CX vs UX: How different are they

It’s easy to think of UX and CX as the same for the terms tend to be used interchangeably.

Both terms are linked to the same objective of making sure customers have a positive experience with the brand or organisation. However, while CX and UX are linked, both terms have their differences, especially in regards to contact centre operations. In fact, throughout this post, you will notice that contact centres play a much bigger role in CX compared to UX.

In this post, we take the time to explain the differences between the two terms from the perspective of a contact centre. We will also explain why its a crucial mistake for organisations to mistake one for the other.

What is the difference between CX and UX?

Now that we have defined Customer Experience (CX) and user design, we can now establish the differences between the two in relation to the call centre.

Contact centres play a much bigger role in CX

UX focuses on creating an easy-to-understand product or service for end users. Customer experience, on the other hand, focuses on the channels customers use to communicate with the brand – this includes conversations with a call centre agent and answers to a query or a customer survey. The role of contact centres in UX tends to be limited as agents are only called upon when customers have some questions about the design or information that can’t be found on openly and easily available resources. Ideally, contact centre agents should inform UX design because they know the customer and can give useful feedback in the design.

By contrast, contact centres play a substantial role in CX given that they are usually the first point of contact for many customers when they have a concern or grievance – across all communication platforms. As such, there is pressure on these agents to be knowledgeable on all aspects of the service offered including price and product delivery. They should be able to troubleshoot any problems a customer has. It goes without saying that contact centres are a  significant part of the customer experience.

Technology has a different impact on CX and UX

UX and CX respond differently to technology. While CX has evolved in response to the way customers use technology, the best example is customer care. For example, if a passenger wants to express a grievance with a health insurance company, they can leave a message on their official Twitter account or contact the company’s call centre. Similarly, If a banking customer has a problem to be solved they will use the mobile app to chat with a teller to resolve the issue. Thanks to social media and smartphone technology, customers have multiple ways to contact an organisation.

To support their customers, call centres should have the technology to know when customers have spoken to them, what channel they used and what was said.  In other words, we are seeing a trend where more organisations are increasingly having their call centres evolve into contact centres, where organisations can communicate with their customers on multiple channels from a single centre using unified communications technology.

By contrast, UX has evolved in response to technology. As the technology has evolved from early versions of the Windows operating system to smartphones, technological capabilities have grown as well. UX designers have had to adapt to make sure the new technology is accessible to the average user.

Why it’s important to understand the difference between CX and UX?

Organisations cannot misunderstand user-interface and customer experience as the same. You can pour all your resources into an excellent website or app, but if customer support is poor, then you will not see a satisfying return. To create a fantastic user experience, customer support and UX design need to go hand-in-hand.

Does your contact centre have the technology to engage with customers on multiple channels? Can your agents point customers in the right direction? Equipping your contact centre with the means to interact with customers and solve their problems boosts CX and improves on the gains made in UX.

Understanding the difference between UX and CX is crucial for creating a satisfying customer experience.

How can Blackchair improve your CX?

Blackchair offers a platform and accompanying services that help give better insight into how your contact centre is working and operating. We provide a large data model demonstrating all your customer contact points across multiple channels and, using this model, help identify weak points in communication channels while determining knock-on effects on other channels.

Furthermore, our integration into load testing/experience management platforms such as Cyara or Empirix, can take your A/B split tests to a whole new level. Imagine creating a dozen different options for customer experience, and then automating the entire process of configure, test, re-configure, test again, all with a single mouse click and with all of the results of those tests at your fingertips.

In other words, you can determine the points of friction your customers may encounter faster than ever before, improving your agility, reducing bottom line costs and supporting the revenue model. With this level of insight from Blackchair, you can devise solutions to address weak points and make customer service as smooth as possible. Furthermore, you can develop a measure and scoring approach for each communication channel, thus, improving the quality of CX, allocating resources more effectively and developing more awareness into the way your contact centre works.