Stephanie Weaver has an interesting post defining the inside and outside of customer experience.
"• Inside. First, the experience happens in your customers’ perceptions. It’s seen from their point of view, created by a combination of their feelings, sensations, and prior experiences. Unfortunately, what you intend doesn’t always matter. All that counts is what’s happening inside a customer on the day he or she is at your site. You can’t control this inside dimension. No two customers will ever have the same experience, since everyone has a unique point of view.
• Outside. Second, an experience is made up of many separate pieces outside the customer. That’s your part. The outside dimension begins the instant a person decides to visit, continues throughout his or her time with you, and ends when he or she leaves. You control nearly every aspect of this outside dimension."
I like this approach. We basically agree on the concept, but this is a nice way to put it. Here's my definition, and you can download the graphic model below.
Customer Experience Is... the internal response of an individual to their interactions with an organization's products, people, processes and environments.
Internal response includes the thoughts, feelings and emotions experienced and the rational, psychological and sensory benefits of the experience.
Download ARC-Customer-Experience-Model.pdf
