50 Customer Service Stats to Know in 2023

With an increasing emphasis on customer experience, advertisements are becoming more consumer-oriented, focusing on the positive experiences that will result from a customer's use of the product.

While customers still care about the price and quality of products, a new factor in choosing between competing brands is customer service. Customers would rather invest in a brand that focuses on their needs and constantly provides value beyond the initial purchase.

There are many ways to make your brand more customer-focused. Consider the following customer service statistics to help you brainstorm new strategies for strengthening your service team.

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50 Customer Service Stats to Know

The Importance of High-Quality Customer Service

1. 60% of business leaders say that high-quality customer service improves customer retention. (Zendesk)

2. 94% of consumers are more likely to make another purchase after a positive customer service experience. (Salesforce Research)

3. 95% of American consumers say that customer support reps communicating with them in a way that makes them feel valued affects their decision to continue doing business with the company. (Intercom)

4. 88% of customers say the experience a company provides is as important as its product or services. (Salesforce Research)

5. 73% of business leaders say there is a direct link between customer service and business performance. (Zendesk)

The Power of Great Customer Service

6. If the company’s customer service is excellent, 80% of consumers will do business with a company again after a mistake. (Salesforce Research)

7. 64% of business leaders say that customer service has a positive impact on their company’s growth. (Zendesk)

8. 96% of customers say excellent customer service builds trust. (Salesforce Research)

9. 82% of customers say they have recommended a company based on excellent customer service. (Salesforce Research)

10. 93% of customers are likely to make repeat purchases with companies that offer excellent customer service. (HubSpot Research)

11. 48% of customers switched brands in the past year to get better customer service. (Salesforce Research)

The Cost of Poor Customer Service

12. Roughly 61% of customers say they would switch to a new brand after one bad experience. (Zendesk)

13. On average, 49% of customers have left a brand in the past 12 months due to bad customer experience. (Emplifi)

14. Nearly two-thirds of consumers will immediately stop doing business with a brand once they receive poor customer service. (Microsoft)

15. After more than one bad experience, around 76% of consumers say they would rather do business with a competitor. (Zendesk)

16. 1 in 6 shoppers walk away from a purchase due to bad customer experience. (Emplifi)

The Best Channels for Customer Service

Source

17. 69% of customers say they’re willing to interact with a bot on simple issues, a 23% increase from the previous year. (Zendesk)

18. In 2022, 58% of customers used chatbots for simple customer service, a 15% increase from 2020. (Salesforce Research)

19. 43% of customers say that receiving excellent social media customer service is important when making a new purchase. (Emplifi)

20. 28.1% of companies use email to offer support to their customers, followed closely by phone. (KlausApp)

21. 54% of customers say that their biggest frustration with chatbots is the number of questions they must answer before being transferred to a human agent. (Zendesk)

22. 70% of organizations plan to invest in AI and automation for customer service in the next 12 months. (KlausApp)

23. 57% of consumers have a more favorable view of brands that offer customer support on social media. (Microsoft)

24. 78% of customers have used multiple channels to start and complete a transaction. (Salesforce Research)

25. 83% of customers expect to interact with someone immediately when they contact a company. (Salesforce Research)

26. In the coming year, 77% of business leaders plan to invest more in self-serve support, such as FAQs and knowledge bases. (Intercom)

27. 35% of customers prefer to have a fully self-serve customer service option available to solve their problems. (Emplifi)

28. 53% of customers say most support interactions are fragmented — not seamless. (Salesforce Research)

29. 84% of customer service reps who use AI say it makes it easier to respond to tickets. (HubSpot Research)

30. 64% of customer service reps who use AI say it helps them personalize their correspondences. (HubSpot Research)

The Frustrations Customers Face

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31. 33% of customers are most frustrated by having to wait on hold. Another 33% are most frustrated by having to repeat themselves to multiple support reps. (HubSpot Research)

32. Only 13% of customers say it takes little effort to get cases resolved. (Salesforce Research)

33. 37% of consumers believe that customer service is getting worse. (Microsoft)

34. 64% of customers under 40 report that customer service feels like an afterthought for most of the businesses they buy from. (Zendesk)

35. 66% of customers say they have to repeat or re-explain information to different representatives. (Salesforce Research)

36. 68% of customers say it feels like most businesses need to improve the training of their customer service agents. (Zendesk)

37. 35% of consumers find it very important to have a fully self-serve customer care option available to resolve their issues. (Emplifi)

Sharing Customer Service Experiences

38. 48% of consumers overall will share their customer service experience, whether good or bad. More than a third report posting on Facebook, followed closely by Instagram. (CFI Group)

39 85% of American customers will recommend a company whose service they rate as “very good.” (Qualtrics XM Institute)

40. 52% of customers say they don’t share their bad or good service experiences through social media. (CFI Group)

The Business Opportunity of Customer Service

41. Consumers are 1.9x more likely to purchase more from a company after a 5-star experience compared to a 1- or 2-star experience. (Qualtrics XM Institute)

42. 65% of US consumers would pay 5% more for products if they knew they would receive outstanding customer service. (Emplifi)

Customer Experience Statistics

Source

43. 43% of consumers place high importance on previous positive customer experiences with a brand when considering a new purchase. (Emplifi)

44. Your online conversion rate can improve by roughly 8% when you include personalized consumer experiences. (Trust Pilot)

45. 48% of customers believe AI should save them time when contacting a company, and 42% hope it will improve customer service quality. (Zendesk)

46. 54% of consumers say they expect all experiences to be personalized. (Zendesk)

Customer Satisfaction Statistics

47. The average customer satisfaction rate is 19% for chat, 5% for email, and 5% for phone. (KlausApp)

48. 54% of consumers say they expect a company to share information so they don’t have to repeat themselves. (Zendesk)

49. 48% of customers say the pandemic has raised their customer service standards. (Zendesk)

50. 69% of consumers first try to resolve their issues on their own, but less than one-third of companies offer self-service options such as a knowledge base. (Zendesk)

Customer Service is More Important Than Ever

The importance of customer service can’t be overstated. Investing in a strong service team will improve customer satisfaction, reduce churn, and increase revenue.

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in February 2021 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.