66 customer experience statistics you need to know

The customer experience is the impression customers are left with after they interact with your brand. Designing quality customer experiences keeps your customers coming back for more.

What makes for a quality customer experience? The best way to answer this question is by retelling Fjord’s A Tale of Two Coffee Shops. When you have two coffee shops right next door to each other - both selling the same coffee, at the same price - the service design (or in other words, your experience) is what makes you walk into one and not the other.

The relationship you foster with your customers should extend to every touchpoint they have with your brand. Understanding the customer journey helps brands improve customer satisfaction, loyalty and trust. Your favorite clothing retailer will recommend items that are suited for you. Meta’s Facebook will remind you of your friend's birthday, so you don’t have to remember. The tracking number of your online purchase will be sent to you, so you can keep an eye out for your parcel.    

By providing your customers with a great experience throughout their journey, you have a higher chance of transforming a one-off customer into a repeat buyer or user and later, a brand advocate.

Focusing on customer experience should be a top priority for businesses who want to increase customer satisfaction and in turn, generate more revenue. Here are 30 customer experience statistics that will help you identify key areas for improvement and help your business. 

The importance of customer experience

It’s time to wow your customers through the use of customer experience. By upping your game here, alongside having an excellent product, it will result in repeat purchasing, bigger checkout carts, and a higher referral rate. 

1) The Temkin Group found that companies with an annual revenue of $1 billion can expect to earn about $700 million additionally within 3 years of investing in customer experience. SaaS companies in particular, can expect to increase revenue by $1 billion.

2) Customer experience is set to overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator. (Walker Study) 

3) 74% of consumers are likely to buy based on experience alone. (Treasure Data)  

4) One in three consumers are willing to walk away from a brand they love after just one bad experience. (PwC) 5) According to 80% of customers surveyed, the experience businesses provide is equally as important as their products and services. (Salesforce)

6) 54% of U.S. consumers want to see an improvement in customer experience at most companies. (PwC) 7) 83% of executives risk moderate to severe revenue and market share loss due to unimproved customer experience. (Treasure Data) 

8) 65% of U.S. customers find having a positive experience with a brand to be more influential than great advertising. (PwC)
9) 65% of U.S. and UK customers believe having a positive experience with a company will help their purchasing decision (PwC)

Customer data statistics

Over the years, companies have been able to source more and more personal data from customers. While customer data enables companies to create personalized data-driven experiences and campaigns, when misused it can break customer trust. 10) 42% of people have received communications from a business they have not given permission to contact them (Chartered Institute of Marketing) 11) In a recent survey by Ping Identity, 54% were more concerned about protecting their personal information compared to the year prior. 

12) In order to curate a more personalized experience, 83% of consumers are willing to share their data. (Accenture)

13) Only 24% of customers believe businesses treat people’s personal data in an honest and transparent way (Chartered Institute of Marketing) 14) 93% of Americans found it important to control who could access their personal data. (Pew Research Center) 

15) Younger people are more likely to trust businesses with their data. A study showed 33% of 18-24 year olds and 34% of 24-35 year olds showing trust compared to only 17% of the 55+ age group trusting businesses with their data. (Chartered Institute of Marketing)

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Customer feedback statistics

Customers are more likely to give useful feedback (and enjoy giving it) if it has something to do with an experience. However, sending an excessive number of surveys generally leads to disgruntled and unengaged customers. It’s important to be respectful of your customer's experience and time, and find meaningful ways to collect customer feedback.

