customer service vs customer experience essay

Customer Experience vs. Customer Service: What's the Difference?

Published: June 10, 2022

Customer service  and customer experience  are critical aspects of your business as they significantly impact your ability to satisfy and retain customers.

The two terms are not interchangeable, though, as each means something entirely different to your business. Read on to learn the difference between the two and how your business practices relate to each concept.

Customer Experience vs. Customer Service

Customer experience is the experience customers have with your brand and the lasting impression you leave across the entire buyer’s journey, from discovering your brand to post-purchase. Customer service is helping customers solve problems, showing them how to use products, and answering questions.

What’s the difference between customer service and customer experience?

The main difference between customer experience and service is that experience is delighting customers at every touchpoint with your brand, and customer service is one single touchpoint. Customer experience doesn’t require interaction with a representative, but customer service usually does.

Experience is also proactive, while service is reactive. With the former, you aim to delight your customers without them having to reach out to you. The other usually begins when a customer initiates a conversation when they need help.

The two concepts are also measured by different metrics. Customer service metrics show how quickly you help customers resolve their issues, and experience metrics assess sentiment. So, for example, a customer experience team would measure Net Promoter Score , and service teams would look at Average Response Time .

Although different, customer service is part of the customer experience umbrella. The way you help customers when issues arise contributes to their level of satisfaction, and the faster you can help bring customers a resolution, the faster you can help them succeed and have a positive experience.

Customer Service and Customer Experience Examples

Let’s discuss the difference between customer experience and customer service with the example scenario of a customer visiting a storefront. Say a customer walks in, makes a return with a representative, and continues with their day — this is a singular customer experience. That single interaction, though, makes up a small portion of their entire experience with your business that day.

For example, the directions they found on your Google My Business page helped them get there, the setup of your storefront made it easy for them to find your customer service desk, and your customer service rep helped them seamlessly make a return and process a refund.

Everything they did that day related to your business made up their entire experience, and customer service was one of those touchpoints.

Here are some additional examples of customer service and customer experience:

Customer experience and customer service are different, but both are important.

Many aspects of customer service contribute to the overall customer experience, and it’s essential to be aware of this. Instead of focusing on one practice over the other, create an all-encompassing strategy that ensures you provide satisfactory customer service and, in the process, create an experience that leaves customers satisfied.

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• Business Management

Customer Service vs. Customer Experience: Key differences

February 15, 2022 •

9 min reading

Terms such as “customer service” and “customer experience” are commonly misinterpreted and interchangeably used. Similar as they may sound, both vastly differ in meaning. Knowing the difference between these two seemingly equal terms will empower you to improve how to serve your current and future customers. Exceeding your guest expectations and creating memorable moments will result in lifelong positive impacts!

"Customer service (CS)" is a key component of the entire customer journey, while "customer experience (CX)" comprises all the interactions between your brand and a customer. To understand the nuances between both, we need to dive deeper into each. 

What is Customer Service (CS)?

A good way to define customer service would be as “the act of taking care of the customer's needs by providing and delivering professional, helpful, high quality service and assistance before, during, and after a purchase of a product or a service. (...) It is meeting the needs and desires of any customer".

Customer service embraces the "human element" within the buyer journey. This, in turn, allows such clients to evaluate your company’s overall value. Simply stated, the quality of service support that a customer gets will fundamentally affect his perception of your brand as a whole.

But how do you provide a seamless service that will exceed your client’s expectations? The answer: make them feel valued as individuals.

Six ways to make your customers feel special:

• Express your appreciation
• Call them by their first name
• Pay attention to them
• Listen to their feedback
• Always be presentable as a business

The customer service goal is to go above and beyond isolating the causes of frustration in the customer’s experience over the duration of the relationship. For that, guest services leaders across all functions should aim to indoctrinate a customer-first culture within their employees.

A customer-centric culture can be viewed as a CX-minded team sport that requires the involvement of everyone within the organization (from the CEO to the managers—and even the housekeeping crew). It will allow workers to improve their customer service skills by:

• Demonstrating empathy in the rise of an issue
• Understanding the root cause of any customer complaint
• Personalizing solutions to the case-in-matter
• Being empowered to use their judgement to best deliver quick, first-class solutions

But a common fault many companies commit is on how they approach this customer-driven strategy, impelled by the end-goal of profits increase (a sales-driven culture). Instead, the guiding foundation here should be meeting customers' needs (and every employee’s goal to deliver a superb customer experience).

In contrast, poor customer service is when your business fails to meet a customer's expectations. This could translate into how long it takes for you to answer a phone call, misaligned information, being transferred from one agent to another, or any overall negative interaction with your brand.

SERVICE EXCELLENCE TOOLKIT With this 7-step process, you will have all the tools you need to master your company Customer Experience.

What is customer experience (cx).

Dave Dyson, a community marketing specialist at Zendesk defines customer experience as “ how a client feels about the sum of their interactions with a business (...). “ It involves every way a customer interacts with a company, at all stages of the buyer journey”. 

An example of great Customer Experience

In short, the customer experience is directly related to the combination of all the touchpoints a given client undergoes throughout the entirety of their engagement with your brand . This includes:

• The marketing material (perceived before they ever become a buyer)
• The sales experience
• Post-service treatment
• Product (features, reliability, ease-of-usage)
• Service as a whole

Put simply, from the moment a person first visits your website (or store) to their first conversation with a customer service agent, and even how they feel post-purchase. All these are touchpoints which, combined, are intrinsic aspects of an overall customer experience. This ultimately means that the CX is not exclusively the direct interaction that a customer has with a brand, but rather also how these customers feel throughout the buyer journey.

Brands that portray a cohesive and consistent experience across all departments build a stronger loyal customer base. Some examples of touchpoints where customers meet your brand:

• Social media
• Online advertisement
• Browse products on your website
• Interaction with staff
• Reading blog posts (digital marketing content)
• Attending events/webinars
• Making a purchase (billing actions)
• Using your product
• Thank you letters
• Feedback surveys
• Peer referral
• Upsell/Cross-sell emails
• Customer support channels
• Customer onboarding
• Customer loyalty programs

An example of poor Customer Experience

An American grandmother was recently kicked out of a hotel in the middle of her stay with her six-year-old granddaughter. The reason behind such a move was that the 63-year-old had left the hotel with a 3 out of 5-star online review midway through their stay.

What was initially believed to be a prank from the hotel’s part, resulted in a hellish experience, with the pair being escorted from their room by the police in the middle of the night. But regardless of approving the hotel’s choice or not, you don't need to be a hospitality expert to grasp how the two guests felt.

Think about it. Have you ever experienced such a fantastic service after making a purchase that you couldn’t resist but talk about it to your friends? Do you recall how that experience made you feel? Was it valued? Appreciated? Listened to?

Perhaps, all of the above?

Alternatively, remember how you felt after receiving an abysmal service? We bet the aftertaste of the latter experience was rather diverse. Maybe you’ve warned your friends and family about your negative impression, possibly even going to the extent of leaving your opinion online so that others could be equally alerted. 

Independently of your personal experiences, according to a study done by Harvard Business Review stated that 76% of executives not only see the value behind improving CX, but also go further to state that it is a high or critical priority.

The study further claims that leaders being on board set the tone and mindset for the entire organization. In other words: if leaders want to improve the customer experience, other employees will emulate it.

The impact of poor Customer Experience

So yes, offering a superb customer experience is one of the great ways to increase sales, create loyal customers, and turn consumers into passionate brand advocates. But failing to do so can result in dire consequences for your business. 

Source: hotjar

By faulting in delivering an outstanding customer experience, your brand could undergo a: 

• Loss of customers
• Damaged brand reputation
• Loss of repeat business
• Reduced customer lifetime value
• Negative customer reviews

Differences between Customer Service and Customer Experience

Now, let's look in detail at the four main differences between customer service vs. customer experience.

Limited interaction vs. an entire journey

It's clear now that customer service is part of the entire customer experience, with the key difference to distinguish each being the number of interactions between the client and the brand. Customer service comprises one (or very few) touchpoints, while various interactions build up the foundations of the customer experience .  

Reactive vs. proactive

Providing customer service will be directly dependent on a client actively reaching out for assistance via their preferred channel (email, phone, social media, live chat, etc). Alternatively, with customer experience, it’s all about anticipating the needs of a given client. Don’t wait for the customer to raise an issue to resolve their problem or meet their requirements.

To provide customers with a great CX, companies need to become intuitive, learn from previous or common issues, and should get a better understanding of the customer’s needs and expectations. For that, figures from previous interactions can be analyzed to provide improvements before customers ever encounter any issues. This will allow such companies to behave preemptively, rather than wait for problems to arise.

Interaction and ownership

Regardless if your customer interaction is face-to-face or online, the customer service teams are the people directly responsible for helping customers with whatever issues they’re facing. 

The customer experience , on the other hand, is often shared across the entire organization, from marketing and sales, to people and product teams . These teams typically don’t interact directly with customers, but their work obliquely impacts customers’ perception and loyalty nonetheless.

How to measure Customer Service vs. Customer Experience

Below are a few ways of analyzing how to measure your service quality and overall customer satisfaction:

Net Promoter Score ( NPS )

NPS is the standard indicator used by companies worldwide. It is used to measure a customer's propensity to recommend a certain brand. The NPS score is also easily comparable to that of your direct competitors and the market leaders. Because NPS follows the journey from start to finish, it’s more adapted to measure the customer experience, being ideal to reflect the customer’s global feelings towards the brand at hand. 

Customer Satisfaction Score ( CSAT )

Customer service vs. customer experience: which matters more.

By now it’s clear that, such as with cheese and wine pairing, CS and CX aren’t whole without the other. Both make up an essential part of your business’ success.

So, as a guest experience leader, if your business is in it for the long run, it’s time to look at the big picture and assess how to create a better customer experience. CX is so much more than just a trend. It should be the beating heart of everything your company does. By promoting and consistently delivering customer care throughout the entire buyer journey, you’ll be able to delight your customers.

Download our Customer Service vs. Customer Experience: Key differences Infographic

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Customer Service vs. Customer Experience: Explained

Is customer service part of the customer experience ? Or is customer experience what happens when someone receives customer service? Are they the same thing?

The terms “customer service” and “customer experience” are often confused or used interchangeably. They’re not the same thing, but they are related.

The difference between customer service and customer experience is that while customer service is one piece of the puzzle — focused on human interaction and directly supporting customers — customer experience is the sum of the entire customer journey with your business.

Let’s take a look at customer service vs. customer experience in more detail.

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What is Customer Service?

Customer service is probably a more familiar term — it’s also the more narrowly scoped of the two.

Customer service is the assistance and advice provided to a customer for your product or service as needed.

Customer service requires your customer-facing team to possess a particular set of skills , including patience, product knowledge, and tenacity, so they can provide the answers and assistance a customer needs. It’s the human element in the customer journey and the voice your customer will recognize as representative of your organization.

What is Customer Experience?

Customer Experience, or CX, refers to the broader customer journey across the organization and includes every interaction between the customer and the business.

CX involves all the ways your business interacts with a customer, including and outside of traditional direct, customer-facing service. CX captures how the customer uses your product or service, their interactions with self-service support options, the feeling of walking into your retail store, customer service interactions with the team, and more.

Customer experience includes three main components:

Customer Service : This includes Customer Support, Customer Success , and self-service support — the points at which your customer interacts with your team.

Technology : This is the product itself — how it works and the interactivity points.

Design : This is the brand touchpoint — the marketing, the design, and the feelings your brand creates for your customer.

While those three areas are quite distinct, there are no hard lines between them. All of the pieces combine and work together to make up the customer experience.

Customer Service Vs. Customer Experience

The key difference between customer service and customer experience is that customer experience involves the whole customer journey, including customer service.

Customer service is limited to the interactions a customer has when seeking advice or assistance on a product or service. Understanding the customer experience, on the other hand, can involve analyzing data from non-customer-facing teams who contribute to a customer’s overall experience with a product or service.

Customer service and customer experience are both important pieces to an organization’s success, yet it’s not possible (or necessary) to draw hard lines between them. The line between how customers use a product and how they interact with the people supporting it are more blurred than ever. Customers consider the whole picture when thinking about your offerings, and you should, too.

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Sarah is a freelance writer specializing in technology and customer support and a former Happiness Engineer at Automattic. Connect with her on Twitter and LinkedIn .

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In many organizations, but not all, customer service is treated as part of the customer experience. Both are interested in driving customer satisfaction, but they focus on different parts of the customer journey to achieve it. So what are the key differences in customer service vs. customer experience? And why do both matter for your business?

Customer experience , or CX, is a holistic accounting of customers’ perceptions resulting from all their interactions with a business or brand, whether online or in-store. Customer experience involves customer experience management (CXM), which refers to strategies, technologies and practices for improving business results by creating an ideal experience for anyone interacting with a company. The overall customer experience focuses on meeting customer expectations and influencing the customer’s overall perception of products and solutions wherever they take place on the customer journey .

Alternatively, customer service refers to the actions that an organization takes to ensure that customers are satisfied with their products post-purchase. Customer service, which can also be called customer support or customer care , is much more customer-facing than many parts of customer experience. Providing great customer service involves making important decisions about pricing, branding, positioning, and use cases.

Customer-centric organizations should aim to excel at both customer experience and customer service. Therefore, it’s worthwhile to explore more deeply where the two are similar and where they differ.

Customer service vs. customer experience across the customer journey

The simplest key difference between CX and customer service is that CX is concerned with meeting customer needs during the entire customer journey. Customer service is focused on post-purchase. As such, CS is considered a subset of CX.

CX teams are concerned with both short-term tactics and long-term strategy . They are thinking about the holistic picture of the entire customer journey from awareness to consideration to purchase and post-purchase.

Customer journey mapping involves defining the touchpoints throughout the lifecycle of engagements with prospects and customers. A customer journey involves many touchpoints over the entire lifecycle of customer engagement. The assumptions behind customer journey mapping are that prospects or customers are being purposeful at each touchpoint—trying to solve a problem, answer a question, compare options, or cross something off a to-do list.

One way to think about the intersection of customer experience and customer service is to map out the marketing funnel. Doing so demonstrates how CX oversees the entire process, whereas customer service is activated for specific functions.

• Awareness : This starts with the customer learning about the organization and its solutions, and potentially exploring competitors’ solutions. They might sign up for email messages or follow the organizations on social media .
• Consideration : After they understand the value propositions, they may ask questions or do further research.
• Purchase : When a customer is ready to make a purchase, customer service activates. The function helps customers with any questions when they are finalizing purchases and can facilitate the purchase if a customer cannot buy online or in-store.
• Loyalty : The moments immediately after a purchase are incredibly important for generating customer loyalty. The customer service function helps ensure that customers know how to use the product they purchased. CS is also available to answer further questions or solve problems afterward. Companies often create customer success teams, which can be a part of customer service or the sales team, to provide tutorials and best practices on maximizing the use of a product. The goal is to help those customers use the product as quickly, simply and satisfactorily as possible.
• Advocacy : Creating loyal customers unlocks the possibility that some of them tell people in their network about an organization’s products or even potentially laud the value of the customer experience it provides. Creating customer advocates helps the customer experience function perform better. That is because new prospects come into the funnel already ‘warmed’ by the positive sentiment from previous customers.

CX and CS tools

Both customer experience and customer service disciplines rely on valuable tools to maximize their value.

