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Entrepreneurship

Customer experience (CX): what it is, how to measure it, pillars and how to apply it

Understand what customer experience (CX) is, how it differs from customer success, how to measure it with NPS and CSAT, and how to apply it in your business.

Lara Azeredo

10/14/2026 | By

What will we see in this post

Customer experience (CX) is the perception a customer builds about a company from every point of contact with it, from the first search to after-sales. It is not the same as customer service or customer success: service is one moment of that experience, and customer success takes care of the result the customer achieves after the purchase.

And that perception weighs on the buying decision. According to CX Trends 2026, a study by Opinion Box and Octadesk with more than 2,000 Brazilian consumers, 60% prefer brands that offer good experiences, and 63% publicly criticize a brand after a bad experience.

Below, we explain what CX is, the difference from customer success, how the experience is measured, what the pillars and types of CX are, what a CX professional does and how to apply all of this, including if you sell courses or info products.

What is customer experience (CX)?

In practice, that perception is formed at every stage: in the ad the person saw, while browsing the website, at purchase, at delivery, while using the product and in every contact with support.

When we talk about the buying journey a consumer goes through, we are talking about a relationship with constant interaction between the consumer and the company. That is why CX covers every interaction that happens while the two parties are in contact, and not one specific department.

The concept gained strength when companies realized that the buyer-seller relationship went beyond exchanging products for money. The focus became the customer, with actions and processes designed to put them at the center of the business.

Customer journey

The customer journey is the path a person takes from realizing they have a problem to becoming a loyal customer. It starts when the target audience identifies a need, goes through evaluation and purchase, and reaches loyalty in the after-sales stage.

Understanding the customer journey is the starting point of CX: it shows at which moments the experience can be improved and which relationship strategies make sense at each phase.

Customer lifecycle

The customer lifecycle is the sequence of phases of the relationship between the consumer and the business. The most common stages are:

  • segmentation;
  • acquisition;
  • monetization;
  • retention;
  • recovery.

Knowing these phases lets you personalize your strategies for each type of customer, from the moment they are identified until a possible churn.

Touchpoints

A touchpoint is any channel where a person interacts with the business, actively or passively. Some examples:

  • website and apps;
  • blog and social media;
  • online chat and call center;
  • email marketing;
  • online ads and conventional advertising;
  • packaging, delivery and after-sales.

Each touchpoint is an opportunity to strengthen or weaken the customer’s perception. The more consistent they are with each other, the better the experience tends to be.

What is the difference between customer experience and customer success?

The difference is scope: customer experience is the customer’s entire relationship with the brand, while customer success is the area that, after the sale, makes sure the customer reaches the result that made them buy.

CX (customer experience) starts before the purchase, in the ad, on the website and during negotiation, and goes all the way to support and after-sales. CS (customer success) has a more specific focus: following product usage and acting before the customer gets stuck or gives up.

An example helps separate the two. In an online course, a clear sales page and a members area that is easy to navigate are part of CX. Tracking whether the student is moving forward through the lessons and helping them reach the end is CS work.

In practice, CS is a proactive strategy: it anticipates problems the customer may face when using the solution and checks that what was promised is being delivered. The two areas complement each other, because good CS improves the experience, and a good experience makes CS easier. In smaller businesses, one person often handles CX, CS and customer service at once.

Criterion Customer experience (CX) Customer success (CS) User experience (UX) Customer service
What it is The customer’s perception across all interactions with the brand Area that ensures the customer gets results with the product Experience of using a product, website or app Support when the customer needs help
When it acts Before, during and after the purchase After the purchase, proactively While using the product On demand, usually reactively
Central question How does the customer feel about the brand? Is the customer getting results? Is it easy to use? Was the problem solved?
Typical metrics NPS, CES and CSAT by journey stage Churn, retention and product adoption Success rate and time to complete tasks Resolution time, FCR and CSAT
Who is responsible The whole company, with CX leadership CS team Design and product Support team

CX and UX: what is the difference?

UX (user experience) is the experience of using a product, website or app, and CX is the experience with the company as a whole. The goal of UX is to make solutions intuitive, efficient and pleasant to use.

The difference lies in scope: UX is one part of CX. A well-designed app improves the experience, but CX also includes price, billing, delivery, communication and support.

CX and customer service: what is the difference?

