25 stats that prove you should pay attention to your customer service

We all know that a negative customer experience is bad for your company’s reputation. But how bad is it exactly? Studies show that a dissatisfied customer will tell up to 15 people about their unfortunate incident (White House Office of Consumer Affairs). Clients demand the highest level of support along with their purchases. Offering a killer set of products or services is simply not enough. And considering how accessible information is today, especially on the Internet, there’s no doubt they’ll easily find a competitor to suit their needs.

Investing time and resources into your customer experience strategy and customer service software is crucial if you want to preserve and even grow your market shares. Just like in any other field, knowledge is power. The more informed you are about what your customers expect, the better you can provide them with what they really want. To make this happen, we’ve gathered 25 striking customer service statistics about the many aspects involved when it comes to delivering excellent customer service:

Less problems, more money

The perception people have of your customer service can literally make or break your business. It only takes one nasty tweet or an infuriated Facebook message to turn one unfortunate support experience into chain reaction that leaves your company in a tight spot. On the other hand, a positive customer experience fosters the acquisition of new clients, and encourages your existing ones to spend more money into your products or services.

Customers who had the best experiences with a brand spend 140% more money compared to those who had the poorest interactions. (Harvard Business Review)

72% of people get news from friends and family, making word-of-mouth the most popular channel for sharing. (Pew Research Center)

60% of consumers have stopped doing business with a brand due to poor customer service. (Microsoft)

80% of consumers are willing to pay for a better experience. (Capgemini)

The probability of selling to an existing happy customer is up to 14x higher than the probability of selling to a new customer. (Marketing Metrics)

44% of US consumers take businesses elsewhere as a result of inadequate service. (New Voice Media)

Happy customers make loyal customers

Part of being a successful company is ensuring that your customers build a special relationship with your products or services, one that will make them want to stay with you in the long run. A loyal customer is a treasure these days, so you should do everything possible to better shape your customer solutions to fit their every need.

Acquiring a new customer is anywhere from 5 to 25 times more expensive than retaining an existing one. (Harvard Business Review)

96% of consumers say customer service is important in their choice of loyalty to a brand. (2017 Microsoft State of Global Customer Service Report)

70% of unhappy customers whose issues were resolved in their favor said they would return to purchase from that company again. (Glance)

Answering a complaint on social media increases customer advocacy by 25% - while not answering decreases customer advocacy by as much as 50%. (Convince and Convert)

91% of customers who had a bad customer experience won’t willingly do business with your company ever again. (Glance)

Don’t neglect the power of word-of-mouth

There’s a reason why micro influencers on Instagram and other social media channels have become so popular. Brands quickly realized the potential of the classic ‘word-of-mouth’ marketing method, when amplified by this tremendous echo chamber that is the Internet.

95% of consumers share bad customer service experiences with other people. (American Express)

23% of customers who had a good customer experience told 10+ people about it. (Harvard Business Review)

69% of consumers would recommend a company to others after a good customer experience.(New Voice Media)

83% of consumers say they trust or partly trust recommendations from family, colleagues and friends about products and services — making these recommendations the highest ranked source for trustworthiness. (Nielsen)

Answer as fast as you can

In today’s smartphone centric world, customers can approach you at any hour of the day (or night), from any location. Because of this, they expect to be answered almost instantly. As a result, companies who offer social media assistance, live chat or self-service support (and ideally, all three of them) are a step ahead in the the game.

42% of social media users who contact a brand expect a response within 60 minutes, and 32% expect a response within 30 minutes. (Convince&Convert)

Customers who engage with companies over social media spend 20% to 40% more money with those companies than other customers. (Bain and Company)

Customers that receive a response from brands on Twitter are willing to spend up to 20% more and are 30% more likely to recommend the brand. (Twitter)

45% of companies offering web or mobile self-service reported an increase in site traffic and reduced phone inquiries. (Unisphere Research)

The major trends of customer service

The customer service field evolves significantly every year, and the pace won’t be slowing down in 2018 or 2019. First major trend: more and more companies perceive customer experience as a top priority, and expect to raise their investment in this sector. And they should, seeing as more than ever, clients expect to receive quality support, and expect it fast. But on top of this, all the stats provided so far prove that customers expect to be heard on a growing number of channels (from the classic phone and emails, to the most sophisticated chatbots and knowledge bases), and to enjoy a seamless and consistent experience across each one of them. Here are some of the trends businesses should be considering in the near future.

Reducing customer effort for transactional/informational issues was voted the number 1 priority for support centers in 2018. (CCW Digital’s latest Winter Executive Report)

By 2020, customer experience will overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator. (Walker)

80% of customer engagements can already be handled by bots. (Accenture)

More than 50% of brands will significantly change their business model in order to improve customer experience. (Gartner)

As technology continues to improve, don't forget the human aspect. 82% of U.S. and 74% of non-U.S. want more of it. (PWC Experience is Everything)

Companies with the strongest omni-channel customer engagement strategies retain an average of 89% of their customers, as compared to 33% for companies with weak omni-channel strategies. (Aberdeen Group Inc.)

Tips to improve your customer experience

As you can see from all of these stats, customers require businesses to listen, understand and answer them - and fast. As valuable as a strong and well trained team of customer support agents is, you can’t solely rely on them to ensure your business has stellar customer service standards. What you need is a customer service software that’s intuitive, efficient and highly beneficial to your goal of reaching impeccable customer service levels. The right solution will allow you to easily create and manage a knowledge base packed with FAQs, step-by-step guides and tutorials. Thus, allowing your customers to answer their own questions. Now that you know what customers actually expect in terms of experience, service, and interaction with a business, let’s go over a few tips in order to improve your own customer experience:

Keep the conversation in one place. Companies that implement an omni-channel model of customer support can keep track of their customers behaviors and needs. No matter how your customer initially contacted your business, be it by telephone, email, chat, etc. all channels are interconnected and hence the data and the history of this customer is gathered in one organized and convenient place.

Become “customer centric”. That means, your customers needs are the driving force behind all of your efforts. This includes training your staff to understand that the customer comes first. Implementing a strong knowledge base, both internal (for employees’ education) and external (for your customers), it is also a very effective way to ensure that quick customer satisfaction stays at the core of all of your activity.

Keep up with your customers. Make sure you track all conversations surrounding your business. For example, see what users are saying on social media, online directories and forums like Reddit. This is a helpful way to understand your audience's’ perception of you which you can then adjust if needed so that you can improve.

Give your customers the power. This year, producing quality content will be the key to success. Having a well organized knowledge base will empower customers to find answers to their questions quickly and without the hassle of contacting your support center and waiting for a reply.

Utilize chatbots. They are seemingly everywhere but that doesn’t mean they are replacing humans. Chatbots are highly efficient in directing queries or answering basic questions but they can never replace an agent. Use them to your advantage but be weary of relying on them too much.

Remember, customer support is not just a minor issue that may affect your brand´s perception; it is your brand itself. You can’t avoid complaints, however the way in which you choose to handle them will make all the difference in positioning your company as an efficient leader in the market. The customer experience you deliver can be, without a doubt, a key competitive differentiator.

Want to reach customer service excellence? Try Wix Answers now.