Acquisition Cost: The total cost
incurred to acquire a new customer, including marketing,
sales, and onboarding expenses.
Awareness: The stage in the consumer
journey where potential customers first become aware of
a product or brand, often through marketing or
advertising efforts.
Audience Segmentation: The process of dividing a broad consumer base into subgroups based on shared characteristics, such as demographics, behavior, or purchasing patterns, to tailor marketing strategies.
Attribution: The process of assigning credit to different touchpoints in the customer journey that lead to a conversion or sale, helping businesses understand which channels are most effective.
Brand Loyalty: The extent to which
consumers consistently choose one brand over competitors
due to emotional attachment, satisfaction, or perceived
value.
Behavioral Data: Information gathered
about how consumers interact with a brand or product,
such as browsing habits, purchase history, or engagement
with marketing content.
Buyer Persona: A detailed description
of a target customer based on research, encompassing
demographic data, behavioral patterns, motivations, and
goals.
Best Practices
Brand Equity: The value a brand holds
in the marketplace, driven by customer perceptions,
experiences, and relationships with the brand.
Customer Journey: The series of
interactions and touchpoints a consumer experiences with
a brand, from initial awareness to post-purchase
support.
Churn Rate: The percentage of customers
who stop using a product or service over a specific
period, often used as a metric for customer
retention.
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): A
prediction of the total value a customer will bring to a
company over the entire duration of their relationship,
used to guide marketing and retention strategies.
Customer Feedback Loop: A continuous
process of gathering, analyzing, and acting on customer
feedback to improve products, services, or
experiences.
Customer Experience (CX): The overall
perception and feelings a customer has about a company
based on their interactions across various touchpoints,
including online, offline, pre-purchase, and
post-purchase experiences.
Customer Retention: The ability of a
company to keep its existing customers over time,
usually measured as a percentage of repeat buyers, and
is critical for sustainable business growth.
Cross-Selling: A strategy to encourage
customers to purchase related or complementary products
or services in addition to their primary purchase,
enhancing the overall experience and increasing
revenue.
CX Metrics: A set of key performance
indicators (KPIs) used to evaluate the quality of the
customer experience. Common metrics include NPS (Net
Promoter Score), CSAT (Customer Satisfaction Score), and
CES (Customer Effort Score).
Data-Driven Decision Making: The
practice of basing business and marketing decisions on
data analysis and interpretation rather than intuition
or anecdotal evidence.
Demographic Segmentation: Dividing
customers into segments based on factors like age,
gender, income, education, and geographic location to
better target products and services.
Diary Study: A qualitative research
method where participants record their thoughts,
behaviors, and experiences over a period of time,
providing insights into real-world consumer
interactions.
Data-Driven Insights: The use of data
collected from customer interactions and feedback to
inform decisions about improving customer experience.
Diary Study: A qualitative research
method where participants record their thoughts,
behaviors, and experiences over a period of time,
providing insights into real-world consumer
interactions.
Emotional Response: The feelings
elicited in a consumer when they interact with a brand
or product, influencing decision-making and brand
loyalty.
Emotional Journey Mapping: A technique
for understanding how customers feel at each stage of
their interaction with a brand, helping to design
experiences that foster positive emotions.
Emotional Branding: A marketing
strategy that focuses on creating a deep emotional
connection with consumers by appealing to their
feelings, values, and aspirations to foster loyalty and
positive brand perception.
Engagement Rate: A metric used to
assess how actively consumers are interacting with
content on social media, websites, or email campaigns.
It includes likes, shares, comments, and click-through
rates.
Ethnographic Research: A research
method that involves observing consumers in their
natural environment to gain insights into their
behaviors, motivations, and cultural influences.
Exit Survey: A questionnaire given to
consumers when they are leaving a website or store,
aimed at understanding why they did not complete a
purchase or other desired action.
Experience Management (XM): A
structured approach to improving the four core
experiences—customer, employee, product, and brand—by
focusing on the feelings and perceptions that drive
behavior.
Eye Tracking: A technology that
measures where and how long a person looks at certain
parts of a visual display (like a webpage, ad, or
product). Marketers use this data to understand visual
engagement and optimize content design.
Facial Coding: A method that uses AI to
analyze facial expressions to detect emotions such as
happiness, surprise, or frustration. It's commonly
used in advertising and product testing to measure
consumer responses.
First Contact Resolution (FCR): A
metric used in customer service that measures the
percentage of customer issues resolved in the first
interaction, leading to higher satisfaction.
