Comments on: Customer Vs User Experience

By: sharon lee

sharon lee — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 03:45:22 +0000

I interchange the term depending upon who I talk to. For digital peeps “user”, for business peeps “customer”.

However I personally prefer the term “human”… because all of our experiences start there – digital or real world.

By: computerrepair

computerrepair — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:12:04 +0000

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By: bestexternalhdd

bestexternalhdd — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:10:11 +0000

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By: Stu Collett

Stu Collett — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:17:20 +0000

@Karl I couldn’t agree more. On reflection I think ‘Experience’ is too vague.

By: Karl

Karl — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:45:45 +0000

Nice post. I too have never been really happy with the word user in my title; finding, like you, that it’s impersonal and pretty limiting in scope.

A few years ago I was freelancing at an agency in London that made the decision to change all UX-types’ titles to Experience Architects. I can see where they were going, but it tended to provoke one of two reactions:

1. *Erm, what architect?* says the client in bemusement

2. A little grin, as the client inwardly sighed *Now if that doesn’t sound prententious, I don’t know what does*

So for the time being, I’m sticking with the title user experience architect, coupled with a company name that helps clients find out that that’s what they need (Usability Savvy).

By: Ben Brophy

Ben Brophy — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:00:02 +0000

I’ve continued to think on this one. When I need to tell people out side the industry what i do I usually just say “I design software.” And they generally more or less get that answer better than anything else I’ve tried. So I may just go with “Software Designer ” in the future.

By: Stu Collett

Stu Collett — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:19:52 +0000

Hey Leisa,

What about using just ‘Experience Design’?

http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/About-Design/Design-Disciplines/Experience-design/

Great question… You’ve got me thinking now!

By: Ken Beatson

Ken Beatson — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:34:37 +0000

When I explain what I do to people, I always get much better results using the term “customer experience”. They don’t get it when I say “user experience”. That speaks volumes for me.

I vote Customer Experience

By: Livia Labate

Livia Labate — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:09:47 +0000

I totally see how that makes sense for your context. In my current situation, working in a large organization, I *know* that about 60% the audience I design for are NOT people who purchase the service, so I have purposefully stuck with user to counter the marketing activities which are exclusively targeting customers and potential customers.

By: Pete Williams

Pete Williams — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:18:50 +0000

Well, I don’t think it’d add any clarity to people’s understanding of the role, which was John’s argument against the term ‘user’.

However, if your concern is more to do with the scope implied by your current title, then considering the below definition, maybe the Service Design cap does fit…

“Service design is a collaborative process of researching, planning and realizing the experiences that happen over time and over multiple touch points with a customer’s experience.”
Phi-Hong D. Ha (http://j.mp/2DoIrN)

However that definition could equally describe Customer Experience Design!