Customer service is the moment when the customer needs help; CX is everything they live through with the brand, including that moment. Good customer service is an important piece of CX, but it does not replace a simple, well-resolved journey.

The 3 pillars of customer experience

The three pillars of customer experience are effectiveness (the customer gets what they were looking for), ease (with little effort) and emotion (how they feel during the interaction). These are the same three dimensions Forrester uses in its Customer Experience Index, one of the world’s main CX quality indexes, and they also appear as the “success, effort and emotion” tripod.

The pillars help diagnose where the experience fails, and two of them show up clearly in Brazilian consumers’ expectations. According to CX Trends 2026, 85% associate quick responses with loyalty and trust in the brand, a sign of how much ease matters.

And 36% expect brands to offer more human experiences, even when they use technology, which shows the strength of the emotion pillar.

Pillar What it means Question to evaluate Practical example
Effectiveness (success) The customer reaches the goal of the interaction Did they get what they wanted? Buying, receiving and using the product with no surprises
Ease (effort) The path takes little effort Was it easy? Solving a question without repeating information
Emotion The customer feels respected and valued How did they feel? Service that uses their name and understands the context

Effectiveness (success)

The effectiveness pillar ensures that the customer gets what they were looking for when dealing with the brand. This ranges from a successful purchase to a support interaction that solves the problem in after-sales.

Ease (effort)

The ease pillar aims to reduce the customer’s effort in every interaction. Fast service, clear language, few steps to buy and easy-to-find information make the experience simple and pleasant.

Emotion

The emotion pillar deals with the bond between the customer and the brand. It is the most subjective part of a brand’s relationship with its audience, because emotions affect different people in different ways.

It is also one of the most important: according to Forrester, emotion tends to be the factor that best predicts loyalty, recommendation and retention, and also the hardest to improve.

How to deliver GREAT customer service? Hotmart Tips #10 (video in Portuguese)

What are the types of customer experience?

Customer experience is usually divided by the type of customer served (B2C or B2B) and by the channels where the experience happens (digital or omnichannel). There is no single official classification, but these cuts help you understand what care each business needs.

Type For whom Main characteristic Experience focus
B2C CX End consumers High volume of customers and quick decisions Ease, speed and personalization
B2B CX Companies Long journeys and multiple decision-makers Onboarding, follow-up and relationship
Digital CX Customers on websites, apps and social media Self-service and use of AI Speed without losing the human option
Omnichannel CX Customers who move between channels Online and offline integrated Continuity across channels

B2C CX

B2C CX is the experience offered to the end consumer, in businesses with many customers and quicker buying decisions. Here, speed and personalization make a difference: 74% of Brazilian consumers say personalization influences their buying decision, according to CX Trends 2026.

B2B CX

B2B CX is the experience offered to other companies, with longer journeys, larger contracts and several decision-makers involved. Onboarding, training and follow-up after the sale weigh more, and this is where CX and customer success come closest.

Digital CX

Digital CX is the experience lived on websites, apps, social media and online service channels. Technology is already part of that relationship: 48% of Brazilians interact with artificial intelligence in customer service, but 63% consider it essential to be able to talk to a person when needed, according to the same study.

Omnichannel CX

Omnichannel CX is the experience integrated across channels, where the customer switches channels without losing context. In Brazil, 85% of consumers buy on websites or online stores and 78% also buy in physical stores, and WhatsApp is a post-purchase contact channel for 59%, according to CX Trends 2026.

Being omnichannel is not just being on several channels, but making them talk to each other.

How is customer experience measured? The main metrics explained

Customer experience is measured with perception metrics, such as NPS, CSAT and CES, and with behavior metrics, such as churn, CLV and first contact resolution (FCR). No single metric tells the whole story: perception metrics show how the customer feels, and behavior metrics show what they do afterward.

If you want to go deeper, see how recurring revenue works with subscription products, where churn and retention are central.

