Customer Experience and User Experience: A Total Eclipse of the Sun

 In the digital space customer experience (CX) and user experience (UX) are inexorably intertwined disciplines and winning teams excel at both equally, regardless of whether the person at the other end of the interaction might be characterized as a customer or a user at any given moment. And yet, even a casual Google search quickly reveals that many (many) organizations view the relationship between CX and UX as one that must be considered in terms of one vs. the other.

 A multitude of thoughtful Venn diagrams show UX enveloped by CX with the formidable CX circle wrapping itself like a protective cocoon around the tiny UX bubble. While this is a thoughtful approach that keeps the two disciplines tightly associated, a better way to view this relationship is to create a total eclipse where the two spheres completely overlap and become one, and simply provide a well-supported experience, where at each touch point in the interaction there are elements of both the CX and UX at play.

 Certainly, goals shift as someone moves in and out of different types of interactions, for example:

 Customers care about:

·      Value

·      Service

·      Support

·      Product reliability/quality

·      Ease of doing business

 While user care about tasks and thus their experience is greatly affected by:

·      Functionality

·      Usability

·      Reliability

·      Convenience

·      Pleasure

But how can these two disciplines not be intertwined in the digital space where ads are served in Facebook feeds, users and customers launch apps and websites in mobile browsers while waiting for a barista to call their name, where the reputation of brands are forged and reinforced by consumption and interaction with social media platforms? The companies that support this ebb and flow most effectively do so by reducing friction anywhere they can along the continuum. Drawing a line (or a circle) to distinguish between CX and UX sets the stage for interruption. The idea that a customer is not also a user at any given moment or that there is somehow a hand-off from one state of being to another is giving too much of a sharp edge to an incredibly blurry line.

 Customer service, support and ease of doing business are delivered through digital means, where functionality, use, reliability and convenience are paramount. You can’t have one without the other so why bifurcate the way you think about the delivery of that experience? If an organization provides the CX and the UX as either separate or unequal disciplines then it’s likely the end-user experience will never be optimal.

 Toward an “Experience Team”

Also, aiming to have the circles of the Venn diagram overlap between CX and UX is not merely symbolic. It has the potential to make a huge, practical impact on how internal teams work together. The total eclipse approach has the potential to create teams that will:

 -         Succeed or fail as one: Equal footing means the disciplines succeed or fail as one. If customer experience and user experience are on equal footing, and perhaps not differentiated within an organization, then one can’t succeed without the other. United they stand, in success or failure.

-         Cooperate, not compete: If the unified teams are tasked with optimizing each element of the overlapping spheres of CX and UX there can be no turf war. The teams must form a symbiotic whole, not competing but cooperating to achieve company goals.

-         Reinforce the focus on the customer/user: Doubling down on customer/user focus means this focus will be reflected back into the organization with exponential impact. It’s as if one discipline will serve to remind the other, “Hey, it’s all about the person on the other end of this transaction and it doesn’t matter which of us provides the tool or service to help them.“

 Perhaps if this more unified approach to CX and UX starts to take hold, we will see a future where instead of CX and UX teams standing as independent entities that have to interact, Experience Teams will begin to flourish.