UI, UX and CX Design : what difference?

What is user experience (UX) ?

UX (User Experience) designates the quality of the interactions that take place between a user and a product or service. Popularized by Don Norman at the end of the 1980s, the concept of UX notably imposed itself in the digital field.

Indeed, UX design (or design of the user experience) allows Design an application or website that is easy to use, accessible and usefulresponding precisely to the user’s need.

The key points of a successful user experience

• Users’ understanding: UX Design begins with in -depth research to better understand users. Concretely, it is a question of identifying target audiences, their needs and behaviors to guide the design process.
• Wireframing and prototyping: The creation of Wireframes and Prototypes helps designers to preview the product, which allows you to quickly test and validate the main design axes of the user experience.
• Usability tests: UX designers have every interest in carrying out software tests to understand how users interact with the product and collect valuable information to improve it.
• Information architecture: The information and content must be organized in a logical and legible manner, for a fluid and effective user experience.

What is the user interface (IU)?

UI (User Interface) Corresponds to the visual layer which allows the user to interact with a product. Appeared in the 1970s, this notion acquired growing importance, so much so that the design, or user interface design, has become a profession in its own right.

What is the role of a designer? Make pleasant and useful interfaces, while compliance with the most advanced standards and methods of ergonomics. It creates the different graphic and textual elements that make up the product, then positions them to facilitate navigation.

The key points of a successful user interface

• Visual design: The UI designers first work on the visual aspect of the product, ensuring that it conforms to the brand’s identity, while retaining a pleasant and intuitive interface.
• Interactions: Interactions with the interface contribute to the conviviality of a website or an application, but also to user satisfaction.
• Coherence: A coherent interface from start to finish helps users to adopt the product and to navigate easily.
• Accessibility: User interface designers must take into account accessibility principles, ensuring that the product can be used by all, including users with visual handicap. To do this, they can in particular rely on the general repository for improvement of accessibility (RGAA).

What is customer experience (CX)?

CX (Customer Experience) include all the interactions between an individual and a business. The UX and the UI therefore play a significant role in the customer experience, but many other parameters influence it, for example: advertising, customer relations, distribution policy, prices …

Throughout the customer journey-from the discovery of the brand to the after-sales service, including the act of purchase- An optimized customer experience contributes to satisfying the user, retaining it and encouraging them to recommend the brand. Consequently, the company can increase its turnover, strengthen its image, attract new customers, extend its notoriety, but also increase customer life value (Customer Lifetime Value).

The key points of a successful customer experience

• The contact channels: The CX takes into account all the contact points of a customer with a brand, whether it is a visit to a website, an exchange on social networks, the use of a product or customer assistance as part of the after-sales service.
• The mapping of the route: Cartographing the customer route allows the company to identify pain points and improvement axes in terms of customer interactions with the brand. It can therefore design a more transparent and more pleasant experience.
• Emotions and perceptions: The CX endeavors to understand and influence the emotions and perceptions of customers throughout their journey, with the aim of creating positive feelings and retaining them.
• Customer satisfaction: The ultimate goal of the CX is to ensure that customers are satisfied with their global experience. Thus, they will be more inclined to make other purchases and recommend the brand around them.

Ciriselsa has been specially designed to provide users with a fluid experience, with an intuitive interface imagined to meet the needs of insurance professionals.

What is the difference between UX, UI and CX?

Understanding the difference between UX, UI and CX is essential to fully exploit these three levers and integrate them into the company’s strategy.

The Directorate of Information Systems, for example, will thus be able to include projects related to the IU and the UX in its computer scheme. In the end, the company will be able to create successful digital experiences, perfectly meeting the needs of users.

Here’s how to distinguish these three concepts in a summary way:

• The user interface (IU) concerns the visual aspect and the interactivity of a product.
• User experience (UX) designates all user’s interactions with a product, service or system, emphasizing usefulness, ergonomics and accessibility.
• The customer experience (CX) Includes all the interactions between a customer and a company, through digital or physical contact points.

The difference between the role of UX Designer and CX designer

If the role of the UI Designer is quite identifiable, the notions of UX and CX are often more difficult to differentiate.

Concretely, UX Design consists in optimizing the interaction and use of a productin order to simplify the user route as much as possible and offer it a satisfactory experience. In this sense, the UX designer is based on a User -centered approach (In English, “User Centered Design”), which focuses on the sensations, impressions and thoughts that user interactions provide with the product.

The CX Designer, on the other hand, is interested in the optimization of the global relationship between the customer and the company. It reviews all the interactions made with the brand, its products or services, but also the marketing strategy, the after-sales service (after-sales service), the sales strategy, price policy, etc.

In order to establish a sustainable customer relationship, the CX designer must in particular improve the process of integration and acquisition of customers, but also optimize the accessibility and use of the product.

How does the UI, the UX and the CX complement each other?

Despite their differences, the UI, the UX and the CX are interconnected and all serve the same final objective: offer quality experience.

Indeed, UI Design is a subset of UX Designbecause it only concerns visual appearance and direct interactions with the product. The UX, which focuses on user’s interactions with a specific product, is, itself, part of the CX. The latter encompasses all the interactions between the customer and the company, including those which are not linked to a website, software or mobile application.

In the event of poor experience during the various interactions with the company, it is very likely that a potential customer renounces to buy or recommend a product, even if its intrinsic quality is very high. For example, a little ergonomic website has a negative impact not only on the UX, but also on the customer experience in general.

The image of the brand, interest and customer loyalty are based on the creation of the best possible experiencewhich includes both the UX and the CX. To effectively combine these two areas, the company must therefore opt for a user centered approach, which includes in particular:

• The creation of Personas To view and map the customer route on all contact channels, whether digital or physical: website, mobile application, store, telephone call, etc.
• A collaborative work mode Between project managers, managers of the customer experience and UX designers to keep the promise of a global quality experience.
• An empathetic and benevolent approachin order to create value and offer useful and pleasant products and services to hand.

By working hand in hand, user interface designers, UX designers and customer experience specialists have all the cards in hand to create quality products, meeting customer expectations. However, this approach implies a real work of research on users, an in -depth analysis of their needs, as well as the implementation of tests to continuously improve the proposed experiences.

Despite their differences, the UI, the UX and the CX are close, interconnected concepts, which complement each other. To create successful experiences, companies must therefore adopt a holistic approach, taking into account both user interface design, user experience and customer experience.