A survey found that 73% of customers see the brand experience as a key factor in their buying decisions!
What’s more?
Even when they love a brand, 32% of customers will simply walk away from it after just a single negative experience – That’s literally one-third of your customers!
Imagine if your product has a great UX, but it’s still lacking in its CX design. People aren’t sticking around, reviews are mixed, and sales aren’t growing as expected.
This is why mastering customer experience design matters, as it is the make-or-break factor for business success in today’s competitive landscape.
Yet, how do you measure something as dynamic as customer experience?
That’s where CX KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and Metrics come in. They help you cut through assumptions and provide hard data to refine and optimize your Customer experience strategy.
So, if you’re ready to turn happy customers into loyal advocates, let’s break down the key metrics that define CX’s success.
11 KPIs & Metrics To Track in Customer Experience Design
Let’s dive into the most essential CX design KPIs – each one plays a unique role in understanding how customers perceive and interact with your brand.
1. Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a customer satisfaction score metric that measures how likely customers are to recommend your business to others on a scale of 1-10.
How to measure NPS?
- Survey customers with a single question: “On a scale from 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend us to a friend?”
- Categorize them into Promoters (9-10), Passives (7-8), and Detractors (0-6), based on their feedback.
- Then, subtract the percent of Detractors from the percent of Promoters. You can also use tools like Hotjar to calculate NPS.
Why NPS matter in CX design?
A high NPS means strong brand loyalty and positive word-of-mouth marketing, while a low NPS signals friction in the customer journey. Including these surveys in the customer experience journey, map helps businesses to understand their overall customer sentiment and refine their experience to encourage stronger advocacy.
Pro Tip: You can ask a follow-up survey question. For eg – If users rate you 6 or lower (detractors), follow up with: “What specific improvements would enhance your experience?” This helps pinpoint actionable insights for a better customer experience strategy.
Tools to Measure NPS: SurveyMonkey, Qualtrics, Medallia
2. Customer Satisfaction Rate (CSAT)
CSAT measures how satisfied customers are with a specific interaction, product, or service. It is typically assessed using a survey question like “How satisfied were you with your experience?”, rated on a 1-5 or 1-10 scale.
How to measure CSAT?
- Calculate the percentage of satisfied responses (4-5 or 8-10).
(Sum of high-rating responses (4 and 5) / Total number of responses) × 100 = CSAT percentage.
Why CSAT matters in CX design?
CSAT metrics are a quick snapshot of customer happiness! The higher the CSAT score, the better the customer sentiment, as it indicates a positive CX. Businesses use CSAT in their customer experience design to identify and fix pain points in real time, to improve user satisfaction.
Pro Tip: Capture CSAT at critical touchpoints in the customer experience journey, such as immediately after a purchase confirmation or when a user logs out, to gain real-time customer insights into their experience.
Tools to Measure CSAT: Zendesk, Google Forms, Typeform
3. Customer Effort Score (CES)
Customer Effort Score (CES) is a metric that measures how easy or difficult it is for customers to perform an action or interact with your business – such as completing a purchase or getting support.
How to measure CES?
- Measure CES by asking questions like, “How easy was it to complete your purchase/request?” and rating the effort required to complete an action on a scale from 1 to 7. (1 = Very difficult, 7 = Very easy)
Why does CES matter in CX design?
Customers stick around when interactions are effortless – the lower the effort, the better the experience for them! A high CES indicates a smoother experience, which leads to higher customer satisfaction and retention.
Pro Tip: Capture CES data right after key customer interactions, such as completing a purchase or contacting support, to gain real-time insights into user effort and friction points for better customer experience management.
Tools to Measure CES: Hotjar, CustomerGauge, Nicereply
4. Customer Churn & Customer Retention Rates
Churn rate measures the percentage of customers who stop using your service over a specific period, indicating dissatisfaction or lack of engagement.
Customer Retention rate, on the other hand, tracks the percentage of customers who continue using your service, reflecting strong customer loyalty and satisfaction. These metrics help businesses assess the long-term success and the effectiveness of their customer experience strategy.