Metric What it measures Question or calculation When to use it
NPS Loyalty and intention to recommend % of promoters minus % of detractors Overall view of the relationship, every quarter or semester
CSAT Satisfaction with a specific interaction Satisfied responses divided by the total Right after a purchase or support interaction
CES Effort to solve something “How easy was it to resolve your request?” After support interactions or processes
Churn Customers who stop buying Customers lost divided by the base at the start of the period Recurring businesses and subscriptions
CLV Value generated by the customer over the relationship Average ticket x frequency x relationship length Retention investment decisions
FCR Problems solved on the first contact Solved on 1st contact divided by the total Evaluating support efficiency

NPS (Net Promoter Score)

NPS measures customer loyalty from a single question: “On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend the company to a friend?” The metric was introduced by Fred Reichheld in the article The One Number You Need to Grow, published in Harvard Business Review in 2003.

Whoever answers 9 or 10 is a promoter, 7 or 8 is passive and 0 to 6 is a detractor. NPS is the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors, and ranges from -100 to 100.

CSAT (Customer Satisfaction Score)

CSAT measures satisfaction with a specific interaction, such as a purchase or a support contact. The question is usually “How satisfied are you with…?”, answered on a scale of 1 to 5. The result is the percentage of satisfied responses (usually scores of 4 and 5) over the total.

CES (Customer Effort Score)

CES measures the effort the customer had to make to solve a request. The metric gained strength with the article Stop Trying to Delight Your Customers, published in Harvard Business Review in 2010, which analyzed more than 75,000 people served by contact centers and self-service and concluded that reducing effort matters more for loyalty than trying to surprise.

Churn (cancellation rate)

Churn measures how many customers stopped buying or canceled in a period. The calculation is simple: customers lost in the period divided by the customer base at the start of it. High churn usually points to failures somewhere in the experience.

CLV (Customer Lifetime Value)

CLV estimates how much revenue a customer generates over the whole relationship with the company. A simplified way to calculate it is to multiply the average ticket by the purchase frequency and by the average length of the relationship.

Good experiences tend to increase CLV, because the customer buys more often and for longer.

FCR (First Contact Resolution)

FCR measures the percentage of problems solved on the first contact with support. The higher the FCR, the less the customer has to repeat information or come back for help, which reduces effort and improves perception.

Where to start if your business is small: an NPS survey every quarter, a CSAT after each support interaction and churn tracking already give a good reading of the experience. What matters is measuring regularly and acting on what the numbers show.

Why is customer experience important?

Customer experience is important because it influences the customer’s choice, loyalty and recommendation, in a market where it is easy to switch brands. When price and product look similar across competitors, the experience becomes the main differentiator for entrepreneurs competing for the same audience’s attention.

Beyond the preference and public criticism mentioned in the introduction, CX Trends 2026 shows how much experience weighs on the buying decision:

  • 54% use their previous experience with the company as a tiebreaker between two stores with the same price;
  • 56% give up a purchase when they feel the company is not trustworthy.

That is why investing in customer experience brings returns on several fronts, as we will see next.

Strengthens brand preference

People value personalized experiences across the different touchpoints. When competitors do not act the same way, personalization increases the chances of building customer loyalty.

Reduces churn

Bad experiences are among the reasons customers end their relationship with a brand. Investing in CX helps with retention and reduces churn rates. And keeping a customer usually costs less than winning a new one, who has to go through the whole journey again.

This also applies to those who promote other people’s products, such as an affiliate: a bad experience with a recommended purchase hurts trust in your next recommendations.

Creates brand advocates

A satisfied customer tends to recommend the brand to friends and family spontaneously. That word of mouth, one of the oldest marketing strategies, brings new buyers, expands the business’s market with no extra media spend and works as social proof.

Increases revenue

A satisfied customer buys again. Repeat purchases and referrals help increase revenue without having to invest again in the whole journey of that consumer.

Improves image and credibility

The public’s perception of the brand is tied to how customers experience it. Companies that pay attention to service and are courteous throughout the journey convey credibility to the market and strengthen brand awareness.

Increases competitive advantage

With so many options available in the same niche, customers have more power of choice and look for more than price and quality. They also evaluate how they were treated during and after the buying process. That is why people do not just consume products, but experiences.

What does a customer experience professional do?

A customer experience professional maps the customer journey, collects and interprets the voice of the customer, tracks metrics such as NPS and CES and coordinates, together with other areas, the changes that make the experience easier and more consistent. They are not the support agent: their job is to look at the whole journey and involve marketing, sales, product and support.

