Broader approach to UX — how to connect user and customer experience?
Usability is not the same as user experience. Although this two are quite often used as synonyms one should pay attention to the important difference between them. Usability is a feature of the product and therefore it concentrates on the product itself. At the same time, user experience puts in the center of the interest a user, a person. This shift from thinking about products towards thinking about people who use them have thankfully been already made by the majority of the UX teams. Now there is a new challenge.
We are living in the world in which barrier between digital and real world blurs more and more. Consequently, perceiving websites and applications as existing independently from other customers’ experiences is a grave mistake. Now as never before, the relation between User experience (UX) and Customer experience (CX) becomes crucial to understand.
User experience is an experience of one product — normally a website or an application. Customer experience is an experience of multiple products, both digital and real, in various channels (e.g. on the Internet, in-store on side etc.). It also includes how these products interact with each other.
So this is all very nice in theory but to what consequences does it lead to in practice…?
Users do not differentiate between channels
Almost as always, when it comes to UX, one should start with the users. It is crucial to realize that they do not differentiate between channels they have contact with. No matter whether one goes shopping on a location and sees an interesting product uses the online store to buy this product or calls the helpdesk to check what is going on with his delivery in his eyes this is all an experience with one brand.
This pattern of exercising tasks where the customer is using multiple channels and changes devices during one action is growing more and more widespread, especially due to deepening penetration of market by mobile products. An answer to this problem is an omnichannel approach ensuring consistent and frictionless experience across all touchpoints. So in a world where omnichannel becomes a necessity rather than an additional advantage, makers of digital products should look at a greater picture. They have to create an output that will be a part of brand experience not an independently existing entity.
UX teams can efficiently support building CX in organizations
There are obvious doubts:
· Should UX designers/researchers really take care of customer experience?
· Do they have necessary abilities and knowledge?
The answers are DEFINITELY YES and probably. UX teams cannot count on marketing departments to take care of this issue. Of course, they should not take responsibility for all things connected with customer experience. Nevertheless, they have to bear in mind that what they are doing is a part of CX.
What is more, it is a rare situation when organization employs dedicated customer experience team or even one expert. So all UX staff should help with creating valuable customer experiences since it involves many aspects that are usually uniquely reserved for user experience specialists. This is true even if it means coming out of one’s comfort zone — digital products. When one is lucky enough to have CX expert in their workplace it is almost an obligation to work closely with him.
When it comes to required knowledge, paradoxically people professionally working in UX very often have a big advantage over staff members deriving form marketing. They are (or at least should be) used to thinking from customers’ point of view and more often have the psychological background. So with a little effort, they can expand their area of expertise and include customer experience into new projects.
How do I include CX in my UX projects?
- Choose new methods
The most important thing here is to start thinking bigger. Try to check what people are doing before and after they use your product, what additional services do they exploit, what kind of interactions they make, how long they have to wait for promised fulfillment etc. If you have no resources using your imagination and empathy is already a big step forward. But if you can make a research it is crucial to at least try to adopt new techniques. Acquiring and applying methods traditionally used in marketing in a new context, with more user-focused attitude, allows getting knowledge about problems generated by the customer service and broad customers’ needs. This supports the development of services in the direction desired by their users. As a consequence, the resources are dedicated to the goals that directly translate into customer satisfaction rather than the excessive development of irrelevant processes.
2. Choose when to start
Including CX into the project might be done at almost any stage. However, it is good to start as early as possible. If broader attitude is incorporated into the project from the very beginning not only the results are better but the execution is easier as well. There are more things you can do too (not every method might be used at every stage of the project). One should also not forget that it is important to combine new and traditional elements in a coherent way — they have to serve one purpose. Nothing in your project ought to be added at the last minute just because it is “supposed” to be there. Always ask questions: “What new knowledge will it bring?”, “What are possible benefits?”, “How does it enrich my project?”.
3. Choose your team
If you are afraid that you do not have required knowledge it is good to consult someone who has more experience and worked in CX before. At Overlap.studio we very often ask specialists from different fields to help us with their observations. With bigger projects, you might even think about expanding your team permanently. If you do not have a budget for consultations you might look for people inside your organization. Whatever you choose, always remember that if you want to add CX to your strategy you have to work with all parties involved and that means people responsible for call centers, contacts with delivery companies, on-site stores etc.
4. Choose a project
Not every project is a good one for including CX. It is usually a problem for those with a smaller budget. The best candidates for CX boost are companies operating via different channels, having to deal with call centers, deliveries, having a store online and on-site and similar. Generally, a good predictor is how difficult it is to create high quality and coherent customer service. If you have any doubts — just go for it! Perfect examples are e-commerce, banks, medical services (with reservation option), travel agencies.
More complex approach to UX — always try to look at a “bigger picture”
From the very beginning of the UX discipline, it was considered as something more than only crafting websites and applications that are low-friction. Norman Davies’ ”Design of everyday things” is very often considered as a must-read for beginning UX workers. It actually has little to do with digital products — it mainly presents the idea of things designed to serve users’ needs.
UX should be treated as something broader than only a way to make the certain button more clickable. It can mean that we see a UX design in architecture plan for a neighborhood school (it is often called environmental psychology then but it is basically the same thing). But it can also mean we recognize a website or an application as a part of a larger picture that includes all activities that customer makes in connection with a brand or a product — customer experience.
It is important to at least realize what aspects of “the bigger picture” can potentially influence UX. If you are aiming for something more than just average you might have to actively work in order to create not only a product that is well rooted in its environment but also environment itself. This shift in thinking is yet to be done in UX industry. And it will come sooner or later simply as a switch from thinking about usability to the user experience.