Key customer experience tools:

CX teams use tools that help them see and take strategic actions across the entire customer journey.

• Customer relationship management (CRM) tools enable organizations to collect, track, and analyze data resulting from customer interactions across channels .
• A/B test software , which can provide different messaging to website visitors to identify which resonates the most. CX teams, working directly with UX teams, can use software to create variations of a message and track which one leads to the most purchases or time that is spent on the site.
• Dynamic recommendations for other products or accessories based on previous product purchases.

Key customer service tools:

While customer service teams will likely use the previously mentioned tools, some others are much more aligned with CS team roles and responsibilities.

• Self-service chatbots that interact with customers to provide answers to their questions. Customer service interactions are increasingly powered by automation and generative artificial intelligence (AI).
• Web-based knowledge bases where users can find articles, FAQs and videos to walk them through how to solve issues and use their products or services correctly.
• A webpage that provides customers with multiple ways to reach the organization to talk to customer support representatives.
• Proactive email or text messages to customers who inquire how the product is performing and provide instructions and tips on how to use it.

CX and CS metrics are different

Both customer experience and customer service involve measurement of their activities to ensure that they are successful in meeting customer needs. Many revolve around capturing customer feedback and measuring real-time responses. And while some common KPIs relate to both disciplines, others are more closely aligned with one than another.

Key customer experience metrics:

• Customer satisfaction score (CSAT) : CSAT is the percentage of respondents who claim to be satisfied (4) or very satisfied (5) in surveys that are offered after a touchpoint experience.
• Net Promoter Score (NPS) : NPS gauges how likely a person is to recommend a company or its products to others. People are asked on a scale of 1 to 10 how likely they would recommend it to others. Scores 6 or less are subtracted from the number of 9s and 10s to create a percentage. It is best considered a customer experience metric because it can occur during any part of the customer journey.
• Customer Effort Score (CES) : After a touch, the customer is asked how easy or difficult it was to accomplish their goal, rating the difficulty from 1 (easy) to 5 or 7 (difficult).
• Customer retention rate : Maintaining high customer retention rates demonstrates a successful customer experience function and enhances the bottom line by increasing customer lifetime value. Increasing customer loyalty and limiting churn means that customers are either satisfied with the product or solution or have yet to find a good replacement.

Key customer service metrics:

• First Response Time (FRT) : How long it takes for customer support teams to respond to a customer problem or request. It is a sign of good customer service for an organization to be able to respond immediately to a customer issue, whether on social media, email, chat room, or phone call.
• Average Resolution Time (ART) : This involves how long it takes from the beginning of a customer service interaction until the issue is resolved.
• Issue resolution rate : This relates to how many customer service issues are successfully addressed and resolved. While a customer service team cannot expect to resolve every issue, failure to solve almost all issues is a sign of an issue.

CS and CX together ensure that organizations are caring for customers

Today’s consumers are more discerning and have more options than ever. To delight your customers and remain competitive, you should personalize every touchpoint across the entire customer experience (CX). True personalization at scale involves all aspects of your business, from marketing and messaging to supply chain, sales, and service.

IBM puts customer experience strategy at the center of your business. Our deep expertise in customer journey mapping and design, platform implementation, and data and AI consulting can help you harness best-in-class technologies to drive transformation across the customer experience.

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Customer service vs. customer experience . It's not just a semantic debate; it's a strategic crossroads that businesses must navigate if they want to successfully drive customer loyalty and build long-lasting relationships. 

While both customer service and customer experience are crucial, they have distinct approaches and goals. Whether or not you understand the ways in which they diverge can mean the difference between winning the hearts of customers or losing their business to the competition.

At its core, customer service is about assisting people with a specific need in a specific set of circumstances, and it’s essential for every business that wants to succeed over the long haul. After all, a staggering 95% of consumers agree that customer service influences their brand loyalty . 1

In contrast, customer experience encompasses more than just solving problems or addressing specific queries – it’s the panoramic view of the entire customer journey with your business. Rather than being confined to singular interactions, it encapsulates the collective total of all a customer’s touchpoints.

Join us as we look into the nuances of customer service vs. customer experience . This article will help you understand not only their most important differences, but also how they're each critical to a thriving business built for longevity. 

What is customer service?

Customer service (CS) is the support and assistance that a company provides to its customers throughout the lifetime of their ownership of its products or use of its services. It’s primarily focused on addressing and resolving specific issues and inquiries raised by customers through various channels, including email, phone, live chat, social media, and in-person interactions.

The primary objective of customer service is to handle these concerns promptly and efficiently, with representatives doing everything in their power to ensure that the issue in question gets resolved and the customer leaves the interaction satisfied. Achieving this objective involves the following goals:

Resolving issues : From malfunctioning products to billing errors, customer service is the first line of defense against technical issues and the frustration that so often accompanies them. Reps have a responsibility to offer clear explanations, quick solutions, and efficient resolutions, minimizing inconvenience and restoring satisfaction with their products or services.

Addressing complaints : Whether it's a polite inquiry or a passionate rant, customer service reps should strive to listen attentively, address concerns professionally, and work to leave the customer feeling heard and understood.

Providing technical support : When there’s a technical hiccup, customer service is responsible for patiently troubleshooting issues and guiding customers through solutions.

Facilitating returns and exchanges : Whether it's a customer seeking for a replacement, customer service should facilitate a smooth process, minimizing friction and frustration.

Offering post-purchase support : Beyond helping customers overcome initial hurdles, customer service teams should act as ongoing guides, providing usage tips, answering questions, and fostering a sense of trust and loyalty through their compassionate support and dependability. 

With that said, it's critical to understand that – contrary to the common misconception – customer service isn't confined solely to the domain of the customer support team . It's an organization-wide effort to effectively meet consumer expectations and cultivate enduring relationships.

If you want to enhance your brand’s customer service, read this article: 10 key elements of customer service.

Importance of customer service

Customer service is a key touchpoint in the customer journey and directly impacts the overall customer experience. According to a study by CGS, 80% of consumers feel more emotionally connected to a brand when customer service solves their problem. 2

In other words, delivering top-notch customer service is a must for every business interested in connecting with consumers and maintaining their business over time. And there are several compelling factors that help explain why customer service confers such significant advantages on those companies that deploy it successfully. 

Immediate problem resolution : Customer service is the frontline for addressing immediate issues and inquiries, ensuring prompt problem resolution.

Increased loyalty : Exceptional customer service directly contributes to customer satisfaction, fostering loyalty and repeat business.

Better customer retention : By providing excellent service, businesses can reduce bounce-offs and retain valuable customers .

Valuable customer insights : Customer service interactions provide a wealth of data about customer needs, preferences, and pain points. This information can be used to improve products, services, and the overall customer experience.

What is customer experience?

Customer experience (CX) is the sum of every interaction a customer has with a company. From discovering a brand to using its product or service, CX encapsulates the totality of a customer’s relationship with a business. 

Customer experience isn’t not just about providing customers with what they paid for, either. Rather, it’s predicated on exceeding their expectations and making them feel valued and understood throughout their journey. This level of CX performance can be achieved through both direct and indirect interactions, including, customers’ experience browsing your website, interacting with customer service reps, and using the actual product or service.

Finding the right balance between people and processes is one of the keys to a great CX . Whether it’s with a sales agent, support representative, or other staff member, customers want friendly interactions that leave them feeling good about the company and the business they’re giving them. At the same time, they crave seamless experiences throughout their journey – effective and easy solutions for everything from connecting with a service rep to using self-service portals.

Regardless of the company or industry, the consistent, overarching goal of customer experience is to create positive emotions and enduring memories throughout the customer journey, fostering brand loyalty and advocacy. 

Importance of customer experience

As surprising as it may be to hear, today’s consumer places their overall “ experience ” with a business on the same level as the actual offerings of that business. That is, they care about more than just the product or service being provided; they want a fulfilling journey with your brand, from initial awareness to ongoing engagement . 

So, why is customer experience so critical for businesses? In short, because CX is about creating a sense of loyalty among customers, resulting in lasting relationships that produce  tangible benefits. Here’s a few of the most important ones: 

Revenue growth : Satisfied customers are repeat customers – it’s really that simple. According to a recent report from Qualtrics, customers who received a positive experience are 2.6 times more likely to purchase from the same business again . 4 A satisfying, even impressive, journey across all touchpoints keeps customers returning for more products or services, a pattern with an indisputably positive effect on your bottom line. 

Brand advocacy : Happy customers become brand advocates, spreading positive word-of-mouth to friends, family, and acquaintances. In fact, the same report from Qualtrics shows that customers who reported having excellent experiences are 3.6 times more likely to recommend a business to others . 5 This organic promotion is a powerful marketing tool, attracting new customers in a highly convincing, authentic way without incurring significant advertising costs. (Word-of-mouth, in fact, is usually completely free!)

Long-term relationship building : CX is instrumental in building long-term relationships with your customers. Satisfied individuals who have strongly positive associations with your business are more likely to overlook occasional hiccups, leading to an increase in the overall CSAT rate .

Reduced churn rate : Investing in CX pays off by keeping your existing customers happy and regularly returning to your business’s offerings. These satisfied customers are far less likely to switch to competitors, reducing churn rates and securing a more stable customer base.

Brand reputation : Positive experiences enhance brand reliability and customer focus, attracting more consumers and contributing to a favorable brand reputation that consumers recognize and respect.

Continuous improvement through feedback : CX analyzes feedback from various customer touchpoints to understand customer preferences and pain points. This can be invaluable for refining products, services, and overall business strategies.

Deeper customer engagement : A good CX encourages customers to become more involved with your brand by interacting with its various channels. Cultivating a relationship across multiple mediums in this way leads to stronger connections and wider reach.

Increased customer lifetime value : By creating positive memories and exceeding expectations, you encourage customers to engage with your brand more often and over a longer period of time. Expanding customers’ level of engagement leads to deeper relationships and, ultimately, increased lifetime value.

Crisis management and damage control : In times of crisis, a well-crafted customer experience strategy can act as a crucial tool for damage control, turning periods of potential churn and abandonment into positive interactions that earn the respect of your customers.

Businesses must equip their frontline teams with the essential tools. Find out how help desk automation can help you deliver unmatched customer experiences . 

What is the difference between customer service and customer experience?

While sometimes used interchangeably, customer service and customer experience are distinct concepts with different roles in shaping a customer's journey. 

Before we delve deeper into the specifics and nuances  of customer service vs. customer experience , here’s a quick table highlighting a few of the key distinctions:

Customer service (CS)

Reactive : Deals with specific issues, problems, and inquiries after they arise.

Transactional : Focused on resolving individual interactions and fulfilling requests.

Touchpoints

Channel-specific : Often associated with dedicated channels like phone calls, emails, or live chats.

Prompt resolution within each interaction, leading to customer satisfaction.

Involvement

Agent-driven : Relies heavily on the efforts and skills of customer service representatives.

Customer experience (CX)

Proactive : Aims to prevent issues, understand overall needs, and anticipate wants.

Holistic : Encompasses the entire customer journey, from awareness to post-purchase engagement.

Omnichannel : Integrates seamlessly across all touchpoints, online and offline, direct and indirect.

Building lasting connections and fostering loyalty.

Systemic : Driven by processes, infrastructure, and technology designed to create a positive experience.

Now, let's break down these key distinctions between customer service vs. customer experience . 

Focus and scope

Customer service usually focuses on individual interactions , triggered when a customer encounters a specific issue or inquiry. It’s essentially reactive, responding promptly to address the immediate needs of the customer at hand. 

The scope of customer service, in turn, is narrowly tailored to direct interactions, dealing with the resolution of problems and inquiries on a case-by-case basis. It serves as a kind of skilled troubleshooter, stepping in when called upon.

In contrast, customer experience is proactive and holistic , aiming to shape the overall experience customers have with a brand and their consequent perception of it. This means anticipating needs, understanding overall sentiments, and fostering positive emotions from the very outset of the customer journey. CX is about crafting a satisfying journey that moves seamlessly from the initial touchpoint through every subsequent phase of the customer lifecycle. 

Customer service is generally associated with dedicated channels like phone calls, emails, and live chats. These serve as distinct points of contact when customers encounter problems or have inquiries, functioning as accessible solutions to immediate needs.

Customer experience, on the other hand, is integrated across and embedded within all touchpoints, whether consumers are online or offline. It extends beyond dedicated support channels to encompass all interactions a customer has with the brand, with the goal of creating a cohesive journey that never suffers from major interruptions or jarring shifts in tone, style, or format. 

Driving force

Customer service relies heavily on the expertise and skills of individual representatives. The ability of these frontline teams (and the availability of necessary tools) to resolve issues efficiently and empathetically is key to the success of customer service.

CX, however, is more systemic. Processes, infrastructure, and technology play a crucial role in creating a smooth and successful journey. In order to achieve truly effective CX, the entire system must work together to anticipate and fulfill customer needs.

Customer service fixes problems and answers questions. It ensures basic needs are met and issues are resolved, preventing immediate interruptions in usage and longer-term dissatisfaction.

The impact of CX is broader and more ambitious: it seeks to shape the overall narrative. By creating positive emotions, exceeding expectations, and making customers feel valued, CX aspires to build trust, loyalty, and the customer advocacy that grows out of them. Its focus is always intently fixed on forging the kinds of long-term relationships that build a trustworthy – even admired – brand within its respective marketplace. 

The relationship between customer service and customer experience

Customer service vs. customer experience : Despite the differences we’ve just outlined, there’s still a great deal of important overlap between the two. And when brought together effectively, they can create a positive and lasting relationship between your customers and your business.

While resolving individual issues may seem like its only purpose, customer service plays a crucial role in shaping the broader customer experience . Every interaction – from answering questions to fixing problems – leaves an impression on customers, influencing their overall perception of your business. If they’re satisfied with the prompt, efficient, and empathetic support you’re consistently providing, they’re more likely to remain loyal to your business and recommend it to others.

Additionally, customer service interactions serve as a valuable feedback loop for the brand. Understanding customer concerns, preferences, and pain points across various channels provides insights that can be used to enhance the overall customer experience.

In essence, by combining the reactive problem-solving of customer service with the proactive, all-encompassing approach of customer experience , businesses can develop a customer-centric strategy that fosters a loyal and lasting customer base.

Learn how Rebag unified its online and in-store shopping experiences with Intercom to optimize every stage of the customer journey.

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According to our Customer Service Trends Report 2024 , 87% of support teams noticed an increase in customer expectations when compared with the previous year , up from 2022’s figure of 75%. 6 Customers are increasingly looking for prompt responses, personalized experiences, and seamless assistance across various touchpoints. 

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NICE , 2022 Digital First Customer Experience Report. Based on a survey of 1,320 respondents.

CGS , 2022 BPO and Customer Care Dynamics. Based on a survey of 200 business leaders and decision makers across 25 industries .

Qualtrics , ROI of Customer Experience, 2022.

Intercom , The Intercom Customer Service Trends Report 2024. We asked 2,000+ customer service professionals across the globe how they’re meeting the challenges and opportunities of 2024.

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Customer Service vs Customer Experience: Key Differences

Discover the crucial distinctions between Customer Service and Customer Experience in this blog. Learn how effective Customer Service and exceptional Customer Experience influence business success and customer loyalty. Further, this blog explores the key differences between Customer Service vs Customer Experiences and how they can impact your business.