Focus Group: A qualitative research
method where a small group of consumers discuss their
perceptions, opinions, and attitudes toward a product or
service under the guidance of a moderator.
Feedback Loop: The process of gathering
consumer feedback, analyzing it, and making iterative
changes to a product or service to improve customer
satisfaction and experiences.
First-Party Data: Data collected
directly from consumers by a company, such as through
website interactions, surveys, or customer support, used
for personalized marketing and insights.
Friction Points: Moments in the
customer journey where the experience becomes difficult
or frustrating, hindering the customer's ability to
achieve their goals efficiently.
Focus Group: A qualitative research
method where a small group of consumers discuss their
perceptions, opinions, and attitudes toward a product or
service under the guidance of a moderator.
Gap Analysis: The process of comparing
actual customer experiences to expected or desired
experiences to identify areas for improvement in a
product or service.
Geographic Segmentation: The division
of a target market based on geographic criteria, such as
region, city, or neighborhood, to tailor marketing
messages or offers to a specific location.
Gestalt Psychology in CX: Applying the
principles of Gestalt psychology to understand how
customers perceive the overall experience, with a focus
on creating seamless interactions.
Granular Data: Detailed, specific data
points that offer deep insights into consumer behavior,
preferences, and interactions, allowing for more precise
targeting and analysis.
Growth Marketing: A data-driven
approach to marketing that focuses on rapidly testing
and optimizing strategies to acquire, engage, and retain
customers efficiently.
Guide Experience: Structured content or
tutorials that help users navigate products or services,
leading to a smoother onboarding process and enhanced
customer experience.
Hypothesis Testing: A research method
where assumptions about consumer behavior or preferences
are tested through experiments or surveys to validate or
invalidate them.
Heatmap: A visual representation of
data that shows how consumers interact with a website or
app, often used to understand where attention is focused
and identify usability issues.
Human-Centered Design (HCD): A design
framework that ensures solutions are developed with a
deep understanding of the customer’s needs, pain points,
and experiences.
Help Desk Software: A tool used by
customer support teams to manage inquiries, support
tickets, and issue resolution efficiently.
Hyper-Targeting: The practice of
delivering highly personalized marketing messages to
very specific audience segments based on a combination
of demographic, behavioral, and psychographic data,
aiming to increase relevance and engagement.
Insights AI: Advanced AI tools and
systems used to derive meaningful insights from vast
amounts of data, including behavioral and emotional
data, to inform business and marketing decisions.
Incentivization: The use of rewards or
perks, such as discounts or free trials, to motivate
consumers to take specific actions, such as completing a
survey or making a purchase.
Insights: Deep, actionable
understanding derived from consumer data and research,
used to inform marketing strategies, product
development, and customer experience improvements.
Intent Data: Information that indicates
a consumer’s intent to purchase or take a specific
action, often gathered from online behavior, search
queries, or content engagement.
Interaction Analytics: Analyzing
customer interactions across channels, such as voice,
chat, or email, to identify trends and improve service
delivery.
Interactive Content: Content designed
to engage users through participation, such as quizzes,
polls, calculators, and interactive infographics, often
used to boost engagement rates and collect data from
audiences.
Journey Mapping: A visualization of the
consumer’s end-to-end experience with a brand,
highlighting key touchpoints, emotions, and pain points
throughout their journey.
Joint Survey: A collaborative research
effort where multiple companies or departments gather
data from a shared target audience to gain comprehensive
insights.
Just-In-Time Marketing: A strategy that
delivers personalized marketing messages to consumers at
the moment they are most likely to engage, often based
on real-time data and behavior.
Journey Orchestration: The process of
managing and optimizing every step of the customer
journey in real time, ensuring seamless transitions
between touchpoints.
Joint Customer Success: A collaborative
approach where businesses and customers work together to
achieve success, focusing on aligning goals and
delivering maximum value.
Just-In-Time Feedback: Collecting
feedback from customers at relevant touchpoints in their
journey to understand their experiences and drive
real-time improvements.
Key Drivers: The factors that have the
greatest impact on consumer behavior, such as price,
quality, convenience, or brand reputation, are used to
prioritize marketing efforts.
Kano Model: A framework for
understanding customer preferences, categorizing product
features based on how they affect customer satisfaction
and loyalty.
Knowledge Panel: A centralized source
of information provided to consumers about a product,
service, or brand, often used to enhance visibility in
search engines and improve customer trust.
