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Customer service statistics in 2019

Companies save an estimated six to seven times the cost of an existing customer by providing great experiences. New customers cost more and are harder to up-sell than existing customers. With that in mind, here are 101 customer service statistics rounding out why it’s more important than ever to have a great customer experience strategy in 2019.

Customer service trends

1. 67% of respondents in a Microsoft survey believe that customer service channels are getting better, and that negative experiences occur less often. (Microsoft, 2017)
2. 81% of Americans reported that customer service experiences are now meeting or exceeding their expectations, up from 67% reported in 2014. (American Express, 2017)
3. 40% of consumers believe that businesses are now focusing more resources towards customer service, an increase from 29% reported in 2014. (American Express, 2017)
4. 68% of customers surveyed believe that a pleasant interaction with a customer service representative is necessary for a positive experience. (American Express, 2017)
5. 62% of consumers claim that a representative’s resourcefulness was also necessary for a positive customer service experience. (American Express, 2017)
6. US consumers are willing to spend 17% more to do business with companies that are able to deliver higher quality service. (American Express, 2017)
7. 67% of customers surveyed globally believe that customer service is getting better overall. (Statista, 2018)

Social media customer service statistics

1. 35% of consumers are using social channels to initiate customer service inquiries. (American Express, 2017)
2. Consumers using social media channels reported an 84% response rate in 2017. This is up from the 65% response rate tracked in 2014. (American Express, 2017)
3. 74% of millennials reported improved brand perception of companies responding through social media channels. (Microsoft, 2017)
4. 79% of millennials reported favorable brand awareness for companies with mobile response channels and customer support portals. (Microsoft, 2017)
5. A customer experience survey by ThinkJar reported that 55% of customer requests on social media were neglected. (Kolsky, 2017)
6. However, of those acknowledged, 84% of social media interactions converted towards conversations with other channels. (Kolsky, 2017)
7. 50% of consumers using social media as a customer service channel expect a response within 24 hours. (Drift, 2018)

Customer review statistics

1. 53% of customers expect businesses to reply to their online reviews within seven days. (ReviewTrackers, 2018)
2. 41% of consumers say that brands replying to reviews makes them believe the company really cares about their customers. (Bazaarvoice, 2013)
3. Not replying to reviews risks increasing customer churn by up to 15%. (Chatmeter, 2017)
4. 7 out of 10 consumers changed their opinion about a brand after the company replied to a review. (Bazaarvoice, 2013)
5. 16% of participants in a 2016 study expect businesses to reply to negative reviews in 1-3 hours. (Get Five Stars, 2016)
6. 68% of consumers have left a review for a local business after being asked to do so. (BrightLocal, 2017)
7. Up to 80% of reviews originate from follow-up emails urging shoppers to review their purchases. (Power Reviews, 2017)
8. Consumers with negative experiences are more likely to write a review than those who had a positive experience. (Street Fight and Toluma, 2012)
9. Brands can expect their average star rating to increase after emailing buyers a direct link to submit reviews. (Spiegel Research Center, 2017)
10. Customer Self-Service is a rapidly growing software segment. 90% of reviewers felt their self-service solution was easy to use. (G2.com, 2019)
11. 93% of reviewers were happy with the platform’s ease of doing business features and felt that it made the limited employee resources more effective. (G2.com, 2019)
12. On average, 91% of customer self-service reviewers felt their quality of support was at or above their standards. (G2.com, 2019)
13. Only 17% of people give feedback in most cases when provided the opportunity. (Microsoft, 2018)
14. 37% of respondents occasionally provide feedback when given the option. (Microsoft, 2018)
15. 70% of companies that deliver the highest level of customer support use customer feedback as a source of improvement. (Kolsky, 2017)