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Customer Service and Customer Experience are two sides of the same coin. While they may sound interchangeable, they represent distinct aspects of how companies engage with their clients. Understanding the nuanced differences between Customer Service vs Customer Experience is essential for businesses striving to excel in today's competitive landscape.

If you are interested in learning about their differences, then this blog is for you. In this blog, you will learn about the crucial differences between Customer Service vs Customer Experience in great detail. Let's dive in to learn more!

Table of Contents

1) What is Customer Service?

2) What is Customer Experience?

3)  Difference between Customer Service and Customer Experience 

4) Integrating Customer Service and Customer Experience 

5)  Conclusion 

What is Customer Service?

Customer Service is vital in shaping the overall customer Customer Experience is fundamental to any successful business. It goes beyond merely resolving issues and inquiries; it involves creating positive interactions that leave a lasting impression on customers. Let's delve into the key components of Customer Service: 

The r ole of Customer Service  

The key role of Customer Service is to act as a bridge between the customer and the company. Customer Service representatives are the first point of contact, addressing customer inquiries, providing assistance , and handling any concerns that may arise during the customer's journey. They are instrumental in ensuring that customers feel valued, heard, and supported. 

Elements of excellent Customer Service

Customer Service excellence depends on several key factors that create amazing Customer Experiences. These include active listening, empathy, timeliness, responsiveness, courtesy, and professionalism. By listening and empathising with customers, Customer Service Agents can build rapport and understand their needs better.

Additionally, solving their problems quickly and communicating politely and professionally enhances customer satisfaction and positively impacts brand reputation.

The impact of Customer Service

Excellent Customer Service not only solves problems but also builds customer loyalty and trust. Happy customers tend to buy more, promote the brand, and refer others. A smart Customer Service strategy enhances the company-customer bond and the brand’s reputation. It also gives the company a competitive advantage.

What is Customer Experience?  

Customer Experience (CX) is a comprehensive concept that encompasses every interaction and touchpoint a customer has with a brand. It goes beyond individual transactions, focusing on the overall journey and emotions that customers experience throughout their interactions with the company. Let's delve into the core aspects of Customer Experience: 

The role of Customer Experience  

Customer Experience involves understanding the holistic perception customers have of a brand based on their communication and emotions. It is the sum of every encounter a customer has with the company, from the initial point of contact to post-purchase engagement. It extends beyond product quality or service delivery; it includes factors such as website usability, customer support interactions, and the ease of navigating through various touchpoints. 

The components of a memorable Customer Experience

Customer Experience is the outcome of smooth and personalised interactions that impress customers. Personalisation shows customers they are valued and appreciated. Consistency in all touchpoints builds trust and loyalty in the brand. It also helps develop an emotional bond with customers.

Accessibility and convenience make customers happy and satisfied. They also make the experience easy and enjoyable, encouraging customers to come back.

The relationship between Customer Experience and brand perception

Customer Experience is central to shaping how customers perceive a brand. A positive experience for the customer results in a favourable brand image, enhancing the chances of customers becoming loyal advocates. On the other hand, a negative experience can lead to customer churn and damage the brand's reputation.

Customers often base their perception of a brand on the emotions they associate with their interactions. Brands that consistently deliver exceptional experiences are more likely to evoke positive emotions and build a strong emotional bond with their customers.

Difference between Customer Service and Customer Experience  

Focus and scope  

Customer Service primarily focuses on addressing immediate customer needs and resolving specific issues. It is transactional in nature, dealing with individual interactions that occur during customer inquiries or complaints. Customer Service teams aim to provide timely and efficient support to meet customers' immediate requirements. 

On the other hand, Customer Experience takes a broader approach, encompassing the entire customer journey from the initial touchpoint to long-term engagement with the brand. It aims to create seamless and memorable experiences at every stage. As a result, it ensures that customers have a positive perception of the brand throughout their entire interaction. 

Interaction vs overall journey  

Customer Service involves individual interactions between the customer and the company's representatives. It is typically reactive, responding to customers' inquiries or problems as they arise. The focus is on resolving specific issues to meet customer expectations during a particular exchange. 

In contrast, Customer Experience takes a proactive approach, designing the entire customer journey to be cohesive, enjoyable, and memorable. It considers every touchpoint and interaction, aiming to leave a positive impression on customers long after individual transactions have taken place. 

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Immediate vs long-term impact  

The impact of Customer Service is immediate, directly influencing how a customer perceives a specific interaction with the brand. A positive Customer Service experience can result in customer satisfaction for that particular instance . 

Conversely, Customer Experience has a long-term impact on customer loyalty, brand perception, and overall customer lifetime value. Consistently delivering exceptional experiences builds trust and fosters lasting relationships, making customers more likely to become loyal advocates of the brand.

Reactive vs proactive

Customer Experience involves predicting the customer’s needs. Businesses use customer journey mapping, website analytics, funnel analysis, and customer feedback to enhance the brand experience and prevent customer issues. Sometimes, this may require guiding customers to start a Customer Service interaction. So, Customer Experience is proactive in this sense.

Customer Service is mostly triggered by the customer. The customer has a problem and contacts the business’ support services through their chosen channel. So, Customer Service is reactive in this sense.

Departmental responsibility  

Customer Service is often the responsibility of a dedicated customer support team within the organisation. It deals with day-to-day interactions with customers and focuses on providing immediate assistance and resolutions. 

In contrast, Customer Experience is a cross-functional effort that involves multiple departments, including marketing, sales, product development, and customer support. Achieving a seamless and exceptional Customer Experience requires collaboration and alignment across the entire organisation. 

Measuring success  

The success of Customer Service is often measured through metrics such as response time, resolution rate, and customer satisfaction scores. These metrics provide insights into how well the support team addresses customer inquiries and concerns. 

In contrast, measuring the success of Customer Experience involves assessing customer loyalty, brand perception, and long-term customer value. Metrics like customer retention, customer lifetime value and Net Promoter Score (NPS) are used to gauge the effectiveness of the overall Customer Experience strategy. 

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Integrating Customer Service and Customer Experience  

When it comes to creating a truly outstanding customer journey, aligning Customer Service and Customer Experience strategies is paramount. Here are essential ways to achieve seamless integration: 

Aligning strategies and objectives  

To create a cohesive experience, aligning both the Objectives of Customer Service and Customer Experience initiatives is necessary. Ensure that the teams work towards common goals, emphasising customer satisfaction, loyalty, and long-term relationships. By sharing a unified vision, all departments can contribute to enhancing the overall customer journey.

Seamless communication and collaboration  

Effective communication and collaboration between Customer Service and Customer Experience teams are essential. Encourage open channels for sharing customer insights, feedback, and pain points. Seamless collaboration enables swift problem-solving and the implementation of improvements that lead to enhanced Customer Experiences.

Gathering and analy s ing customer feedback  

Customer feedback is a valuable resource in understanding their needs and expectations. Regularly gather feedback from various touchpoints, such as surveys, social media, and direct interactions. Analy se this data to identify patterns, pain points, and areas for improvement. By using customer feedback as a foundation, both Customer Service and Customer Experience teams can make informed decisions to optimise the overall journey. Unlock the power of Emotional Intelligence (EI) with our Emotional Intelligence Training – Sign up now!

Conclusion  

In conclusion, grasping the distinctions between Customer Service vs Customer Experience and seamlessly integrating their strategies are vital for businesses aiming to thrive in customer-centricity. By prioritising both aspects and fostering collaboration, companies can forge robust customer relationships, inspire loyalty, and gain a competitive edge in the market. 

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Frequently Asked Questions

Effective Customer Service can face various barriers that hinder its quality and impact on customers. These barriers include communication gaps, which can lead to misunderstandings. Other barriers like lack of comprehensive employee training and insufficient resources can impede the delivery of excellent Customer Service.

Employee training plays a pivotal role in shaping exceptional Customer service and enhancing the overall Customer Experience. It ensures that staff members are well-versed in the products or services they are offering. This leads to increased confidence and proficiency in addressing customer inquiries and issues.

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A Complete Guide on Customer Service vs. Customer Experience

• Chinmay Mahanta
• November 25, 2023

You’ve likely heard the phrases “customer service” and “customer experience” tossed around. But what do they really mean, and how are they different? 

Customer service is the help we give or receive during purchases, like asking about a product’s feature or reporting a problem. On the other hand, customer experience is the complete process of a new customer, from browsing a website to post-purchase support. 

Understanding customer service vs. customer experience is crucial for any brand to thrive in the market.

In this blog, we’ll break it all down for you.

What is Customer Service?

Customer service is the bridge between a brand and its customers. It’s centered on problem-solving, addressing concerns, and ensuring satisfaction. It’s direct communication that addresses immediate needs, answers queries, and fosters trust between a business and its clientele. 

Simply put, customer service vs. customer experience is all about building a relationship of trust and reliability by assisting and supporting the customers through various means.

The Role of Customer Service

Now, let’s get a closer look at the role of customer service:

• Problem Resolution: Addressing and rectifying customer issues promptly
• Building Trust: Establishing confidence in the brand through reliable support
• Enhancing Satisfaction : Ensuring customer needs are met and expectations are managed
• Retention: Keeping customers loyal to the brand by consistently meeting their service needs
• Feedback Loop: Gathering customer insights to improve products, services, and processes
• Brand Representation: Serving as the face or voice of the company during most direct interactions
• Driving Revenue: Assisting in upselling or cross-selling opportunities by understanding customer needs
• Crisis Management: Handling complaints or issues effectively to protect the brand’s reputation
• Educating Customers: Providing information about products, services, or policies
• Setting Standards: Upholding and promoting the company’s values, culture, and ethos in every interaction

What is Customer Experience?

Now let’s debug the customer experience in our customer service vs. customer experience journey. The customer experience is all about the entirety of a consumer’s interactions with a brand. It covers every touchpoint, from initial awareness to post-purchase. Its job is not done after the transaction. Customer experience is where you nurture your clients and ensure their overall service satisfaction. 

A well-curated customer experience talks about needs, ensures seamless service integration, and aims to build lasting trust and loyalty.

The Role Of Customer Experience

A stellar customer experience ensures long-term growth and strengthens the brand’s image in the market. Customer experience is the backbone of a brand’s reputation and success, setting clear expectations for what customers can consistently look forward to.  Now, let’s get a closer look at the role of customer experience.

• Holistic Perspective: Customer experience captures a customer’s journey with a brand
• Building Loyalty: It encourages repeat business by creating positive, memorable interactions
• Differentiation: Customer experience sets brands apart in a competitive market based on the quality of interactions
• Driving Decisions: It influences purchasing choices based on past experiences
• Feedback and Improvement: Customer experience provides insights into areas the brand can refine and enhance
• Emotional Connection: It cultivates a deeper bond between customers and brands through positive experiences
• Brand Advocacy: Delighted customers become brand ambassadors, promoting the brand organically
• Long-term Growth:  It directly impacts a brand’s sustainability and growth by retaining customers and attracting new ones
• Setting Expectations: Customer experience benchmarks what customers can consistently expect from a brand
• Strengthening Brand Image: It shapes a company’s public perception and reputation in the market

Customer Service vs. Customer Experience: 4 Ways They Are Different

Customer service and customer experience are crucial in building and maintaining client relationships. While they often overlap, understanding their impact can help businesses cater to their clients better. So, let’s get started with the four main differences between customer service and customer experience.

1. Comprehensive Experience vs. Specific Interaction

The customer experience encompasses a consumer’s journey with a brand, from discovery to potential repeat purchases. It’s the cumulative result of all interactions. In contrast, customer service is a single stage in this journey that addresses specific queries or concerns.

2. Multiple Touchpoints vs. Limited Engagement

The customer’s journey with a brand, denoted as the customer experience, involves many interactions and requires coordination across different departments to ensure a pleasant experience. On the other hand, customer service is often limited to one or two direct touchpoints, typically overseen by customer-facing departments.

3. Proactive vs. Reactive Approach

The customer experience is about anticipation. Brands are proactive in this domain, constantly refining the journey, analyzing potential challenges, and guiding customer interactions. Customer service is largely reactive. It springs into action primarily when a customer initiates contact due to an issue or query.

4. Ongoing Relationship vs. One-Time Event

Customer experience is continuous and difficult to pin down to a single event. It’s an evolving narrative that continues each time a customer interacts with the brand. However, customer service is about distinct events like addressing a specific concern or responding to a particular query. Such interactions are measurable through various metrics, signifying distinct touchpoints in the customer’s journey.

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Customer experience is the most important company differentiator and growth driver. In fact, customers are already willing to pay more for superior experiences and might move to a competitor brand after just one unpleasant experience. The truth is that these terms are frequently misunderstood and used interchangeably. While customer service is crucial to the whole customer experience, it is only one element in the process. However, customer experience is usually after a purchase has been made. 

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As experts in customer support solutions, we pride ourselves on helping businesses optimize their support strategies for maximum efficiency and customer satisfaction. Reach out today to discover how INSIDEA can revolutionize your customer support and contribute to your business success!

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Customer service vs. customer experience: the key difference.

In today’s competitive business landscape, delivering exceptional customer service and creating a remarkable customer experience are crucial for success. While these two terms are often used interchangeably, they are distinct concepts that play different roles in satisfying customers and driving business growth.

Customer service refers to the direct interaction between a customer and a company representative to address their needs, inquiries, or concerns. On the other hand, customer experience encompasses the overall impression and perception that customers have of a brand throughout their entire journey.

Understanding the key differences between customer service and customer experience can help organizations tailor their customer service as well as customer experience strategies to meet the evolving expectations of their customers.

What is customer experience?

Customer experience (CX) encompasses every interaction that a customer has with a brand, from initial awareness to post-purchase support. It is a holistic approach that considers all touchpoints across various channels, such as websites, social media platforms, physical stores, and customer service interactions.

A good customer experience goes beyond providing satisfactory products or services; it aims to create emotional connections and positive perceptions of the brand. According to research by SuperOffice, customers who rate a brand highly for its customer experience are more likely to spend 140% more and remain loyal for up to six years.

To deliver exceptional customer experiences, organizations need to align their processes, technology, and people around creating value for the customers. This involves understanding customer preferences and expectations at each stage of their journey and personalizing interactions to meet those needs.

What is customer service?

Customer service refers to the specific interactions between a customer and a company representative to address their queries, issues, or requests. It is the frontline of support that customers rely on when they have questions about a product, encounter difficulties with a service, or require assistance.

Traditional customer service channels include telephone helplines, email support, and in-person interactions. However, with the rise of digital technologies, customers now expect seamless omnichannel support across multiple touchpoints. This includes live chat functions on websites, social media customer service, and self-service options such as FAQs or knowledge bases.

To deliver exceptional customer service, organizations need to invest in training their employees to be knowledgeable about products/services and equipped with the necessary soft skills to handle various customer interactions. Additionally, leveraging technology solutions such as chatbots or AI-powered virtual assistants can help streamline customer service operations and provide faster response times.

Key differences between customer service & customer experience

While both customer service and customer experience are essential for business success, there are key differences between these two concepts:

Holistic experience vs specific interaction

Customer service focuses on individual interactions between a customer and a company representative to resolve specific issues or inquiries. It is more transactional in nature, addressing immediate needs at a particular moment in time.

On the other hand, customer experience takes a more holistic approach by considering the entire journey that customers go through—from initial awareness to post-purchase support. It encompasses all touchpoints across various channels and aims to create positive emotions and long-lasting impressions.

