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What modern customer experience means for a growing business
Customer experience (CX) is the sum of the interactions a customer has while discovering, buying from, and getting help from a business. A strategy turns that broad idea into practical choices: which customer tasks matter most, where people get stuck, what information should follow them across channels, and how the business will know whether a change worked.
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Modern CX is not synonymous with adding more channels or deploying a chatbot. Customers may begin outside a company’s own website or service desk, move between digital and human interactions, and expect not to repeat information. The operating goal is to make the customer’s task easier while keeping service reliable and affordable.
The figures below come from different surveys, populations, and methods; they are useful context, not directly comparable benchmarks. Gartner reported that 51% of customer service journeys began on third-party platforms in its survey of 5,801 customers conducted in January and February 2025. Gartner’s July 2025 announcement describes the finding. IDC reported in June 2025 that 77% of consumers preferred buying through a mix of digital channels. IDC’s article discusses the finding and the role of connected customer data.
1. Map the journey, including where it starts outside your channels
List the important jobs customers are trying to complete, from learning whether your offer fits to resolving a problem after purchase. Map what they do, what they need to know, and where they encounter delays or uncertainty. Include discovery and service entry points beyond your owned channels: search results, social media, video, marketplaces, and third-party AI tools.
That wider view matters because a customer may arrive with an expectation formed elsewhere. Gartner’s 51% finding is a survey result for its 2025 sample, not a permanent share for every business or industry. Its analyst Keith McIntosh described third-party platforms as “the new front door for customer service.” The practical implication is to make accurate policies, product information, and help content easy to find wherever customers begin, rather than assuming every journey starts on your homepage.
How to create a useful journey map
- Choose a task, not an abstract audience. Examples include checking delivery status, comparing plans, booking a service, changing an order, or resolving a billing issue.
- Write down the customer’s steps. Capture the channel, question, information required, wait, and next action at each stage. Include workarounds such as contacting support after an unsuccessful search.
- Mark friction and uncertainty. Look for repeated data entry, unclear eligibility or return rules, dead ends, contradictory answers, and handoffs that make customers start over.
- Check the map with real evidence. Use customer comments, support conversations, site-search terms, complaints, and operational records. A map based only on internal assumptions can miss the actual obstacle.
- Pick one or two high-friction points to improve. Record the current outcome and assign an owner before changing the process.
2. Reduce effort in the moments that matter
Make common tasks and problem resolution straightforward. Customers should be able to understand what will happen, what they need to do, and how to check progress. Clear policies and reliable next steps usually matter more than adding decorative moments of “delight” while routine tasks remain difficult.
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Look for friction in the process itself: policies hidden in several places, forms asking for information the business already has, unclear status updates, unnecessary approvals, or support agents unable to complete a task. Simplify the underlying workflow before automating it; otherwise, automation can make a confusing process faster without making it easier.
Turn a friction point into a focused change
- State the customer’s task in plain language and make its starting point easy to find.
- Explain requirements, timing, fees, and exceptions before the customer commits or waits.
- Reduce repeated steps and ask only for information needed to complete the task.
- Show status and the next action, including what to do if the expected outcome does not occur.
- Check whether the change reduces repeat contacts or failed completions, not just whether it looks cleaner internally.
For a foundational low-effort framework, The Effortless Experience: Conquering the New Battleground for Customer Loyalty by Matthew Dixon, Nick Toman, and Rick DeLisi includes practical tools and templates. It was published in 2013, so treat it as a service-design framework rather than a report on current technology. Penguin Random House’s publisher description provides book details.
3. Connect channels so customers do not have to start over
Customers may move from a website to messaging, phone, social media, or an in-person interaction. They should not have to re-explain the issue simply because the channel changed. Connecting channels means aligning the information, policies, and customer context needed to continue the task—not merely offering many ways to contact the business.
IDC reported that 77% of consumers preferred buying through a mix of digital channels in its June 2025 article. This is IDC’s reported finding, not a universal forecast for every business. IDC also points to cross-functional CRM and customer-data integration as part of improving customer experience. For a growing business, the operational test is straightforward: can the next person or channel see enough of the prior interaction to help without asking the customer to start again?
What to connect first
- Policies and answers: Keep product details, service terms, and troubleshooting guidance consistent wherever they appear.
- Interaction context: Preserve the customer’s issue, previous steps, and relevant order or account details when moving between channels, subject to appropriate access controls.
- Ownership: Make clear which team is responsible for the next action, especially when a request crosses sales, operations, and support.
- Handoffs: Tell customers what has been passed along and what they should expect next.
Begin with the channels and tasks customers actually use. A connected experience does not require every channel to share every data point; it requires the right information to be available to the right people so a customer can make progress.
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4. Use AI to complete helpful tasks, with visible human support
Use AI where the task is bounded and the answer or action can be checked: answering routine questions from approved knowledge, summarizing an interaction for a staff member, or guiding a customer through a supported process. Make it clear when a customer is interacting with AI and how to reach a person when the issue is unresolved, sensitive, or outside the system’s reliable scope.
