Important Customer Statistics

Unhappy Customers

Attracting a new customer costs 5 times as much as keeping an existing one.

• Source: Lee Resource Inc.

Happy customers who have their problems resolved will tell 4-6 people about their positive experience.

• Source: the White House Office of Consumer Affairs, Washington, DC.

A typical business hears from only about 4% of its dissatisfied customers. 96% just go away and 91% will never come back.

• Source: “Understanding Customers” by Ruby Newell-Legner

A dissatisfied consumer will tell between 9 and 15 people about their experience. About 13% of dissatisfied customers tell more than 20 people.

• Source: White House Office of Consumer Affairs, Washington, DC

86% of consumers quit doing business with a company because of a bad customer experience, up from 59% 4 years ago

• Source: Harris Interactive, Customer Experience Impact Report

For every customer complaint, there are 26 other customers who have remained silent

• Source: Lee Resource Inc

It takes 12 positive service experiences to make up for one negative experience

• Source: “Understanding Customers” by Ruby Newell-Legner

Happy customers who get their issue resolved tell about 4 to 6 people about their experience.

• Source: White House Office of Consumer Affairs, Washington, DC

An average company loses between 10 – 30% of its customers annually

• Source: McKinsey

A customer is 4 times more likely to defect to a competitor if the problem is service related than price or product related

• Source: Bain & Company

For every customer complaint, there are 26 other unhappy customers who have remained silent

• Source: Lee Resource

68% of customer defection takes place because customers feel poorly treated.

• Source: TARP

Why customers quit:

• 1% die
• 3% move away
• 68% quit because of an attitude of indifference towards the customer by the staff.
• 14% are dissatisfied with the product.
• 9% leave because of competitive reasons.

• Source: How to win customers and keep them for life – Michael Leboeuf

70% of complaining customers will do business with you again if you resolve the complaint in their favour.

• Source: Lee Resource Inc

95% of complaining customers will do business with you again if you resolve the complaint instantly.

• Source: Lee Resource Inc

[spacer height=”20″]

Profits / ROI / Bottom Line

Even in a negative economy, customer experience is a high priority for consumers, with 60% often or always paying more for a better experience.

• Source: Harris Interactive, Customer Experience Impact Report

A 5% reduction in the customer defection rate can increase profits by 5 – 95%

• Source: Bain & Company

The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60 – 70%. The probability of selling to a new prospect is 5-20%

• Source: Marketing Metrics

A 2% increase in customer retention has the same effect as decreasing costs by 10%

• Source: Leading on the Edge of Chaos, Emmet Murphy & Mark Murphy

Customer profitability tends to increase over the life of a retained customer

• Source: Leading on the Edge of Chaos, Emmet Murphy & Mark Murphy

Reducing customer defections can boost profits by 25-85%. In 73% of cases, the organization made no attempt to persuade dissatisfied customers to stay; even though 35% said that a simple apology would have prevented them from moving to the competition.

• Source: NOP

Customer loyalty is, in most cases worth 10 times the price of a single purchase.

• Source: “Understanding Customers” by Ruby Newell-Legner

1% cut in customer service problems could generate an extra 8m in profits for a medium-sized company over 5 years.

[spacer height=”20″]

Industry Competitiveness

The top three drivers for investing in customer experience management are:

• 1. Improve customer retention – (42 %)
• 2. Improve customer satisfaction – (33 %)
• 3. Increase cross-selling and up-selling (32 %)

• Source: Aberdeen report – Customer Experience Management: Engaging Loyal Customers to Evangelize Your Brand

81% of companies with strong capabilities and competencies for delivering customer experience excellence are outperforming their competition

• Source: Peppers & Rogers Group, Customer Experience Maturity Monitor

70% of customer experience management best in class adopters use customer feedback to make strategic decision. 50% of industry-average organizations and 29% of laggards do.

• Source: Aberdeen Group, Customer Experience Management: Engaging Loyal Customers to Evangelize Your Brand

55% of current marketing spend is on new customer acquisition

• Source: McKinsey

33% of current marketing spend is on brand awareness

• Source: McKinsey

Only 12% of current marketing spend is on customer retention

• Source: McKinsey