Outlining the difference between customer service and customer experience
Table of contents:
- Customer Service vs Customer Experience
- What Is Customer Service?
- What Is The Customer Experience?
- The Business Impact of Customer Service and Customer Experience
- How to Improve Both Customer Service and Customer Experience
- Why Businesses Need Both Customer Service and CX
Customer Service vs Customer Experience
It’s not uncommon to confuse customer service with customer experience. The difference, however, is pretty straightforward:
- Customer service is about supporting customers before, during and after purchasing a product or service. It’s a reactive process and is often about solving problems.
- Customer experience covers every customer interaction with a company, from the first internet search to ongoing engagement. It proactively builds trust and long-term loyalty.
While the difference between customer service and customer experience (CX) may be simple, businesses must fully understand the nuances. Building an effective CX strategy that includes superb customer service creates solid brand interaction, transforms operations and delights customers.
Here, we explore the difference between customer experience and customer service, how they are intrinsically linked, and how essential they are for building your business. We will investigate the business impact of CX and CS and how companies can improve their customers’ experiences to drive business growth and a healthy bottom line.
What Is Customer Service?
Customer service is the direct interaction between a business and its customers. It is the support given to customers along their purchasing journey. Customer service reacts to a customer’s issue, answering questions and providing a solution to satisfy the customer. Personal interaction via phone, email, live chat, or face-to-face meetings is key to customer service.
The headline elements of effective customer service include:
- Responsiveness: Quickly responding to customer enquiries builds trust, reassuring them that their issue matters.
- Problem resolution: A resolution can be reached by fully understanding the issue and what the customer wants, ensuring satisfaction.
- Personalisation: Personalised interactions make customers feel valued and listened to.
Prioritising these elements inspires customer loyalty and ultimately drives business success.
What Good Customer Service Looks Like
When customers buy a service or product—a laptop, for example—they expect it to work perfectly.
Suppose the laptop has a defect: the speakers and the customer can’t hear any audio; they. They contact the seller’s support team to explain the problem and expect a resolution.
Good service means actively listening to customers, acknowledging their concerns, and taking swift, effective action. In this case, that might involve repairing or replacing the laptop promptly. By resolving the issue efficiently, the company leaves the customer feeling supported and satisfied.
On the flip side, everyone has experienced bad customer service. When the customer has trouble contacting the customer care team, is held in a queue for too long, is passed around from team to team with no one taking responsibility for resolving the issue, or is slow to rectify the situation.
What Is The Customer Experience?
The Customer Experience (CX) covers more than just customer service. It is a customer’s entire journey with a brand.
CX often begins with an online search or recommendation for a service or product and continues through ongoing interaction and engagement after the transaction is complete. Read our ‘What is Customer Experience 101’ blog to learn more.
Multiple touchpoints shape CX and how customers feel and perceive the brand.
A well-designed and optimised website is a great starting point for a compelling customer journey. Suppose the customer can easily navigate to the company’s services and products or speak to a representative on the phone. In that case, they can make an informed decision and establish a positive first impression.
Customer emotions are critical in shaping the customer experience. Interactions with quality products, seamless processes and thoughtful customer engagement develop positive feelings like trust, pleasure and gratification.
A customer forms their perception of a brand by assessing the consistency and quality of their interactions at the various touchpoints. If a customer’s experience is consistently excellent, with great service, helpful information, and a smooth purchase, their perception of the brand will be favourable.
However, the opinions of others influence perceptions—social proof, like recommendations, reviews, or word-of-mouth endorsements, matters. Negative interactions quickly tarnish the customer’s perception and impact the overall CX.
What Good Customer Experience Looks Like
Let’s return to the laptop purchaser for an example of a good customer experience.
The customer begins their journey by browsing the range of products online. On the company’s website, they find a user-friendly, informative space with customer reviews and competitive pricing that enables them to decide. After purchasing the laptop, the customer receives regular delivery updates. The laptop arrives safely and on time. Post purchase, the company provides helpful tips and guidance. When an issue arises, the customer care team resolves it quickly.
