What really makes a great customer experience

Creating exceptional customer experiences requires a deep understanding
of user needs. Learn the secrets behind software that users love.
 

A seamless software experience can make or break customer loyalty. Whether it’s an app, a platform, or a service, the quality of the customer experience is what turns one-time users into lifelong fans. But what does “great customer experience” actually mean when it comes to software? Spoiler: it’s not just about having the latest features. It’s about understanding your users and helping them complete key tasks, in the simplest, most effective way possible.  

As you will discover in this article, feedback is a keyword and important part of a great customer experience. At Near Partner, as Agile practitioners, we tend to focus more on delivering outcomes, which are the customer expectations, than on the outputs, which are the deliverables. By using the Scrum framework, we also maximise the product value by gathering and integrating users’ feedback.

What is customer experience? 

Customer experience (often abbreviated as CX) refers to the overall impression and emotions a user has when interacting with a company, product, or service. It involves every touchpoint a customer has with a brand – from discovery to usage, to support, and beyond. 

A great customer experience leaves users feeling satisfied, valued, and understood. It solves their immediate problem through a journey as smooth, enjoyable, and efficient as possible. 

Customer experience is the sum of all interactions a user has with your brand, and how those interactions make them feel. 

When it comes to software, customer experience takes on a slightly different dimension. Here, CX is about how users interact with the software itself – from the very first time they download or log in, to every feature they engage with, and even to how they receive support if something goes wrong. 

How to measure customer experience? 

There are several key methods and metrics to assess the quality of customer experience in software. 

Some methods will give you a high-level idea about customers’ satisfaction with your product or service, as a rating, and this information might be enough for you to identify a trend, a red flag or just confirm your idea, whereas other will give you more detailed insights with valuable feedback to enhance your product or identify any defect. 

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

The Net Promoter Score is one of the most popular metrics for measuring customer experience. It asks users a simple question:   

“On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend this software to a friend or colleague?” 

  • Promoters (score 9-10) are loyal users who are likely to recommend your software. 
  • Passives (score 7-8) are satisfied but may switch to a competitor if offered a better deal. 
  • Detractors (score 0-6) are unhappy users who could harm your brand reputation through negative feedback. 

NPS gives you a clear sense of how users feel about the overall experience and highlights how many of them are strong advocates.

Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)

The Customer Satisfaction Score directly asks users how satisfied they are with your software, typically after an interaction like completing a task, contacting support, or using a feature. It’s usually framed as: 

“How would you rate your satisfaction with this software?” 

Users select a rating, typically from 1 to 5. This metric provides immediate insights into how users feel about specific aspects of their experience.

User Retention

User Satisfaction and product value can be measured through the number of users keeping using your product, with the User Retention Rate, or through the number of users stopping using your product, with the Churn Rate. Both are critical metrics for understanding long-term user satisfaction. 

A low retention rate or a high churn rate often signals a poor user experience. Perhaps the software isn’t meeting expectations, is too complicated, lacks features, has unresolved bugs, fails to engage users effectively, or even can be related to better competitors’ options. 

User Retention Rate 

Retention rate is a powerful metric that shows how many users stick with your software over time. A high retention rate indicates that users find long-term value in the product, which is a strong indicator of a positive customer experience. 

How to calculate: 

Retention Rate (%) = [(Number of users at the end of the period – New users during the period) / Number of users at the start of the period] x 100 

Churn Rate 

Churn Rate measures the percentage of users who stop using your software over a given period. Analysing churn rate can help you identify at what point users are leaving, enabling you to focus on improving that stage of the user journey. 

How to calculate: 

Churn Rate (%) = (Users who left during a period / Total users at the start of the period) x 100

Customer Effort Score (CES)

The Customer Effort Score measures how easy it is for users to accomplish a task within your software. This is key for software products, as a high-effort experience can lead to frustration and abandonment. Users answer a question like: 

“How easy was it to complete your task today?” 

The responses, typically rated on a scale from 1 (very difficult) to 7 (very easy), help gauge how much friction users encounter while using the software. The easier it is, the better the customer experience. Based on the rating, you might review the user experience journey and processes, make your product more user-friendly, or add tutorials, help for a specific step and FAQs. 

Product Usage Analytics

Examining how users interact with your software – such as which features they use the most, how long they stay logged in, or where they drop off – can give valuable insights into the customer experience. Some tools can track these user behaviours, allowing you to see if users are completing tasks, where they encounter obstacles or confusion and find out which features are being underused, possibly indicating they’re not intuitive or unnecessary.  

