Customer
experience vs.
customer service:
How they both
impact your business

Customer experience and customer service are two strategically distinct concepts in business, although some people might be tempted to use the two terms interchangeably. To earn customer loyalty and compete in a digital-first economy, it's important to understand the role that each concept plays.

Here's a look at the distinctions between customer experience vs. customer service, the role that technology plays in both, and why businesses should consider placing a higher priority on the customer experience.

Although customer service and customer experience can each deeply influence customer satisfaction and customer loyalty, they differ in some important ways. Customer service is the first touchpoint customers turn to when they have a question or need help with a product or service. It is typically transactional in nature and limited to a specific issue that must be addressed or resolved within a short period of time. The customer service team has primary responsibility here, and performance is often evaluated using metrics such as first call resolution. Customer service is closely associated with a company's bottom line.

Customer experience (CX) is a more holistic concept that reflects the full range of ways in which customers engage with companies today. It includes every interaction a customer has with a brand, from a quick exchange on social media right down to a brief consultation with a self-help chatbot. Customers no longer make a distinction between touchpoints or channels when engaging with a company. If they have an excellent experience with a contact center representative but a poor interaction with a chatbot, for example, the customer's overall view of the brand's customer experience will be less favorable. For this reason, it's essential for companies to provide a consistently satisfying customer experience at every turn.

Now that technology has increased customer demand for a high quality experience, companies are taking a careful look at the technologies and solutions that enable strong customer experience and customer service. Customer service technology includes contact centers that support omnichannel customer engagement. For example, businesses can use cloud contact center technology to engage their customers on the channels they prefer—such as social media, text message, voice, etc.—maintaining a consistent experience throughout.

AI-enabled bot assistants can help human agents understand the intent behind customers' questions and provide accurate, consistent answers to customer questions in near-real time. Meanwhile, chatbots can augment a company's customer experience team by providing around-the-clock assistance and self-service answers to customers, handing off more complex requests to human agents when appropriate. All these technologies, especially when applied in concert as part of a customer experience strategy, can provide a more responsive experience that is centered on customers' needs instead of forcing them to accommodate static and inflexible business processes.

Customer service technology also has an impact on business success. Traditionally, this included the call center as well as interactive voice response (IVR) systems that would guide a customer to the right department for resolving their issue or question. Customer service technology might also include email exchanges or online chat sessions with a technical support team. Businesses may use customer relationship management (CRM) software to keep track of customer interactions, so nothing falls through the cracks. While these technologies are still in place today, the difference is that companies are now integrating them with cloud-native customer experience solutions to provide a more comprehensive and consistent customer experience.

Considering the strategic value of customer experience vs. customer service, it's clear that businesses should prioritize customer experience. Customer experience encompasses customer service, and it's a competitive differentiator in today's digital-first economy. According to Zendesk's Customer Experience Trends Report 2021, 75% of customers are willing to overlook prices to buy from companies that offer a good customer experience. In addition, 80% of customers will stop doing business with a brand and switch to a competitor after just one poor experience.