The customer experience (CX) is a critical part of your overall business strategy. Creating a memorable customer experience trickles down and impacts customer service, marketing departments, and (more importantly) your bottom line.
Customer experience statistics
If you’ve been wondering whether or not investing in the customer experience is worth your time and money, look no further than this blog post for concrete evidence (replete with customer experience statistics) that you should address the importance of customer experience.
63% of consumers say that the best brands are the ones that exceed expectations throughout the customer journey.
Wunderman
Great CX is a growing customer expectation
These days, the average consumer is a pretty savvy one, thanks in part to the sheer amount of options they can choose from and the power of the internet. Because of this, customers expect to have an outstanding customer experience — according to Salesforce, 73% of polled customers expect you to know what they want and need. They know it’s the one major differentiator between your company and another. And since they know what to expect, they’ll be far less patient with what they feel constitutes a poor or lackluster customer experience.
Customer experience statistics:
- 67% of customers say that their standard for good customer experience is higher than ever before. (Salesforce)
- 73% of customers say that one very good customer experience raises their expectations of other companies. (Salesforce)
- 63% of consumers say that the best brands are the ones that exceed expectations throughout the customer journey. (Wunderman).
- 90% of customers think it is important to receive an immediate response to a customer support question. (Hubspot).
- 85% of consumers won’t do business with a company if they’re concerned about its security practices. (pwc).
Customers have a lot of choices, so you need to have the tools in place to meet their needs and expectations across their customer journey. Collect customer feedback at critical points in the journey to make sure your CX is effective.
91% of customers who don’t complain will simply stop doing business with a brand.
Huffington Post
The consequences of poor CX
One bad customer experience can really pack a punch and do a lot of harm to your bottom line. More specifically, it drives customers to shop with a competitor (instead of you) and winds up doing some real damage to your reputation.
Customer experience statistics:
- 52% of customers say that they are extremely or somewhat likely to change brands if a company doesn’t personalize its communication with them. (Salesforce).
- 79% of customers will share a bad customer experience [with others] they have with a business. (RightNow).
- 91% of customers who don’t complain will simply stop doing business with a brand. (HuffingtonPost).
- US businesses lose up to $62 billion annually due to poor customer experiences. (NewVoiceMedia).
- After a bad experience, 39% of customers stay away from vendors for up to two years after the incident. (Zendesk).
Brand loyalty takes a big hit after a bad customer experience. Your customers won’t hesitate to tell their friends and family about the experience they had with you, leading them to switch to a competitor.
And as we mentioned in the previous section, consumers have a lot of choices, so don’t give your otherwise loyal customers an excuse to jump ship and hurt your reputation. Instead, do yourself and your customers a favor, go the extra 1% consistently to stave off customer churn.
82% of organizations that work to improve CX report an increase in revenue.
Dimension Data
CX impacts your bottom line
All businesses want a strong stream of revenue. Investing time and money into your customer experience is a solid way to ensure your company’s revenue stays healthy and robust even when the market fluctuates or you experience a product failure. Not only that, it’s more expensive to attract new customers than it is to retain existing ones. So by giving your customer experience the attention and dedication it deserves, you can tangibly increase your revenue — and save you the expense of having to attract new customers.
Customer experience statistics:
- 84% of organizations that work to improve CX report an increase in revenue. (Dimension Data).
- Only 14% of businesses measure the ROI of customer experience. (Lumoa).
- Retaining only 5% of your customers is enough to boost your profits by up to 95%. (Harvard Business School).
- Over 50% of your customers are willing to spend more [with your business] if you improve the customer experience. (Salesforce).
- Increasing customer journey satisfaction will lift overall customer satisfaction by up to 20% — and lift revenue by 15%. From there, your customer serving cost is lowered by 20%. (McKinsey).
- Retaining customers is five to 25 times less expensive than acquiring a new customer. (Harvard Business Review).
Whether a customer is new or existing, every touchpoint of the customer journey is factored into their buying decision process. It’s critical that you approach the customer perspective with a tailored-to-fit strategy based on the various needs, wants, and expectations from your customers. Keep in mind, you need to approach both new and existing customers with equal gravity — however, it’s your existing customers who wind up carrying the lion’s share and take care of your bottom line.
Loyal customers are worth more than ten times their first purchase, on average.
Adobe
CX boosts customer loyalty
Loyal customers are a massively valuable asset. These customers will undoubtedly spend more during their first experience — and then they’ll return to spend more frequently. These types of customers are typically the brand loyalists: the happy ones who relay to friends and family how great their experience [with you] was. And to that end, they’ll advocate for others to use your products or services.
Customer experience statistics:
- Brand loyal customers are five times more likely to repurchase from you or forgive you for a bad [customer] experience. They’re also seven times as likely to purchase a new product — and four times as likely to refer a friend to your business. (Temkin Group).
- 51% of US consumers stay loyal to businesses that offer timely suggestions about the latest updates or new products and/or services. (Accenture).
- Loyal customers buy 30% more items from you, per order, when compared to a first-time customer. (Adobe).
- On average, loyal customers are worth more than ten times their first purchase. (Salesforce).
That said, simply having a customer isn’t enough to turn them into a loyal consumer — much less a repeat one. Exceeding customer service expectations is a surefire way to transform one-time customers into loyal advocates. However, rather than assuming what your customers want (or need), ask them yourself — leverage technology and other tools, such as NPS or customer satisfaction surveys, to ascertain this information.
Fully engaged customers results in 23% more profit, revenue and growth potential.
Gallup
CX boosts customer engagement
Customers who engage with your business, through social media or other platforms, are also more inclined to show interest in new products or service offerings, meaning they’re also more likely to visit your website or store.
Customer experience statistics:
- A fully engaged customer results in 23% more profit, revenue and growth potential compared to the average customer. (Gallup).
- Engaged visitors spend 46% more on hotel service compared to disengaged visitors. (All Roads).
- Engaged customers shopping for electronics visit websites 44% more compared to disengaged shoppers, and spend an average of $84 more. (Gallup).
- Engaged owners of policy are 22% more likely to purchase insurance products than disengaged ones. (All Roads).
Customers are used to the instant gratification of engagement — either with your company or with each other. More so, they’re accustomed to businesses interacting with them through their channel of choice. You must show up where your customers are whether that’s on social media or live chat. And remember: brand advocates are critical pieces of your brand puzzle. Be sure to praise or highlight customers who go out of their way to advocate on behalf of your brand.
CX on the whole
We can’t stress enough about the importance of customer experience.
However, fostering brand loyalty and good customer experiences doesn’t happen overnight. It takes a concerted effort on behalf of a company. That’s why it’s critical you approach the customer experience from a tiered, deliberate perspective — starting with your content experience. And remember:
- Customers expect great CX — 67% of customers say that their standard for good customer experience is higher than ever before. (Salesforce)
- Personalize your customer’s content experience — 52% of customers say that they are extremely or somewhat likely to change brands if a company doesn’t personalize its communication with them. (Salesforce).
- Measure the customer experience — Only 14% of businesses measure the ROI of customer experience. (Lumoa).
- Loyal customers boost revenue — Loyal customers buy 30% more items from you, per order, when compared to a first-time customer. (Adobe).
- Engage with customers beyond the first transaction — A fully engaged customer results in 23% increased profit, revenue and growth potential compared to the average customer. (Gallup).
