What Is Customer Experience? Everything That Happens, Not What You Say
DICTIONARY · FUNDAMENTALS

What Is Customer Experience?

Customer experience is the sum of every interaction a person has with a business, and how those interactions feel.

In plain English

It includes the parts marketing does not control: how long support takes to reply, whether the invoice is clear, what happens when something goes wrong.

This is a marketing concern whether or not it sits in marketing's remit, because experience is what generates the word of mouth that no campaign can buy.

What to know

Wider than marketing
Product, service, support, billing, offboarding.
Judged on the worst part
One bad interaction outweighs several good ones.
Drives retention and referral
The two cheapest sources of revenue.
Measurable
Satisfaction scores, repeat rates, and what reviews actually say.

Why it matters

Marketing can promise anything; experience decides whether the promise was true. A gap between the two produces the most damaging outcome available, which is a well-marketed disappointment.

Common mistakes

×Promising in marketing what delivery cannot match.
×Measuring satisfaction and never acting on it.
×Treating support as a cost centre rather than a marketing asset.
×Excellent sales followed by neglected onboarding.

FAQs

Is customer experience marketing's job?

Not entirely, but marketing carries the consequences of it.

What should I measure?

Repeat purchase rate and what people say in reviews. Both are harder to game than a score.

WRITTEN BY TARIQ SALLAM
Marketing Consultant. Entrepreneur. Content Creator.

I'm a marketing consultant, entrepreneur and content creator. I help businesses grow through practical marketing, websites, SEO, content and AI.

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