Customer Success vs. Customer Experience: Understanding the Key Differences

Learn the key differences between customer success and customer experience. Discover how an integrated approach can boost sales, and improve retention.

Read Time: 3 Minutes

Are you struggling to understand the difference between customer success and customer experience? While these terms are often used interchangeably, they are two distinct concepts that require different approaches to improve customer satisfaction and retention. In this post, we’ll break down the differences between customer success and customer experience and explain how they can work together to create a loyal customer base.

Why Retention is the New Acquisition

Before we dive into the differences between customer success and customer experience, it’s important to understand why customer retention is more important than ever. Acquiring new customers can be costly, especially if you have to constantly replace the ones who leave. By focusing on customer retention, you can reduce churn, increase revenue, and create a loyal customer base that will act as brand ambassadors.

Acquiring new customers can be 5-7 times more expensive than retaining existing customers.

What is Customer Success?

Customer success is the process of helping customers achieve their desired outcomes by using your product or service. It involves working closely with customers to understand their needs, provide guidance and support, and ensure they are using your product to its fullest potential. The goal of customer success is to create a long-term relationship with customers by helping them achieve their goals.

What is Customer Experience?

Customer experience, on the other hand, is the sum of all interactions a customer has with your brand. It includes everything from the user interface of your website to the tone of voice in your customer support emails. Customer experience is about creating a seamless, enjoyable experience for customers at every touchpoint, with the goal of making them feel valued and appreciated.

Customer Success vs CX: A Comprehensive Breakdown

While customer success and customer experience both focus on improving customer satisfaction, they are different in several key ways. Here’s a breakdown of the main differences:

Basic Differences between Customer Success and CX

Customer success is focused on helping customers achieve their desired outcomes, while customer experience is focused on creating a seamless and enjoyable experience for customers at every touchpoint.
Customer success is typically driven by metrics such as customer satisfaction, retention, and expansion, while customer experience is driven by metrics such as Net Promoter Score, customer effort score, and customer sentiment.

Differences in Job Duties Between Customer Success and CX Managers

Customer success managers are responsible for building relationships with customers, helping them achieve their goals, and ensuring they are satisfied with your product or service.
CX managers, on the other hand, are responsible for designing and implementing strategies to improve the overall customer experience, including everything from website design to customer support protocols.

Differences Between CX Metrics and Customer Success Metrics

CX metrics are focused on measuring the overall customer experience, including customer satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy.
Customer success metrics, on the other hand, are focused on measuring how well customers are achieving their goals with your product or service, including metrics such as retention, expansion, and upsell.

How CS and CX Can Work Together

While customer success and customer experience are different, they can work together to create a comprehensive approach to customer satisfaction and retention. By combining customer success strategies with an excellent customer experience, you can create a loyal customer base that will act as brand ambassadors.

Diving deeper into the collaboration between customer success and customer experience, here are some ways they can work together:

1. Customer Success Can Provide Insights to Improve CX

Customer success managers are in direct contact with customers on a regular basis, which means they have valuable insights into the customer experience. By sharing feedback from customers, they can help the CX team identify areas for improvement and make data-driven decisions.

2. CX Can Help Improve Onboarding and Adoption

One of the main goals of customer success is to help customers achieve their desired outcomes. However, if the customer experience is poor, it can be challenging for customers to get started with your product or service. By working with the CX team to improve onboarding and adoption, customer success managers can ensure that customers have a positive experience from the beginning.

3. Customer Success Can Help Identify Upsell Opportunities

While customer success is focused on helping customers achieve their goals, they can also identify opportunities for upsell and expansion. By working with the CX team to create a seamless customer experience, they can make it easier to introduce new products or services to existing customers.

4. CX Can Help Identify Areas for Personalization

Personalization is becoming increasingly important in the customer experience. By working with the CX team, customer success managers can identify areas where personalization can be used to improve the customer experience, such as personalized onboarding or customized product recommendations.

Conclusion

Customer success and customer experience have become essential for organizations that want to build a loyal customer base and drive growth. While both customer success and CX are critical for customer retention and satisfaction, they are distinct concepts that require different strategies and approaches. Customer success is focused on helping customers achieve their desired outcomes, while CX is focused on creating a positive, seamless experience throughout the customer journey. By understanding the differences between these two concepts and leveraging their respective strengths, businesses can create a comprehensive strategy that not only helps customers achieve their goals but also drives growth and improves overall business performance. Ultimately, by collaborating and sharing insights, customer success and CX teams can work together to deliver an exceptional customer experience that keeps customers coming back for more.

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