How to measure Customer Churn & Retention Rates?
For SaaS businesses:
- Customer Churn Rate: (Number of customers lost in a given period ÷ Total customers at the start of the period) × 100
- Customer Retention Rate: (Number of active customers at the end of a period ÷ Total customers at the start) × 100
Pro Tip: Track user engagement metrics like login frequency, feature adoption, and subscription renewals to gain deeper insights. These insights can further inform your UX design process to reduce SaaS churn rates.
For ECommerce businesses:
- Customer Churn Rate: (Number of repeat customers lost ÷ Total repeat customers at the start) × 100
- Customer Retention Rate: (Number of customers making repeat purchases ÷ Total customers) × 100
- Monitor purchase frequency, average order value, and abandoned carts to assess retention trends.
Why do customer churn & retention rates matter in CX Design?
Measuring churn and retention rates helps CX design by identifying pain points, optimizing onboarding, and enhancing engagement. It enables data-driven improvements, personalized experiences, and proactive support to reduce friction.
Tracking these metrics guides better UX decisions, improves loyalty, and increases customer lifetime value – offering a well-designed customer experience that ensures long-term customer retention and business growth.
Tools to measure churn & retention: ChurnZero
5. First Response Rate (FRT)
First Response Time (FRT) measures how quickly a customer support team acknowledges and responds to a customer’s inquiry.
How do we measure FRT?
FRT = (Total time taken to send first responses) ÷ (Total number of customer inquiries)
Why FRT matters in CX design:
Fast responses (low FRT) indicate that your business prioritizes fast, efficient communication and reassures customers that their concerns matter – leading to a better customer experience. Delayed responses often lead to frustration, higher churn rates, and negative brand perception.
Pro Tip: While hiring more staff can reduce FRT, brands can also automate initial responses through chatbots or AI-driven support to provide instant acknowledgment while ensuring human support follows up quickly.
Tools to Measure FRT: Freshdesk, Intercom
6. Average Resolution Time (ART)
Average Resolution Time (ART) tracks the total time taken to resolve customer issues, from initial inquiry to final resolution. It reflects how efficiently support teams handle queries.
How to measure ART?
ART = (Total resolution time for all cases) ÷ (Total number of resolved cases)
Why ART matters in CX design:
A lower ART improves customer satisfaction and loyalty by ensuring that customer issues are addressed on time, reducing frustration, and enhancing trust. Your customers prefer brands that can quickly diagnose and resolve their concerns, so short resolution times lead to stronger engagement and higher retention rates.
Pro Tip: Use self-service knowledge bases such as FAQs & troubleshooting guides and AI chatbots to assist customers with common problems. Businesses can empower customers to resolve issues independently, minimizing the need for human intervention and significantly lowering ART.
Tools to Measure ART: LiveAgent, Salesforce Service Cloud
7. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) predicts the total revenue a business can expect from a single customer throughout their entire relationship.
How to measure CLV?
For SaaS businesses:
CLV = (Average revenue per user per month) × (Gross margin percentage) × (Average customer lifespan in months)
For eCommerce businesses:
CLV = (Average purchase value) × (Purchase frequency) × (Customer lifespan)
Why does CLV matter in CX design?
A higher CLV means customers stay longer, engage more, and generate repeat revenue, reducing the need for excessive acquisition costs. CLV helps SaaS companies to evaluate long-term revenue potential from each customer, while it helps e-commerce brands to understand total customer value and optimize marketing strategies for repeat purchases.
Pro Tip: Increase CLV by offering personalized recommendations, loyalty programs, and proactive customer support to keep customers engaged for longer. For example, Starbucks’ mobile rewards program incentivizes repeat purchases by offering exclusive discounts and personalized rewards as part of their customer experience management process.
Tools to Measure CLV: Google Analytics, Kissmetrics
8. Conversion Rates
Conversion rate measures how many visitors complete a desired action, such as signing up, making a purchase, or subscribing to a service.
How to measure Conversion Rate?
