Experience Strategist Salary [+ Resources to Advance]

Understanding the salary landscape for experience strategists is crucial whether you’re entering the field or looking to advance your career.

In this guide, we’ll provide an overview of typical experience strategist salaries, explore factors that can influence earnings, and share valuable resources to help you progress in your career.

Let’s get started!

TL;DR

An experience strategist designs and optimizes user experiences across different touchpoints to enhance customer satisfaction and engagement. They combine insights from user research, data analytics, and design thinking to create cohesive and compelling experiences that align with business goals.
The estimated total pay for an experience strategist is approximately $118,593 per year in the United States, with an average base salary of $77,662 per year and additional pay of about $40,930 per year.
To excel as an experience strategist, follow these best practices to ensure user-centric and impactful strategies:
- Conduct thorough user research
- Embrace data-driven decision-making
- Collaborate across teams
- Stay updated with industry trends
- Create and maintain user journey maps
Looking into tools for experience strategists? Userpilot is an all-in-one product platform with engagement features and powerful analytics capabilities. Book a demo to see it in action!

What is an experience strategist?

An experience strategist designs and optimizes user experiences across different touchpoints to enhance customer satisfaction and engagement. They combine insights from user research, data analytics, and design thinking to create cohesive and compelling experiences that align with business goals.

Experience strategist’s main responsibilities

An experience strategist plays a crucial role in designing and optimizing user experiences to enhance customer satisfaction and engagement. Their responsibilities encompass a variety of tasks aimed at improving user interactions and ensuring a seamless experience across all touchpoints.

Conduct user research: Gather insights into user needs, behaviors, and pain points through interviews, surveys, and usability testing to inform design decisions.
Develop user personas: Create detailed user personas based on research to better understand target audiences and tailor experiences to meet their needs.
Create user journey maps: Visualize the user journey across different touchpoints to identify areas for improvement and ensure a cohesive experience.
Collaborate with cross-functional teams: Work closely with design, product, marketing, and engineering teams to align strategies and ensure a unified approach to user experience.
Design wireframes and prototypes: Develop wireframes and interactive prototypes to test and iterate on design concepts before implementation.
Optimize onboarding processes: Design and refine user onboarding experiences to ensure new users can easily understand and adopt the product.
Analyze user data: Use data analytics tools to track user behavior and measure the effectiveness of implemented strategies, making data-driven decisions.
Stay updated with industry trends: Continuously educate yourself on the latest trends, tools, and best practices in UX and experience strategy.
Conduct A/B testing: Perform A/B tests to compare different design elements and identify the most effective solutions for enhancing user experience.
Present findings and recommendations: Communicate insights and strategic recommendations to stakeholders, ensuring alignment and buy-in for proposed changes.

How much does an experience strategist make?

The estimated total pay for an experience strategist is approximately $118,593 per year in the United States, with an average base salary of $77,662 per year and additional pay of about $40,930 per year.

Experience strategist salary.

One of the biggest factors influencing your salary as an experience strategist is your experience level. Here’s how experience can impact your salary, according to Glassdoor:

0 to 1 years: $64K – $118K per year
1 to 3 years: $72K – $132K per year
4 to 6 years: $84K – $156K per year
7 to 9 years: $96K – $180K per year
10 to 14 years: $117K – $219K per year
15+ years: $144K – $269K per year

Industries where the demand for experience strategists is highest tend to be the same industries that pay the most on average. Here are the salaries, as reported by Glassdoor:

Aerospace & Defense: $114K – $196K per year
Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology: $115K – $210K per year
Management & Consulting: $95K – $174K per year
Information Technology: $127K – $237K per year
Healthcare: $96K – $179K per year

Experience strategist career path

An experience strategist’s career path typically involves a progression through various roles, each with increasing responsibility and complexity. Here are five key positions along this career path:

Experience strategist career path.

Junior UX Designer: Entry-level role focused on creating user interfaces and experiences. Responsibilities include assisting with user research, wireframing, prototyping, and collaborating with senior designers to implement feedback.
UX Designer: Mid-level position responsible for conducting user research, developing user personas, creating detailed wireframes and prototypes, and collaborating with cross-functional teams to design and improve user experiences.
Senior UX Designer: Advanced role with a focus on leading design projects, mentoring junior designers, conducting complex user research, and developing comprehensive user experience strategies. Responsible for ensuring design consistency and quality across projects.
Experience Strategist: Role focused on developing and implementing strategies to enhance overall user experiences across all touchpoints. Responsibilities include conducting extensive user research, creating journey maps, and collaborating with various departments.
Lead Experience Strategist/UX Director: Senior leadership position overseeing the entire UX strategy and team. Responsibilities include defining the user experience vision, leading large-scale projects, managing a team of designers and strategists, and ensuring that all user experience efforts align with the company’s strategic goals.

