{
    "version" : "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1",
    "content" : "news",
    "type" : "single",
    "title" : "UX vs. CX: What’s the Dif? Part 2 |Digital.gov",
    "description": "UX vs. CX: What’s the Dif? Part 2",
    "home_page_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/","feed_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/11/20/ux-vs-cx-whats-the-dif-part-2/index.json","item" : [
    {"title" :"UX vs. CX: What\u0026#8217;s the Dif? Part 2","summary" : "In honor of World Usability Day, which happened on November 12, we’d like to demystify two extremely important and oft-confusing acronyms—CX and UX. Customer Experience (CX) and User Experience (UX), while related, focus on different aspects of service delivery.","date" : "2015-11-20T11:10:26-04:00","date_modified" : "2025-01-27T19:42:55-05:00","authors" : {"rflagg" : "Rachel Flagg"},"topics" : {
        
            "customer-experience" : "Customer experience",
            "usability" : "Usability",
            "user-experience" : "User experience"
            },"branch" : "bc-archive-content-3",
      "filename" :"2015-11-20-ux-vs-cx-whats-the-dif-part-2.md",
      
      "filepath" :"news/2015/11/2015-11-20-ux-vs-cx-whats-the-dif-part-2.md",
      "filepathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/blob/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2015/11/2015-11-20-ux-vs-cx-whats-the-dif-part-2.md",
      "editpathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/edit/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2015/11/2015-11-20-ux-vs-cx-whats-the-dif-part-2.md","slug" : "ux-vs-cx-whats-the-dif-part-2","url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/11/20/ux-vs-cx-whats-the-dif-part-2/","content" :"\u003cp\u003eIn honor of \u003ca href=\"http://www.worldusabilityday.org/\"\u003eWorld Usability Day\u003c/a\u003e, which happened on November 12, we’d like to demystify two extremely important and oft-confusing acronyms—CX and UX. Customer Experience (CX) and User Experience (UX), while related, focus on different aspects of service delivery.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"the-new-landscape\"\u003eThe New Landscape\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"image image-right image-right-legacy\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2015/11/250-x-250-UX-VS-CX-drawing.jpg\"\n    alt=\"Venn diagram shows that User Experience (U X) is a part of Customer Experience (C X).\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe first discussed this issue in the summer of 2014, in our \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/07/07/user-experience-ux-vs-customer-experience-cx-whats-the-dif/\"\u003eUX vs. CX article\u003c/a\u003e, but a lot has changed in this space across government in the past year or so.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe White House has taken a number of steps to improve government customer service, including:\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIssuing a \u003ca href=\"http://www.performance.gov/node/3400/view?view=public#overview\"\u003eCross-Agency Priority (CAP) Goal\u003c/a\u003e to deliver world-class customer services to citizens by making it faster and easier for individuals and businesses to complete transactions and have a positive experience with government;\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eStanding up a new \u003ca href=\"https://sbst.gov/\"\u003eSocial and Behavioral Sciences Team\u003c/a\u003e to translate findings and methods from the social and behavioral sciences into improvements in federal policies and programs;\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCreating the \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/digital/united-states-digital-service\"\u003eU.S. Digital Service\u003c/a\u003e to use the best of product design and engineering practices to transform the way government works.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThough the DigitalGov UX program (and its roots as the First Fridays Usability Program) has sadly gone away, \u003ca href=\"https://18f.gsa.gov/\"\u003eGSA’s 18F team\u003c/a\u003e is helping agencies adopt \u003ca href=\"https://digital.gov/tag/agile/\"\u003eagile\u003c/a\u003e design and testing methods to speed delivery and improve customer interactions with government. (The program may have ended, but the \u003ca href=\"https://digital.gov/resources/\"\u003eusability case studies\u003c/a\u003e and \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/resources/digitalgov-user-experience-resources/digitalgov-user-experience-program-usability-starter-kit/\"\u003eUsability Starter Kit\u003c/a\u003e are still very much alive!)\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFinally, the government UX and CX communities continue to grow. The UX community now has almost 800 people, and the CX community has grown to over 500 members since it launched in April 2015.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"exploring-the-terms\"\u003eExploring the Terms\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLike the pronunciation of “gif” \u003csup\u003e\u003ca aria-describedby=\"footnote-label\" href=\"#fn1\" id=\"footnotes-ref1\"\u003e[1]\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/sup\u003e —you should be skeptical of anyone who is TOO confident about the “right” or “only” definition of CX vs. UX. Though it can be a great conversation-starter, it’s usually most helpful to talk specifically about how organizations implement these two disciplines to improve customer service.