Customer service channel statistics

1. 34% of customers in 2018 are using voice as a channel for customer service; this is down from 51% in 2015. (Statista, 2018)
2. 77% of instant responses are reportedly coming from online chat when compared to other communication channels. (Drift, 2018)
3. 73% of face-to-face meetings for customer service engagements were reported to have received an instant response. (Drift, 2018)
4. 62% of consumers believe that email engagements should receive a response within 24 hours. (Drift, 2018)
5. 52% of consumers are expecting a response within 24 hours when engaging representatives through online web-forms. (Drift, 2018)
6. Unexpectedly, 60% of consumers are looking for a 24 hour response window from letters. (Drift, 2018)
7. Across all Facebook customer service interactions, 72% go uncompleted after transitioning to other channels. (Drift, 2018)
8. 43% of consumers in the auto insurance industry believe it would be easier for one service representative to manage their claim process. (Qualtrics, 2019)
9. 33% of customers are now initiating customer service conversations through a mobile device. (Microsoft, 2017)

Omnichannel customer service statistics

1. Omnichannel customer service is a rapidly growing segment, with 97% of companies claiming to have an investment in the process. (Kolsky, 2017)
2. Fewer than 1% of companies are actively implementing omnichannel customer experiences. (Kolsky, 2017)
3. Only 2% of companies are tracking data across multiple channels. (Kolsky, 2017)
4. 23% of companies believe they are doing multi-channel customer service well. (Kolsky, 2017)
5. Almost two-thirds (66%) of customers reported using more than three channels actively. (Microsoft, 2017)
6. 67% of customers aren’t worried about which communication channel is used in an engagement. (Kolsky, 2017)
7. Companies with omnichannel customer service strategies reported an 89% customer retention ratio. (Invespcro, 2018)
8. Companies without omnichannel experience strategies only see about an average of 33% customer retention. (Invespcro, 2018)

Customer service chatbot statistics

1. 15% of consumers have used chatbots to communicate with businesses in the past 12 months. (Drift, 2018)
2. 34% of consumers believe chatbots are just a method for getting connected to a human. (Drift, 2018)
3. 64% of consumers reported the most notable benefit of chatbots being their 24-hour availability for customer service queries. (Drift, 2018)
4. 55% of consumers claim the largest benefit to chatbots is their instant response time. (Drift, 2018)
5. The same percentage of customers (55%) believe that chatbots are useful for answering simple questions. (Drift, 2018)
6. Baby boomers are 24% more likely to expect benefits from chatbots than other age categories. (Drift, 2018)
7. 15% of consumers reported no known aversions from using chatbots for customer service engagements. (Drift, 2018)
8. 75% of consumers reported receiving instant responses from chatbots in initial customer service engagements. (Drift, 2018)
9. 43% of customers not willing to deal with chatbots prefer dealing with an actual person for customer service engagements. (Drift, 2018)

Millennial customer service statistics

1. 63% of millennials usually begin their online interactions through self-service portals. (Microsoft, 2017)
2. 43% of millennials use mobile devices to start customer service conversations. (Microsoft, 2017)
3. 66% of millenials polled expect a customer service response within 24 hours. (Microsoft, 2017)
4. Millennials are willing to pay 38% more to do business with companies that are able to deliver a better customer service experience. (American Express, 2017)
5. Millennials are twice as likely as the general population to prefer self-service for simple inquiries. (American Express, 2017)
6. 45% of millennials have a connected device that enables customer service organizations to detect, monitor, and resolve issues remotely. (Microsoft, 2017)

ROI of customer experience statistics

1. An average of 55% of consumers are willing to pay more for a guaranteed good experience. (Kolsky, 2017)
2. 86% of consumers are likely to pay more to upgrade their customer experience, with air travel and hospitality being prime examples. (Kolsky, 2017)
3. 72% of consumers reported sharing their results with six or more people after a satisfactory experience. (Kolsky, 2017)
4. 70% of consumers say they have paid more in the past for a better customer experience. (American Express, 2017)
5. 58% of consumers globally reported that a good customer experience is crucial when choosing a brand. (Microsoft, 2018)
6. 95% of consumers believe that a good customer experience is important to brand loyalty. (Microsoft, 2018)
7. 70% of customers favorably viewed brands that reached out to provide customer service channels through notifications. (Microsoft, 2018)
8. 77% of customers view brands as favorably when being asked for and accepting customer feedback conversations. (Microsoft, 2017)
9. 68% of customers view companies that reach out in advance for customer service engagements favorably. (Microsoft, 2017)
10. Up-selling and cross-selling comes easier to existing customers with good experiences. 65% of companies can sell additional products or services to existing customers. (Kolsky, 2017)
11. Only 12% of companies can successfully up-sell or cross-sell to new customers. (Kolsky, 2017)
    

