Same same, but different?

Customer Experience and Service Design are terms often used interchangeably, and on the surface, they look pretty similar. So what is the difference; where do they converge and diverge?

The truth is that both Customer Experience and Service Design do share a lot in common. However, there is a subtle difference in where each specialism places its focus, their approaches, the industries and organisations they serve and the outputs they seek to achieve.

This guide aims to shine a light on the areas where each practice overlaps and where they differ.

Focus areas:

Looking inwards and outwards

Whilst Customer Experience and Service Design are both focused on serving people better, they approach this from different directions. Generally speaking:

Customer Experience looks outward at the customer; understanding who they are, what they think, feel and do, and the environment a business operates in and it's brand positioning.

Service Design tends to look more inwardly to understand the props (physical & digital environments, equipment and objects), people, processes and policies used in delivering a service to a customer and they might be improved.

Common industry applications

The term Customer Experience has been adopted predominantly in the for-profit sectors who employ the CX mindsets, methods and measurements to drive repeat sales, brand loyalty and customer advocacy to reduce customer acquisition costs and increase profitability.

Service Design on the other hand has gained favour in the healthcare and education fields and in the public sector. Often the focus is not the paying customer, but the person benefitting from a service.

That's not to say the two terms are mutually exclusive, Service Design exists in the private sector and Customer Experience within the public sector, but through what I have observed is where each specialism has gained the most traction.

Shared beliefs

Finding common ground

Customer Experience and Service Design both share the same belief that customer-centricity can facilitate better service. In fact, Service Design is heavily dependent on understanding the customer journey and their experiences to guide how service can be improved.

Similarly, Customer Experience professionals will look inwardly to see what needs to be changed to reduce pain points and create unique moments and experiences that help distinguish their brand and product.

Desired outcomes

Measuring impact and outcomes

Customer Experience and Service Design share many metrics for measuring the customer satisfaction and advocacy. However, Service Design may also include more broad-based sector-specific measures too.

Customer Experience typically creates value through the generation of profit; via repeat custom which increases the customer's lifetime value and propensity to advocate towards others reducing customer acquisition costs.

Depending on the setting, Service Design may employee the same measures too, but may also consider engagement measures such as service utilisation rates or compliance (e.g. with a healthcare treatment program), along with cost- reduction measures such as the cost to deliver a service.

Two parts of the same puzzle

Customer Experience and Service Design share many common mindsets, tools and practises making the lines between them somewhat blurred: Customer Experience leverages many Service Design methods, but has its own distinctions.

However, whilst they overlap, they are two seperate parts of the puzzle facing organisations of how to deliver superior experiences that benefit both customer and the organisation delivering them alike.

Depending on the sector you operate in, your organisation, and personal remit, you might lean one way more than the other, but in my view, both offer value - from the holistic lens of CX and its focus on measurement and management, to Service Design's understanding of how the service is delivered. Combined together the two form an even more powerful approach for satisfying customers.