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50 Customer Service Statistics You Need To Know (Updated For 2023)

Written by Dylan Max on Sep 10, 2022
45 Customer Service Statistics You Need To Know

Customer service is becoming a critical driver of how a company is perceived, what drives consumer loyalty and determining where they open their wallets. Companies are equally praised for the exceptional support they provide, while others are relentlessly chastised for failing to deliver. Below, we want to show you how that perception has become reality with 50 customer service statistics you need to know for 2023.

AI customer service is transforming how companies support the people who support them – working alongside human agents to provide quick, convenient, and personal support. We thought it would be a good idea to get a real sense of where customer support is today by sharing these 45 customer service stats from leading research organizations.

Here are some of the best customer service statistics that really paint the picture of:

  1. What consumers expect
  2. The baseline of where many brands are today
  3. The opportunity for AI to catapult a brand’s customer service to the next level

To review some of our own research on this topic, please check out any of our four eBooks on the topic of customer service:

Customer Service Stats On Consumer Expectations

this statistic states that 40% of consumers want companies to prioritize quick resolutions
  • 59% of consumers have higher expectations for customer service than they did just a 1 year ago [Microsoft]
  • 60% don’t see customer service as getting any easier [Microsoft]  
  • Customers expect to receive service through any channel and on any device, with 59 percent of respondents using the omnichannel experience to get questions answered. [Microsoft]
  • Americans are telling an average of 15 people about poor service  [American Express (1)]
  • Nearly 50% of consumers expect a response on social media questions or complaints within an hour, with 18% expecting an immediate response [American Express (1)]
  • 33% say getting their issue resolved in a single interaction (no matter the length of time) is the most important aspect of customer service  [American Express (1)]
  • 40% want companies to focus on taking care of their needs quickly; The future of service belongs to those who deliver quick, convenient and personalized customer service in the customer’s channel of choice [American Express (1)]
  • 66% of US online adults said that valuing their time is the most important thing a company can do to provide them with good online customer experience [Forrester (1)]
  • 86% of customers have to contact customer service multiple times for the same reason [InfoLink]

Many companies rely on these stats to benchmark customer service. You might not need all these fancy customer service statistics to know what’s the most important: customer satisfaction.

Satisfaction = Reality – Expectations. If you can beat expectations on a consistent basis you have entered the powerful realm of leveraging customer service to promote your brand. When it comes to customer service as a marketing tool (think “word of mouth”), we’ve carved out a whole separate section for that below.

Key Statistics Covering How Customer Service Is The New Marketing

A visualization showing 61% of customers will switch brands due to poor customer service
  • 95% of consumers cite customer service as important in their choice of and loyalty to a brand  [Microsoft]
  • 90% of Americans use customer service as a deciding factor when choosing to do business with a company [American Express (2)]
  • 78% of customers say the quality of service is fundamental to earning their loyalty and repeat business [Netomi]
  • Seven in 10 U.S. consumers say they’ve spent more money to do business with a company that delivers great service [American Express (1)]
  • 61% have switched brands due to poor customer service with nearly half having done so in the past 12 months  [Microsoft]
  • More than half of Americans have scrapped a planned purchase or transaction because of bad service  [American Express (1)]
  • US consumers say they’re willing to spend 17 percent more to do business with companies that deliver excellent service, up from 14 percent in 2014  [American Express (1)]
  • 33% of Americans will consider switching companies after just a single instance of poor service  [American Express (1)]
  • 61% of insurance consumers in the United Kingdom, 76 percent in Germany and 79 percent in Spain say their insurer choice is influenced by the carrier’s claims handling and customer service quality [Accenture] (click the link to get more insights on the benefits of insurance chatbot solutions)

