Customer experience encapsulates the vivid experiences of a customer right from onboarding to the post-sales journey. Most CX corrections are based on how customers feel, their opinions (both solicited and unsolicited). 

Most industries such as finance, automobile and banking have a long customer journey. Here offering consistent CX becomes necessary.

Whether you’re a CX professional, a seasoned marketer, or a sales leader, understanding the true meaning of customer experience and its strategic importance. This information is critical to staying ahead in a competitive marketplace.

In this blog we will discuss what CX means, some common terms used, tips to improve cx and its core components.

What is CX (CX Meaning)? 

Customer Experience (CX) is the sum of all interactions a customer has with a brand across every touchpoint: from initial awareness to post-purchase support. CX captures the perception a customer forms based on all interactions with a brand: before, during, and after a purchase. It includes:

• How people are greeted during enquiry
  
• Your website usability and app performance
  
• Conversations with post-purchase support teams
  
• Email communication and follow-ups
  
• The actual product or service delivery
  

Think of it this way: when a customer visits your website, receives a delivery, interacts with your support team, or even opens a notification—each moment feeds into their overall perception of your brand. A seamless experience builds trust and satisfaction. On the other hand, a few frustrating moments can undo months of goodwill.

What shapes customer experience?

Customer experience (CX) is shaped by an intricate web of touchpoints, emotions, and expectations. It is not a single-moment event but an evolving journey that spans product interactions, service quality, emotional resonance, and consistency across every channel your customer engages with.

Product usability matters. It is often the first impression your customer has. If the interface is intuitive and the product solves problems effectively, it builds early trust. But CX does not stop at functionality. Service quality, response times, and tone of communication all play a part.

Emotional engagement amplifies this. When customers feel heard, respected, and valued, they willingly become brand advocates. This positive emotional energy fuels customer advocacy: the willingness to recommend your brand to others. In marketing terms, that drives word-of-mouth (WOM) promotion. WOM is one of the most effective forms of marketing today because of the social trust it carries.

But there is a flip side. Negative experiences spread faster, especially in the digital age. Unhappy customers may voice their frustration publicly, on forums, reviews, and social media,leading to reputational damage and lost sales. That is why rapid resolution and proactive service recovery are not just customer service strategies but risk mitigation tools.

5 Key Components of Customer Experience

To deliver stellar CX, you need to focus on these 5 key components:

• Customer interactions: Customer interactions matter at every touchpoint. From website visits to customer support calls, it shapes customer experiences.
• Emotional connection: How customers feel about your brand is as important as what they think.
• Consistency: Uniform experiences across channels (e.g., online, in-store, mobile) build trust and authenticity of the brand.
• Personalization: Tailoring interactions to individual preferences encourages re-visits and re-purchases.
• Ease of use: Simple, intuitive processes reduce friction and improve CX.

Why Customer Experience (CX) Matters?

Companies that lead in customer experience outperform their peers by nearly 80% in sales growth (research by McKinsey). Oracle states that 74% of people are likely to switch brands if the purchasing process is too difficult. CX is not just a “nice-to-have” but a strategic imperative that directly impacts brand value. 

1. Customer expectations are very high today 

People have access to instant information and global brands especially on social media platforms. Customers demand seamless and personalized experiences.

2. Experiences impact revenue

Studies show that companies focusing on CX outperform competitors by up to 80% in revenue growth. Example: in automobile industries, people are willing to pay more for dealerships who provide better experiences during the pre-purchase stage. In a competitive market, offering customer delight is not a one-off strategy. It is a necessity.

3. Customer loyalty and retention rates go together   

Customer retention strategies over time can contribute to customer loyalty and brand advocacy. A positive CX increases customer retention rates by 5%, which can boost profits by 25–95%.

4. Positive word-of-mouth determines brand visibility 

Happy customers become promoters, amplifying your brand through word-of-mouth (via reviews, testimonials and social media channels). However, closing the customer feedback loop promptly and repeatedly can encourage customers to become brand advocates.

Why Traditional CX Feedback Falls Short (and What to Do Instead)?

Most CX leaders rely on popular metrics and traditional surveys. While helpful, these often suffer from low response rates and bias providing unreliable data.

The problem? Surveys typically attract customers with extreme opinions: either very happy or very unhappy, while the silent majority goes unheard. This skews results and misleads strategy.

