{INFOGRAPHIC} Customer Experience Statistics You Should Know

A huge goal for innovative businesses in 2016 is improving customer experience. In fact, 91%
of organizations said they aspire to be among the customer experience leaders in their industry. That’s a pretty significant percentage, right? It shows that customer service and the overall experience for customers is a top goal for nearly all businesses across all industries. But what about the rest of the story? Why is customer experience so important? What are businesses actually doing to stay on top of their game for their customer base? Here are a few customer experience statistics you should know and how it all impacts your bottom line:

The overall perception of customer experience:

What are businesses saying with regard to customer experience and what’s the overall perception? Overwhelmingly, businesses agree that good customer service and overall experience are paramount. Here’s the data:

• 90% of customer experience decision makers say that a good experience is critical to their success
• 89% of companies expect to compete mostly on the basis of customer experience in 2016
• Business owners understand that it is 6 to 7x more expensive for companies to attract new customers than to keep existing customers

How does technology fit into this equation?

It’s no secret that enhanced technology directly improves your the experience for your customers. Big business is already taking care of customers with applications, easier checkout processes, chat for customer service and portals that give consumers access to the data they want to see. In fact, 85% of customers will manage their relationship with the enterprise without interacting with a human by 2020. And because expectations are based on experience this means that small business needs to be right on the tail of Enterprise in making the experience more tech-driven. But the statistics indicate that 42% of service agents are unable to efficiently resolve customer issues due to disconnected systems, archaic user interfaces and multiple applications that don’t necessarily speak to one another.

How is poor technology impacting customer experience now?

74% of customers surveyed cited being “extremely frustrated” when having to contact a company multiple times for the same reason. Your ability to deliver service and resolve issues is directly impacted by your systems, technology and applications that speak to one another. Other customer service frustrations reported?

• Being on hold for a long time when contacting a company (69%)
• Have to repeat the same information to multiple employees across different channels (66%)
• Dealing with employees or self-help sites that cannot answer questions (64%)

What are the implications to your bottom line?

Poorly trained employees, systems that don’t communicate and slow technology are just symptoms that impact your ability to deliver service. Perhaps you believe that a certain amount of “hurt” is to be expected with any technology. But what happens to your bottom line when your customers start to feel it?

• 78% of consumer have bailed on a transaction or not made an intended purchase because of a poor service experience.
• 74% of consumers have spent more due to good customer service
• 86% of buyers will pay more for a better customer experience
• ONLY 1% of customers feel that vendors consistently meet their expectations

A better experience for your customers means that you can charge more, you’ll lose less customers (which is important, considering we learned that it’s 6-7x more expensive to acquire new customers), and you’ll get them to buy more of your products or services. Consider Target versus Wal-Mart. Most consumers are happy to pay the significant price difference just to be in a pleasant store with good technology and a program that rewards them for being loyal. Taking care of your customers isn’t an option and while it’s clear that the majority of business owners understand that, from a customer perception perspective, customers don’t view that you’re doing what you should be doing to meet their expectations.

It’s time to explore how technology can put you ahead of the game. Start assessing your options before you fall too far behind.