Once upon a time in a digital and creative world, interchanging terms was rampant.
I remember a time not so long ago when people suddenly started referring to ‘customers’ as ‘users’ and ‘users’ as ‘customers.’ During briefings. In articles. In interviews. In quotes. In case studies. In showcases of work. It started happening a lot. But, are they inter-changeable at will? Sometimes yes, at times they could be the same person, say if you’re designing an app or an experience that allows you to courier or parcel things efficiently from one singular use case to another. This could be an exception as a consumer product but most times they aren’t inter-changeable and can have two different meanings altogether.
Lack of a proper contextual inquiry or research affects the briefing.
For everyone, it’s critical to know the difference during a briefing, de-briefing, task at hand or an ask because it can make a world of a difference while building a product, an experience, an engagement, a small tool or a response, a strategy, an ecosystem or a large integrated campaign. While some might say that the word ‘user’ traditionally began its origins in Product Design, Software Engineering and the Enterprise over the years, the word ‘customer’ has always been around because like a story it’s more linear in nature – it has a starting point, a middle, a lifetime of routines and an ending.
People have their own definitions.
Everyone has their own definition or refer to an existing digital or design process during the research phase and everyone could be right because they may be comfortable with the principles and parameters of a particular process or there may be a tried and tested framework that they’ve been following for years and the user may be present on the map amidst the large volumes of physical and manual research data but a customer only emerges from the entire end-to-end journey from inception to testing and validation, to feedback and to finally deploying a product.
Abstractions are exploratory in nature.
If what you’re creating is abstract with no definition and something experimental, then you don’t know who is your user yet. If it’s even more exploratory in nature like a college prototype or an early prototype with no end goal or objectives in sight yet then it doesn’t matter yet.
When the transition happens.
And, if you’re busy shaping a digital or physical product, building a brand - product, solution, tool, engagement or a human-centric experience then you’ve got a specific outcome for this user or set of users attached to it all. At some point in Beta, your users may even transition from being explorers to consumers of your product or service and that’s when you can start calling them ‘customers’. However, at all times, both need to be respected and treated fairly because the future of your brand, product, solution or service depends on their relationship with you.
A great problem statement affects the greater good.
Not knowing your user or customer can just leave you with a great ‘Problem Statement’ and usually that’s where the problems begin when teams jump critical steps and head straight into the solution or the expected outcome. Imagine conducting a Contextual Inquiry without the critical next steps inbetween and jumping directly to design ideas and opportunities.
It’s a simple question really.
It’s been debated forever in HCI, Technology, Software Engineering Departments, Design, Content, Strategy, Integrated Marketing, Sales, User Research, Product Design, Brand, Customer and Digital Experience Teams and Specific User Research Groups. While everyone is free to agree or disagree on something together or have their own definition, everyone could also be right depending on various parameters.
Meanwhile, I’ve made a small list of what I believe are the primary differences. Feel free to add or subtract.
A customer may not be defined at the prototyping, testing or validating stage.
A user is defined.
A customer is paying for the whole experience.
A user is thinking about paying or is okay with using limited product features.
A customer may or will purchase your product. A user may not purchase your product and just use the free-version.
A customer has a clearly defined customer journey.
A user also has one, but your product, service or experience may not be a definite part of their user journey.
A customer is a subscriber.
A user can choose to unsubscribe anytime.
A customer eventually buys your product, service, brand or experience.
A user can try before they buy and opt-out.
A customer noticing customer-unfriendly policies, practices or experience may refrain from giving you feedback and might think about the future of your relationship.
A user will not be afraid to give you the right feedback that may even improve your product.
A customer is not abstract in nature. Their role is defined.
A user can be abstract in nature with their role undefined.
A customer can be many.
A user is one.
The persona of a customer may arrive from a market research or landscape overview.
The persona of a user can only arrive from a proper contextual inquiry, design process and scientific user research.
A customer may not prioritize personalization or customization.
A user considers both very important and everything to them.
A customer may be loyal to your offering.
A user may not be loyal to your offering and eventually move on.
A customer is interested and invested in the lifetime value of your offering.
A user can be a customer, provided, there is real-value to them in your offering.
A customer is the primary beneficiary.
A user may or may not be the primary beneficiary.
A customer is the primary stakeholder.
A user may or may not be the primary stakeholder.
A customer has a financial stake.
A user may or may not have a financial stake.
A customer makes the final purchase.
A user may not make the final purchase, may purchase something through others in the journey.
What other differences can be there? And, then who really is a buyer and end user? Let’s save that for another newsletter, blog and another day.