Main responsibilities

CX responsibilities are usually organized into five areas, the same ones assessed in the CCXP certification exam from the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA), according to Prometric, which administers the test:

  • customer understanding: surveys, personas, journey mapping and voice-of-the-customer programs;
  • CX strategy: define the desired experience and align it with business goals;
  • metrics and return: track indicators and show CX’s impact on results;
  • design and implementation: create and test improvements at touchpoints;
  • culture and accountability: involve teams so the customer is at the center of decisions.

Roles in customer experience

CX roles vary with company size, but follow a similar path from analyst to leadership.

Role Main focus
CX analyst Collecting and analyzing surveys, tracking metrics and mapping journeys
CX specialist or coordinator Improvement projects at touchpoints and running voice-of-the-customer programs
CX manager Experience strategy, prioritizing improvements and integration with other areas
Head of CX or CXO (Chief Experience Officer) Company-wide view of the experience and leadership responsibility for CX

Skills, education and certification

A CX professional combines data analysis with empathy. Among the most valued skills are:

  • reading data and quantitative and qualitative research;
  • empathy and active listening;
  • clear communication with different areas;
  • process vision, to find friction points;
  • familiarity with tools for research, CRM and customer service.

There is no required degree to work with customer experience. Many professionals come from areas such as business administration, marketing, psychology, design and customer service, which opens space for those who want to switch fields.

For those who want to specialize, the CCXP certification is one of the best known. The exam has 100 questions and requires, among other things, three years of full-time experience in the field, according to Prometric.

How to build a customer experience strategy

To build a customer experience strategy, get to know the customer, map the journey, listen to what they say, reduce friction at every touchpoint and track results with metrics. Strategies change depending on the type of business, but these practices apply to most cases.

1. Get to know your customer

People want to know whether your business understands their reality and meets their needs. Find ways to know the customer in depth and be ready to deal with those who do not fit the standard profile, offering a more personalized experience.

2. Map the journey and touchpoints

Draw the path the customer takes, from first contact to after-sales, and mark where they run into difficulties. That map shows where to start the improvements.

3. Learn to listen

Dialogue is the basis of a good experience. Knowing how to listen and offering suitable solutions is a duty for anyone investing in CX. Surveys, reviews and comments are valuable sources of the voice of the customer.

4. Be courteous and kind

By phone, chat or in person, courtesy and kindness make a difference in service. In an increasingly automated world, a “good morning, how can I help?” still counts.

5. Be quick

Customer satisfaction is tied to the speed at which they are served. Leaving the consumer waiting in a queue, on the phone or on social media results in a bad experience.

6. Be present on several channels

Offer more than one contact channel, such as website chat, email and social media, and make sure they talk to each other. People look for speed and ease in solving problems, and a single channel limits that choice.

7. Have a responsive, easy-to-use website

Having an online presence is essential for any business. A responsive website that is fast and easy to navigate improves the experience on every device. Website builders and ready-made platforms let you put a site online in a short time.

8. Offer good after-sales support

The relationship with the customer does not end at the purchase; it is just beginning. Have an efficient contact channel to solve problems, keep the relationship going with exclusive communications for existing customers and offer perks to the most loyal ones, such as discount coupons. Good email marketing helps here.

9. Measure your results

Relying only on your own perception is a mistake, because the company’s point of view can be very different from reality. Use CX metrics, such as NPS, CSAT and churn, and satisfaction surveys to understand whether the strategy is working.

10. Personalize your actions

Think about strategies that make the customer feel valued and recognized. Personalization can be applied by any business, regardless of niche, at every stage of the journey, and it is one of the ways to build customer loyalty.

Examples of companies with a great customer experience

Nubank and iFood are two Brazilian examples of companies that grew with customer experience at the center of their strategy. Both simplified journeys that used to be bureaucratic or slow.

Nubank

Founded in 2013, Nubank is a digital bank that became known for simplifying the relationship with the customer. Most problems are solved in the app itself, with no branch and no long waits.

Its scale shows the result: the company reached 139 million customers in the second quarter of 2026, almost 118 million of them in Brazil, where the monthly activity rate went above 86% for the first time, according to Nu Holdings’ results release.

The customer-focused culture shows in how products are built: the idea is to make interactions simple and show that the company cares about the people who use its services.

iFood

iFood emerged to speed up delivery, replacing the phone call to the restaurant with a simple, intuitive app. The whole purchase happens in the app: the consumer browses menus, pays and tracks the delivery in real time.

