Customer experience is defined as a customer's internal and subjective response to any direct or indirect contact with a company. Customer satisfaction occurs when a customer's expectations are met or exceeded through positive experiences. There are three patterns for collecting customer experience information: persistent, periodic, and pulsed. Customer experience management is the process companies use to track, oversee, and manage every customer interaction throughout the customer lifecycle to meet or exceed customer expectations and build loyalty. It differs from customer relationship management in that it focuses on capturing what customers think rather than what a company knows and takes place during interactions rather than after.