Reactive vs proactive

Customer service is typically reactive—responding to customer inquiries or complaints after they have occurred. It focuses on resolving issues rather than preventing them from happening in the first place.

In contrast, customer experience takes a proactive approach by anticipating customer needs and designing the journey accordingly. By understanding customer pain points and preferences, businesses can tailor their offerings, communications, and support to meet those expectations.

Ongoing relationship vs isolated event

Customer service often deals with isolated events and interactions—for example, assisting with a purchase, handling a return request, or addressing a technical issue. These interactions have a limited scope and are focused on immediate problem resolution.

In contrast, customer experience encompasses every touchpoint throughout the entire customer journey. It emphasizes building long-term relationships with customers by consistently providing positive experiences at every stage—from initial interaction to post-purchase support.

Level of control

Customer service is largely within the control of the business. Organizations can define processes, train employees, and implement systems to ensure consistent service delivery across various channels.

On the other hand, customer experience is influenced by external factors such as user-generated content, social media conversations, online reviews, or word-of-mouth recommendations. While businesses can strive to create positive experiences through their own efforts, they also need to actively monitor and manage their brand’s reputation in the digital space.

Customer service is often measured using metrics such as average response time, first call resolution rate, or customer satisfaction scores for specific interactions. These metrics provide insights into the efficiency and effectiveness of support operations.

In contrast, measuring customer experience requires a broader set of metrics that capture the overall impression and perception of the brand. Metrics such as NPS, CES, or CSAT provide a more holistic view of how customers perceive their interactions with the brand across multiple touchpoints.

Customer service is typically owned by the customer support or service department within an organization. These teams are responsible for handling customer inquiries and ensuring timely resolutions.

On the other hand, customer experience requires a collaborative effort across various departments and functions within an organization. It involves aligning marketing, sales, operations, product development, and customer support teams to deliver consistent experiences throughout the entire journey.

Customer service vs. customer experience: Which matters more?

Both customer service and customer experience play crucial roles in satisfying customers and driving business growth. While exceptional customer service can help resolve immediate issues or inquiries effectively, it is only one piece of the puzzle.

Customer experience encompasses the entire journey that customers go through—from initial awareness to post-purchase support—and has a lasting impact on their perceptions of the brand. A study by PwC found that 73% of consumers consider experience a crucial factor in their purchasing decisions.

To succeed in today’s competitive landscape, organizations need to prioritize both customer service and customer experience. By delivering exceptional service at each touchpoint and creating memorable experiences throughout the journey, businesses can differentiate themselves from competitors and build long-term loyalty among customers.

How to succeed at service & experience

Delivering exceptional customer service and creating remarkable customer experiences require a strategic approach. Here are some key strategies that businesses can employ to succeed:

1. Understand your customers

Invest in market research , customer surveys, and data analytics to gain insights into customer preferences, pain points, and expectations. Use this information to tailor your offerings, communications, and support to meet their needs.

2. Personalize interactions

Leverage technology solutions such as CRM systems or marketing automation tools to deliver personalized messages and offers based on individual customer profiles and behaviors. This helps create a sense of relevance and enhances the overall experience.

3. Streamline support operations

Invest in training your employees to be knowledgeable about products/services and equipped with the necessary soft skills to handle various customer interactions. Additionally, leverage technology solutions such as chatbots or AI-powered virtual assistants to provide faster response times and self-service options.

While customer service and customer experience are distinct concepts, they are both crucial for business success. Customer service focuses on individual interactions between a customer and a company representative to address specific needs, while customer experience encompasses the overall impression that customers have of a brand throughout their entire journey.

By understanding the key differences between customer service and customer experience, organizations can tailor their strategies to meet the evolving expectations of their customers. By prioritizing both aspects of the customer journey, businesses can create lasting relationships with their customers, increase loyalty, and gain a competitive edge in the market.

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Customer Service vs. Customer Experience: Differences Explained

As you roadmap your customer retention strategies, you’ll likely encounter two seemingly equivalent terms: customer service vs customer experience.

The overlap is that customer service falls under the larger umbrella of customer experience. Customer experience describes clients’ interactions with all consumer-facing elements of your brand: your storefront, staff, support infrastructure and marketing materials, for instance. 

When customers need support , their interactions with representatives and systems (i.e., customer service) will inform their overall experience with your brand. 

In this guide, we’re comparing customer service vs customer experience in detail. We’ll explore each concept, highlight some key differences and break down how today’s businesses can leverage SMS to support their service functions and customer experience strategies. 

Defining Customer Service and Customer Experience

Before we note the difference between customer service and customer experience, let’s define both terms clearly:

• Customer service describes your entire support network for clients: your customer service representatives, their scripts, your support policies and any digital assets you’re leveraging for customer support, including automated chatbots.
• Customer experience describes clients’ overall impressions of your brand. Clients develop these impressions throughout the sales funnel, including any time spent interacting with support representatives.

While these concepts are closely connected, they’re not the same. Both, however, are key for customer relationship-building and retention. 

There’s ample data to support that customers who have a positive experience with a brand are more likely to make a repeat purchase and recommend your brand to their peers. For example, customers satisfied with their experiences may leave a positive Google review , which acts as a form of word-of-mouth marketing. 

Understanding Customer Service

The primary goal of your customer service functions is to resolve client issues and meet their immediate needs. Whether you’re helping a client find the perfect product in your inventory or processing a return or refund, customer service is all about helping clients accomplish their goals. 

The customer service arm of your business likely includes multiple elements:

• Your customer service staff
• The scripts and procedures staff use to deliver solutions to clients
• The standards and metrics to which you hold your customer service team
• The channels your clients use to connect with representatives: SMS text , browser chat, phone, email and self-service platforms (like a customer portal)

Unpacking Customer Experience

A customer’s interaction with your support team will inform their overall experience with your brand. It’s just one of many stages when your customer will interface with your brand.

Customer experience informs every touchpoint during the sales process: 

• Pre-purchase – The pre-purchase stage can include browsing your eCommerce site, physical storefront, Google reviews or marketing content. 
• Purchase – During the purchase phase, customers will choose one or more products, add them to their physical or digital carts and check out. 
• Post-purchase – After customers check out, they’ll wait for their items to ship (in some cases), test out their item, leave a review or consider purchasing another product.

During any of these phases, a customer could contact your support team. A representative is there to help them choose the right product, navigate your point-of-sale system or troubleshoot their product after delivery.

Key Differences Between Customer Service and Customer Experience

As noted above, customer service is just one element of the customer experience. Thus, there are some key differences when comparing customer service against customer experience:

• Customer service focuses on resolving immediate customer issues . Representatives can help customers find the right product, navigate the checkout process or troubleshoot their items in real-time. On the other hand, customer experience strategies aim to establish positive connections that lay the groundwork for long-term loyalty . 
• Customer service representatives can connect with customers, personalize the service experience and showcase a brand’s consistency and quality. An effective customer experience approach does the same during every client touchpoint.

Leveraging SMS to Enhance All Aspects of the Customer Experience

Businesses can use powerful technologies like SMS texting to enhance both customer service functions and customers’ overall experiences with a brand.

There are many benefits to opening up an SMS channel for your business. Texting is:

• Immediate – 60% of consumers read texts within five minutes of receipt.
• Wide-reaching – Nearly 85% of global consumers own a smartphone.
• Highly impactful – In 2022, 80% of shoppers using coupons redeemed these via mobile devices.

Plus, brands can integrate SMS throughout the customer journey:

• SMS can be an efficient, accessible customer service channel for clients.
• Brands can use SMS to collect survey data and request reviews. 
• Holiday or birthday messages can help businesses build relationships with clients.
• Businesses can proactively text clients with order and shipping updates.
• SMS is an effective channel for sharing promotions, discounts and marketing content.

If you’re looking for innovative ways to improve customer experience and make customer service functions more robust, incorporating SMS can help you achieve these positive results.

Provide Stellar Customer Service and Experience with Textedly

Customer service and customer experience, while distinct, are both key for relationship-building and client retention. Plus, today’s brands have access to numerous technologies that can enhance their service functions and clients’ overall experiences throughout the sales funnel. 

If you’re ready to start using SMS for business, send your first message with Textedly. Thousands of businesses trust our platform for SMS marketing, customer service functions, automation, survey and review collection. 

Sign up for your 14-day free trial and leverage SMS to enrich the customer experience. 

Sources: 

LinkedIn. The Top 4 Customer Experience Trends in 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/top-4-customer-experience-trends-2023-bernard-marr  

Forbes. 100 Customer Experience Stats for 2023. https://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemorgan/2023/06/26/100-customer-experience-stats-for-2023/?sh=6f267ec77e6e  

Techjury. 35+ Mind-Blowing SMS Marketing Statistics in 2023. https://techjury.net/blog/sms-marketing-statistics/  

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Good vs Great Customer Service Experience—What's the Difference?

Customer experience is a top priority for consumers. So much so that 86% of customers will pay more for a great experience. And if they are not satisfied, not buying from you is the least they can do . 

In a world where most of us are glued to our smartphones, reports of bad customer experiences spread online very quickly. It's vital that you design your customer service experience in a way that makes your customers feel that you do care about them. 

Today, we’ll show you how to turn a good customer service experience you might already deliver into a great customer service experience your customers will fall in love with. 

In the meantime, you can start discovering what matters most to your customers with a Voice of Customer survey :

What is customer service experience?

Customer service experience is the sum of all the interactions a customer has with a company, both in direct communication and through other actions. These experiences can include checking out after making a purchase, talking to a sales representative, or trying to return a product.

Why is customer service experience important?

First of all, customer experience affects your customers’ loyalty to your brand and how they talk about you to other people, both online and offline. Retaining customers is the only natural way to grow businesses, and research says so, too. In fact, acquiring a new customer costs 5 times more than retaining an existing one .

If you deliver at least decent customer service experience, it pays off in more referrals, more satisfied customers, more sustainable growth, and more feedback you can use to develop your product or services further. 

And a lack of customer service experience measures can, in turn, lead to disappointment on all sides.

The difference between good and great customer service experience

The little things that you do to make your customer feel valued can make a huge difference in how they perceive your brand.

Let's suppose your customer is experiencing a problem and they’re speaking directly with your team. 

Good customer service experience means you’ll hear their problems and assess how to tackle them. You look at what to do. Your customer service agents may not find a solution instantly, but in the end, the problem is remedied. 

Great customer service experience , however, means that you’ll listen to their problems and look for solutions straight away. You quickly see what can be done, and how. If applicable, you compensate your client and turn a negative situation into a positive brand experience.

One of the many ways you can collect feedback on your customers' needs is by using surveys :

To offer great customer service experience, you need to have a solid customer experience strategy in place and clear processes for your team to follow. That way, every customer gets the same quality of customer service.

Every step of the customer experience with you, from discovery to post-purchase support, should be designed with your customers in mind . 

Think about Amazon. It’s become a powerhouse thanks to the fantastic customer experience it provides. Whether you’re just browsing, going through the checkout process, or returning an item: it just works.

Delivering great customer service experience doesn’t always have to be about going the extra mile. Very often, it’s just doing the right things in the right way.

Great customer service experience: an example

Here's an example of a small business giving the best customer experience:

"I bought my car used from a dealership, and after seeing the advert online, I called to check if it was still available. It was. So the next day I went to have a look at it.

The moment I arrived, I looked at the car and then went inside to talk to the salesman, who was also the owner. He immediately got up, got the car out of the bay, handed me the keys, and let me have my time with the vehicle .

He didn't hover or try and tell me what to do. He just let me take the car out.

When I got back, I said I liked it. I asked if there was any movement on the price, and we quickly made a deal . I put down my deposit, and the next day I returned to pay in full and collected the car.

Doing the paperwork at his desk was stress-free: We were sitting in an open space with big windows. His wife was working at another desk, and their cocker spaniel was weaving around my feet. When everything was signed and paid for, we shook hands. I took my car home, enjoying the awareness of having a year-long warranty included in the deal."

What makes this customer service experience great?

"Buying a car is stressful. If the seller had hovered around bombarding me with questions while I was trying to figure things out, it would have turned me off. At no point did I feel pressured or like a nuisance.

While I was waiting for the paperwork to be done, a customer came in. The woman wanted to have her car worked on in the shop. She seemed to be deliberately difficult. I sat there admiring how he and his wife dealt with that awkward customer with considerable aplomb."

How you can ensure a great customer service process 

What steps can you take to ensure that you provide an excellent experience? 

Do you remember the last time you had to call customer service to get a question answered about a product or service? Can you recall the experience?

You went to the website, found a contact number, and you embarked on a long wait that lasted way too long, making you anxious about the bill you'd pay. Finally, when you managed to get through, you didn't get help.

Maybe the person was rude, perhaps just incompetent, and, since the call was recorded, they passed you on to somebody else.

Or, maybe they transferred your call, and then the connection broke. Or you hit a communication barrier, unable to break through the jargon they used. 

There are countless things that can go wrong with customer service today. How can you provide customer service experience that excels?

1. Use a customer feedback management system

With solid customer feedback management software, you can provide the best customer experience at every touchpoint along a customer journey.

Customer feedback software allows you to:

• easily create and send surveys,
• gain insights into how customers experience using your product or service,
• have an overview of all the feedback you receive in one platform, 
• detect the most pressing problems your customers have that may lead to customer churn ,
• integrate with other solutions to make the most of your data.

Any company should understand the importance of customer service. Still, if you want to excel at providing top customer experiences, track customer experience metrics such as the Net Promoter Score (NPS): 

and the Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT). 

The first one measures your customers' readiness to promote you. The latter tells you how satisfied your customers are with various aspects of your product or service.

Good customer feedback management software, such as Survicate, integrates with major marketing platforms, including Intercom and Hubspot .

This way, you can analyze the feedback you proactively gain with surveys and expand it even further. Moreover, you can compare it with the feedback your customers voluntarily give in your communication channels. The result is an accurate picture of your customer experience .

2. Offer multiple customer service channels

Providing your customers with avenues such as a website, blog content , phone number, text message, email, and social media channels allows them to reach you the way that works for them.

It’s often said that millennials hate picking up the phone to make a call. Creating different opportunities to connect with reps avoids lousy customer service experiences that ruin your reputation. 

3. Be proactive in your customer service

Being reactive is not ideal for customer service. 

Be proactive instead. If you're only talking to your customers when there's a problem, then you're doing something wrong.

Reach out to your customers and give them an opportunity to give feedback about their experience. This allows you to mitigate any issues before they escalate.

Here is a Customer Effort Score survey template you could send out to your customers to gather their feedback:

This type of survey helps you test how difficult it is for customers to perform a certain activity with your product or service. You can use the survey template above for free—just sign up for a Survicate freemium plan and you’ll find it in the template library.

4. Provide consistency in your customer service

Regardless of what avenue you're using, customer service should be customer-centric and consistent. Adjust the communication channel to the preferences of your target group. Make all the communication—be it on the phone, via email, or text—consistent.   

And remember: great customer experience starts with great employee experience. 

If something doesn't feel right, you need to identify the challenges and bottlenecks within your department. For this purpose, you can also use surveys. With Survicate, you can measure employee satisfaction with easy-to-use templates.

5. Manage customer expectations

A lot of customer dissatisfaction stems from misinformation or incorrect expectations. That is why it is essential to go the extra mile to make sure your messaging is logically designed against customer/user journey maps.  