Customer Feedback and Reviews

Collecting feedback through surveys, interviews, or online reviews (like those on app stores or product forums) can give you direct insights into how users perceive your software. Look for patterns in the feedback to identify common pain points or praise, and to define new features or resolve bugs. 

Pro tip: Regularly reach out to users for feedback, especially after major updates or feature releases. This helps ensure that your product is continually evolving based on real user needs. 

Support Tickets and Resolution Time

Tracking the number of support tickets and the average resolution time gives insight into the pain points users encounter. A high number of tickets might indicate areas of confusion, frequent bugs in the software or lack of help or support as FAQs or tutorials, while long resolution times could frustrate users and lead to dissatisfaction. 

What really makes a great customer experience? 

Let’s break down the key elements that truly define a great customer experience in software.

Simplicity

One of the hallmarks of a great customer experience in software is simplicity. We’ve all been there: staring at a complex interface, unsure where to click, or drowning in options we don’t need. The best software eliminates this friction and makes next steps very clear. 

What makes a platform great isn’t how many features it has, but how easy it is to navigate and use. Simplicity doesn’t mean stripping things down – it means making the necessary feel effortless. 

Pro tip: Test your software by asking real users to perform common tasks. Watch where they stumble and take notes. If they’re frustrated, it’s a sign it needs to be clearer and more intuitive.

Speed and reliability

Speed is everything in the digital world. Nobody has the patience for software that’s slow to load or freezes at the worst moment. This is more than just a convenience issue – speed is a crucial part of user satisfaction. A great customer experience requires software that’s reliable. Bugs, crashes, and glitches are obvious deal-breakers.

Personalization

Today’s users want experiences tailored to them. They want software that adapts to their needs, remembers their preferences, and grows with them. Personalization in software can range from customized dashboards to recommendations based on user behaviour.

Clear communication and support

No matter how simple and reliable your software is, users will occasionally need help. Offering multiple ways to reach support, such as live chat, detailed FAQs, or in-app assistance, makes all the difference. 

The key is making sure that help is easily accessible and timely. Long wait times, robotic responses, or lack of clarity can quickly sour even the best experience. 

Best practice: Don’t bury the help button. Ensure users know where to find support and provide them with fast, human-like responses.

Constant evolution

The software world moves fast, and user expectations evolve even faster. You need to constantly gather feedback, fix pain points, and release updates that actually solve real problems. 

Users appreciate knowing their voice matters. Implementing their feedback shows you’re invested in delivering a product that evolves with their needs. 

Pro tip: Ask for feedback and act on it. Show your users you’re listening by prioritizing the features and fixes they care about most.

Emotional connection

Great software resonates emotionally with its users. Whether through delightful micro-interactions, a clean aesthetic, or smooth onboarding, your software should make people feel something. This emotional connection is often the “X factor” that separates good software from great. It’s what turns users into loyal advocates who recommend your product to others. 

Best practice: Don’t underestimate the power of small, thoughtful details that delight your users. 

How to create a great user experience 

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to make it happen:

Gather data

Start with data. You can’t improve what you don’t understand, don’t know or don’t measure, so dive into user analytics, customer behaviour, and patterns. See which features are getting the most use, where users tend to drop off, and what paths they take to complete tasks. This will give you a clear picture of what’s working and what’s not. 

But don’t stop there. Dive deeper into the numbers – track things like session duration, bounce rates, and heat maps. These details tell you how users navigate through your software and where they might be hitting roadblocks. Are people spending more time on certain pages? Are they clicking the right buttons, or getting stuck? 

The more data you have, the better you’ll understand your users’ needs, and the easier it will be to tailor the experience to meet those needs. 

Make sure this data is clear and visible enough and always up to date, shared inside your team with product owners, designers or developers. 

Talk to users

Data is great, but it’s only half the story. To really understand what your users are experiencing, you’ve got to talk to them. Set up interviews, send out surveys, or even jump on a quick call with a few of your users. Collect their feedback about bugs or malfunctions. Ask them directly about their likes, dislikes, and what’s frustrating them about your software.  

When you actually speak with users, you get insights you’d never find in analytics. Maybe there’s a feature they’re totally missing because it’s buried, or perhaps something that seems simple to you is confusing to them. It’s all about hearing their perspective and getting that “aha!” moment that numbers just can’t provide. 