16) 81% of people have abandoned an online form after filling out the first section (Manifest) 17) For every star rating on Yelp, a company’s revenue will increase by approximately 5-9%. (Harvard Business Review)

18) There is a lot of trust placed behind online reviews and customer surveys, with 91% of 18-34 year olds viewing online reviews the same as personal recommendations. (BrightEdge)

19) 35% of respondents wanted to leave a review to inform others about their customer experience. Compared to the other motivations - 26%  to help people make decisions, 24% to let the business know their experience and just 15% do not leave any reviews. (Podium) 20) 17% of consumers weren’t prompted to leave a review by a business in the last 12 months. Those who were prompted, approximately 12% of consumers left a review every time. (BrightEdge) 21) 92% of B2B buyers are more likely to purchase from that brand after reading a trusted review. (G2 Learn HUb) 22) 84% of people prefer to use a laptop or desktop computer when filling out online forms compared to the 3% who prefer a mobile device, or 13% who prefer a physical copy. (Manifest) 23) In 2021, 15% of consumers were offered something (a gift or free service) in exchange for a review. This is an 8% increase from 2020. (BrightEdge)

Satisfaction ratings statistics

Building strong customer relationships should be every marketer’s number one priority. You can take steps to improve your satisfaction rating by aligning all your teams so your customers are provided with a direct line of support. 24) Customers will spend 140% more when they have had the best past experience compared to having the poorest past experiences. (Harvard Business Review)

25) Only 14% of customers report being happy with communications sent from brands. (EY)

26) If a customer is not satisfied, 13% of them will tell 15 people that they are unhappy. On the other hand, 72% of customers will share a positive experience with six or more people. (Kolsky)

Brand expectation statistics

Content personalization is an important part of any marketing strategy. Customers demand relevant content and recommendations tailored to them. 

27) Customers are 80% more likely to make a purchase when they have a personalized experience. (Epsilon)

28) When encountering a highly personalized experience, 40% of consumers are more likely to spend more than they had planned. (BCG) 29) A poorly curated website will result in 48% of consumers leaving the website without purchasing. (Accenture) 30) 88% of US marketers reported seeing measurable improvements due to personalization — with more than half seeing a lift greater than 10%. (Salesforce)

31) 70% of millennials are frustrated with brands sending irrelevant emails. (SmarterHQ) 32) 36% of consumers believe retailers need to do more to offer personalized experiences. (Retail TouchPoints)

33) 72% of consumers say they only engage with personalized messaging. (SmarterHQ) 34) 87% of surveyed consumers say that personally relevant branded content positively influences how they feel about a brand (Instapage)

Customer service statistics

A great customer service experience results in a higher retention rate. It’s critical that companies start listening to their customers frustrations and use technology to help alleviate issues.

35) 42% of all consumers would pay more for the service or product if they received a friendly, welcoming experience. (PwC) 36) 77% of consumers want the internal teams of a brand to communicate and collaborate with each other to ensure they don’t repeat themselves. (Khoros)

37) Every year in the United States, a total of $1.6T is lost due to customers switching brands after experiencing poor customer service. (Accenture Strategy)

38) 86% of the time, a good customer service experience will turn a one-time client into a long-term brand champion. (Khoros)

39) When looking for assistance with a purchasing decision phone (68%), email (55%) and in-person (40%) were the top 3 channels to use. (Invoca) 40) 62% of customers would like to interact with brands across multiple digital channels. (Khoros)

41) 54% of respondents shared their poor customer service experience with at least five people. (Zendesk)

42) 83% of customers stated good customer service as their most important factor when making a purchase. (Khoros)

43) 46% of customers said they would leave a brand if employees are not knowledgeable. (PwC) 44) Customers are looking for self-service options, and also expect a response from a customer service representative within minutes. (Hubspot)

45) 71% of customers expect customer service agents already to have information regarding their previous interactions with the brand. (Radial)

Digital channel statistics

All marketing trends for 2022 point towards an increase in multichannel engagement. Internet users spend three to four times more when they are targeted across multiple channels, rather than a single channel. This makes multichannel marketing not just a good idea, but a critical one to increase revenue.