Conversion Rate = (Number of conversions ÷ Total visitors) × 100
Why Conversion Rate matters in CX design:
Conversion rate is a key indicator of how effectively a business’s customer experience strategy converts visitors into customers. It provides valuable insights for customer success teams, helping them assess the impact of their efforts at various touchpoints in shaping customer behavior.
By tracking conversion rates, businesses can refine their onboarding processes, enhance upselling strategies, and improve customer communications—ultimately ensuring a seamless and personalized user experience.
Pro Tip: Optimize landing pages, checkout processes, and CTAs to enhance user experience and drive higher conversions.
Tools to Measure Conversion Rate: Optimizely, Crazy Egg
9. Feature Adoption Rate
Feature Adoption Rate measures how effectively customers are engaging with and using new features within a product or service. It helps businesses understand if new updates or functionalities resonate with users.
How to measure Feature Adoption Rate?
Feature Adoption Rate = (Number of users who engage with the feature ÷ Total eligible users) × 100
Why Feature Adoption Rate matters in CX design:
A high adoption rate indicates that users find value in the feature, leading to improved engagement and product stickiness.
For example, when Slack introduced its workflow automation feature – businesses quickly adopted it because it streamlined repetitive tasks, saved time, and improved efficiency. This high adoption rate validated the feature’s usefulness and reinforced Slack’s position as an essential productivity tool.
Pro Tip: Encourage feature adoption by using in-app prompts, onboarding tutorials, and tooltips in your customer experience design to educate users on new functionalities.
Tools to Measure Feature Adoption Rate: Amplitude, Mixpanel
10. Cart Abandonment Rate
This metric measures the percentage of users who add products to their cart but don’t complete the purchase.
How to measure the Cart Abandonment Rate?
Cart Abandonment Rate = (Abandoned carts ÷ Initiated checkouts) × 100
Why Cart Abandonment Rate matters in CX design:
Cart abandonment is a major challenge for eCommerce businesses, often resulting in lost revenue and decreased customer trust. In fact, a study found that 70% of online shopping carts are abandoned on average!
A high cart abandonment rate indicates friction in the buying process – such as unexpected costs, complex checkout procedures, or security concerns. By analyzing this metric, businesses can identify key drop-off points and make data-driven improvements to optimize the customer experience journey map.
Pro Tip: Simplify checkout by reducing unnecessary steps and effectively minimizing cart abandonment rates! For example, Amazon’s 1-click checkout minimizes abandonment rates by reducing the steps required to complete a purchase.
Tools to Measure Cart Abandonment Rate: Google Analytics, Hotjar
11. Stickiness Metric
Stickiness measures how often users return to your product over time, showing how essential it is to their routine.
How to measure Stickiness?
Stickiness = (Daily Active Users ÷ Monthly Active Users) × 100
Why Stickiness Metric matters in CX design:
By analyzing stickiness, companies can identify which features keep users engaged and which may need improvement. This is crucial for SaaS platforms, subscription-based services, and mobile applications where recurring engagement drives long-term success.
Businesses with a high stickiness metric indicate that users find ongoing value in a product, making it an essential part of their routine – leading to lower churn, strong user retention, & long-term product engagement.
Pro Tip: Increase stickiness by adding gamification, personalized content, and regular feature updates.
Tools to Measure Stickiness Metric: Mixpanel, Google Analytics, FullStory
By tracking and optimizing these key CX metrics and KPIs – businesses can refine their customer experience journey map, eliminate friction, and boost loyalty. Honing a good CX goes beyond strategizing for a user-friendly design—it’s also creating seamless customer interactions that drive satisfaction, retention, and growth.
We’re a leading UI UX design agency that empowers brands to leverage this immense potential of customer experience design – crafting seamless digital interactions that could drive engagement and customer retention.
By implementing data-driven CX design strategies – we ensure businesses optimize every touchpoint in their customer experience management for maximum customer satisfaction and loyalty.
After all, the most successful brands don’t rely on guesswork—they listen, measure, and improve continuously for their customers.
So, which CX metric will you optimize first?