To manage customer expectations, you must commit to educating your business about what your customers need and how they perceive your product or services. 

Here are some survey templates you can send out regularly to collect customer feedback : 

• Net Promoter Score will reveal how likely your customers are to recommend you to someone they know.
• Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) will put a number on the customer satisfaction level. Make sure you run the survey at touchpoints crucial to your business. 
• Customer Effort Score will show you which types of processes your customers are struggling with and how.

There are countless types of surveys you can use to collect customer feedback. To get inspired, check out a list of survey templates most popular with Survicate's customers. There are over 125 templates that you can use for free and customize to suit your needs.

Common signs of poor customer service 

Here are some fairly common causes of poor customer service. If any of the items on this list apply to your business, you need to reevaluate the way you provide customer support.

1. Providing only one specific channel for customer service

If you provide only a phone number or only an online contact form, you’re not doing everything you can to help customers reach out to you. Not every customer loves to sit hours on the phone with a customer service representative, and not everyone will take the time to write to you using a form. 

A good rule of thumb is supporting customers on the same platform they used to contact you. So, you shouldn’t redirect your clients to a phone call if they sent their request via email, and vice versa. 

Livechat apps and chatbots are a growing market for a very good reason: customers feel less intimidated by using a chat than by filling in a contact form. Chatbots are also proactive, which takes the weight of starting the conversation off your customers' shoulders. 

If you want to find out if your helpdesk is doing a good job, this survey template will be particularly useful: 

2. Displaying poor communication skills and little empathy

There are few things worse than being frustrated with a bad customer service representative. Someone rude either doesn't listen to your issue or can't relate to the problem you are experiencing. That’s if you manage to reach them… 

In business, you need to put yourself in your customers’ shoes and react immediately if something doesn’t work. 

Keep a close eye on individual agent performance to spot underperforming reps in time. If someone in your team is not great at showing empathy, you can offer them additional training.

You can use this survey template to learn directly from your clients how your customer service is performing:

3. Fear of ownership

Everyone makes mistakes. When someone at your company does something wrong, you need to own up. Make sure that your customer service staff know when to admit they, or the company, put a foot wrong. Train them to be polite when apologizing. 

According to research by American Express, 33% of customers say they’d consider switching companies after just a single instance of poor service. However, most of them are willing to stay if the company shows genuine remorse. 

Even if you're unsure whether it should be you saying this, a simple "we apologize" can go a long way.

4. Not educating customers

Customer service fails when customers don't understand the company's process. Whether they're returning a product or looking to get assistance with some other issue, educating them step by step is crucial.

It’s not about putting a few FAQs or contact details here and there. It’s actually about creating and publishing helpful resources for your clients so they can find their answers more quickly. For example, you can use an open-ended website survey asking “why are you leaving our site?” inside your help desk resources. 

Create an amazing customer service experience today

Customers expect support to be tailored to their needs, work seamlessly, and to take place immediately. Alongside all those expectations, they also value the human touch.

Your business simply cannot afford to deliver a mediocre customer service experience. To stand out from the crowd, you need to sweep your customers off their feet. 

And it does not have to be complicated or expensive. In fact, all the best things in life are free, including Survicate.

With Survicate, you can use over 300 survey templates and start collecting customer feedback where it matters. If you’re ready to gather amazing client insights, sign up today for a 10-day free trial and check out all Business plan features free of charge.

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Customer Service vs. Experience: Key Differences

by Leon Chaddock   -  February 8, 2024

Many support agents use customer experience and customer service interchangeably, but the two terms do not mean the same thing. Understanding the difference between them is critical. Customer service is the act of assisting and advocating for your customers before, during, and after the purchase of a product or service. Customer experience, on the other hand, is all the ways a customer interacts with your company and how they perceive those interactions. Customer service is just one part of the entire customer journey, while customer experience encompasses all the interactions between your brand and a customer.

Key Takeaways:

• Customer service and customer experience are two distinct concepts.
• Customer service focuses on assisting and advocating for customers, while customer experience encompasses all interactions with the company.
• Customer service is just a part of the overall customer journey.
• Understanding the differences between customer service and customer experience is crucial for providing exceptional support.
• Aligning customer service with customer experience efforts can build strong customer relationships and foster brand loyalty.

What is Customer Service?

Customer service is the act of assisting and advocating for your customers before, during, and after the purchase of a product or service. It can be provided through human agents or self-service options like a knowledge base or chatbots. Great customer service goes above and beyond to solve customer problems and provide the best solutions available. It involves providing fast responses, keeping interactions empathetic and kind, and offering support on customers’ preferred channels. It is a key component of the overall customer experience.

Key Features of Customer Service:

• Assistance and advocacy for customers
• Available before, during, and after purchase
• Provided by human agents or self-service options
• Fast response time
• Empathetic and kind interactions
• Support on preferred channels

Customer service is the foundation of a positive customer experience. It ensures that customers receive the help and support they need throughout their journey with your company.

Customer service plays a crucial role in building customer relationships and fostering loyalty. By providing exceptional support, companies can enhance customer satisfaction and create a positive brand image. However, it’s important to note that customer service is just one aspect of the broader concept of customer experience.

What is Customer Experience?

Customer experience encompasses every interaction between customers and your company, shaping their perception of your brand. It spans the entire customer journey, from initial exposure to marketing materials to the sales process, product or service quality, and post-purchase customer service. Customer experience is influenced by the three key components: people, process, and product.

Customers value helpful and friendly employees who provide seamless and memorable experiences. They seek intuitive products that effectively solve their problems. Customer experience is not limited to a single touchpoint but extends across multiple interactions and channels. It represents an ongoing relationship between your brand and customers.

Delivering exceptional customer experience requires careful attention to every detail, ensuring consistency and alignment with customer expectations. By prioritizing customer experience, businesses can foster loyalty, build strong customer relationships, and differentiate themselves from the competition.

Key Components of Customer Service and Customer Experience

The key components of both customer service and customer experience are critical to creating positive interactions and building customer loyalty. Let’s explore these components in more detail:

• Customer Service: Customer service focuses on assisting and advocating for customers before, during, and after their purchase of a product or service. It involves providing support through various channels, such as human agents or self-service options like knowledge bases and chatbots. Key elements of customer service include:
• Fast and responsive assistance
• Empathy and kindness in interactions
• Support on preferred customer channels
• Effective problem-solving and solution delivery
• Customer Experience: Customer experience encompasses the entire customer journey and represents all the ways customers interact with your brand. It includes marketing efforts, the sales experience, the product or service itself, and post-purchase customer service. Key elements of customer experience include:
• Helpful and friendly employees
• Seamless and memorable experiences
• Intuitive and problem-solving products
• Consistency across touchpoints and channels

Differences between Customer Service and Customer Experience

Understanding the distinctions between customer service and customer experience is crucial for businesses looking to enhance customer satisfaction and improve overall performance. While both concepts revolve around delivering exceptional support and creating positive interactions, they differ in several key aspects.

Customer service involves the act of assisting and advocating for customers before, during, and after a purchase. It focuses on resolving issues, providing solutions, and offering support through different channels. Your customer service team plays a central role in delivering timely and effective assistance to customers.

Customer experience , however, encompasses all the interactions a customer has with your brand throughout their entire journey. It is influenced by various factors, both within and outside your company’s control. This includes their perceptions of your marketing efforts, the quality of your product or service, the sales experience, and the post-purchase support they receive.

To gauge the quality of customer service, businesses often use metrics such as customer satisfaction score, customer effort score, and net promoter score. These metrics provide insights into how well your support team is meeting customer needs and addressing their concerns.

On the other hand, customer experience is measured through metrics like customer lifetime value, customer churn rate, and customer retention rate. These metrics indicate the overall customer perception and loyalty towards your brand.

While the responsibility for customer service primarily lies with customer support managers and agents, customer experience is a shared responsibility across the entire organization. Every department, from marketing to sales to product development, contributes to shaping the overall customer experience.

Aligning customer service efforts with the broader customer experience strategy is essential for building and nurturing long-lasting relationships with customers. By understanding and addressing the differences between customer service and customer experience, businesses can enhance their customer interactions, drive loyalty, and ultimately improve their bottom line.

Let’s take a closer look at how a company’s customer service and customer experience efforts can differ:

By recognizing these differences, businesses can develop strategies to enhance both customer service and customer experience, ultimately providing exceptional support and creating consistent, enjoyable interactions for their customers.

Both customer service and customer experience are vital for ensuring customer satisfaction and the overall success of your business. These two aspects are intrinsically linked, with memorable customer experiences often rooted in exceptional customer service. When companies prioritize both customer service and customer experience, they reap the rewards of increased customer loyalty, higher retention rates, and a positive impact on their bottom line.

Investing in customer service and customer experience is crucial for providing exceptional support and delivering consistent, enjoyable experiences to your customers. By understanding the differences between these two concepts and harnessing their power effectively, you can build strong customer relationships and foster brand loyalty. Remember, exceptional customer service represents just one part of the entire customer experience, which encompasses all the interactions your customers have with your brand.

Keep in mind that customer service is under the control of your company, whereas customer experience is influenced by various factors beyond your immediate reach. Measuring customer satisfaction can be done through metrics such as customer satisfaction scores and net promoter scores, while customer experience is gauged using metrics like customer lifetime value and retention rates.

To truly thrive in today’s competitive market, it is essential to prioritize both customer service and customer experience. By delivering outstanding support and creating memorable experiences for your customers, you can establish a strong foundation for long-term success.

What is the difference between customer service and customer experience?

Customer service is the act of assisting and advocating for customers before, during, and after a purchase, while customer experience encompasses all the interactions between a customer and a company throughout their journey.

What is customer service?

Customer service is the act of assisting and advocating for customers before, during, and after the purchase of a product or service. It involves solving customer problems, providing fast responses, and offering support on customers’ preferred channels.

What is customer experience?

Customer experience is all the ways a customer interacts with a company and how they perceive those interactions. It includes every stage of the customer journey and is shaped by people, process, and product.

What are the differences between customer service and customer experience?

Customer service is under the complete control of the company, while customer experience is influenced by factors beyond the company’s control. Customer service is a key component of customer experience, and both play crucial roles in customer satisfaction and business success.

Why are customer service and customer experience important?

Customer service and customer experience are important because they contribute to customer satisfaction, loyalty, and retention. Investing in both can lead to higher customer loyalty, increased customer retention, and a boost in business performance.

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Customer experience vs customer service: Why it matters to your business

Historically, the concept of “customer experience” has been seen as purely the responsibility of customer support. Today, this couldn’t be more inaccurate.

In the past, customer experience was whether or not the support rep on the phone or the attendant managing department store returns — or any other gatekeeper of company protocol — could help you amend a product related issue. “Customer experience” was strictly customer service-driven and incredibly retroactive — something that was only monitored or addressed post purchase.

While problem solving, or customer support, is an integral part of customer experience, it does not entirely reflect today’s modern, more proactive definition of customer experience.

Therefore, although related, we’ll explore the differences between these two concepts and how successfully implementing today’s approaches to both customer service and customer experience matters to your business.

Does customer experience increase revenue?

According to Forbes, the answer is a resounding ‘yes’ with over  70% of customers saying that they would spend more to get great customer service.

Moreover,  73% of consumers claim that a great customer experience drives their buying decisions while statistics show that increasing your repeat numbers by 5% can increase your profitability up to 95% .

What is customer service?

CustomerThink  defines customer service as: “Help and advice provided by a company to the customers who are buying or using their products or services. Customer service could be classified as an area of customer experience. It is, however, a key area. And at its core, its role is to provide support.”

In other words, today’s definition of customer service is reactive in nature.

However, it wasn’t always that way, which is why customer support and experience could have been seen as more or less interchangeable. For example, a mere 10-20 years ago, a customer service rep might be needed to complete a basic transaction or share features and benefits to make a sale.

Flash forward to today’s tech-driven self-service economy and  70% of customers expect to be able to “help themselves” on a company’s website or application. Even if they have a problem with a product,  50% expect to find troubleshooting help online instead of contacting customer care.

Because of this, over half of the customer journey is now automated online in most industries. We live in a self-service time. People will definitely complain if they can’t “get a person on the phone” when they need one. But they rarely reach out to a customer contact center unless there’s a problem that can’t be solved intuitively or with a few minutes of research.

Is customer service obsolete? Of course not. Is customer service of less value to your business? That couldn’t be further from the truth. However, it’s only a piece of what’s considered to be today’s definition of customer experience.

Today, you need both self-service support channels and a real human presence to deliver the overall customer service experience that people expect. Both services work together to create value for a customer during a support scenario.

But why did your customer contact customer service in the first place? This takes us to our next point and a more thorough look at the proactive attributes that define the modern customer experience.

What is customer experience?

The Harvard Business Review  defines customer experience as, “the sum of all interactions a customer has with a company.”

Customer experience isn’t just a single event with your best (or worst) customer care professional when an order is delayed. Today’s definition of customer experience ( CX ) spans the entire customer journey from the moment they become aware of your business or brand. The customer experience includes every aspect of the customer lifecycle, from pre-sales customer touchpoints all the way through personalized experiences for return customers.

In short, customer experience goes beyond the reactivity of customer service. Customer experience is when a brand proactively influences their customers’ perception of their entire customer journey.

Just how proactive is modern CX and how does it make its way into every facet of the customer journey? The list below is a good start for grasping exactly how brands can influence customer experience from discovery to repeat purchase:

• Social media presence
• Ease of navigation through the website, app, physical store, etc.
• Methods of communication and availability
• Product offerings and features
• Pricing options
• Checkout and delivery
• Reliability and consistency of customer support for both the buying process and post purchase
• Perks about relevant happenings, workshops, the latest trends, and special offers
• Customer loyalty rewards
• Addressing customer feedback and managing your reputation

CX requires companies to actively build customer experience into every customer-facing activity or service. Additionally, managing customer experience means leveraging tools, like Delighted, to measure which areas of your business are delivering worse or better-than-expected CX results and probing into what exactly is driving those results.

Difference between customer service and customer experience

To recap, the difference between customer service and customer experience is simple: customer service is a single event within the customer journey when the customer reaches out for support, and customer experience refers to all the interactions a customer has with your brand.

Though different in definition, customer service and customer experience can work together in a variety of ways.

Although customer service is only part of the CX equation, the feedback captured via customer service as a touchpoint can reveal a lot about the health of your CX strategy and your customers’ perception of the experience you provide.

For example, support reps are exposed to high volumes of both qualitative and quantitative feedback by working closely with customers to solve their most pressing issues. If managed correctly, the information collected by customer support can be an incredibly valuable tool for improving customer experience.

In many cases, the type of information collected by customer service reps can provide valuable insight into improving the overall CX of many aspects of your brand including:

• How to streamline your offerings. Eliminate products and services that have quality issues or fix the problems.
• How to optimize your brand message to meet customer expectations
• How to improve customer support experiences

Analyzing customer service feedback also sheds light on potentially serious product or service-related issues before they become detrimental to your reputation.

A commitment to customer experience delivers best-in-class customer service

Let’s face it: customer service reps and other members of support are buried deep in the trenches of customer complaints and more-often-than-not negative customer feedback. It’s a tough gig for sure, but it becomes exponentially more difficult when the feedback they collect is not accounted for or used to solve these issues at a product, service, or strategy level.

