Buzzwords Defined: Customer Experience vs. Customer Service

At The Clearing, customer experience (CX) is embedded into every aspect of our daily work from connecting with clients and understanding their needs to the delivery and continuous feedback cycles we intentionally build into our engagements. CX is also in the spotlight for federal agency leaders thanks to the Administration’s Nine Life Experience Projects, which are part of an ongoing effort to improve customer experience and service delivery for the American people.

It is no surprise that we have an entire Solution Area dedicated to the CX practice and recently launched CX Spark™, an assessment tool that gives leaders a comprehensive view of their organization’s customer experience landscape. CX is also a frequent topic of discussion in this thought leadership space, where we’ve covered everything from the overarching concept of CX to frequently heard CX buzzwords. However, there is one CX-adjacent topic that we have touched on in the past but merits its own Buzzwords Defined: the difference between customer experience and customer service.

While they sound similar — and are sometimes incorrectly used interchangeably — they are very different. Picture a pie. Customer experience is the pie; customer service is one of the slices that make up the pie. With that metaphor in your mind, let’s discuss how we define these concepts at The Clearing.

Customer Experience is the end-to-end holistic journey a customer has with your organization, your brand, or your company. CX is responsible for the resulting feelings and emotions customers have about those interactions over time — positive or negative.

Customer Service refers to the assistance and support provided by a company to its customers before, during, and after they purchase a product or service. It is just one touch-point along that larger holistic customer experience journey.

A Real-world Example

To put this into perspective, let’s consider a scenario involving apple pies. Picture planning a birthday celebration for a friend who loves apple pie. You decide to order one from a renowned mail-order bakery. However, when the pie arrives, it’s damaged. Naturally, you would contact customer service to resolve the issue and obtain a replacement. This interaction is just one touchpoint in your overall experience with the bakery.

Your experience likely began much earlier with initially researching the bakery’s website. You likely read positive online reviews from other customers and maybe signed up for their email newsletter which offered you a discount. Then, you navigated the purchase process and received a confirmation email once the purchase was made.

Looking at these early touchpoints gives us a clear example that your overall experience can be influenced at any stage of the customer journey – and that’s what defines the customer experience.

This same process applies to how customers interact with the federal government too. For example, a customer may contact the U.S. Department of State helpline with a question about the passport renewal process. While part of the overall experience of renewing a passport, this single interaction is a great example of government customer service. In contrast, the overall experience of applying for and receiving a passport involves multiple touchpoints, such as the clarity of instructions on the website, the ease of scheduling an appointment, the efficiency of service at the passport office, and the timeliness of receiving the passport.

If you are curious about how your organization’s customer experience stacks up, your customer service data is a great place to start, as it’s often a leading indicator. And if you don’t know where to start, our CX experts can help. Reach out any time – we’d love to discuss your challenges and opportunities.