Key Moments: Critical touchpoints in
the customer journey where interactions have a
significant impact on overall customer satisfaction,
loyalty, or decision-making.
Kano Model: A framework is used to
prioritize product features based on their impact on
customer satisfaction, balancing basic needs,
performance, and delight features.
Loyalty Program: A marketing strategy
designed to encourage repeat business by rewarding
customers for their continued patronage, often through
points, discounts, or exclusive offers.
Lead Nurturing: The process of
developing relationships with potential customers
throughout the sales funnel, using personalized content
and interactions to guide them toward conversion.
Latent Need: A consumer need that is
not immediately obvious or expressed but can be
uncovered through research and innovation, leading to
the development of new products or services.
Live Chat Support: A real-time customer
service tool that allows users to communicate with
support agents via messaging, enhancing the speed and
convenience of issue resolution.
Longitudinal Study: A research method
that tracks the same group of customers over time to
observe changes in behavior, preferences, or
satisfaction.
Lookalike Audience: A marketing
strategy where a brand targets new audiences who share
similar characteristics and behaviors with an existing
audience. This is commonly used in digital advertising
to expand its reach to potential customers.
Market Research: The process of
gathering, analyzing, and interpreting information about
a market, product, or target audience to inform business
decisions and strategies.
Moment of Truth: A key interaction or
touchpoint in the customer journey that significantly
impacts a consumer’s perception of a brand, often
influencing their decision to purchase or not.
Mystery Shopping: A research method
where trained individuals pose as customers to evaluate
the quality of service, product offerings, and overall
customer experience at a business.
Multichannel Experience: An approach to
customer experience that ensures consistency and ease of
use across multiple channels, such as online, in-store,
or mobile.
Net Promoter Score (NPS): A widely used
metric that measures customer loyalty and satisfaction
by asking consumers how likely they are to recommend a
brand to others.
Neuroscience Research: A method of
studying how consumers’ brains respond to marketing
stimuli, such as ads or products, to better understand
emotional and cognitive reactions.
Niche Market: A small, specialized
segment of the market, often with unique needs or
preferences, that brands can target with tailored
products or marketing.
Nudging: Using subtle prompts or cues
in the customer experience to influence behavior, such
as encouraging product recommendations or highlighting
key benefits.
Needs-Based Segmentation: Categorizing
customers based on their specific needs and tailoring
marketing efforts or product features to better meet
those needs.
Omnichannel Experience: A seamless
consumer experience across multiple channels, both
online and offline, where each touchpoint is consistent
and connected to the overall brand strategy.
Opinion Leader: A person or group with
the ability to influence the attitudes or behaviors of
others within a target audience, often used in
influencer marketing strategies.
Observational Research: A research
method that involves watching and recording consumer
behavior in real-world environments to gather insights
without direct interaction.
Onboarding Experience: The process of
guiding new customers through their first interactions
with a product or service, ensuring they understand its
value and functionality.
Content that changes based on user interactions,
preferences, or other contextual factors.
Pain Points: Specific problems or
challenges consumers face when interacting with a
product or service, often used to inform design
improvements or marketing messaging.
Psychographics: The study of consumers’
psychological traits, such as interests, attitudes, and
values, to better understand their motivations and
preferences.
Panel Study: A longitudinal research
method where a group of participants is surveyed or
observed over an extended period to track changes in
behavior or attitudes.
Personalization: Tailoring products,
services, or marketing messages to individual customers
based on their preferences, behavior, or past
interactions.
Predictive Analytics: The use of data,
machine learning, and AI to predict future trends and
behaviors based on historical data. Predictive analytics
helps marketers anticipate customer needs, optimize
campaigns, and make data-driven decisions.
Post-Purchase Experience: The stage
after a customer completes a purchase, focusing on
delivery, onboarding, and ongoing support to ensure
continued satisfaction.
Quantitative Research: Research methods
focused on collecting numerical data, such as surveys or
analytics, to measure consumer behavior and identify
trends.
Quantitative Research: A research
method that involves the collection and analysis of
numerical data, such as surveys and experiments, to
identify patterns and measure consumer behaviors at
scale.
Queue Management: Techniques are used
in customer service to manage wait times and customer
flow, aiming to improve the efficiency of service and
customer satisfaction.
Quality Assurance (QA): The process of
ensuring that a product or service meets specific
standards and delivers a consistent and positive
customer experience.