Companies that proactively incorporate support feedback into their overarching CX strategy create a culture of empowerment throughout their support team. Not only do reps feel like the time they spend helping customers with specific issues is more valuable, they also see their role for what it really is — an extremely important component of customer experience and added brand value.

Moreover, incorporating feedback collected by your customer service team can lead to some impressive quantifiable results:

• Average handle time decreases
• Fewer repeat calls
• Call volume becomes more manageable
• Hold times reduce
• Opportunities to collect positive Customer Satisfaction Scores and Net Promoter Scores from happy customers increase
• Employee morale stays high, reducing turnover

Understanding the whole customer experience picture

Another difference between customer service and CX is that customer experience needs to be incredibly tactical to handle all its moving parts. The first step in improving CX and managing its many components is to benchmark the aspects of CX that matter most. A great way to start doing this is with these three standardized customer experience metrics for measuring customer sentiment: CES, CSAT, and NPS.

CES and CSAT surveys

Let’s start with a Customer Effort Score (CES) survey. This is an essential customer experience metric measured by asking customers to rate you on just one thing: ease.

Measuring customer effort with one question is a simple way to collect feedback on an area that matters most to your team.

The Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) survey follows the same principle. But it focuses on satisfaction instead of ease. In either case, keep it simple by measuring customer experience one specific touchpoint at a time. Here are a few steps to get you started:

• Outline your many touchpoints & prioritize. Create your CES or CSAT surveys for the touchpoints you decide to target.
• Automate surveys based on transaction type so that customers receive them at the best time. Send surveys through methods to which your customers respond, whether that be through email surveys , on your website , or by sending them a link . Identify areas where you need to improve.
• Seek additional information from customers and your customer service team, when needed. eBay selects specific sellers who receive a message like this in their inboxes. “You’ve been specially selected to help us improve our customer experience. Please complete this 1-2 minute survey and share your thoughts about….”
• Gather that feedback and develop a plan.
• Execute your customer experience enhancement action plan.
• Continue to measure your results using CES or CSAT surveys.

NPS surveys

Transactional surveys like CES and CSAT measure customer service and specific elements of customer experience. How do you examine the brand equity of your business that you’ve built over time? With Net Promoter Score (NPS) .

Net Promoter Score (NPS) surveys measure how your customer experience impacts loyalty. Like CES and CSAT, it’s best to keep these surveys simple. For example:

• “How likely are you to recommend ABC Company?”

Customers answer on a scale of 0-10, which is then used to calculate your NPS score. Measure it over time, and watch how it moves in direct relation to things like revenue, profits, employee satisfaction and inversely to other measures like returns, recruitment costs, turnover.

Further explore the  difference between transactional and relationship surveys  and see how they work together like customer service and customer experience.

Conclusion: Customer experience vs customer service

It’s important to understand the relationship between customer experience and customer service. Customer service is a very important part of the broader customer experience. The role of customer service has changed a lot as we’ve entered a self-service era. But your customer service teams are still vital in that they manage the exceptions and gather valuable data about customer experience.

It’s important to track not only how customers experience your customer service team. You need to know how they experience the entire customer journey, at every major touchpoint. CES, CSAT, and NPS surveys are three vital types of surveys that help you quantify customer experience in both the short and long term.

To start collecting actionable feedback from customers in order to delight them every step of the way, explore our customer survey templates today.

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Customer service vs customer experience: 5 key differences

Curious about the differences between customer service vs customer experience ?

Many organizations use the terms customer service and customer experience interchangeably.

However, they don’t mean the same thing. 

From the point of activation to their approaches , there are a lot of differences between both. 

In this article, we’ll explore what customer service and customer experience are and highlight five key differences between the two. We’ll also take a look at how you can provide fantastic customer service and customer experience.

This article covers:

(Click on a link below to jump to a specific section)

• The Point of Activation
• One-time Interaction vs. Overall Experience
• Reactive vs. Proactive Approach
• Different Performance Metrics
• Different Tech Stacks
• 3 Actionable Tips to Provide Good Customer Service
• 3 Simple Tips to Provide a Great Customer Experience

Let’s get started.

Customer service vs customer experience: 5 major differences

First, we’ll understand what customer service and customer experience mean. 

A. What is customer service?

Customer service is the assistance (or advice) your support team provides to your customers during and after purchasing your product or service.

Your organization can provide customer service in different ways, such as:

• Chatbots and FAQs : To solve basic consumer queries via self-service.
• Call support : For quick escalation.
• Live chat and email support : For customers on the go.

Additionally, customers can rely on live chats or call support if they’re unsatisfied with the self-service options.

Why’s a positive customer service experience crucial to business success ?

Customers who have a bad experience with your customer service team will most likely not remain loyal customers. As a result, to boost customer retention , your customer service team needs to avoid poor customer service.

Additionally, good customer service enhances customer loyalty and improves your chances of making an additional sale to the customer.

Next, we’ll look at what customer experience is and how it differs from customer service.

B. What is customer experience (CX)?

Customer experience refers to how a business interacts with its customers at every point in a customer’s journey.

In a customer experience ecosystem , your business interacts with the customer even before they complete their purchase and continues after the sale is made. 

As a result, customer experience is an ongoing process .

Here are the three most important areas to provide a better customer experience:

• People : Customers want to communicate with helpful and qualified team members. This includes communication with your customer care team and sales team. 
• Process : Customers prefer a seamless experience across their entire journey. By following a customer experience design process, teams can optimize processes at every touchpoint.
• Product : Customers want high-quality products that solve their problems. As a result, you’ll need to identify your unique selling points to provide a good customer experience.

And while all three are distinct components, your company needs to improve on all of them to ensure a positive customer experience.

Now that we’ve understood what customer service and customer experience mean, let’s take a closer look at their differences.  

1. The point of activation

Customer service usually begins when a customer approaches your business for purchase, assistance, or clarification. As a result, the customer initiates the customer service process , and it ends once the issue or query is resolved.

Additionally, every customer service interaction is part of the larger and unified customer experience.

On the other hand, the customer experience process begins even when the customer is still just a prospect. For example, social media ads and blog posts can leave an impression on potential customers and hence are part of the customer experience.

In other words, customer experience remains active throughout the entire customer journey. Companies may also use insights about customer preferences from historical customer data to reactivate passive customers.

And it doesn’t matter if you have an online or brick-and-mortar business. You must always focus on giving customers the best experience across all touchpoints.

2. One-time interaction vs. overall experience

One of the key differences between customer service and customer experience is the number of touchpoints involved in the customer’s journey.

For example, your customer will only interact with your customer service team when there’s an issue to resolve. This will involve your customer-facing departments and typically require only one or two touchpoints .

On the other hand, from the initial sale to the post-sale service to repeated purchases, customer experience relies on multiple business interactions and impressions. 

And while not every customer journey is the same, one thing is certain – almost every customer will interact with your business more than once.

As a result, customer service is only a part of the customer lifecycle, whereas customer experience is the entire journey. 

3. Reactive vs. proactive approach

Customer service and customer experience also have unique problem-solving methods.

Remember, customer service is typically initiated by the customer while facing a pre-sale or post-sale problem. 

Here, customers can usually reach out to your business via their preferred communication channels , including phone, email, messaging, or live chat. In this regard, customer service can be described as a passive or reactive method. 

On the other hand, customer experience is all about anticipating your customers’ needs through various means. This involves using customer journey maps, satisfaction surveys, website analytics, or even useful metrics like customer churn rate. 

This proactive approach can help you improve your relationships with your customers and boost brand loyalty. 

4. Different performance metrics

Customer service and customer experience rely on different performance metrics to address customer’s needs. 

Performance metrics help you determine the effectiveness of your customer service and customer experience team. 

For example, customer service teams use the customer effort score (CES) or customer satisfaction score (CSAT) to measure performance. Since it’s calculated on a case-by-case basis, it’s always interaction-specific. 

On the flip side, customer experience is measured through extensive surveys depicting the entire customer experience or level of satisfaction. 

You can also measure customer experience by keeping a close watch on your company’s social media accounts, product feedback page, or feedback survey form.

5. Different tech stacks

Customer service teams generally use customer relationship management (CRM) platforms to keep track of customer interactions.

A CRM platform is a customer management software that helps customer support teams manage interactions with existing and potential customers. 

With CRMs, you can store customer contacts, delegate duties, and automate repetitive tasks. This way, your customer service agents can improve every customer’s journey.

Customer experience, on the other hand, is much more extensive and requires more than a single platform. Nowadays, to provide an exceptional customer experience, your company needs to collect relevant customer data from every possible touchpoint.

For example, you need to collect data from marketing channels (website and social media analytics), sales channels (CRM), packaging, and finance.

To truly improve your brand’s value proposition, you need to get both the overall customer experience and the customer service provided right.

So we’ll take a look at how you can improve your customer service and customer experience.   

3 actionable tips to provide good customer service

Good customer service is essential for customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. It also helps in positive word-of-mouth marketing, bringing in more sales and profits. 

Here are three ways you can provide great customer service:

1. Personalize customer interaction

Customers need more than just automated messages — they need human interaction as well.

To build a fantastic customer relationship, you need to personalize your interactions with your customers. This is crucial since most customers expect an experience that’s tailored to their unique preferences. 

For example, you can:

• Use your customer’s name while communicating with them, whether that’s via email or live chat.
• Use the customer’s past purchasing data to recommend products to their liking.

However, many customers are often reluctant to share their data. 

An Accenture survey found that 83% of respondents were willing to give companies their data for better personalization.

2. Make data-driven decisions

In 2017, the Economist published a report titled “The world’s most valuable resource is data, not oil.” Since its publication, “Data is the new oil” has become a common buzzword.

What does it mean?

Data can fuel everything from marketing strategies to AI-based chatbots.

To keep up with changing customer needs, you need to equip your employees with analytics and customer service software that gives them instant access to customer data across multiple channels. 

In doing so, you’ll enable your support team to go beyond capturing data and focus more on reacting to different data trends.

For example, once a customer is registered on your website using their email address, you can collect more data as they’re browsing your website.

In addition, having access to real-time and historical data means that your team can take action on what’s trending at the moment and change course if needed.

3. Provide omni-channel support

In this age of social media and chatting tools, customers prefer to connect with businesses in multiple ways. A customer on the move should be able to contact you via their preferred communication channel , like live chat.

By providing omnichannel support, you’re already halfway there in delivering excellent customer service.

So how do you do this? Simple: by equipping your agents with technology that lets them switch across different channels quickly.

However, you should also train your customer support agents to handle questions via phone, email, social media, and live chat.

Lastly, customer service is just one part of the customer journey. You also need to provide a seamless customer experience.

So, how do you provide a great customer experience? 

We’ll find out next.

If you want a comprehensive understanding of omnichannel support, check out our guide on Omnichannel Contact Centers.

3 simple tips to provide a great customer experience

Delivering an exceptional customer experience is important for any business.

But what makes a customer experience great?

Here are three things to keep in mind to help you provide a great customer experience:  

1. Pay attention to customer feedback

It’s no secret that customer feedback is paramount for meeting customer expectations.

Constantly asking for your customers’ opinions and incorporating that feedback into your customer experience strategy can make your customers feel valued.

Here’s how you can use customer feedback to grow your business:

• Follow-up with your customer base: It’s important to use real-time or post-purchase surveys to get a customer’s perception of your business. These follow-ups can give you insight into areas that you succeed in and need to improve on.
• Pay attention to social media : Pay close attention to platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. For this, you can use a social listening tool to monitor and analyze online conversations about your brand.
• Keep a close eye on review websites : Check for your product reviews on third-party websites like TripAdvisor or Amazon.

That’s why, regardless of your business type, you need to engage with your customers wherever they are.

2. Take advantage of analytics tools

How do you know if your customer experience efforts are paying off?

The answer lies in measuring business results.

You can monitor key customer experience metrics in real-time with the help of powerful business intelligence tools like Tableau and Oracle Analytics Cloud.

Many organizations also use the NPS (Net Promoter Score) to measure the success of customer experience. Since NPS is easy to visualize, it’s a favorite among marketing executives.

3. Optimize your customers’ journeys

You need to consider the entire customer journey when creating an excellent customer experience.

To do this, you need to create a customer experience design process with the help of your customer experience management team. 

Customer experience design is the process of optimizing the customer experience across all touchpoints.

Here’re some examples of how your team can optimize a customer’s journey:

• Send them personalized recommendations of your new products based on their previous purchase history.
• As the needs and habits of the customer evolve, their preference also changes. Consistently review your customer profile to keep offering a personalized experience.
• Provide omnichannel personalization by collecting data from all channels, including websites, social media, phone calls, mobile apps.

Focusing on the customers’ journey and identifying problems within each step helps you determine ways to improve the customer experience.

Although customer service and customer experience are quite different, the two work hand-in-hand to build strong customer relationships .

A strong customer experience at every touchpoint increases the likelihood of converting a prospect into a customer. And a robust customer service setup will ensure long-term customer retention. 

Use the information we covered here to improve the way you serve your customers and achieve customer success.

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Andy is a technology & marketing leader who has delivered award-winning and world-first experiences.

Why top companies track customer experience analytics

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• Customer Interaction

Customer Service vs Customer Experience: What’s the Difference?

Customer service and customer experience are not the same things, but they are related. Customer service is a piece of the customer experience puzzle.

Last updated: September 27, 2022

6 mins read

What is Customer Experience?

• They start with ensuring a great customer experience by providing you with thousands of movie and show options to choose from.
• Based on the shows you watch, you get accurate suggestions as well. The more you use the platform, the better the suggestions—which is a great way to keep users happy!
• If you need to get in touch with a customer service agent, support is quick and knowledgeable.
• Netflix’s advertising campaigns are always fun to watch. They follow a meme-based approach for the most part—which users  enjoy.

What is Customer Service?

• Omnichannel support
• Trained agents (both soft and hard skills)
• A good balance between quality and speed
• Improvement by looking at customer feedback

Customer Service vs Customer Experience: The Key Differences

Entire journey vs. few interactions, reactive vs. proactive, success metrics.

• Customer Effort Score: How much effort your customer has to put in to get support.
• Customer Retention Rate: The number of customers that stay with your brand or make regular purchases over a certain period of time.
• Customer Churn Rate: The number of customers that leave your brand over a specific period of time.
• Customer Satisfaction Score: This metric measures the level of satisfaction your customers have with your brand (usually done through a survey).
• Average First Response Time: This is the average time lapsed between a customer reaching out to you and an agent responding.
• Resolution Time: This is the time lapsed between a customer raising a ticket and it being marked as “resolved.”

Level of Control

Accountability, key differences: infographic.

Why Should You Care about the Difference between Customer Service and Customer Experience?

Parting thoughts.

Sanjana Sankhyan is a freelance writer who specializes in delivering data-driven blog posts for B2B SaaS brands. She helps businesses attract more audience and sales with her writing. If not writing, you’ll find her helping other freelancers improve their work. Find her on LinkedIn or Twitter.

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The Difference Between Customer Experience and Customer Service

For many, the terms customer experience and customer service are often used interchangeably. It’s understandable, they sound similar and they both can be used as a measurement for business success. 

However, while they may hold similarities, customer experience and customer service couldn’t be more different. 

With today’s importance of providing an exceptional customer experience, it’s important to differentiate these two terms. In this blog, we’re defining customer experience and customer service, while highlighting the key differentiators and how you can measure them for greater success. 