Today, the platform processes more than 180 million orders per month and brings together more than 500,000 partner establishments, according to the iFood Data Portal. The company helped take the food delivery experience in Brazil to a new standard.

Customer experience for people who sell courses and info products

Applying customer experience is not just for big companies: for anyone selling a course or info product, the student experience is CX in practice. It is shaped at every touchpoint, from the sales page to the last module: how the content is delivered, the support the student receives and how easy it is to navigate and move forward in the journey. If you are still building your offer, see how to sell online courses.

The three pillars apply directly: effectiveness is the student reaching the promised result, ease is finding the next lesson without effort, and emotion is feeling supported throughout the course.

Touchpoint What the student expects What to track
Purchase and access Pay with no hassle and access the course right away Refund requests and access questions
Content delivery Organized lessons that are easy to find and resume Completion rate and progress per module
Support Quick answers about the content and the platform Response time and repeated questions
Community Exchanging with other students and with the teacher Participation and retention
Communication Reminders, news and recognition of achievements Email open rate and course NPS

Content delivery: Members Areas

At Hotmart, the all-in-one platform for creators who want to create, sell and scale digital products, Members Areas (formerly Hotmart Club) are the piece that structures content delivery and student access. They are free, let you organize the course into modules and learning paths, customize the look with more than 20 style options and issue completion certificates, with access on mobile, computer or smart TV. Learn more about the members area and about Hotmart Club.

The structure of delivery affects the experience: according to Hotmart’s Help Center, in an article that still uses the former name (Hotmart Club), products hosted in this members area have a refund request rate 40% lower than in other members areas.

But the members area is one piece among several. It solves the “where” and “how” of student access to the content; the rest of the experience depends on support, community and communication.

Student support

Support handles questions about the content and about the platform. For content, the Tutor, the artificial intelligence assistant of Members Areas, answers student questions 24 hours a day based on the course lessons, according to the product’s official page. For access and payment issues, Hotmart offers buyer support at no extra cost to sellers, with a help center, chatbot and email.

Community

A community creates a bond between students and reinforces the emotion pillar. In Members Areas, you can create open, exclusive or paid communities. To structure yours, see how communities in Hotmart Club work.

Communication

Communication accompanies the student between lessons: welcome messages, progress reminders, new content notices and recognition of achievements. For personalized offers, Brazilian consumers prefer email (53%) and WhatsApp (42%), according to CX Trends 2026.

If you are choosing where to host and sell your course, the guide on how to sell digital products shows what to evaluate at each stage of the student experience, and the post on sales pages helps you get the first touchpoint right.

CX metrics for course sellers: completion rate, course NPS, refund requests and repeated questions. They show, in a simple way, where the student experience needs adjusting.

Customer experience: where to start?

Customer experience can be measured, managed and improved, as long as it is treated as a single experience, and not as one department’s task. Start with the journey, choose a few metrics to track and treat every touchpoint as part of the same experience.

If you sell knowledge, the student experience is your CX. Taking care of delivery, support, community and communication is what turns buyers into students who finish, recommend and buy again.

At Hotmart, you create your account with no monthly fee and get Members Areas, buyer support and community to take care of the experience of those who learn from you. The fee only applies when a sale happens, as explained in Hotmart’s prices and in how Hotmart works. Create my free account

What is the difference between CX and CS?

CX (customer experience) is the customer's complete experience with the brand, before, during and after the purchase; CS (customer success) is the area that ensures the customer achieves the expected result with the product. CX asks how the customer feels; CS asks whether they are getting results.

What are the pillars of customer experience?

The pillars of customer experience are effectiveness, ease and emotion, also called success, effort and emotion. These are the dimensions Forrester uses to measure CX quality.

What is the main customer experience metric?

NPS is the best-known CX metric, because it measures loyalty with a single recommendation question. But the ideal is to combine it with CSAT, which measures satisfaction in specific interactions, and with CES, which measures customer effort.

What does a customer experience analyst do?

A customer experience analyst collects and analyzes customer surveys, tracks metrics such as NPS and CSAT and maps the journey to find friction points. They also take that information to the areas that can fix the problems.

Do small businesses and creators need to care about CX?

Yes. Every business offers a customer experience, planned or not. For those who sell courses and info products, CX shows up in content delivery, support, community and communication with students.

References

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