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eUX\u003c/strong\u003e can mean many things—sometimes narrow in terms of tools, sometimes broader to mean all audience-related info and services. The UX community includes user researchers, designers, marketers, content creators, and strategists. Common discussion topics include accessibility, UI design, research techniques, tools, and the endless search for precedent (Has anyone successfully used heatmapping? Do we have a case study about the value of user testing?)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCX\u003c/strong\u003e is generally broader—often synonymous with service design, and frequently involves more general user research activities like \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/08/12/journey-mapping-the-customer-experience-a-usa-gov-case-study/\"\u003ejourney mapping\u003c/a\u003e and \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/04/06/using-personas-to-better-understand-customers-usa-gov-case-study/\"\u003epersonas\u003c/a\u003e, but often not product-specific ones like usability tests. CX is an emerging discipline, particularly in government, with many agencies in the early stages of implementing program- or agency-wide customer experience initiatives. Several agencies now have a Chief Customer Officer, responsible for the overall experience the public has with agency programs and services.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"defining-the-disciplines\"\u003eDefining the Disciplines\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2015/11/600-400-Dictionary-Series-Experience-bernie_photo-iStock-Thinkstock-487291716.jpg\"\n    alt=\"Dictionary entry for the word, experience.\"/\u003e\u003cp\u003ebernie_photo/iStock/Thinkstock\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eEvery agency across the federal government has embraced UX and CX in different ways. At some agencies, user-centeredness is the currency in which people work, and everyone wants more of it. There is a growing interest in “user research.” Service design, or CX, looks at the entire experience, and narrows to UX when discussing UI elements. But even when the talk is more about research activities than spending time classifying these activities, they’re all about user-centricity, no matter which term you use.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor example, at GSA, our Customer Team helps program offices learn to approach their work from a customer perspective. Over the past year, \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/01/16/walking-in-our-customers-shoes/\"\u003eGSA hired a Chief Customer Officer\u003c/a\u003e and staffed up a Customer Team that has worked with teams across GSA to study and re-engineer countless programs and processes to improve the experience. One notable accomplishment includes journey-mapping the employee onboarding experience, to ensure new employees have everything they need to start their career off right.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"get-involved\"\u003eGet Involved!\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCX and UX are everywhere in government now. However you define them, agencies are making huge strides to improve our products and services, making it easier for citizens and businesses to work with us. Both the UX and CX communities offer content and training to help you improve the customer experience at your agency. Check out these resources:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJoin a community\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://digital.gov/communities/customer-experience/\"\u003eCustomer Experience\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/communities/user-experience/\"\u003eUser Experience\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTake some training\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/events/\"\u003eUpcoming events from DigitalGov University\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLd9b-GuOJ3nH7xSSjL1XBXPfVqw68BNbW\"\u003eCX Video Training Library\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLd9b-GuOJ3nGAp5rEv5-9qfkCMlgohUMr\"\u003eUX Video Training Library\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRead through the \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/resources/digitalgov-user-experience-resources/digitalgov-user-experience-program-usability-starter-kit/\"\u003eUsability Starter Kit\u003c/a\u003e and contribute a case study or resource\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA CX Toolkit is also in development; look for it in December 2015.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHow has your agency embraced CX and UX? Tell us in the comments.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThanks to members of the \u003ca href=\"https://digital.gov/communities/user-experience/\"\u003eUX\u003c/a\u003e and the \u003ca href=\"https://digital.gov/communities/customer-experience/\"\u003eCX\u003c/a\u003e communities for their contributions to this article.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"dg-footnote\"\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"dg-footnote__heading\" id=\"footnote-label\"\u003eFootnotes\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003col class=\"dg-footnote__list\"\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"dg-footnote__list-item\" id=\"fn1\"\u003eCNN, By Doug Gross. n.d. “It’s Settled! Creator Tells Us How to Pronounce ‘GIF.’” CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2013/05/22/tech/web/pronounce-gif/ \u003ca href=\"#footnotes-ref1\" aria-label=\"Back to content\"\u003e↩\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n"}
  ]
}