What is Customer Experience?

Customer experience is the sum of all interactions between business and consumer. It covers every aspect of the buying journey, from the moment a customer discovers your product or service, to well after they’ve experienced it. As Hubspot so eloquently wrote, customer experience is the customer’s view of your brand and impacts factors related to your bottom line, including revenue. When measuring the customer experience, there are many moving parts and teams to consider, rather than measuring one specific interaction, the customer experience involves measuring many. 

For the sake of further defining customer experience, let’s put it into real-life practice. Let’s say you’ve begun running ads for a product; A customer sees your ad on social media and likes it. Three days later, because of that ad, the same customer visits your website, browses your products, and sends a message via your web chat. The customer purchases a product for curbside pickup and visits your store to obtain the item. After the experience, they follow up with an email to review their service and provide valuable feedback. 

This entire scenario from the moment the customer saw the ad, to them providing feedback is the customer experience journey. It’s a flow of touchpoints and a sum of interactions with your customer.  

What is Customer Service?

Customer service alternatively, is the one on one interaction between customer and business, holding value as a part of the customer experience. It is a single moment within the experience where the customer reaches out and asks for assistance, clarification, or provides a valuable comment. This means that the quality of service is dependent on the support your business and employees offer and is the key to retaining and building great customer relationships.

Now, let’s see customer service as a real-life example. Imagine a customer has recently purchased your product, they love it but are unsure if they are reaping the full benefits. The customer reaches out to your business via a phone call and asks to speak to a representative that can help explain the product use cases and benefits. The employee assists them, the customer receives their answer and the interaction is complete.

Customer service in this scenario is the representative’s time with the customer, explaining the product, answering questions, and asking for feedback. Whether the service is good or bad, is dependent on how the employee interacts and empathizes. In summary, customer service is only a fraction of the entire experience. 

Key Differentiators

In order to emphasize the differences between both customer service and customer experience, here we break down the top differentiators.

Customer Service Focuses on Support

The nature of customer service is directly tied to the support that employees provide to customers. Whether it is helping a customer find the right size of shoe, collecting information on faulty items, or taking a customer’s order, customer service is designed to strengthen relationships and make the customer’s life easier through support.

Customer Experience is Holistic

It’s evident in the definitions provided that customer experience focuses on the holistic journey, where customer service is limited to the direct interaction with the employee and the support that they provide. 

Rather than measuring between customer and employee, the experience involves many moving parts and teams that need to be consistently measured over time.

Proactive vs. Reactive

Where customer experience aims to be proactive in analyzing, planning and providing elements of great experience, customer service is often reactive in that it is the result of a customer needing support. Although there are cases where an employee may reach out to a customer, customer service is often used as a way to resolve issues, answer frequently asked questions, and improve customer satisfaction.

Customer Experience Empowers Great Service

While customer service is undoubtedly the key to a thriving business, customer experience is what dictates the quality of service your business provides. Creating a thorough experience plan, and measuring key moments of the journey, can help businesses understand customers better to empower great service. 

How to Measure Customer Service and Customer Experience For Success

Now that we’ve provided a clear distinction between these two powerhouse business terms, it’s important to understand how you can measure each for greater customer insight and business success.

Using a customer experience management platform such as Loop, measuring becomes simplified. With it you can measure the customer experience as a whole, while also obtaining granular service data on individual employee performance – all in real-time. 

From a customer service perspective, a sophisticated CEM can provide a suite of employee-facing metrics . Understand top-performing and underperforming employees, discover rush hours for scheduling, understand establishment standards, and obtain trending topics of conversation for service/product adjustment. Further, with a CEM like the Loop Experience Platform, you can measure over a customized time period, and provide employees with real-time insights while working to improve service and create a friendly work environment.

In terms of measuring the entire experience, a customer experience management system can also provide a holistic view of performance. Measure from multiple locations and obtain trending topics along with heatmaps for general data on experience. Further, understand the average customer sentiment, operational performance, messaging channels most used, critical customer touchpoints, and much more to elevate the overall experience. With a customer experience management system, you can obtain data to help you strategize and understand motives in order to adjust experience, retain customers and maximize revenue.

Looking to obtain more insight from your customers? Contact us and discover how the Loop Experience Platform has helped some of the world’s leading customer-centric brands. 

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Blog Customer Experience

Customer Service vs Customer Experience: Definition, Differences & Examples

26 March 2024

Table Of Contents

The Dawn of a New Customer Era

What is customer service, an example of a customer service interaction, what is customer experience.

• An example of a customer experience interaction
• Customer Service vs. Customer Experience

Surveys: The Key to Better Customer Service and Experience

How can surveysparrow revolutionize your customer experience, wrapping up.

Okay, so today is about customer service vs. customer experience!

How do you handle customer issues or the emotional connection you foster with your customers? If this question leaves you pondering, then welcome aboard. Every interaction between a brand and its customers in the bustling marketplace counts.

Customer Service and Customer Experience. Each plays a distinct role in influencing the performance of businesses in the marketplace. This blog will unravel the definitions, key differences, and real-life examples of both, offering readers an in-depth understanding of their roles in shaping a brand’s identity.

• An Example of a Customer Experience Interaction

As you enter a new era where customer interactions are not just transactions but experiences, it’s imperative to comprehend the difference between Customer Service and Customer Experience. They may sound similar but are as different as chalk and cheese, each with its unique impact on your business narrative.

Customer service is the support and advice provided by a company to those people who purchase or use its products or services. This extends from assisting customers in making cost-effective and correct use of a product to helping troubleshoot and deal with complaints or issues.

Imagine you’ve just bought a new gadget. You’re excited, but there’s a glitch, and it’s not working as expected. That’s when you reach out to the company’s support team. The person on the other side of the phone, email, or chat guides you, addressing your concerns and offering solutions – that’s customer service.

Whether it’s guiding a customer through a complicated setup process, resolving a billing issue, or simply assisting a customer in navigating a company’s product, good customer service ensures a positive, helpful, and friendly interaction between the customer and the company.

Customer Experience, often called CX, is a customer’s broader journey with a brand, encompassing every interaction from the first point of contact to the final purchase.

An example of a Customer Experience Interaction

Picture yourself strolling through a bookstore. The inviting aroma of fresh paper, the neatly organized shelves, the knowledgeable and friendly staff helping you choose the perfect book, the seamless checkout process, and the joy of finding a personalized bookmark inside your new book. Each of these elements contributes to your overall experience.

Similarly, in a digital scenario, it could be the ease of using a website, the personalized recommendations you receive, or the follow-up emails checking your satisfaction with a product.

Unlike customer service, which focuses on resolving specific issues, customer experience is about crafting a journey that leaves customers feeling heard, understood, and cared for at every touchpoint. It’s about building lasting, positive emotional connections that keep customers returning. The end goal of a superior customer experience is a loyal customer who not only continually chooses your brand but also advocates for it.

Are you looking for a Customer Experience Survey Template? Access it for free.

Difference Between Customer Service and Customer Experience

Defining customer service vs. customer experience can feel like trekking through a labyrinth, as the two are intricately linked. However, their differences emerge when we illuminate the distinct roles each plays.

Customer Service is typically reactive. It springs into action when a customer encounters an issue with a product or service. It’s about addressing specific queries or complaints and providing immediate resolution to ensure customer satisfaction. Imagine you bought a new phone and can’t figure out a particular feature. The help you get from the company to understand and use that feature is customer service.

On the flip side, Customer Experience is far more comprehensive and proactive. It involves every interaction a customer has with a company, from the moment they learn about it through their engagement with the company’s products or services. A seamless website navigation, a smooth checkout process, easy product setup, and personalized communications are part of the customer experience.

Customer service is a single touchpoint within the larger journey of customer experience. Both are crucial yet serve different purposes in the realm of customer interactions. Understanding and leveraging both appropriately can create a symphony of positive interactions and memorable experiences, leading to satisfied and loyal customers.

Surveys play a fundamental role in curating compelling customer service and experience. They act as a compass, guiding businesses toward understanding customer sentiments, needs, and expectations.

Let’s delve into the roles of surveys in fostering meaningful customer service and experience.

Tapping into the Customer’s Mind

Surveys serve as a direct communication channel between a business and its customers. They give customers a platform to voice their thoughts, providing businesses with valuable insights into what works and what doesn’t. These insights can then be used to enhance both customer service and experience.

For instance, if customers express dissatisfaction with response times, businesses can focus on improving this aspect of customer service. Likewise, if customers indicate they value personalized product recommendations, this insight can be used to enhance the overall customer experience.

Evaluating Customer Service Effectiveness

Surveys allow businesses to measure the effectiveness of their customer service. Companies can gather data on areas like resolution speed, communication quality, and overall satisfaction by asking customers about their recent interactions with the customer service team.

This feedback can be invaluable in training customer service teams and improving practices to meet customer expectations better.

Understanding Customer Experience

While customer service focuses on individual interactions, customer experience is the cumulative effect of all touchpoints a customer has with a business. Surveys help map these touchpoints and understand the customer’s journey. They highlight areas of friction and reveal opportunities for creating delightful experiences.

For example, customers might find a business’s website difficult to navigate or feel bombarded by excessive promotional emails. Identifying these pain points through surveys can help businesses optimize their customer journey, leading to a better customer experience.

Tracking Changes Over Time

Surveys aren’t a one-time deal. Conducting them regularly helps businesses track changes in customer perceptions over time. This longitudinal data can reveal trends, measure the impact of new initiatives, and help businesses adapt to evolving customer needs and expectations.

In conclusion, surveys are potent tools for businesses to understand their customers better and create superior customer service and experience. By providing direct customer feedback, they empower businesses to make informed decisions and forge stronger customer relationships.

SurveySparrow is more than just a survey tool – it’s a comprehensive platform transforming how businesses engage with their customers. Here’s how SurveySparrow can revolutionize your customer experience

Let’s explore more standout features of SurveySparrow that can take your customer experience to the next level:

Keep your finger on the pulse of customer sentiment with the recurring surveys feature. This allows you to schedule automatic surveys at specified intervals, which is ideal for tracking changes in customer opinions over time.

Mobile-First Surveys

In the era of smartphones, ensuring mobile-friendly surveys is critical. Enjoy high response rates even from mobile users, thanks to the mobile-first surveys designed for optimal performance on smaller screens.

Advanced Logic Features

Including advanced logic features like skip logic, display logic, and scoring leads to dynamic, personalized surveys. This not only boosts completion rates but also yields more precise data.

Multilingual Surveys

Language should never be a hurdle in gathering feedback. Broaden your survey’s reach and inclusivity by utilizing the multilingual surveys feature, designed to cater to customers in the language they’re most comfortable with.

White-Label Surveys

Consistency in brand experience is key. By fully customizing and branding your surveys – from URL to logo, colors, and fonts – you’re providing a consistent brand experience across all customer interactions.

Manage and segment your audience directly within the platform, allowing for targeted surveys to different customer segments. This improves the relevancy and effectiveness of your surveys, leading to more actionable insights.

Rich Insight Dashboards

Harness the power of rich insight dashboards that provide real-time data and advanced filtering options. These reports, exportable in various formats, can fuel data-driven decisions to shape an exceptional customer experience.

Secure and Compliant

Security is paramount. By adhering to GDPR compliance, you can ensure that your survey data is securely stored and handled, building customer trust.

By tapping into these standout features, businesses can gather and analyze customer feedback more effectively. This paves the way for shaping a customer experience that is not just remarkable but also truly memorable.

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In the grand scheme, customer service and customer experience play pivotal roles in crafting your brand’s narrative. Understanding these terms, their differences and their intertwining roles forms the foundation of effective business operations. Harnessing the power of survey platforms like SurveySparrow, with its array of standout features, you’re empowered to gather and analyze crucial customer feedback.

This isn’t just about resolving queries or streamlining processes; it’s about shaping memorable customer journeys. At the end of the day, every touchpoint matters, and every voice counts. It’s time to turn feedback into your most powerful tool and let your customers lead the way to exceptional service and unparalleled experiences.

Passionate, eidetic, and a writer at large.

Growth Marketer at SurveySparrow

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Customer Service vs Customer Experience: Key Differences

Customer service and customer experience are two terms that get thrown around a lot in business, but their definitions can be elusive.

The phrases are often used interchangeably, but in reality they are different things.

Put simply, customer service is one part of a holistic customer experience.

Customer experience refers to the complete journey a customer takes with your brand, from initial awareness to post-purchase care.

Customer service refers to a single event when a customer reaches out for help and support during this journey. 

Both are equally important contributors to the success of your business.

You can’t do one one well without the other, which is why it’s so important to know what they are and how they are different. 

In this post, we take an in-depth look at the customer service vs customer experience question. We'll cover:

• What is customer experience?
• What is customer service?
• The key differences between customer experience and customer service
• How to succeed at both

As mentioned, customer experience (CX) refers to the entire journey a customer takes with your business.

It's a key brand differentiator and an important factor in the success of a business.

In fact, SuperOffice reports that customers spend 140% more and remain loyal for up to 6 years when they rate a brand highly for customer experience.

CX involves many touchpoints and engagement channels across multiple departments. 

Imagine your company is a retail business that specialises in selling fashionable trainers.

Here’s an example of a simple customer experience journey in that scenario: ‍

• A potential customer searches for ‘best trainers of 2020’ in Google and comes across a blog post from your company titled ‘Ten Trendiest Trainers of 2020’. They click the link to be taken to the post on your site. 
• Whilst reading the post, a pair of trainers on the list really catches their eye, so they click the internal link to arrive on the product page.
• At this stage, they aren’t sure if they want to buy the trainers, so they leave your site. 
• A few days later, they are browsing Facebook when they see a targeted advert for your business. 
• They click the advert to be taken back to the trainers’ product page. This time they decide to make a purchase. 
• When placing the trainers in their basket, they wonder if they can be bought in blue and white, as well as the traditional red and white, so they initiate a live chat using the chat widget on the web page to ask a customer service advisor.
• After chatting and understanding the customer’s enquiry, the advisor escalates the live chat to a video chat interaction to show the customer the trainers in different colours.
• The customer is happy with the further information and thanks the advisor - the interaction ends.
• After seeing the trainers in different colours, the customer opts for the blue and white version. They edit their basket accordingly and complete their purchase.
•  A few days later, the trainers are delivered. The customer is very happy with the product and their experience with your brand, so they continue to purchase trainers and accompanying accessories from you in the future. 

In this example, the customer had multiple touchpoints with the business (blog, website, social media, live chat, video chat), and encountered the work of different departments (marketing, customer service, sales) to complete their customer journey .

Each step of the journey made up the overall customer experience.

The key to creating an optimal customer experience is making sure all the touchpoints are linked, allowing customers to jump between them.

• What is customer service? 

Customer service refers to the customer support function of a business.

It’s the help and advice offered to customers when they have a question or an issue concerning your product or service.

Unlike customer experience, customer service is an isolated event and only involves customer-facing departments.

It typically involves human contact with brands, but as artificial intelligence becomes more advanced, we are seeing more and more automation involved in customer service too.

Chatbots, for example, are increasingly used by businesses to deal with FAQs and to direct initial enquiries to the right advisor. 

Going back to the example used above, steps 6 and 7 of the journey saw the customer have contact with customer service.

They reached out via live chat, and the advisor used their resources (in this case video chat) to best serve the customer and answer their question. 