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Customer churn statistics

1. 67% of consumers cite bad experiences as reason for churn. (Kolsky, 2017)
2. 50% of customer experience natural occurring churn every five years. (Kolsky, 2017)
3. Only one out of 26 unhappy customers complain; the rest churn. A lesson here is that companies should not view absence of feedback as a sign of satisfaction. The true enemy is indifference. (Kolsky, 2017)
4. 85% of customer churn due to poor service was preventable. (Kolsky, 2017)
5. 11% of customer churn good be prevented by simple company outreach. (Kolsky, 2017)
6. 67% of customer churn is preventable if the customer issue was resolved at the first engagement. (Kolsky, 2017)
7. Not replying to reviews risks increasing customer churn by up to 15%. (Chatmeter, 2017)

Negative customer experience statistics

1. Clients who have switched advisers say their motivation was high fees, poor service, and lack of personalized attention. (Qualtrics, 2019)
2. Poor service is the number one reason for leaving among customers who are “very sure” they’re leaving their bank. (Qualtrics, 2019)
3. 66% of consumers claim to have switched brands as a result of poor customer service. (Kolsky, 2017)
4. In fact, 30% of global respondents find it to be the most frustrating aspect of a poor customer service experience. (Microsoft, 2017)
5. 56% of customers globally reported having ended business with companies that provide negative customer experiences within the past 12 months. (Microsoft, 2017)
6. 47% of those respondents say they made a choice to stop doing business with a brand due to poor customer service within the past 12 months. (Microsoft, 2017)
7. 13% of consumers reported telling 15 or more people about negative customer experiences. (Kolsky, 2017)
8. 91% of customers that are unhappy with service and non-respondent leave without explaining. (Kolsky, 2017)
9. 84% of customers reported the main source of frustration being an agent without sufficient knowledge. (Kolsky, 2017)
10. 36% of people believe the most frustrating aspect of customer service is when a representative does not know how to solve their issues. This is a definitive aspect in poor customer service experiences. (Microsoft, 2018)
11. 28% of customers reported the most frustrating issue is simple information that’s hard to find. (Drift, 2018)
12. Finding new customers is six to seven times more expensive than it is to keep existing customers. (Kolsky, 2017)

Customer service beliefs and expectations

1. 81% of customers want a satisfactory answer to report a satisfactory service experience. (American Express, 2017)
2. 74% expected dealing with a knowledgeable service representative for a satisfactory experience. (American Express, 2017)
3. 47% of respondents reported a personalized experience as the most necessary aspect of a satisfactory experience. (American Express, 2017)
4. 59% of respondents claim customer service expectations are higher than they were last year. (Microsoft, 2018)
5. Rewards and customer service are the top non-fee or rate attributes that customers look for in their next card. (Qualtrics, 2019)
6. 50% of consumers believe that customer service cannot act on feedback. (Qualtrics, 2019)
7. 51% of respondents believe that brands do not use customer feedback or take action on it. (Microsoft, 2018)
8. 72% of customers expect agents to know the person, the product, and their history of customer service engagements upon contact. (Microsoft, 2017)
9. 30% of consumers say that a knowledgeable and friendly agent is the most important aspect of customer service. (Microsoft, 2017)
10. 80% of consumers reported their customer service issues taking too much of an effort to solve. (Microsoft, 2017)

The golden rule - the customer is always right

Customer satisfaction is the key to growing your business. Whether you’re just starting a small business or growing your company to 1000 employees, the tools you use to build and engage with them in their experience are extremely important in helping the customer understand that they are your priority.

We already understand how important the customer journey is. Learn how customer service software tools like Live Chat, Help Desk, and Chatbot software make your team much more effective in providing the best customer experience possible.