Content that changes based on user interactions,
preferences, or other contextual factors.
Regression Analysis: A statistical
method used to understand the relationship between
different variables, often employed in consumer research
to predict behaviors or outcomes.
Retention Marketing: A strategy focused
on retaining existing customers through personalized
communication, loyalty programs, and ongoing engagement
to reduce churn.
Response Bias: A distortion of survey
or research results caused by participants providing
inaccurate or misleading answers, often due to social
desirability or leading questions.
Retention Rate: The percentage of
customers who continue using a product or service over a
given time period, indicating the effectiveness of
customer experience efforts.
Real-Time Analytics: The collection and
analysis of customer data as it happens, enabling
businesses to make immediate adjustments to improve the
customer experience.
Content that changes based on user interactions,
preferences, or other contextual factors.
Satisfaction Survey: A questionnaire
designed to measure customer satisfaction with a product
or service, often used to gauge brand loyalty and
identify areas for improvement.
Sample Size: The number of participants
or data points included in a research study, where
larger samples tend to produce more reliable and
generalizable results.
Social Listening: The process of
monitoring online conversations and social media to gain
insights into consumer opinions, preferences, and brand
sentiment.
Sentiment Analysis: The process of
analyzing customer feedback, reviews, or social media
mentions to determine the overall sentiment (positive,
negative, neutral) toward a brand.
Service Blueprinting: A method for
visualizing and analyzing the processes involved in
delivering a service, identifying opportunities to
enhance customer experience.
Target Audience: The specific group of
consumers a brand aims to reach with its marketing
efforts, typically defined by demographic, geographic,
or behavioral traits.
Testimonial: A statement from a
satisfied customer that endorses a product or service,
often used in marketing materials to build trust and
credibility.
Touchpoint: Any interaction or contact
a consumer has with a brand during their journey,
including both online and offline experiences.
Thematic Analysis: A research method
for identifying and analyzing patterns or themes in
customer feedback, helping businesses understand common
experiences and issues.
Transactional NPS: A metric that
measures customer satisfaction immediately after a
specific interaction, such as a purchase or support
call, rather than overall loyalty.
User-Generated Content (UGC): Content
created and shared by consumers, such as reviews,
photos, or social media posts, that brands can leverage
to build authenticity and trust.
Usage Rate: A metric that measures how
often or how customers return to a product or service
after their initial use. It's used to assess
customer loyalty and satisfaction.
Usability Testing: A research method
where customers are observed using a product or service
to identify usability issues and gather feedback for
improvement.
Upselling: A sales technique where
customers are encouraged to purchase a higher-end
product or add additional features, improving revenue
and customer satisfaction.
UX (User Experience): The overall
experience a user has when interacting with a product,
website, or application. Good UX design prioritizes ease
of use, accessibility, and satisfaction to improve user
engagement and retention.
Voice of the Customer (VoC): A research
method used to capture and analyze customer
expectations, preferences, and feedback to improve
products and services.
Value Proposition: The unique benefits
or features a brand offers to customers, differentiating
it from competitors and providing reasons to choose the
brand.
Virtual Customer Service: Customer
service provided through digital means, such as chatbots
or AI-powered support systems, to deliver assistance
without human intervention.
Win-Back Campaign: A marketing strategy
aimed at re-engaging and retaining customers who have
stopped purchasing or interacting with a brand.
Website Personalization: Customizing a
website's content and layout based on the
visitor's past behavior, preferences, or
demographics to enhance the experience.
Workflow Automation: Automating
repetitive tasks in customer experience processes, such
as support ticket management or email follow-ups, to
improve efficiency.
Yield Management: A strategy used to
maximize revenue by adjusting the price or availability
of a product based on customer demand, often seen in
industries like hospitality and airlines.
The unique quality or feature of a design that sets it
apart from competitors and adds exceptional value or
appeal to users.
Yield Management: A strategy used to
maximize revenue by adjusting the price or availability
of a product based on customer demand, often seen in
industries like hospitality and airlines.
Yearly CX Analysis: An annual review of
customer experience metrics and insights to identify
long-term trends, customer behavior changes, and areas
for improvement.
Zero-Party Data: Data that customers
intentionally and proactively share with a company, such
as preferences, interests, and feedback, used to tailor
their experience.
Zen Customer Experience: A CX approach
that focuses on simplicity, minimizing friction, and
delivering seamless, stress-free interactions for
customers.