In this way, customer service makes up one part of the overall customer experience with a business.

That's why providing exceptional customer service is essential if you want to improve the customer experience .

Key differences between customer service & customer experience

Now we know what customer service and customer experience are, let’s explore the main differences between them.

1) Holistic experience vs specific interaction

A major distinction in customer service vs customer experience is the number of touchpoints involved and the length of the interaction.  

• Customer experience refers to the entire customer journey. This encompasses discovery and awareness of a business, through to initial purchase and post-purchase care, to hopefully repeated purchases. As a result, it involves numerous touchpoints and means multiple departments need to be involved in creating a positive customer experience. Not every customer journey will look the same, but all will involve more than one interaction with a business. In this way, customer experience is holistic. 
• Customer service is part of customer experience: it’s one step of a customer’s journey. Some customers will not need to interact with customer service and others may need more than one interaction during their journey. The role of customer service is to support the customer by solving their issue, which improves their overall experience. This involves the work of customer-facing departments, and typically involves just one or two touchpoints. In this way, customer service refers to a particular customer interaction with a business.

2) Reactive vs proactive

Another key difference between service and experience is who leads the process: is it the customer or is it the business? Is it reactive or proactive?

• Customer experience is all about anticipating the needs of the customer. Through customer journey mapping , studying funnel drop-off points and website analytics, and asking for customer feedback , businesses constantly work to improve the brand experience and ensure customers don’t run into problems. Where needed, this could involve steering customers to initiate a customer service interaction. In this way, customer experience is proactive. 
• Customer service is nearly always initiated by the customer. The customer faces a problem so they reach out to a business’ support services via their preferred channel. In this way, customer service is reactive.

3) Ongoing relationship vs isolated event

The last difference between customer service and customer experience is how they are measured and connected to other events. 

• Customer experience is all about the customer’s relationship with a business. It cannot be quantified or pinned down to one single event or interaction. In this way, customer experience is an ongoing relationship - if a customer keeps coming back to your business, their customer experience continues. 
• Customer service refers to a specific event, i.e. a customer reaching out for help and support, or making a complaint. As an event, it can be measured by a number of metrics, such as first time resolution rate and average response time . In this way, customer service is a quantifiable, isolated event. 

The takeaway: how to succeed at service & experience

Despite the differences between them, customer service and customer experience are inextricably linked.

Ultimately, a business needs to succeed at both in order to thrive and foster lasting brand loyalty.

And in an increasingly saturated market, offering outstanding customer service and experiences is the only sure-fire way to stand out from your competitors.

But how can you ensure that your brand is able to meet these high standards?

You can start by investing in the right platform.

Talkative’s customer engagement solution was specifically designed to power superior service and next-level, personalized experiences at every digital touchpoint.

We provide a complete suite of engagement channels including web calling , live chat , cobrowsing , video chat , messaging , and an AI-powered chatbot .

And you’ll be able to manage all customer interactions, from all channels, within a single pane of glass.

As a result, you and your customer advisors will be fully equipped to engage and convert more customers than ever before.

Want to see for yourself? Book a demo with Talkative today.

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Customer Service vs. Customer Experience: Key Differences

Help desk & customer support specialists

The ProProfs Help Desk Editorial Team is a diverse group of professionals passionate about help desk management. We update you on the latest trends, dive into technical topics, and offer insights to elevate your business.

Do you feel a sense of confusion around the terms customer success vs. customer experience? You are not alone. 

Business terminologies can seem greek to most people. But understanding the smallest of differences between important terms can help you become a customer-centric brand. 

The quality of both customer success and customer experience can help you alter the customers’ perception of your brand, encourage repeat purchases, increase loyalty, and drive business growth. 

Customer success (CS) is a term that has gained massive popularity in recent years. But what does it actually mean? What is the difference between customer success and customer experience? Can you prioritize both without losing focus on the customer? 

We understand you must be full of questions. In this blog, we will explore their definition in detail. Later, we will understand the 5 key differences between the two and see how you can improve both to win more customers for your business. 

Let’s go! 

What Is Customer Success? 

Customer success is a business process that operates with the intention of helping customers reach their desired goals and outcomes. The main purpose is to help customers make the most of your offered products or services. 

Modern companies have dedicated customer success teams to proactively help customers use products effectively and attain success. Customers will likely continue buying from you when they can reap the maximum benefits from your products and services. 

Here are some common roles and responsibilities of customer success teams: 

• Providing in-depth onboarding sessions
• Encouraging renewals and repeat purchases
• Increasing customer lifetime value (CLV) and revenue
• Collecting and implementing customer feedback

What Is Customer Experience?

The customer experience (CX) is the result of the interactions a customer has with your brand across various stages of the customer journey. The customer experience is composed of different interactions – from browsing an online website to speaking to a sales or customer service representative. 

Customer experience has the power to make or break a brand. If customers have a delightful experience, they will stay loyal, buy more often, and recommend your products to friends and family members. On the other hand, a poor experience can make you lose existing and potential customers. 

Here are some benefits of delivering great CX:

• Enhanced customer satisfaction
• Increased customer loyalty
• Improved word-of-mouth marketing 
• More product or service recommendations

Read More: 10 Surefire Ways to Improve Customer Experience With Help Desk

5 Key Differences Between Customer Success & Customer Experience 

Here are the top 5 major differences between customer success and customer experience: 

1. Timeline 

Customer experience begins with the customer’s first contact with the company. This could be even before they buy from you. For example, when they are scrolling through your e-commerce website or when they receive a cold call from your sales team or an email from the marketing department. 

On the other hand, customer success comes into play at a very later stage of the customer journey. Customer success teams are brought into action when the customer actually makes a purchase. The main focus is ensuring customers have a smooth experience using a new product or service. 

2. Objective 

On comparing customer experience and customer success, you will notice that the former is a broader concept than the latter. The main objective of customer experience is to build a healthy relationship with customers across different stages of the customer journey – from awareness to purchase to advocacy. 

Customer success is only a small part of the customer experience. The main objective of customer success is to ensure customers attain their desired goals and expectations when they start using your product or service. For example, if you sell a team communication app, the objective of your CS team would be to help customers collaborate with team members without any hassles. 

3. Metrics for Measurement 

Businesses use different metrics to measure the quality of customer experience and the efficiency of customer success teams. Let’s discuss them right away. 

Customer experience is measured using metrics such as customer satisfaction score (CSAT), net promoter score (NPS), customer effort score (CES), customer acquisition rate, etc. 

On the other hand, customer success is measured using metrics such as renewal rate, customer lifetime value, customer health score, customer churn rate, repeat purchase rate, etc. 

Read More: 15 Help Desk Metrics to Improve Customer Support

4. Responsibility

There is another major difference you must know about in this battle of customer experiences vs. customer success. The responsibility for the quality of customer experience falls on the entire company, involving different departments. While the product team is responsible for developing well-designed products, the sales team must offer the best deal to customers to enhance their experience. 

However, when it comes to customer success, only one department is responsible – the customer success team. They are responsible for ensuring customers attain success as quickly as possible and make regular purchases to boost the company’s revenue. In some cases, even the customer service teams are responsible for helping customers better understand a product and achieve their desired outcomes. 

Read More: 10 Tips to Build a High-Performance Customer Success Team

5. Industry 

Customer experience is a common area of focus for almost all industries. From banking to healthcare to e-commerce, companies belonging to these industries know that in order to survive, they need to improve the CX. 

But this isn’t true for customer success. You will find customer success teams in companies belonging to the SaaS (software as a service) industry. Here the sole focus is to educate customers about the product through detailed walkthroughs and training. CS teams can also be found in B2B companies that sell technical or complex products such as machinery, electronic gadgets, and more. 

Can Customer Success and Customer Experience Work Together? 

For optimum success, customer success and customer experience teams should work together like a well-oiled machine. 

As discussed above, customer success is only a part of the customer experience. This means their functions often overlap with each other. Both teams share common goals of increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty and driving rapid business growth. 

If you have dedicated teams for both, here is how you can make them work in sync. While the customer success team can focus on people who have already signed up for your product or services. The CX team can focus more on making potential customers aware of what the brand stands for and how it can solve their unique problems. 

It is also important to ensure you track their performances using different metrics. For example, you can adopt a more quantitative approach to measure customer success – renewal rate, churn rate, repeat purchase rate, etc. On the other hand, a qualitative approach can help you measure customer experience – CSAT or open-ended surveys, interviews, etc. 

Read More: 8 Ways to Excel at Customer Service Team Collaboration

Role of Customer Success & CX in the Customer Journey 

Well-trained customer success and CX teams can positively impact the customer journey. But what exactly is the customer journey? 

The customer journey can be defined as a map that includes all the interactions a customer has with a business. Every touchpoint of the customer journey should further familiarize the customer with your brand and leave a lasting impression. This can only be done successfully if you give equal consideration to customer experience and customer success. 

• Businesses with a customer experience mindset drive revenue 4-8% higher than the rest of their competitors.
• According to a study , over 72% of companies say that improving customer success would be their number one priority

Now, let’s see how these two teams can help you improve the onboarding stage of the customer journey. 

During the onboarding process, the CS team can offer in-app walkthroughs and training sessions to help customers understand the product better. They can even share links to self-service articles, FAQ pages, video tutorials, etc., to answer all their product-related queries. 

On the other hand, the CX team can share surveys or have one-on-one sessions with customers to understand their pain points. They can then share this data with the CS team to improve future onboarding processes. 

Prioritize Both Customer Success and Customer Experience 

Successful businesses such as Apple, Amazon, and Disney have their eyes on both customer success and customer experience. While both the terms are often used interchangeably by industry experts, there lies some major differences between the two. 

While customer success teams attempt to help customers reap the best results from their products or services. On the other hand, customer experience is a broader approach that aims to measure the quality of interactions across multiple touchpoints. 

So is there any tool that can be used by both CS and CX teams? We are glad you asked! You can use ProProfs Help Desk to manage all customer communications in one place, encourage self-service, generate leads, and capture feedback using versatile surveys. 

About the author

Proprofs editorial team.

The ProProfs Help Desk Editorial Team is a passionate group of customer service experts dedicated to improving your help desk operations with top-notch content. We stay ahead of the curve on trends, tackle technical hurdles, and provide practical tips to boost your business. With our commitment to quality and integrity, you can be confident you're getting the most reliable resources to enhance your customer support initiatives.

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Describe the best customer service you have ever received. What made it special? Sample answers and more

Customer service is one of the biggest fields of employment all over the world. And while it isn’t necessarily hard to get a job in retail or in customer service (considering that many companies are always hiring, and people are always leaving, and basically the employee fluctuation is higher than in any other field of business ), you still want to make a good impression on the hiring managers. Perhaps to get the one job you really want, or to avoid embarrassing silence when they ask you some question you aren’t prepared for. And this one catches many people off-guard, simply because they expect to talk in an interview about a great customer service they delivered, and not the one they received!

Keep in mind a few things though. Most customer service jobs are entry level . Many applicants have no previous working experience. Hence they can hardly speak about the best service they delivered to someone. At the same time, the interviewers wonder whether the job candidates understand what it means to deliver an excellent service to a customer, and whether they have the right attitude –meaning that they want to, and enjoy delivering such a service . In order to find the answers, they will ask you about your own best customer service experience.

Any situation you pick, try to speak with enthusiasm . They should get an impression that you have a passion for great customer service, and understand the important role it plays in a success story of every single business. Mark my words–you do not necessarily have to narrate some ground-breaking story , for example a story of some shop assistant saving your life, and going for a date with you just to make you happy :). Any experience when someone went out of their way for you , or simply treated you extremely nicely, is a good example to talk about here.

Let’s have a look at 7 sample answers to this question. I tried to come up with some variety , narrating situations from different scenarios, and adding a few unconventional answers to the list. I hope at least one of the answers will resonate with you and with the message you try to convey in your interviews. Just remember that to showing a passion for a good customer service is the key, and it never hurts to say that you found the experience inspiring for your own conduct , in your future customer service job. Let’s proceed to the answers.

7 sample answers to “What was the best customer service you have ever received?”

• There is one situation that have stayed in my memory for a long time. I remember when I went to buy running shoes in a sports equipment store, just a few weeks before Christmas. The place was extremely busy, and I could see that all people worked very hard. Even though they were so busy, the girl who attended me patiently answered all my stupid questions with smile on her face, and even gave me recommendations based on her own experience with different brands of running shoes. Needless to say it impressed me a lot, and I aspire to also become such a great customer assistant one day.
• It was probably on the call with a technician regarding the problem with my internet connection . Not only were they very patient and didn’t get upset when I repeatedly couldn’t follow their instructions. They also treated me very friendly, and had immense knowledge of their field as I later understood. No doubt such a technician has to answer many similar phone calls each day, and one would understand if they got upset with a customer like me. But it wasn’t the case, and all in all it was a memorable customer service experience.
• I am not sure it was a best one, but it is quite recent so I remember it well . We went to a restaurant with my friends two weeks ago. Since I am on a vegan diet, we always try to choose the restaurant that has something on offer for me. This time, however, they were out of stock for the foods I wanted to order. However, instead of just dismissing me, they sent someone to the grocery store nearby for a quick shopping, so they could fry some nice tofu with veggies for me. It impressed me a lot, because other times when something similar happened ta other places, the people there simply suggested I’d order a vegetable salad. But this place was different, they earned a five star review, and definitely it was a good learning experience for me, since I also hope to deliver a great customer service in a restaurant where I plan to work.
• To be quite honest with you , I haven’t received an amazing customer service for a long time . Maybe that’s because my standards are very high . When I do any job in which I deal with customers, I am always 100% focused on the person I am talking to, and do my best to go above and beyond anytime the situation allows it. But I also understand it isn’t so common, because now from the top of my head I cannot remember the last time I actually received such a service . Anyway, I want to continue delivering it, so at least some people have this experience.
• The best one I got was in a pharmacy. You know how this business works–they have contracts with different providers, and push their products. But in this pharmacy it was different. They have a policy in place to always show the most affordable product to the customer first –probably the one they had the lowest profit margin on. This impressed me tremendously, since I saved a lot of dollars. Needless to say, the place is thriving and many people go there , even if they have to cover some distance, because the customer service is second to none. In my opinion, it is inspiring for both workers and business owners.
• It is hard to pick just one. I honestly feel that many customer service workers try their best . Of course, everyone has their low day, and sometimes when the place is too buys you just cannot give each individual customer as much attention as you’d like to , because it would mean letting the other customers waiting for a long time. I keep this on my mind, and I am grateful for any positive customer service experience. In my opinion, people should try their best in jobs, but customers should not expect miracles. Or at least that’s how I see it.
• The best one was when I accidentally cut my finger open when looking at a penknife in a store with outdoors equipment. Instead of scolding me, the man in charge of the store offered me a first aid kit and helped me to put a gaze on. What’s more, since the wound was quite big, he actually closed the store for half an hour and went to the emergency room with me. It was such an amazing experience that it almost moved me to tears . And it is definitely motivating to me, because I understand that even as cashiers or sales associates we can make the world a better place, with our everyday conduct in work.

So that’s it! I hope you enjoyed the answers and know now what to say in your own interview! If you’re not sure you, I suggest you to check also 7 sample answers to similar interview questions:

• Describe your most recent customer service experience.
• Give an example of a time when you provided great customer service.
• In what areas of customer service have you had experience?
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