In the past, it was enough for companies to design great products to bring in customers. The concept was simple: you create something great and give people access to it — and they’re going to want to buy it.

The landscape of consumerism has changed, today, however, and thanks to the proliferation of brands to buy and platforms for buying them, it’s no longer enough to simply focus on product design in order to building a winning business. Instead, if you want to create a brand that appeals to buyers and beats out competition, you’re going to want to start focusing on customer experience design — or CX — which, in our opinion is the difference between a winning (or failing) product.

The Basics of CX

If you’ve ever launched a business or product, you’re probably familiar with user experience design — or UX. UX design is a strategy for designing an actual interface that consumers will use (its visuals, usability, navigation, and more). CX goes beyond UX. Instead of delineating how a user interacts with a certain product, it guides how a user interacts with a brand from start to finish (discovery of that brand to usage of the product) — and it can greatly influence a user’s impression of and engagement with a company.

This means that it encompasses how the company’s website looks and functions, how a salesperson communicates with a user, how easy it is to purchase a product, etc. etc. Essentially, when a company designs a customer experience, they shape an interaction strategy that delights and pleases potential customers — so they’ll not only want to buy from a company (again and again) but also help become a brand ambassador and spread their positive feelings about the brand to friends, family, social media followers and more.

Why CX Matters Now

While the customer experience has always mattered in some part when it comes to convincing someone to buy, in my opinion, CX matters now more than ever. I believe that there are several reasons that companies should be focusing on their CX design right away:

• There are more brands than ever. The Internet and a shift to an entrepreneurial, freelance culture have led to it being easier than ever to launch your own company or brand. For that reason, markets are saturated — and it’s harder and harder for each individual brand to stand out. By delivering an outstanding CX, you can make yourself different from competition and get noticed, ensuring success in a market that offers many similar options.
• Consumers like personalization. We live in an on-demand culture. We watch our TV shows when we want to watch them and we get meals delivered to our door minutes after we decide we want to eat them. Essentially, people today can get what they want when they want it. For that reason, a preference for personalization in shopping is growing — and studies show that around 75 percent of consumers are more likely to buy from a brand that offers them a personalized experience. This shows that customers truly care about the experience brands are giving them — and that brands should be putting thought and effort into the experiences they’re delivering.
• The world is now omnichannel. People are engaging with brands via many different platforms now: mobile phones, desktops, tablets, televisions and more. This means that they are going to want a seamless experience across the board — and that companies need to focus on how to deliver that. By focusing on CX, companies can ensure consumers like interacting with their company — and feel happy about their experience — no matter where (or when) they’re engaging.

Sources:
www.uxmag.com/articles/customer-experience-is-the-future-of-design
www.uxpin.com/studio/blog/customer-experience-vs-user-experience-why-the-difference-matters/
www.forbes.com/sites/micahsolomon/2017/03/04/the-customer-experience-is-the-human-experience-which-makes-designing-it-very-tricky/#3770c5716605
https://usabilitygeek.com/confuse-user-experience-customer-experience/