Understanding Customer Experience: Key Components and Improvement Strategies

By understanding customer experience (CX), you can analyse how your customers perceive every interaction with your brand throughout their journey. It involves evaluating touchpoints such as service, product use, and digital engagement. A strong focus on CX increases customer satisfaction, loyalty, and long-term business growth.

The way businesses operate is changing! Companies are no longer just focused on sales, profits, and revenue. Now, they are prioritising customer experience (CX). In 2025, it is a critical differentiator for businesses, with customer expectations and the impact of CX on “loyalty”, “spending”, and “brand reputation” at an all-time high.

Studies show that even a 1-point increase in CX scores can generate over $1 billion in revenue by boosting loyalty and repeat visits. Thus, most companies nowadays are developing strategies that put the customer first.

So, in your business, have you started increasing CX yet? Don’t miss out on extra revenue in 2025! In this article, we will understand customer experience and check out some surefire customer experience strategies. Also, we will learn what customer digital experience​ is and how you can increase it. 

What is Customer Experience?

Customer experience represents how your customers feel when they interact with your brand. Generally, it covers the following touchpoints:

• Talking to customer service
• Using your product
• Navigating your website
• Buying something or returning it

Customer experience can be positive or negative! Usually, positive experiences make customers more loyal to your brand. If customers enjoy their interactions with your business, they are more likely to:

• Come back (stay loyal)
• Recommend your products or services to others (become brand evangelists) 

Even studies show that about 87% of consumers say a good experience increases their likelihood to buy more.

Customer Service vs Customer Experience

For most business owners, “customer service” and “customer experience” are similar terms that can be used interchangeably. But, they are different concepts! Let’s see how:

Understanding Customer Service

Customer service refers to the support a business provides to its customers before, during, and after a purchase. It is more related to:

• Answering questions
• Resolving problems
• Offering guidance

Usually, you offer customer service through:

• Human agents
• Self-service options
• Automated systems.

Understanding Customer Experience

Customer experience (CX) is the overall impression a customer has of a brand based on all interactions. Please note that CX includes customer service. It covers every touchpoint, such as:

• Marketing
• Sales
• Customer service
• The actual use of the product or service

By understanding customer experience, you can learn how your customer feels about the entire journey with your company (from the first interaction to the last). For more clarity, let’s study the table below:

How to Understand Customer Experience?

Did you know? Research shows that about 92% of customers will abandon a company after two or three negative interactions. Moreover, about 97% of consumers change their buying behaviour after a bad experience, and 58% stop purchasing entirely!

Don’t let your revenue fall in 2025! As a business owner, start understanding customer experience by gathering and analysing relevant CX information. Below are the most effective methods to do so:

1. Calculate Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)

CSAT determines the satisfaction level of your customers with a:

• Particular interaction
• Product
• Service

It is collected through a simple survey that asks a question: “How satisfied were you with your experience today?” Next, customers rate their satisfaction on a scale, such as 1 to 5 or 1 to 10.

2. Determine Customer Effort Score (CES)

CES calculates the “difficulty level” that your customers experience when completing a specific task, such as:

• Resolving an issue 
• Making a purchase

The survey asks, “How easy was it to resolve your issue today?” with options ranging from “Very Difficult” to “Very Easy.”

3. Check Net Promoter Score (NPS)

NPS measures customer loyalty by asking one key question: “How likely are you to recommend our company/ product/ service to others?” The responses are scored from 0 (Not at all likely) to 10 (Extremely likely).

Next, to understand customer experience, customers are categorised as:

• Promoters (9-10): Loyal customers, likely to recommend your brand.
• Passives (7-8): Satisfied but not enthusiastic.
• Detractors (0-6): Unhappy customers who may spread negative feedback.
  

Post-categorisation, you calculate NPS by subtracting the percentage of Detractors from the percentage of Promoters.