Ask them what they’d like to see improved, if they miss any feature to take full profit of your solution, what features they use the most, and how they feel when using your software. Plus, engaging with your users shows that you care about their experience, which can strengthen their loyalty to your product.

Define key use cases

Now that you’ve gathered data and talked to your users, it’s time to focus on what really matters: the key use cases. These are the main reasons why people are using your software. What tasks do they need to accomplish? What’s the most important thing they want to get done? This will help you define and build features that directly address user requirements. 

Users come to your software for specific goals. Maybe it’s managing projects, tracking expenses, or just organizing their day. Whatever it is, you need to define these core use cases so you can streamline the experience around them. 

The idea here is to make sure the most important features and tasks are front and center, easy to access, and as smooth as possible. By focusing on what your users really need, you avoid overwhelming them with unnecessary options. Users should be able to achieve their main objectives with minimal friction. 

Defining personas can also help you understand typical users behaviours and preferences, shifting the focus from features and functionalities to the actual needs and preferences of the end users.

Streamline tasks

Once you’ve identified those key use cases, it’s time to make things as easy as possible for your users. The goal here is to streamline tasks – basically, remove any unnecessary steps or complexity that slows people down.  

The less effort users need to put in, the better their experience will be. Ask yourself, “How can we make this process faster or more intuitive?” Maybe it’s reducing the number of clicks needed to complete a task, automating repetitive actions, or simplifying the navigation. If users can get things done quickly and effortlessly, they’re way more likely to stick around. 

Focus on cutting out the clutter and giving users a clear path to follow. Make sure that every interaction feels smooth, logical, and, most importantly, not frustrating. A streamlined experience is one that users will keep coming back to.

Implement mockups

Before jumping into development, it’s smart to create mockups. These are simple, visual drafts of how your software will look and work. Mockups give you a chance to experiment with your ideas without committing a lot of time or resources.  

Mockups can be basic wireframes or quick sketches that map out how users will navigate and interact with your software. The goal here is to visualize the user flow, placing key features and buttons where they make the most sense.

Gather feedback

Once your mockups are ready, it’s time to gather feedback. This is where you put your ideas to the test and see how real people react to them. Share your mockups with users, your team, or stakeholders and ask for honest opinions. Do the designs make sense? Is it easy to find what you need? Are there any confusing parts? The earlier you catch potential problems, the easier they are to fix. 

Build an MVP

Once you’ve gathered feedback and made the necessary tweaks, it’s time to build a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). The MVP is a stripped-down version of your software that includes just the core features users need to accomplish their main tasks. It’s not about being perfect – it’s about getting a functional product into users’ hands as quickly as possible. 

The beauty of an MVP is that it allows you to test your product in the real world without spending too much time and resources on unnecessary features. It helps you learn what works and what doesn’t, based on actual user interaction. From there, you can refine, iterate, and improve.

Expand capabilities

After your MVP is up and running, and you’ve gathered real-world feedback, it’s time to start expanding capabilities. Now that you know which features your users find valuable, you can gradually introduce new ones or enhance existing functionality based on their needs. 

But don’t rush to add everything at once. Prioritize the features that will have the biggest impact on your users’ experience. It’s all about building on the solid foundation you’ve created with your MVP and making sure each new addition truly adds value. 

As you expand, keep the user experience in mind. Adding capabilities should make things easier or more enjoyable for your users, not more complicated. Keep testing and gathering feedback as you roll out new features to ensure everything integrates effortlessly and continues to meet user expectations.

Test, test, test

Testing never really stops. Run usability tests, monitor how people interact with your software, and always be on the lookout for areas that can be improved. A great user experience evolves over time, and testing ensures that your software stays user-friendly as it grows. 

Elevate your customer experience in software with Near Partner 

Businesses live or die by their reputation, and keeping loyal customers is key to staying successful. That’s why companies that focus on a great digital experience really stand out from the crowd. 

At Near Partner, we’re experts in customer experience software, helping businesses of all sizes create top-notch customer experiences. We know how to help you build strong, lasting relationships with your users. If you’re ready to build lasting relationships with your customers, we’ve got you covered. Get in touch and level up your customer experience software.  

Laetitia Vanden Balck

After studying Bioengineering in Brussels, I had experiences as a Project Manager and Quality Manager in various areas in two countries: Belgium and Portugal. I’m a curious person and always thirsty to learn new languages, competencies, tools and ways of working. Project Management enables me to regularly embrace new challenges and meet new people and cultures, while trying to find how to improve processes. My motto in life is “Nothing ventured, nothing gained”.