Meanwhile, today’s customers expect timely, personalized engagement, not delayed email surveys. Add to that survey fatigue from long, irrelevant questionnaires and participation drops even further. In today’s social media-driven world, poor experiences spread fast. But great ones can also create powerful advocacy when captured in time.

To get a clearer picture, you need to make feedback effortless and accessible on channels people already use. More responses = more balance = more reliable CX data.

Response Rates Shape Your CX Reality

Great CX isn’t static. It evolves but measuring it accurately is tough if only unhappy customers speak up.

Low response rates come with biased data. Happy customers often ignore long or ill-timed surveys. However, when you meet them on their terms (via WhatsApp, dynamic email, or chatbots) they respond.

At Merren, we found that higher response rates led to more balanced insights and improved CX scores. Suddenly, satisfied customers had a voice too. That’s not just a data win—it’s a business advantage. With faster, fuller feedback, you can act before problems escalate or turn a quiet fan into a vocal advocate.

In short: Better response rates = better data = smarter decisions.

15 Major CX Terms You Must Know

Customer experience is a collection of multiple activities, programs and strategies built over time. These strategies all make for critical CX programs for any organisation. Here are the popular yet important CX terminologies to know:

1. Customer experience management (CEM or CXM)

Customer experience management (CXM) systematically manages customer experiences and interactions across multiple touchpoint-based interactions. CXM is a customer-centric strategy that uses customer strategies, policies and tools to understand and improve the customer journey. CXM aims to increase customer satisfaction, loyalty and advocacy while closing the feedback loop. It is an ongoing process. In larger organisations, this process gets amplified. 

2. Customer relationship management (CRM)

Customer relationship management (CRM) focuses on managing customer data and interactions across various channels. These channels can be website chatbots, customer support interactions, enquiry pages or offline interactions with retail managers. It looks at the entire customer journey- from awareness and consideration to purchase and post-purchase stages.

CRM is transactional and focuses on sales, marketing and immediate customer service. 

3. Customer journey map

A customer journey map offers a bird’s eye view of every single interaction/engagement a customer has had with a brand. Every interaction becomes a touchpoint. These touchpoints may or may not involve human interaction. Example: shopping and adding to cart, responding on automated feedback surveys, seeking assistance from support team etc. 

Customer journey mapping is an active process of assessing every single interaction a customer has had with a brand: from prospect to loyal advocate or lost client. It operates on two levels: 

• Individual touchpoints: Every customer brings unique needs, emotions, and goals. Mapping their journey helps brands personalise experiences to deliver value, upsell, or prevent churn.
• Aggregate insights: At scale, journey mapping evaluates brand performance, identifies trends and disparities among customer cohorts. For example, older customers might struggle with a new website that younger users can operate easily. 

4. Customer service

Customer service is the interaction between a brand’s human representative and the customer. Their motto is to solve a customer’s problem, increase satisfaction and help them navigate through the friction/ pain points. Typically, a company representative will directly solve support tickets and issues raised. This is done by phone, email or chat support (with a human or an AI intervention). Sometimes, a representative can also be present physically for a product demonstration. Customer service is a major part of customer experience.

Customer service is often compared with customer experience (CX). Customer service is an integral part of CX that will determine if people become brand advocates or churn.

Customer service is measured using the following metrics: 

• First response time (FRT): FRT tracks the average time taken for a customer support team to respond to a customer inquiry.
• Average resolution time (ART): ART measures the average time taken to resolve a customer issue from ticket generation to final resolution.
• First contact resolution (FCR): FCR tracks the percentage of customer issues resolved on the first interaction. 
• Service level agreement (SLA): SLA measures how well a support team meets predefined service level expectations. 
• Ticket volume: Ticket volume determines how efficient the customer support is, about solving issues. 

5. Customer satisfaction metrics 

Customer satisfaction metrics are quantitative indicators that help brands measure how well they are meeting customer expectations. These metrics evaluate the health of your customer experience programs and make improvements where needed. The three most widely used satisfaction metrics are as follows:

• Net Promoter Score (NPS): Net Promoter Score is a gold standard metric to measure customer loyalty by asking one key question: “How likely are you to recommend our product/service to a friend or colleague?” Based on the score (0 to 10), respondents are grouped into Promoters, Passives, or Detractors. NPS gives a snapshot of customer loyalty and the likelihood of brand advocacy or churn. 

NPS is divided into relational NPS (rNPS) and transactional NPS (tNPS).

• Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT): CSAT captures a customer’s immediate satisfaction with a specific interaction or experience. It typically uses a scale (1 to 5 rating scale or 1 to 10 rating scale). Here customers rate how satisfied they were with a product, service, or support interaction. CSAT is often used post-interaction, like after resolving a support ticket.
  
  
• Customer Effort Score (CES): CES measures the ease of an experience by asking customers how much effort they had to put in to resolve issues or get a question answered. The lower the effort, the better the customer experience. This metric is particularly helpful in assessing friction points in the support journey. 

6. Customer delight

Customer delight goes beyond satisfaction. It is about exceeding customer expectations to create moments of unexpected joy. It happens when a brand takes an extra step to surprise or emotionally connect with its customers. This could be in the form of a personalised thank-you note, a proactive service gesture, or offering a solution before the customer asks.

Customers who feel truly delighted often become vocal brand ambassadors and share their positive experiences on social media, review platforms or with peers.

Customer delight strategies can include:

• Anticipating customer needs
  
• Personalised communication and gestures
  
• Surprise rewards or loyalty bonuses
  
• Fast, empathetic support that goes above and beyond

Pro tip: Over the duration of a brand’s interaction with their consumers, delight becomes a norm. Hence customer delight is not always a one-off event but a bare minimum expectation. 

7. Customer feedback surveys

Customer feedback surveys are structured questionnaires that will gauge the level of buyer satisfaction or experience after an interaction. It is used to collect opinions, perceptions, and suggestions directly from customers. 

Types of customer feedback surveys: 

• Transactional surveys: Sent immediately after an interaction (e.g., post-purchase or support resolution).
  
• Relationship surveys: Sent periodically to gauge overall sentiment and loyalty.
  
• NPS, CSAT, and CES surveys: Each focused on a specific metric and moment in the journey.
  
• Open-ended feedback forms: Capture qualitative insights in the customer’s own words.

Customer feedback surveys contain both qualitative and quantitative metrics. Feedback surveys can be of various types. This includes multiple choice questions, dichotomous yes/no questions, 1 to 5 poor to excellent rating scale, 10-point Likert rating scale etc. 

8. Customer churn rate

Churn rate refers to the percentage of customers who stop doing business with your brand over a given period. It’s one of the most critical indicators of customer dissatisfaction and CX inefficiency.

Churn can happen for many reasons:

• Poor service or delayed support
  
• Lack of product relevance or value
  
• Better offers from competitors
  
• Misaligned expectations
  

Churn rate formula:

Churn rate = (Customers lost during a period / Total customers at the start of the period) × 100

A high churn rate signals a CX issue that needs immediate attention. Reducing churn involves proactive engagement, identifying at-risk customers, personalising communication, and improving the overall experience.

9. Customer retention rate

Customer retention rate is the opposite of churn rate. It is the percentage of existing customers who continue to do business with your brand over a specific time period. Retention rate is a strong indicator of how well your customer experience strategies are working.

A high retention rate usually signals:

• Consistent satisfaction
  
• Strong product-market fit
  
• Effective support and engagement
  
• High customer trust and loyalty
  

Retention rate formula:

Retention rate = ((Customers at end of period – New customers acquired) / Customers at start of period) × 100

Customer retention is often more cost-effective than acquiring new customers. Brands improve retention by focusing on personalisation, loyalty programs, regular check-ins, and listening actively through feedback loops.

Customer retention also ties closely with CLV, as retained customers typically spend more over time and are more likely to refer others.

10. Customer lifetime value (CLV)

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) estimates the total revenue a business can expect from a customer over the entire span of their relationship. This predictive metric helps businesses make informed decisions about how much to invest in customer acquisition and retention.

CLV considers factors like:

• Average purchase value
  
• Purchase frequency
  
• Customer lifespan
  

For example, if a customer spends $100 every month and stays with the brand for 3 years, the CLV is $100 x 12 x 3 = $3,600.

CLV is essential for:

• Identifying high-value customer segments
  
• Designing loyalty programs
  
• Personalising marketing campaigns
  
• Allocating support and service resources wisely

11. Voice of the customer (VoC)

Voice of the Customer (VoC) is the process of capturing, analysing, and acting on customer feedback. It includes everything your customers are saying: directly through surveys, support tickets, or reviews, and indirectly through social media, forums, or behavioral analytics.

VoC programs help businesses understand:

• What customers like or dislike
  
• Pain points in the customer journey
  
• Desired improvements or new feature requests
  

The key to a successful VoC program is not just collecting feedback but acting on it. Modern VoC tools like Merren integrate with CRM platforms to enable closed-loop feedback systems, where customer input drives tangible business changes.

Examples of VoC tools:

• Open-ended survey questions
  
• Social listening platforms
  
• Feedback widgets on apps and websites
  
• Sentiment analysis tools
  

12. Omnichannel experience

In omnichannel experience, a customer has a seamless and consistent interaction with your brand across all platforms. It can be online, offline, mobile, desktop, chat, or call center. It’s about meeting the customer where they are, without breaking continuity in the experience.

For example, a customer might add a product to cart on mobile, ask a query through WhatsApp. They will finally make the purchase on a desktop browser. In an omnichannel setup, all touchpoints stay connected so the customer doesn’t have to repeat themselves or lose context.

Benefits of an omnichannel CX strategy:

• Higher customer satisfaction and retention
  
• Better data visibility and personalization
  
• Reduced friction and drop-offs in the journey
  

13. Customer feedback loop

The customer feedback loop is the continuous process that determines positive outcomes of CX. This process collects customer feedback, analyses it, takes corrective action, and communicates the corrective measures back to the customer. It ensures customers feel heard and see that their input leads to real improvements.

The loop typically follows this structure:

1. Collect: Gather feedback through surveys, reviews, or support conversations.
   
2. Analyse: Identify trends, recurring issues, and sentiment.
   
3. Act: Implement product, process, or service changes.
   
4. Close the loop: Notify customers of the changes made based on their feedback.
   

14. Digital CX

Digital customer experience (DCX) is a part of CX in a digitally-inclined world. DCX deals with customer interactions over the internet. This occurs via mobiles and desktop and involves various channels such as websites, shopping apps, social media channels, emails and messenger apps.  

DCX maps customer emotions and experiences across digital channels. While digital CX is an important part of CX from 2025 onward, it still plays a huge role in today’s digitally connected world.

Bonus CX term: member experience 

Member experience is the overall perception and satisfaction of individuals who subscribe to or are part of a membership-based model. It can be a loyalty program, a subscription service, or a community. While closely related to customer experience, member experience places emphasis on ongoing engagement, perceived value, and emotional connection over time.

Examples of membership-based businesses:

• Subscription boxes
• Digital streaming platforms (Netflix, Hulu)
• Gyms and wellness clubs
• FMCG brands (Costco, Walmart)
• Loyalty programs (airlines, retail brands)
  

A strong member experience includes:

• Smooth onboarding and welcome journey
  
• Regular touchpoints (updates, exclusive content, perks)
  
• A sense of belonging and community
  
• Consistent value delivery throughout the membership cycle
  

Unlike transactional CX, member experience is more relationship-driven. Brands that invest in member experience foster deeper loyalty, reduce attrition, and generate a sense of exclusivity that keeps members engaged longer.

Tips to Improve CX

Customer experience is not a one-time strategy. It is a long-term and an ongoing commitment to placing your customer at the heart of every decision. To build and maintain exceptional CX, here are some key focus areas:

1. Listen actively and continuously

Listen to your customers using an all-round VoC program and feedback surveys. Assess these feedback in real time and with sentiment analysis tools. This will help you gauge the emotional metrics of people and create protocols to act in a timely manner.

2. Personalise the customer journey

Personalise communication, product recommendations, and service experiences. Personalisation makes people feel the emotional connection with the brand. Most problems may seem similar but for customers, it can be a unique issue. Create a repository of commonly occurring issues and steps to solve it. In case a problem is unique, assist personally and record the interaction for further assessment. 

3. Build a proactive support system

Anticipate issues before they arise. Use AI and automation to offer faster support while maintaining a human touch. FAQs on websites can be a useful guide for people who opt for self-service. Create automated chatbots to solve problems for customers who are in different time zones. In case they need human-assistance, ensure to set customer expectations initially with regards to the available manpower.

4. Close the feedback loop

Don’t just collect feedback, act on it. Let customers know you’ve listened and made improvements based on their input. Offer feasible solutions to every issue.

5. Train and empower your teams

Customer support teams are the frontline of experience. Equip the team with tools, training, and motivation to deliver consistent, empathetic service. When teams can handle problems immediately, they will not need to escalate the issues to the higher level. This can encourage teams to remain confident across consumer-generated issues.

6. Measure metrics that matter  

Track key CX metrics of NPS, CSAT, CES, churn rate, CLV. These metrics are a window to the opinions and experiences of people. All numerical and opinion-based inputs can help organisations understand customer expectations and need-gaps. Set goals for improvement and let data guide your next moves.

7. Create moments of delight

Go beyond expectations. A small surprise or thoughtful gesture can turn a satisfied customer into a lifelong brand advocate.

Why CX is Your Strongest Retention Lever

Customer experience (CX) is not just a post-purchase add-on—it is the emotional thread that connects every stage of your customer’s journey. Today’s customers expect more than functional excellence. They want experiences that feel effortless, respectful of their time, and emotionally rewarding. A delightful experience today becomes tomorrow’s baseline expectation. That’s why CX is never a one-and-done game—it evolves constantly, and staying ahead of that curve is key to building loyalty.

When customers feel seen and valued, they are far more likely to stay. Leading brands have proven this over time. According to recent studies, businesses that consistently deliver emotionally resonant, frictionless interactions enjoy significantly higher retention rates. Better yet, these customers often become advocates—sharing their positive experiences across social media, reviews, and personal networks.

This customer advocacy is marketing gold. It drives social validation and direct sales, often with more impact than paid promotions. On the flip side, a poor CX can generate far more noise—people are statistically more likely to share negative experiences than good ones. In today’s connected world, a tweet or a review can go viral, eroding trust with hundreds—or thousands—of potential customers.

Feedback tools are the first line of defense here. But traditional CX data often suffers from low response rates, skewing results toward disgruntled voices. This was a key challenge Merren set out to solve. By enabling feedback collection across WhatsApp, AMP email, and chatbots, Merren empowers teams to increase participation in-the-moment—bringing in a more representative mix of voices. Interestingly, when response rates go up, CX scores tend to improve too. Happy customers finally get a chance to speak, not just the upset ones.

Beyond brand benefits, great CX fuels organic growth through one of the most powerful marketing tools—word-of-mouth.

How can Merren CX software help?

Merren is built for modern customer experience teams who want actionable insights without complexity. Merren is an AI-powered platform that helps you listen, understand, and respond to customer feedback in real time.

Here’s how Merren helps you elevate your CX game:

Multichannel surveys: Reach your customers where they are. Use native WhatsApp, SMS, dynamic email and chatbot surveys. No coding needed.

AI-driven probing: Get deeper insights from open-ended responses with automatic probing that mimics real-time human follow-ups.

Smart reports: Let our AI summarize text responses, detect sentiment, and highlight key themes so you don’t waste time manually analyzing data.

Easy-to-use interface: Designed for CX teams for any industry. Create, launch, and analyze surveys without technical support.

Real-time dashboards: Track live responses and CX metrics like NPS, CSAT, and CES across customer journeys.

Integrations that work: Plug Merren into your CRM, helpdesk, or marketing stack to automate workflows and close the loop faster.

Multilingual support: Collect feedback in your customers’ preferred language without the hassle of manual translation.

Conclusion

CX is also a moving goalpost. What delights today becomes tomorrow’s expectation. This reality demands constant listening and adaptation.

From a measurement standpoint, traditional CX surveys often suffer from low participation. This results in a biased view, disproportionately highlighting negative feedback. Conversational, multichannel survey strategies like those used by Merren help increase response rates. One of the early insights we discovered is that as response rates improve, CX scores tend to normalize upward, reflecting a more balanced and representative customer voice.

Whether you’re gathering feedback on a product, service, or customer journey, Merren makes it simple, smart, and scalable. Put your CX program on autopilot with Merren. Sign up for a 14 day free trial and access our AI-driven tools.