4. Make a Customer Sentiment Analysis

This method analyses the tone and emotion in customer feedback to identify whether it is:

• Positive
• Neutral
• Negative

To understand customer experience, you can perform sentiment analysis through:

• Surveys
• Social media monitoring
• Review analysis.

5. Study Behaviour Analytics

While analysing CX, you can use behaviour analytics tools. These tools track how customers interact with your website or app. They show:

• Where customers click
• How they navigate
• Where do they drop off

Some common tools for understanding customer experience are:

• Heatmaps
• Session recordings
• Form analytics

6. Perform Social Listening

Understanding customer experience also involves “social listening”. In this technique, you monitor customer feedback available on:

• Social media
• Online reviews
• Forums

It provides unfiltered opinions about the brand that may not be captured through formal surveys.

7. Track Churn and Retention Rates

Churn rate measures how many customers stop using a product or service. Whereas, retention rate measures how many continue to engage. By analysing these metrics, you can pinpoint where the CX falls short.

For example:

• Say many of your customers cancel their subscriptions after three months.
• Now, you can investigate the onboarding process or product features.

5 Proven Customer Experience Strategies You Can’t Miss

A recent McKinsey study found that companies improving customer satisfaction by 20% see up to a:

• 30% increase in engagement 
• 15-25% boost in cross-sell rates

So, want to build stronger customer relationships in 2025? Below are some surefire customer experience strategies to achieve higher satisfaction and increased loyalty: 

1. Know Your Customers and Personalise Interactions

To provide a better customer experience, you must understand your customers! To do so, you should collect data on:

• Customer preferences
• Behaviours
• Purchase history

Based on this collected data, you can start sending:

• Targeted messages
• Offers
• Recommendations (based on the customer’s past interactions).

Your goal should be to treat each customer as an individual rather than a transaction. Studies show that about 73% of customers feel brands treat them as “unique individuals” (up 39% from 2023). 

2. Minimise Resolution Times

According to research, 90% of customers want an immediate response (within 10 minutes). 

If your agents can respond quickly, you are more likely to retain customers! 

Below are three popular ways to achieve such efficiency:

3. Set Up Multiple Customer Support Channels

In 2025, start offering omnichannel messaging solutions. Today’s customers expect to interact with brands across multiple channels, such as:

• Websites
• Mobile apps
• Social media
• In-store visits

To gain the most from this customer experience strategy, you should:

• Perform a 100% Integration

• • • Try to integrate multiple channels offered by your business.
    • This lets customer data and interaction history be accessible across all channels.

• For example, 

• • • Say a customer starts a conversation on live chat.
    • They continue it via email.
    • Now, your support agent should have all the relevant information.
      

• Run Unified Customer Profiles

• • Maintain a single and comprehensive profile for each customer.
  • This profile should include:
    • Purchase history
    • Preferences
    • Past interactions
  • This prevents customers from repeating themselves when they switch channels.

4. Run Loyalty Programs

Loyal customers are valuable! They are more likely to return and act as brand evangelists. By running a rewards program, you can:

• Show appreciation for their continued support 

• Earn repeat business 

To boost CX using this customer experience strategy, you can:

• Offer points, discounts, or exclusive offers to repeat customers.
• Send targeted promotions based on purchase history. 
• Encourage your customers to refer friends and family by offering incentives like discounts or gift cards.

5. Optimise the Entire Customer Journey

Please realise that a single positive interaction is not enough to ensure customer satisfaction! Ideally, you must:

• Look at the entire customer journey 
• Identify areas where the experience can be improved

Perform these two major tasks to perfectly execute this customer experience strategy:

What is Customer Digital Experience?

Customer digital experience refers to how your customers interact with your brand through digital platforms. This segment covers all online channels, such as:

• Websites
• Mobile apps
• Social media handles, and more

It also extends to connected devices like smart speakers and wearables. Always remember that a strong digital experience can influence how customers view a brand. According to research, more than 65% of customers say that their experience on a website or app is a key factor in their willingness to recommend a brand. To understand a good customer digital experience, find answers to questions categorised in these three key elements:

How to Improve Customer Digital Experience?

Make your customers leave with a positive impression! This is the secret trick to improve customer digital experience. Below are some proven ways to achieve this:

1. Close the Loop

Reach out to customers who have reported negative experiences and try to resolve their issues. This shows that the brand cares about their satisfaction. To close the loop smartly, follow these tips:

• Identify High-Value Customers
  • You may not have the resources to follow up with every unhappy customer.
  • Thus, focus on high-value customers or those likely to leave negative reviews.
    

• Develop Criteria for Follow-Up

• • • Determine which issues are most critical to address. 
    • You can prioritise problems related to:
      • Payment issues
      • Major complaints
      • Service delays
        

• Implement a Ticketing System

• • Use ticketing software to alert your team to negative feedback. 
  • Assign each case to a specific employee for follow-up.

2. Research Key Customer Journeys

Identify critical touchpoints where customers are likely to face issues, such as:

• The checkout process
• First-time visits to the website or app
• Creating or managing an account
• Payment and shipping pages

Try to resolve the identified issues forthwith to boost the customer’s digital experience. 

3. Understand the ‘How’ and ‘Why’ of Customer Experience

Data can tell you what happened during a customer interaction, but it’s important to understand why it happened. Follow the “OX technique” for this purpose:

• Experience Data (X-data): This data shows how customers feel about a particular interaction. Examples are:
  • Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) scores
  • Ease of Use ratings
  • Comments on specific experiences (e.g., “I couldn’t find what I was looking for”)
• Operational Data (O-data): This data shows how customers behaved during the interaction. Examples are:
  • Pages visited
  • Time spent on each page
  • Cart abandonment rates
    

By combining X-data and O-data, you can see the full picture. For example, 

• O-data might show a high cart abandonment rate. 
• X-data can then reveal the reasons behind it, such as:
  • Confusing checkout instructions 

• Unexpected shipping costs

CX Too Tough? Let Atidiv Do the Stuff!

In 2025, customer experience (CX) is a key differentiator for businesses. Companies that prioritise CX see:

• Increased loyalty
• Higher revenue
• Stronger brand reputations

To boost CX, you should try to personalise interactions and optimise digital touchpoints. Also, implement omnichannel strategies and run smart loyalty programs. 

Feeling diverted from your core tasks? Need expert help? Atidiv is a customer experience specialist with 15+ years of experience and 70+ clients. Our expert team monitors key metrics like:

• CSAT
• NPS
• CES

We also perform sentiment analysis and track behavioural analytics to identify areas for improvement. Recently, we partnered with a U.S. tire retailer and saved $1.3M for them. Also, with a UK firm, we let them save $500K annually by managing over 230,000 support tickets. 

Want to earn steady revenue in 2025? Let Atidiv help you!

FAQs On Understanding Customer Experience

1. How can I understand customer experience without spending too much?

You can start with simple and low-cost methods like:

• CSAT surveys
• NPS scoring
• Monitoring online reviews

You can even use free tools like Google Forms for surveys and social media for feedback. Now, analyse the data to identify patterns and areas for improvement.

2. What is the easiest way to improve CX if I don’t have a big budget?

You should try to minimise the resolution and waiting times for your customers. Adopt omnichannel messaging solutions and train your team to respond quickly to customer inquiries through:

• Email
• Social media
• Live chat

Always remember that even small improvements in response time and tone can greatly enhance the customer experience.

3. How can I prevent losing customers due to poor customer digital experiences?

Try to understand customer experience by mapping the customer journey on your website or app. Identify pain points like:

• Confusing navigation
• Slow load times
• Complex checkout processes

Post-analysis, try to remove loopholes from these areas. Also, it is recommended to always ask for feedback from your customers after key interactions. This lets you catch and resolve issues early.