The customer has had a smooth, positive experience across multiple touchpoints in this’ laptop purchase’ example. The experience builds trust and creates positive emotions that leave a lasting, favourable impression of the brand. The customer leaves a glowing review, recommends the company, and makes a repeat purchase.
The Business Impact of Customer Service and Customer Experience
Customer service and CX complement each other and are crucial to business success. Exceptional customer service ensures customers get what they want from a company and resolves issues swiftly. A seamless customer experience from the first interaction onwards creates positive emotions and lasting impressions. CX and service are a winning strategy—see our blog.
With all business divisions on board, customer service and CX help companies build strong customer relationships, encouraging repeat business and future goodwill. In a competitive market, excellent customer service within the customer journey makes the difference between an average and an outstanding business.
Investing in CX encourages customer loyalty by addressing their emotional and practical needs. A loyal customer is far more likely to return to a brand that consistently meets or exceeds their expectations.
Loyal customers drive higher revenue by making repeat purchases and recommending the business to others. When you meet their needs, their lifetime value increases—they stay longer and spend more over time.
In January 2025, the UK Customer Satisfaction Index found that 21% of customers spent more with companies that gave them excellent service.
How to Improve Both Customer Service and Customer Experience
There are many ways to enhance customer service. We explore a few examples below.
Employee training:
All employees should receive CX training. They must fully engage with the business goals and understand their role in supporting them. Companies must help their people to handle a range of enquiries in a responsive, effective way. They must give staff the confidence and authority to act to resolve issues efficiently and empathetically.
Case study: Bluestone National Park Resort in Wales recognises that its employees are central to a guest’s journey. The company’s commitment to delivering exceptional customer experiences and supporting its employees sets a new bar in the tourism industry. As a result, Bluestone earned the insight6 CX Excellence Mark. Read the case study online.
Personalisation:
Customers value a personal touch. Businesses can tailor the experience to make them feel understood using information gathered during their enquiry. Collecting feedback and providing personalised recommendations deepens trust and strengthens long-term relationships.
Companies can improve their CX using essential tools like journey mapping, proactive engagement, and feedback loops.
Journey mapping:
Customer Journey Mapping is a tool for visually describing the customer’s interactions with a brand, identifying opportunities for enhancement and obstructions. Mapping the customer journey gives valuable insights into touchpoints and interactions that shape the overall experience. It is a powerful tool for learning the hidden gems of customer interactions with your business. Read our blog to discover more about the benefits of the mapping process in shaping remarkable experiences.
Proactive engagement:
By anticipating customer needs, companies pre-empt possible issues and offer relevant information and support to build trust and confidence in the brand. Proactive engagement shows customers that you care before problems arise. It reduces frustration, improves satisfaction, and demonstrates a commitment to long-term relationships.
Feedback loops:
Feedback loops are a powerful way to gather real-time insight and drive continuous improvement in the customer experience. By capturing and acting on feedback, businesses can refine their products, services, and internal processes—while gaining a deeper understanding of customer sentiment.
Want to see how this all works in practice? Read how insight6 helped Stride Treglown, an employee-owned, carbon-neutral architecture practice, to transform its customer experience.
When customer service and CX work seamlessly together, they create a level of customer advocacy and lifetime value that helps to differentiate the brand in a highly competitive marketplace. Discover how to succeed by reading our blog on satisfaction and creating a strong CX strategy. Alternatively, download our latest CX Business Pack for tips and resources.
Conclusion: Why Businesses Need Both Customer Service and CX
Customer service and customer experience are different but need each other to be most effective.
Customer service is reactive, attending to a customer’s needs during and after purchase. Conversely, CX is proactive, engaging with the customer at every touchpoint they encounter with the brand.
Customer service plays an essential role in the Customer Experience. However, delivering excellent customer service alone won’t necessarily change perceptions or increase customer lifetime value.
Excellent customer service and a strong customer experience strategy can transform your business. Together, they shape a positive brand perception, turning satisfied customers into loyal advocates. Unhappy customers harm your profits.
At insight6, we’re all about helping businesses improve customer loyalty for real and lasting growth. Contact us today to discuss how we can help you turn your customers into your biggest fans and competitive edge.
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