46) 80% of organizations are currently investing in omnichannel experiences. (Super Office)

47) 84% of companies who are customer-centric focussed are now prioritizing on mobile customer experience. (Stat Counter Global Stats) 48) 53% of American adults are more likely to abandon their online cart if they are unable to find a quick answer to their question. (Forrester)

49) 90% of customers surveyed by Hubspot expect an “immediate” response (10 minutes or less) to any support question. (HubSpot Research)

50) 76% of consumers use their mobile devices for shopping as it saves time. However, only 12% feel it provides them with the most convenient shopping experience (4x less than desktop). (Dynamic Yield) 51) Social media plays a key role in 87% of ecommerce customers purchasing decisions.  (Social Media Today) 52) Of professionals surveyed (who have used customer journey maps), 85% found an increase in customer satisfaction, lower churn, fewer complaints, and higher NPS. (MyCustomer)

53) 54% of customers used email customer service channels this past year, making it the most commonly used digital customer service channel. (Forrester)

54) 52% of customers are less likely to engage with a company because of a bad mobile experience. (WOW Local Marketing)

55) Organizations with a focus on customer experience are 9 times more likely to ‘integrate data from multiple sources, analyze customer interactions across channels, and engage with customers through their preferred channels’. (Pointlllist)

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Artificial intelligence statistics

Artificial intelligence helps companies analyze real-time data to determine what people are interested in, what they’re buying, and when they’re making a purchase. This is particularly powerful in online shopping experiences where you can show customers context-sensitive offers that nudge them towards making a decision.

56) By 2022, 70% of customer interactions will involve emerging technologies like chatbots. This has increased from 15% in 2018. (Gartner) 57) Artificial intelligence will be a mainstream customer experience investment in the next couple of years. 47% of organizations will use chatbots for customer care, and 40% will deploy virtual assistants. (Gartner) 58) By 2025, conversational AI is expected to reach USD$1.3 billion, increasing at a compound annual growth rate of 24%. (Cognizant)

59) Just over 50% of companies plan on investing more on bots and chatbot creation than traditional mobile app development, per annum. (Gartner)

60) By 2024, it’s projected that 75-90% of queries will be handled by bots. (CNBC)

61) In a September 2020 poll of business in IT professionals, 24% said their organization invested more into Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic (Gartner)

Purchase decision statistics

When shoppers browse e-commerce platforms, most likely they’re already at the stage of knowing what they want to buy; it’s just a matter of finding the right item, at the right price. A customer’s poor online shopping experience may result in a longer time to purchase, a decision to spend less or even a failed sale.

62) 65% of respondents would become long-term customers of a brand if they can provide positive experiences throughout the customer journey. (Forbes / Arm Treasure Data) 63) Customers are willing to pay a price premium of up to 13% (and as high as 18%) for luxury and indulgence services, simply by receiving a great customer experience. (PwC) 64) Over the last five years, the average sales cycle has increased by 22%. (Kapost)

65) 87% of respondents in a survey conducted by Invoca felt more confident talking to a person on the phone to answer questions when making high-consideration purchases, versus purchasing directly online.

Customer-centric focus statistics

Adopting a customer-centric marketing approach helps companies evaluate a customer’s behavior and interaction with a brand. By analyzing a customer’s past actions, interests and needs, marketers can create highly personalized experiences and exceed business objectives.

66) Businesses driven by customer experience can see over 1.5 times higher YoY growth in customer retention, repeat purchase rates, and customer lifetime value, compared to other companies. (Forrester and Adobe) 67) Over two-thirds of customer loyalty is driven by customer experience, this is more than ‘brand’ and ‘price’ combined. (Gartner, via CMSWire) 68) Customer experience technologies will cost businesses $641 billion by 2022. (Statista) 69) 52% of enterprise organizations cite that lacking a unified view of the customer and their journeys is a top challenge for effectively measuring customer experience. (Pointilist)

Final word

By utilizing a marketing automation solution like Ortto, you can map the entire customer journey, to identify weak points and improve customer experience.

This article was originally published in December 2018 and has been updated with recent statistics and resources.

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