I’m sure that readers appreciate the importance of Customer Experience, after all, the term is everywhere. Whether it is AMA articles, Chief Customer Officers and Leadership teams, or relatively new associations, like the Customer Experience Professionals Association, the focus of the Marketing world is on Customer Experience. But for the uninitiated, what does it mean?

There are many definitions by reputable organizations, some that I’ll list here. But my favorite defines Customer Experience as the relationship that a Customer perceives they have with a Provider. It’s different from Customer Service because that is understood to be part of an interaction, with most characterizing Customer Service as being reactive.

Here are some of the definitions found online to explain Customer Experience:

• SAS: Customer Experience is defined as your customers’ perceptions – both conscious and subconscious – of their relationship with your brand resulting from all their interactions with your brand during the customer lifecycle.
• Forrester: Customer Experience can be defined as how customers perceive their interactions with your company.
• Forbes: Customer Experience can be defined as the perception the customer has of your brand.
• Harvard Business Review: Customer Experience is defined as the sum-totality of how customers engage with your company and brand, not just in a snapshot in time, but throughout the entire arc of being a customer.

The two most important themes through the definitions listed:

1. Time: The best views of Customer Experience involve more than a snapshot or singular transaction, but an attempt to encapsulate multiple interactions over a period of time.
2. Relationship: The best view of Customer Experience attempts to reconcile customer perception within the context of a relationship. That paradigm is attractive because it infers that it will change over time, and require active maintenance.