Best practices to be a great experience strategist

To excel as an experience strategist, follow these best practices to ensure user-centric and impactful strategies:

Conduct thorough user research: Invest time in understanding your users’ needs, behaviors, and pain points through various research methods such as interviews, surveys, and usability testing. This foundational knowledge ensures that your strategies are user-centric.
Embrace data-driven decision-making: Utilize data analytics to inform your strategies and measure their effectiveness. By basing decisions on solid data, you can create more targeted and impactful user experiences.
Collaborate across teams: Work closely with cross-functional teams, including design, development, marketing, and product management. Effective collaboration ensures that all aspects of the user experience are aligned and cohesive.
Stay updated with industry trends: Continuously educate yourself on the latest trends, tools, and best practices in UX and experience strategy. This knowledge helps you stay competitive and innovative in your approach.
Create and maintain user journey maps: Develop detailed journey maps to visualize and understand the user’s experience across different touchpoints. Regularly update these maps to reflect changes and improvements, ensuring a seamless and consistent user experience.

Best resources for experience strategists

To excel as an experience strategist, it’s essential to stay updated with the latest trends and best practices in the field. Here are some of the best resources, including books, webinars, podcasts, and blogs, that can help you enhance your knowledge and skills.

Best books for experience strategists

Here are the best books we recommend for experience strategists.

Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug: A classic book on web usability that provides practical advice on creating intuitive user interfaces.
The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman: This book explores the principles of good design and how they can be applied to create better user experiences.
Lean UX by Jeff Gothelf and Josh Seiden: A guide to integrating lean principles into UX design for faster, more effective product development.
UX Strategy by Jaime Levy: This book offers a step-by-step guide to creating innovative product strategies that align with user needs.
Designing for Interaction by Dan Saffer: A comprehensive guide to the principles and techniques of interaction design.

Best webinars for experience strategists

Here are the best webinars we recommend for experience strategists.

Userpilot Webinars: Userpilot offers a range of webinars on user onboarding, product adoption, and user experience strategies.
NNG UX Webinars: Nielsen Norman Group provides webinars on various UX topics conducted by industry experts.
UXPin Webinars: These webinars cover UX design, research, and collaboration best practices.
Interaction Design Foundation Webinars: IDF offers webinars on a wide range of UX and design-related topics.
Smashing Magazine Webinars: These webinars provide insights into the latest trends and techniques in web design and development.

Best blogs for experience strategists

Here are the best blogs we recommend for experience strategists.

Userpilot Blog: Insights and articles on user onboarding, product adoption, and user experience strategies.
Nielsen Norman Group Blog: Research-based articles on usability, UX design, and user research.
Smashing Magazine: A blog that covers the latest in web design, UX, and front-end development.
UX Planet: A comprehensive blog that offers articles on UX design, research, and career advice.
UX Design.cc: A curated collection of articles and resources on UX design and strategy.

Best podcasts for experience strategists

Here are the best podcasts we recommend for experience strategists.

Product Heros by Userpilot: Userpilot’s podcast features interviews with industry experts on user experience and product growth strategies.
UI Breakfast: A podcast on UI/UX design, product strategy, and marketing, featuring expert interviews and actionable insights.
The NN/g UX Podcast: Hosted by the Nielsen Norman Group, this podcast covers various aspects of user experience design and research.
Awkward Silences: A podcast about UX research, where hosts talk to industry experts about their experiences and methodologies.
Design Better Podcast: InVision’s podcast explores how the world’s best designers create better products, companies, and experiences.

Best tools for experience strategists

To excel in creating seamless and engaging user experiences, an experience strategist needs a diverse set of tools. Here are some of the best tools for various aspects of experience strategy:

Best tool for user onboarding – Userpilot: Userpilot is a powerful tool for creating personalized user onboarding experiences, helping users get the most out of your product from day one.
Best tool for project management – Monday: Monday is an intuitive project management tool that helps teams collaborate effectively, track progress, and manage tasks efficiently.
Best tool for product management – Jira Software: Jira Software is a robust product management tool designed for agile teams, offering comprehensive features for planning, tracking, and releasing software.
Best tool for CX management – Zendesk: Zendesk is a leading customer experience tool that provides a suite of support apps to improve customer relationships and satisfaction.
Best tool for customer success – ClientSuccess: ClientSuccess offers a comprehensive platform to manage customer success processes, helping to reduce churn and increase customer satisfaction.
Best tool for UX/UI design – Figma: Figma is a cloud-based design tool that allows teams to collaborate in real-time on creating and refining user interfaces and experiences.
Best tool for data visualization – Tableau: Tableau is a powerful data analytics tool that helps experience strategists visualize and understand complex data to make informed decisions.
Best tool for collaboration and documentation – Confluence: Confluence by Atlassian is a collaboration tool that helps teams create, share, and manage documentation and knowledge bases effectively.
Best tool for customer feedback – HubSpot Service: HubSpot Service is an all-in-one customer service tool that helps collect and analyze customer feedback to improve the overall user experience.
Best tool for agile project management – Trello: Trello is a flexible project management tool that uses boards, lists, and cards to help teams manage tasks and projects in an agile environment.

Conclusion

Now that you have a better understanding of the salary range for an experience strategist position, you can take steps to improve your earning potential.

Consider pursuing relevant certifications, developing your skillset, or negotiating effectively during the job offer stage.

Looking into tools for experience strategists? Userpilot is an all-in-one product platform with engagement features and powerful analytics capabilities. Book a demo to see it in action!