is increasingly becoming a key competitive differentiation measure, as customers are increasingly focusing on experiences due to the increasing interchangeability of products.

The customer journey and the customer experience map differ essentially in three points. The journey, in contrast to the experience, is more specific. While the journey focuses on a specific product/service, the experience shows the customer experience with the brand in general. Further, the journey maps the journey of a specific buyer persona. With the experience map, the journey of all key customer types is represented. Both the journey and the experience map show where the customer experience has potential for optimization. The journey should be part of the customer experience map, which takes a more holistic approach. Only when both views are combined can a customer-centric and consistent experience be created.

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