Proactive Customer Support Statistics

This shows the importance of rapid responses and proactivity. 90% of consumers rate immediate answers as one of the most important factors when thinking about quality customer service
  • 90% of customers rate immediate responses as important or higher when they have a question. [Hubspot (1)]
  • 82% of people say good customer service is extremely or very important [Netomi]
  • 71% of consumers under 25 believes quickness in responses from customer service representatives improves their experience [Comm100]
  • 70% have a more favorable view of brands that offer proactive customer service notifications [Microsoft]
  • 87% of customers want to be proactively reached out to by a company for customer service related issues  [inContact (via MyCustomer)]
  • Over a 12 month period, proactive customer service can lead to a 20-30% reduction in call center calls — lowering call center operating costs by as much as 25% [Enkata (via MyCustomer)]
  • 83% of customers expect to interact with someone immediately when they contact a company [Salesforce] (click the link to learn more about our salesforce chatbot integrations)

Customer Service Statistics That Show Agents Need Help

One customer service stat points out 84% of agents need help answering support questions
  • More than 75%of consumers expect customer service representatives to have visibility into previous interactions and purchases, Yet nearly half say agents almost never or only occasionally have the context they need to most effectively and efficiently solve their issue  [Microsoft]
  • 68% say a pleasant representative is a key to their recent positive service experiences [American Express (1)]
  • 40% of customers want agents to focus on taking care of their needs quickly  [American Express (1)]
  • 62% of consumers have been ghosted by company customer service call-back options more than once [Netomi (2)]
  • 53% have publicly shamed a company following an instance of poor customer service [Netomi (2)]
  • 73% of customers have experienced an agent being rude to them [Netomi (2)]
  • 84% of customer service agents can’t answer the questions [InfoLink]
  • 83% of consumers have to repeat the same information to multiple agents [InfoLink]
  • 82% of customers expect to solve complex problems by talking to one person [Salesforce]

Customer Service Is A Real Business Issue (And Opportunity)

Companies that provide excellent customer service see a 93% repeat purchase rate according to one report
  • $62 billion is lost by U.S. businesses each year following bad customer experiences [New Voice Media]
  • 93% of customers make repeat purchases with companies that provide great customer service. [HubSpot (1)]
  • 69% of US online adults shop more with a retailer that offers consistent customer service both online and offline [Forrester (1)]
  • Poor customer service causes consumers to abandon intended purchases, which translated to an estimated $62 billion in lost sales in the US in 2015 — an alarming 51% increase over the previous two years [Forrester (1)]
  • Customers are 4x more likely to switch service providers if the problem they are having is service-based. [Bain and Company]
  • A moderate improvement in CX would impact the revenue of a typical $1 billion company an average of $775 million over three years [Temkin Group]
  • Within the last year alone, reported merchandise returns went up from $351 billion to $369 billion, and an estimated $24 billion was lost to return fraud and abuse. [Appriss]
  • Businesses can grow their revenue by as much as 8% above their competition when they improve the customer service experience. [Bain and Company]

All Of These Customer Support Stats Pave The Way For AI

This statistic from Forrester states that 54% of consumers use email when they want to reach customer support
  • 54% of consumers use a customer support email for customer service, making it the number 1 customer service communication channel. [Forrester (2)]
  • 42% of customers want to communicate with companies via live chat for customer service. [HubSpot (2)]
  • Millennials prefer live chat for customer service over other channels [Comm100]
  • By 2021, 15% of all customer service interactions will be completely handled by AI, an increase of 400% from 2017 [Gartner (1)]
  • 80% of customer engagements can be handled by bots [Accenture]
  • 73% of consumers ascribe no value to agents engaging in small talk when fixing their issue [Netomi (2)]
  • By 2021, more than 50% of enterprises will spend more on bots than traditional mobile [Gartner (2)]  
  • By 2030, 70% of companies will have adopted some form of AI and the majority of enterprises will be using a full range of AI technology [McKinsey]

We have shown you through these 50 customer service stats that support is more important to your business than ever before.

Are you ready to see how AI in customer service can transform your business? Use AI to answer high-volume, repeatable issues without delay while looping in your human agents to manage the other inquiries. Let’s chat. 

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