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How Customer Experience (CX) and Employee Experience (EX) work together

What is Customer Experience (CX)?

Customer experience (CX) is a consumer’s attitude towards a company based on all the consumer’s interactions with the company (Mixon & Torode, 2020). These interactions include the first moment they are exposed to a company’s product or service offering to the purchase or repurchases that follow (Mixon & Torode, 2020).

What is Employee Experience (EX)?

Employee Experience (EX) is an employee’s perception of their overall experience at the company that they are employed at (Gartner, 2020). These experiences include their impression of their job role, relationships with colleagues, company events, company ethos, technologies used, and leadership within their company (Grossman, 2023). 

How do CX and EX work together?

Ratekin (2022) explains that CX and EX should not be treated as independent concepts but should rather be thought of as “one holistic experience” as employees’ attitudes toward a company are likely to influence how they interact with their customers (Ratekin, 2022). Whitman (2017) states that employees who are satisfied with their overall work experience are more motivated to successfully assist customers with their demands regardless of how challenging the client may be (Whitman, 2017). 

 

A study by Gallup (2021) revealed that companies that had developed a “culture of engagement” within their internal teams experienced, on average, a 10% increase in customer loyalty and customer engagement when compared to companies that did not. This is the result of increased collaboration between employees and an increased dedication to their work, their employer and their customers (Gallup, 2020). 

A survey carried out by IDC (2022) illustrated that 66% of respondents agreed that improving EX would lead to an improvement in customer satisfaction rates. 

Ratekin (2022) explains that developing a harmonious relationship between EX and CX may be challenging for businesses; however, it can result in many advantageous outcomes, such as improved “customer retention” rates and the development of a company culture that attracts new talent.

References:

Gallup (2020) What Is Employee Engagement and How Do You Improve It?, Gallup. Available at: https://www.gallup.com/workplace/285674/improve-employee-engagement-workplace.aspx. 

Gallup (2021) Building a High-Development Culture Through Your Employee Engagement Strategy, pp. 3, 5. Available at: https://www.gallup.com/workplace/355082/employee-engagement-strategy-paper.aspx. 

Gartner (2020) Employee Experience, Gartner. Available at: https://www.gartner.com/en/human-resources/glossary/employee-experience. 

Grossman, D. (2023) Employee Experience: Definition, Strategy and Best Practices, Your Thought Partner. Available at: https://www.yourthoughtpartner.com/blog/employee-experience. 

IDC (2022) ‘Workforce Engagement Drives  Customer Satisfaction’, in Sales Force, p. 4. Available at: https://www.salesforce.com/eu/form/conf/idc-workforce-engagement-be/. 

Mixon, E. and Torode, C. (2020) Customer Experience (CX), TechTarget. Available at: https://www.techtarget.com/searchcustomerexperience/definition/customer-experience-CX 

Ratekin, M. (2022) It’s all HX: How CX and EX can work together for business growth, KMWorld. Available at: https://www.kmworld.com/Articles/Editorial/ViewPoints/Its-all-HX-How-CX-and-EX-can-work-together-for-business-growth-151026.aspx. 

Whitman, J. (2017) Why Happy Employees Are the Real Key to Happy Customers, Justworks. Available at: https://www.justworks.com/blog/happy-employees-real-key-happy-customers.