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CX, UX, UI: What’s the Difference?

Picture of Karine Simard By  Karine Simard  ·  2 minute read

iceberg_Plan de travail 1Today, we present an interview with Audrey-Anne Joncas, a designer at Ciao.

Ciao Ciao, Audrey-Anne! How are you? Very well, and you, Karine? I'm good, thanks!

Audrey-Anne, you’re a design specialist at Ciao. I’d like your help in understanding the difference between CX (Customer Experience), UX (User Experience), and UI (User Interface). For example, if I open a café, how are these three concepts important for providing a quality experience for my customers?

Audrey-Anne: Great question! Let’s start with your goal: What type of clientele do you want to attract? A student crowd? Artists? Do you want people to stay in your café for a long time, or do you prefer they take their coffee to go?

Once this objective is defined, we can better understand how CX, UX, and UI come into play.

 

CX – Customer Experience: The Entire Interaction with Your Business

Customer experience (CX) covers all touchpoints between your customer and your business, even before they step foot in your café.

For example:

  • A customer sees an ad for your café on social media.

  • They call to ask if you offer vegan options. The phone greeting will be a crucial first point of contact.

  • Upon arrival, they experience the ambiance of the place: Is it welcoming? Does it appeal to your target audience?

The goal of CX is to ensure overall consistency between what you promise and what the customer actually experiences.

UI – User Interface: The Ambiance and Design of the Café


UI is everything related to visual and sensory elements. In a café, this could be:

  • The choice of colors and furniture (energetic orange or calming velvet green?).
  • The presence of plants, natural light.
  • The comfort of the seating and the ergonomics of the space.

The interface should be appealing, functional, and aligned with your target audience.

UX – User Experience: Streamlining the Customer Journey


UX aims to make the experience intuitive and pleasant by removing friction points.

For example:

  • If the line is too long, how can we improve efficiency?
  • Can we offer the option to order through an app with a QR code?
  • Is the menu easy to read and understand at first glance?
The goal is to simplify the customer’s journey and ensure a smooth and enjoyable experience.

 

The Digital Parallel

At Ciao, we apply these principles to the web and digital applications.

For example:

  • CX: Where and how does a business promote its services online? Does the experience match what’s advertised?
  • UI: Is the website interface clear, readable, and enjoyable to use?
  • UX: Is the user journey intuitive? Is signing up for a course simple and fast?

Good UX/UI design improves conversion rates. For example, if 100 people visit a form page and optimizing it increases sign-ups from 40 to 60, that’s 50% more potential clients!

Conclusion: Focus on Experience to Build Loyalty

A satisfied customer will want to return and recommend your business. It’s always more profitable to retain your existing customers than to invest in acquiring new ones.

Thank you, Audrey-Anne, for these insights! If you want to improve your web platform’s performance, talk to us about your project!