As well as the great article below, ACXPA Members also have access to a range of additional resources, including our monthly Member Symposiums & Video Library, exclusive industry insights, premium resources to download, discounted training courses, expert articles, and lots more!
Customer Experience Statistics to Use at Work
Constantly Updated throughout 2024!
When it comes to finding Customer Service and CX/Customer Experience Statistics to use at work a quick internet search will reveal hundreds of potential websites that are trying to lure you in.
Unfortunately, when you dig a little into some of the more well-known statistics, many of them were published well over a decade ago, so it would be fair to say relevancy and accuracy might be sorely lacking.
The reality is that most customer research is expensive to conduct, so it’s typically commissioned by vendors who ultimately are trying to sell a product (which the ‘research’ may just happen to solve some of the issues identified).
And to be fair, it’s a good business model that gains lots of exposure for their respective brands.
There is very little research conducted purely to support the industry by industry bodies, associations or government departments.
We publish the Australian Call Centre Rankings Report, but even then, the cynical may also argue that we conduct this as a way to sell memberships or training courses, and we’d be lying if we didn’t say that it’s a desired outcome!
So regardless of the motivation, we’ve rounded up some of the best Customer Service and CX statistics we could find for 2024, added them into some logical categories and included the links to the original source where we could confirm it if you’d like to conduct further research (which we highly recommend).
And if you’ve seen some good original stats that we’ve missed, please contact us and we’ll add them onto the page so we can continue to provide a current and accurate source of Customer Service and CX/Customer Experience Statistics.
Jump Straight to a Key Section:
- Impact on Revenue and Growth
- Customer Preferences and Behaviour
- AI and Technology in CX
- Mobile Customer Experience
- Customer Service and Support
- Data & