Does My Business Website Need CX or UX?
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When you hear UX and CX, you may assume they’re the same thing—user experience and customer experience go hand in hand, right? They do, but it’s also important to understand the difference between user experience and customer experience and then use that knowledge to decipher which is the best focus for your business’s website.
CX vs. UX: The Differences Between the Two
First, let’s explore the differences between user experience and customer experience. According to digital.gov, “user experience (UX) deals with people interacting with your product and the experience they receive from that interaction. UX is measured with metrics like success rate, error rate, abandonment rate, time to complete the task, and (since we deal in digital) clicks to completion.”
On the other hand, “customer experience (CX) encompasses all the interactions a person has with your brand. It might be measured in: overall experience, likelihood to continue use and likelihood to recommend to others. In essence, UX is part of a broader CX, but CX contains some aspects outside of a product that UX does not.”
So, we know now that UX is part of CX. It can get confusing, but here’s a simpler way to think about it: customer experience encompasses all possible interactions with your product or service, and user experience encompasses interactions with your website, app, and product.
Where should I put my focus?
Back to our original question: Does my business website need CX or UX? Well, the simple answer is that your website needs both. Usability and functionality are incredibly important in the context of a successful business website, but it’s also important to focus on your customer’s experience as a whole.
What does good CX entail? Think about the customer journey in the context of your product or service. Are you listening to and fulfilling your customers’ needs? Are you providing customer support?
One way to find out is to provide an outlet for customer feedback on your website (this is not only a part of good CX but good UX, too). By taking a customer-centric approach throughout your website’s branding, messaging, and content, you’ll learn more about how your customer is feeling, what their needs are, and how your business can fulfill them.
Once you’re aware of your customers’ needs, you can start providing touchpoints throughout your website and social media and optimize your marketing strategies to better serve your end-user. Optimizing your marketing strategy and providing a good UX gives you the ability to improve your brand reputation, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, retention rate, and more.
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How can I provide good UX on my website?
It goes without saying, that your website is a huge part of the user experience your business provides. If your website is outdated, disorganized, or hard to navigate, that’s bad UX.
If you haven’t audited your website in a while, it may be time for some usability testing. Think of your web design as a whole and put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Navigate through your website as if you’re someone who knows nothing about your brand, product, or service. Here are a few things to consider as you’re looking through your website:
- Is it easy to find information about my product or service?
- Is my website customer-centric?
- Am I providing clear calls to action?
- Is it easy to get in contact with my business?
- Is my website user-friendly (easy to navigate, organized, clear)?
If you answered “no” to any of those questions, it’s probably time to reevaluate the structure, design, and content of your website.
What does UX design entail?
There’s a lot that goes into the website design process. When evaluating your website, focus on the user’s interaction with your website as a whole. While there are many factors to think about, start with the basics.
Navigation
Your site map (the pages in your navigation bar) should provide clarity, not confusion—if your navigation is packed with pages or hard to read, that can quickly confuse the user. The best approach to mapping out your website is to focus on simplicity, rather than trying to display everything your website offers right off the bat.
Here’s an example. If you’re showcasing your services on your website, it may be tempting to list each individual service in the navigation bar. But that can get confusing, and it can make your website’s navigation look disorganized. It may be a better idea to have the main page for your services and then link to the individual services on that page. Simplifying your website’s navigation as much as possible provides a more organized, streamlined experience for your end-user.
Content
When we say “content,” we’re referring to all the words, photos, and videos on your website. Your content should be customer-centric, and it should also influence your potential customer to take action. Do you want them to call you? Do you want them to schedule a consultation? Whatever action you want your customer to take should be very clear—don’t make them wonder what to do next.
Additionally, it’s important to make sure that your website messaging is focused on the customer. Provide information about your company and your product or services, but don’t make it all about you. Instead, keep the customer at the forefront of your content, and make sure that any photos, videos, and/or text on your website provide something useful. Keep it simple—most people coming to your website won’t read every word anyway, so do your best to keep your content brief, concise, and organized.
Design
Aesthetics are important—you want your customer to be wowed by your website. But don’t overdo it, because if your website is busy with too many colors, lengthy paragraphs, or clusters of photos, your mission becomes unclear. “Simple, yet effective” is something you’ve probably heard once or twice, and it applies to websites, too.
UX design will showcase your brand in an organized, clean fashion. It’s important to stick to your branding guidelines while maintaining a streamlined, simplistic experience that guides potential customers through your website in a way that makes sense.
About the author
Alana Harmond
Alana has always had a love for writing and all things creative. She graduated from UAB with a degree in Marketing and a concentration in social media management, and she now carries her passion into her position at Infomedia as a Content Strategist.
When she’s not typing up a copy for a client’s website or providing a continuous supply of pink Starbursts to her officemates, you can find Alana hanging out with her friends and her cats, Iver and Rosy. She also enjoys singing and playing guitar, taking care of 100+ houseplants, and compiling her “one second every day” video.
