Customer service or customer experience? Are they the same thing?
There’s been a lot of talk about whether marketing and customer experience are one and the same or if they replace each other – you know, “Customer experience is the new marketing.” Well, I have a bone to pick with that one, but this post is about yet another debate – one that I’ve written about before, and one that we should continue to define and discuss: the difference between customer service and customer experience.
Since this is Customer Service Week 2013, I thought it would be a great time to bring up this topic again and to shout from the rooftops: “Customer service and customer experience are not one and the same!”
When I wrote about this topic before, it was because I was flabbergasted by how many job listings claimed the title of Customer Experience This or Customer Experience That. Ironically, the postings were really sales positions or call center/customer service jobs. And sadly, many of the job descriptions never even mentioned the customer! How can that be?
Yes, customer service is a role (e.g., customer service rep), and it is a discipline (i.e., it’s everyone’s job to deliver great service). And customer experience is a role (e.g., VP of Customer Experience) and a discipline (i.e., it’s everyone’s job to ensure the customer has a great experience).
Read it here.
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