User Experience (UX), Customer Experience(CX) & Service Design(SD): What's the Difference?

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In our digital world, the battle for customer attention rages on. But the true secret weapon lies not in flashy visuals or cutting-edge technology, but in the delicate balance between many overlapped design disciplines and how they interact with each other. In this article, we'll explore how the different design roles of user experience (UX) design, customer experience (CX) design and service design (SD) interact with one another and how they differ. For the purpose of the discussion – we'll skim over user interface (UI) design, but it's worth mentioning that it's importance and size of scope as well.

Often times a single person is wearing many hats at once and may be responsible for any of the areas of responsibility listed here. In early stage startups this can actually be extremely efficient! As companies grow and evolve however, it's important to understand the differences in order to ensure the best possible outcomes and streamline coordination.

Nesting of popular design disciplines

While the creation of a UX, CX and SD are related, there are some key differences between the concepts in terms of breadth of responsibilities as well as overall goals that are important to understand. Having a good grasp on these differences is crucial when it comes to strategic planning and predictable success.

What is user experience (UX) design?

UX design refers to the creation of the overall experience a person has when interacting with a product or service. It's focused and tends to revolve around a single touchpoint.

Primary UX goal:

Contribute to better product adoption and usage.

Focus:

• Narrow and externally focused

• Specific product/interface interactions

• Concern with usability and interface design

• Typically digital-first approach

• Product-level scope

Methodologies:

• Wireframes

• Prototypes

• User testing

• Interface design

Common metrics:

• Task completion

• Error rates

• Success score

• Page load time

Unlike the broader scope of CX design, which considers the holistic customer journey across multiple touchpoints, the focus of UX design is often narrower in scope (but not as narrow as UI!). This allows UX designers to dive deep into understanding the specific needs, pain points, and challenges faced by users within a single product or interface. This depth of research and analysis enables UX designers to craft highly tailored solutions that deliver exceptional experiences.

What is customer experience (CX) design?

CX design is a broader concept that often encompasses a user experience as well as a customer's entire journey with a company or brand. Customer experience designers will consider how a person first discovers and learns about a company, their interactions with marketing, sales, support, and other departments, and the overall perception and sentiment a customer has towards a brand including interactions within each product and service it offers.

Primary CX goal:

Increased customer loyalty and advocacy.

Focus:

• Wide and externally focused

• Concern with overall customer journey

• Multi-channel approach

• Brand-level scope

• Focus on entire brand relationship and the nurturing of an emotional connection

Methodologies:

• Journey maps

• Satisfaction surveys

• Feedback analysis

Common metrics:

• Net promoter score (NPS)

• Customer lifetime value (CLV)

• Customer satisfaction score (CSAT)

• Brand loyalty

  • churn rates

  • referrals

  • retention rates

CX designers leverage human-centric strategies that delight at every step of a conversion journey and nurture strong customer-brand relationships. It's about understanding the customer's needs, motivations, and pain points across all interactions and designing the end-to-end experience to meet or exceed their expectations. This requires coordination across an entire organization, from sales and marketing, through product as customer support.

What is service design (SD)

SD focuses on designing end-to-end services and solutions to meet customer needs including the entire system infrastructure. Both the front and back stage processes (external and internal) communications are of interest to a service designer and they tend to have more of an organizational approach. The success of a CX and a UX are contingent on the value of the SD.

Primary SD goal:

To enable all (internally and externally) to achieve their goals by improving operational efficiency and innovation.

Focus:

• Very wide and focused on external as well as internal structures

• Planning and organizing all resources (people, infrastructure, communication)

• Designing the entire service system and infrastructure (front and back)

• Map out service ecosystems and touchpoints from the customer's perspective

• Collaborate cross-functionally to align people, processes, technology, and infrastructure

Methodologies:

• Service blueprints

• Ecosystem maps

• Organizational design

Common metrics:

• Net promoter score (NPS)

• Customer lifetime value (CLV)

• Customer satisfaction score (CSAT)

• Brand loyalty

  • churn rates

  • referrals

  • retention rates

Service Design considers the full service system, including both digital and physical touchpoints, to create more valuable and sustainable services.

In summary

The UI, UX, CX and service design disciplines are interconnected but distinct and operate at different scales of business design.

UX has a focus, concentrating on specific product and interface interactions to ensure usability and satisfaction during moment-to-moment usage.

CX has a broader scope to encompass all brand touchpoints and the entire customer journey, focusing on overall satisfaction and emotional connection across channels.

Service design takes the widest view, designing the entire ecosystem including behind-the-scenes operations, infrastructure, and organizational processes that enable both UX and CX to function effectively.

An example of how UI, UX, CX and SD disciplines might interact with one another

While UX, CX and SD differ in many ways, they have a lot in common as well including:

• A human-centered approach: All focus on understanding and meeting human needs, preferences, and behaviors

• An iterative design process: All use cycles of research, design, testing, and refinement

• A goal of reducing friction: Each discipline aims to make experiences smoother and more intuitive

• Research-driven methodology: All rely on gathering data and insights about user/customer needs

• A problem-solving mindset: Each works to identify and resolve pain points or challenges

• A focus on satisfaction metrics: All measure success through user/customer satisfaction

• Cross-functional collaboration: Each requires working with multiple stakeholders and teams

• Applying consistent experience principles: All aim to create coherent, logical experiences that align with user expectations

• Accessibility considerations: Each must consider diverse user needs and abilities

• Business impact alignment: All must balance user needs with business goals and constraints

Integrating these perspectives is crucial for organizations to design and deliver exceptional experiences that drive customer satisfaction, loyalty, and contribute to predictable business success over time.