The term UX (user experience) has become quite ubiquitous but those paying attention to design philosophy will have come across a new term CX (customer experience) that has become crucial to the design process for all types of products, services, marketing messages and even website development and design. Changes in consumer’s buying behavior due to the Covid-19 pandemic has made it even more important for businesses all over the world, including in Trinidad, to reimagine what their customer experiences look like.
According to researchers at McKinsey, retail e-commerce sales are still 30% higher than they were before the pandemic1. Most experts believe that consumers will stick to their new buying behavior and businesses need to adapt to the new consumer landscape.
If your business has an online presence, it is important for you to talk to your website design and development agency in Trinidad and understand what CX is and how it should impact your website development.
UX vs CX
Let’s start by understanding the fundamental difference between UX and CX. User experience is a term that refers to the experience a user has when they interact with your digital product. This digital product could be a website, an application, a form, etc. CX or Customer Experience is a broader term that covers ALL of the interactions a user has with your business and is not limited to your digital presence. It can include experiences customers have when they visit your physical location, call your customer helpline, etc. Thus, UX is a subset of CX.
This begs the question, if you pay attention to the UX of your website then wouldn’t that address the CX requirements for your web design as well? After all, a web design and development company will not be able to impact the customer support a business provides at a physical location? The answer is a little more complex.
Let’s look at some tips on how a good CX approach can impact web design and how it falls outside the traditional scope of UX.
Place the customer at the center
Your digital product (website, webapp, app) is one touch point that can influence the overall experience of a customer. By keeping the customers overall experience in mind, you can ensure your website is designed not only for optimal UX but for optimal CX.
1. Start with the content
Having the right tonality, language and information in your digital content and copy can have a big impact on your CX.
For instance, if you are aware that your product offering is complex, ensure you use simple language on your website to explain the offering. Use language that your customers are familiar with instead of filling in a lot of technical or industry jargon. Using support material for that language such as a glossary on your website is a great way to educate customers and give them a better user experience, as well as to prepare them for future interactions with your business that could take place digitally or otherwise. Such an approach will not only support your website’s UX, but will also enhance the overall CX.
2. Acknowledge your limitations
You can use your website to set the right expectations among customers for their other interactions with your business.
For instance, if you are using an external delivery partner for your products, and you are aware that they will take a longer amount of time to deliver the product, provide the following information to your customers on your website to support the CX for your business:
- Realistic delivery timeframe to set clear expectations for your customers
- Mention that customers will get regular updates from the delivery partner
- Make it easy to track the status of product delivery via API integration with your delivery partner
Users do not need two-day or same day delivery, however, they have come to expect this because of large scale online retailers. If you set the right expectations for customers via your website, customers will still have a positive CX despite having to wait longer for their delivery. A negative CX will result if you do not provide any information, customers are expecting two-day delivery, and then their orders do not arrive for a week. Acknowledging limitations can go a long way toward delivering a positive experience.
3. Think about how you can engage with customers
Think about how you can use your website to enhance customer experience.
For instance, if you are a restaurant, you can upload pictures of recent visitors to your establishment on your website after getting your customer’s consent. Having nice images on your website that they can share on their social profiles will increase your business’s social media interactions, encourage customers to visit your website more often, and provide better customer experience.
At WebFX Trinidad, we believe in using your online presence to enhance your customer’s experience. This means implementing the best practices for SEO, UX, web design, development and overall digital marketing. We are a full-service website design & development company, contact us if you need professional business website design in the Caribbean
Source:
1) Dec 21, “US consumer sentiment and behaviors during the coronavirus crisis”, McKinsey, [available online], available from: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/survey-us-consumer-sentiment-during-the-coronavirus-crisis [accessed Jan 2022]
