What is customer experience (CX)?

Customer experience (CX) has become the key battleground for business success in the digital-first economy. This comprehensive guide explores how customer experience drives business growth, shapes customer loyalty, and delivers measurable return on investment.

Understanding customer experience: More than just customer service

Customer experience encompasses every interaction between a customer and your organization throughout their entire journey. While customer service addresses specific support instances, CX is the sum of all touchpoints, emotions, and impressions that shape how customers perceive your brand.

Research by PwC reveals that 73% of consumers point to customer experience as a crucial factor in their purchasing decisions, while 42% would pay more for a friendly, welcoming experience. This demonstrates why leading organizations are investing heavily in CX initiatives that drive:

• Increased customer retention and loyalty.
• Higher customer lifetime value.
• Stronger brand advocacy.
• Reduced customer acquisition costs.
• Improved market differentiation.

The evolution of customer experience

Today's customer experience landscape has transformed dramatically from traditional service models:

Traditional approach

• Siloed customer interactions
• Reactive problem-solving
• Limited feedback channels
• One-size-fits-all service

Modern CX strategy

• Unified omnichannel experience
• Proactive engagement
• Real-time feedback integration
• Personalized interactions
• Journey driven by processes, such as onboarding, claims processing and more

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The business impact and ROI of customer experience

Financial performance

Organizations that lead in customer experience outperform their competitors in nearly every financial metric. McKinsey research indicates that companies with superior CX achieve:

• Revenue growth 15-20% higher than competitors.
• Cost of service 15-20% lower.
• Employee engagement rates 30% higher.
• Customer retention rates 20% higher.

Competitive advantage

In an era where products and services are increasingly commoditized, customer experience provides sustainable competitive differentiation. Successful CX initiatives deliver:

1. Enhanced brand value
• 84% of companies that improve their CX report increased revenue
• 82% of customers will repurchase if they receive value during service interaction
• Companies retain 2.2x more customers per year when they prioritize customer success throughout the customer journey
2. Operational efficiency
• Reduced customer churn by up to 25%
• Lower support costs through self-service adoption
• Improved first-contact resolution rates
3. Market leadership
• Faster time-to-market for new products
• Higher customer satisfaction scores
• Increased market share

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Customer experience management fundamentals

Effective CX management requires a comprehensive framework that addresses journey mapping and analysis, voice of customer programs, and experience design.

Strategic framework

1. Journey mapping and analysis
• Document all customer touchpoints
• Identify pain points and opportunities
• Map emotional and functional needs
2. Experience design
• User-centered design principles
• Emotional journey mapping
• Service blueprinting
3. Omnichannel and customer choice
• Choice of customer omnichannel communications 
• Customer self-service design
• Employee experience enablement
4. Voice of Customer programs
• Systematic feedback collection
• Real-time sentiment analysis
• Closed-loop response systems

Implementation best practices

Successful CX initiatives follow these core principles:

• Cross-functional alignment
• Data-driven decision making
• Continuous improvement cycles
• Employee engagement
• Technology enablement

Technology and CX management software solutions

Modern CX management requires sophisticated technology solutions that enable digital experience platforms, AI, and advanced analytics.

Digital experience platforms

• Unified customer view
• Omnichannel engagement
• Personalization at scale
• Content management
• Analytics and reporting

AI and analytics

• Predictive customer insights
• Behavioral analysis
• Next-best-action recommendations
• Automated engagement
• Performance optimization

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OpenText's comprehensive CX management solutions

OpenText offers a comprehensive suite of CXM solutions designed to help businesses create exceptional customer experiences. Our products include:

OpenText™ Experience Cloud: A powerful customer experience platform for building personalized and engaging digital experiences. It enables businesses to create and manage content, deliver targeted messages, and analyze customer behavior across all channels.

• Unified experience management
• Personalized customer journeys
• Web and mobile experiences
• Customer communications
• Omnichannel messaging
• Digital asset management
• Contact center analytics

OpenText™ Communications (Exstream): Market-leading customer communications management (CCM) software that enables businesses to create and deliver personalized, compliant communications. This ensures highly targeted and relevant customer interactions while maintaining consistency across all channels, including print, email, and mobile.

• Automated communication workflows
• Regulatory compliance
• GenAI to drive personalized communications
• Omnichannel messaging
• Template management

OpenText™ Experience Aviator: This innovative solution leverages the power of AI to help businesses create compelling content and optimize customer experiences. It uses generative AI, image AI, and content analysis to automate content creation, personalize customer interactions, and streamline workflows.

• Content creation (LLM) and intelligent tagging
• Customer behavior tracking
• Journey analytics
• Performance dashboards
• Predictive modeling

These are just a few examples of how OpenText can help you elevate your customer experience. By leveraging our expertise and innovative technology, you can transform customer interactions into lasting relationships. 

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Frequently asked questions about customer experience

How do you measure customer experience success?

Customer experience is measured through multiple metrics including Net Promoter Score (NPS), Customer Satisfaction (CSAT), Customer Effort Score (CES), customer lifetime value, retention rates, revenue impact, and Content & Experience usage metrics. Leading organizations use a balanced scorecard approach combining these metrics with operational KPIs.

What's the difference between customer service and customer experience?

Customer service is a single component of the broader customer experience. While customer service focuses on specific support interactions, customer experience encompasses every touchpoint throughout the customer journey, including marketing, sales, product usage, and support.

How does CX software improve business outcomes?

CX software provides the technology foundation for delivering consistent, personalized experiences at scale. It enables organizations to create engaging experiences and content, collect and analyze customer data, automate engagement processes, orchestrate journeys, and measure performance across all channels and touchpoints.

What ROI can companies expect from CX investments?

While ROI varies by industry and implementation, research shows that CX leaders typically achieve 3x higher shareholder returns compared to laggards. Specific benefits include reduced churn (10-25% improvement), increased cross-sell (2-5x higher), and lower service costs (15-20% reduction).

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The future of customer experience

As technology continues to evolve, customer experience management will become increasingly sophisticated. With over 13,000 CX software products, most organizations are trying to simplify to create a unified approach to tame the software sprawl. About 66% of companies report overlapping functionality in their tech stack. Organizations will invest in robust CX management capabilities, and the ones who do it strategically will be better positioned to meet changing customer expectations and maintain competitive advantage in an increasingly digital future.