The CX Lexicon - first published February 13, 2024

Is CX a customer acquisition or retention principle or both? The scope of CX can mean different things to different people, but each term does have a base description.

Customer Experience (CX) - How customers feel about interactions with your business throughout their journeys

User Experience (UX) - The overall experience a person has while using a product or service

Brand Experience - The perception customers have of a brand based on all of their interactions with the business

Customer Segment - Groups of customers with similar characteristics or behaviours, which are often used for targeted marketing

Customer Persona - A fictional representation of a specific customer type based on research and data, used to understand and address customer needs and preferences

Customer Journey Map - A visualisation of the step-by-step interaction a specific customer type goes through when interacting with a business. The map usually highlights emotions, pain points, and opportunities for improvement

Service Blueprinting -  A method for designing and visualising the end-to-end processes involved in delivering a service

Customer Service - Assistance provided to customers before, during, and after their purchase or use of a product or service

Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) - A common customer service metric to track how happy and satisfied your customer is, usually sampled right after an interaction with your business

Net Promoter Score (NPS) - A metric which tracks customer loyalty based on how likely a customer is to recommend your business to a friend

Customer Effort Score (CES) - A metric tracking the ease of doing business with a company by calculating the level of effort of a customer to solve a problem or find information

Customer Acquisition - The process of gaining new customers for a business through marketing and sales

Customer Retention - The ability of a company to keep existing customers, the % of customers who return

Customer Churn - The rate at which customers stop doing business with a company, the % of customer who don't return

Customer Lifetime Value - The total value a customer brings to a company over the entire duration of their relationship