Mixed-Experience, Cross-Experience or Omni-Experience

The way consumers act doesn't stay the same; it changes based on cultural trends and societal changes. Technology has made a big difference in raising what consumers expect, as it gives them more control. At the same time, this puts a lot of pressure on businesses to change how they work and come up with new ways to meet these growing demands.

You might call it Mixed-Experience, Cross-Experience or Omni-Experience - on the one hand it's important to know the differences - but from my view and understanding it is much  more  impüortant to know that this is the future for all of us - as designers and even more as users and consumers.

Each of the experience are a style of design, business, you name it -  that takes into account the various ways customers, consumers and users engage with a business, like through different devices, websites, or social media channels. By making these experiences smooth and uniform across these various platforms, businesses can better fulfill customer needs, keep them engaged, and offer better and more pleasant experiences for users.

Cross- or Mixed-Experience and Omni-Experience are similar terms but they mean different things. Cross- or Mixed-Experience refers to how customers interact with different devices like phones, tablets, smart TVs, and virtual assistants like Alexa or Apple Watch. For example, the way a person uses Apple Watch to read a notification or uses Alexa to set an alarm represents Cross- or Mixed-Experience.

On the other hand, Omni-Experience refers to how developers need to design a product or service. It's about making sure the experience is great no matter what device the person is using or how they're interacting with it. For instance, a podcast ad might tell listeners to click a link, but that's not possible with an audio file. An Omni-Experience approach would take that into account and make sure the ad makes sense for that format.

Another example could be a healthcare app that sends appointment reminders. If the text is too small on a phone, that can be frustrating for users. Designers would think about this sort of thing ahead of time to make sure the experience is good for everyone, no matter what device they're using.

While Cross- or Mixed-Experience is about the range of devices and interaction methods a customer may choose to use, Omni-Experience focuses on creating universally satisfying user experiences on all platforms. So while Omni-Experience builds on the concept of having a broad, multichannel presence like its predecessor, it goes a step further by considering unique user experiences on each platform to keep all customers happy.