Gartner’s 2026 survey of 3,566 B2B and B2C customers, conducted in February and March, found that customers were approximately three times more likely to use third-party generative AI than company-provided customer service chatbots. Gartner’s July 2026 announcement reports the result. In a separate August 2026 announcement, Gartner said 87% of surveyed customers considered access to a human agent essential when companies use GenAI for customer service. Gartner’s announcement describes that finding. These results support designing AI-enabled journeys with a human option; they do not show that every chatbot will fail.
Gartner analyst Eric Keller advised organizations to focus on “AI-enabled service journeys” that help customers resolve issues across digital and voice channels, rather than investing primarily in standalone chatbots. The distinction is important: the useful outcome is a solved customer task, not the presence of an AI interface.
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- Limit the system to supported topics and approved, current information.
- Provide a clear route to a human, and pass along the conversation context when possible.
- Define what the AI must not decide or disclose, particularly for consequential account, financial, or policy questions.
- Review incorrect answers, failed task completion, escalations, and customer feedback; update the source content or workflow when a pattern appears.
- Assess customer-data handling, accessibility, privacy, and applicable legal obligations for the jurisdictions where the business operates.
5. Close the feedback and measurement loop
Collect feedback at points where it can explain a customer outcome, connect it to the relevant service record, and give someone responsibility for recurring problems. Feedback without an owner or a follow-up process becomes a collection exercise rather than an improvement system.
Choose a small set of measures that reflects both the customer’s result and the cost of delivering it. Depending on the journey, that might include successful completion, repeat contacts, time to resolution, retention, or recurring complaint themes. Use a customer sentiment measure only alongside operational and business outcomes; no single CX score can explain whether customers completed a task or why they struggled.
A practical improvement cycle
- Baseline: Record how the selected journey performs now, using consistent definitions and a relevant time period.
- Diagnose: Combine the numbers with customer comments and interaction details to identify a specific source of friction.
- Assign: Name an owner who can coordinate the change across the teams involved.
- Change one thing: Test a focused improvement rather than changing several parts of the journey at once.
- Review outcomes and cost: Check whether customers complete the task more successfully and whether the operational burden changed.
McKinsey’s May 2026 B2B research emphasizes shared outcome measures spanning efficiency, revenue, and customer experience. McKinsey’s article discusses that approach. For a business, shared measures help teams avoid improving one department’s efficiency by shifting extra work or confusion onto customers elsewhere.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to choose what to improve first
Do not begin with a platform purchase or an automation project. Compare candidate improvements by how often the task occurs, how consequential failure is for customers, how much friction the evidence shows, and whether the business can make and measure a focused change with its current staff and systems.
| Decision criterion | Question to ask | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Customer task and channel | Which task is failing, and where do customers begin and continue it? | Prevents designing around an internal channel rather than the actual journey. |
| Context across channels | Can the next interaction use the relevant history without making the customer repeat it? | Identifies handoff gaps and the data needed to close them. |
| Systems and integration | Can the change work with current records, knowledge, and operating processes? | Limits costly complexity and disconnected customer information. |
| Data, privacy, and access | What information is needed, who should see it, and what obligations apply? | Personalization and AI depend on reliable data and suitable consent and privacy practices. |
| Usability and accessibility | Can customers with different needs complete the task, and can they get human help? | Usability failures and inaccessible routes can create new barriers. |
| Cost and staffing | What ongoing staff time and operational cost will the change require? | A workable customer promise must also be sustainable to deliver. |
| Outcome reporting | Can the business see completion, repeat contact, resolution, retention, or relevant complaints? | Connects CX decisions to outcomes instead of relying on one score. |
Survey findings can provide direction, but they are not guarantees of business results. PwC’s summary of its 2025 Customer Experience Survey reported that 52% of consumers stopped using or buying from a brand after a bad product or service experience; separately, 29% said they stopped because of poor online or in-person customer experience. PwC’s survey summary reports both figures. The broader bad-experience figure and the CX-specific figure describe distinct findings, not interchangeable measures.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is a customer experience strategy?
It is a plan for improving the interactions customers have while discovering, buying from, and getting support from a business. It identifies priority tasks and friction, assigns responsibility for changes, and defines how the business will evaluate customer and operational outcomes.
Which customer experience strategy should a small business start with?
Start by mapping a frequent or consequential customer task and using support conversations, feedback, and operational records to find where it breaks down. Then make one focused change, establish who owns it, and compare its results with a baseline.
Does every business need a chatbot to improve customer experience?
No. A chatbot is only useful when it helps customers complete supported tasks. Clear policies, fewer repeated steps, accurate status information, and better human handoffs may address the underlying friction more directly.
How should a business measure customer experience?
Use a small group of measures suited to the journey, such as task completion, repeat contacts, time to resolution, retention, or complaint themes. Pair customer feedback with operational and business outcomes so one score does not conceal unresolved effort or cost.
Why is a human option important when using AI for customer service?
Some requests are unresolved, sensitive, or outside an AI system’s supported knowledge. Gartner reported in August 2026 that 87% of surveyed customers considered access to a human agent essential when companies use GenAI for customer service; the appropriate handoff design depends on the service being offered.
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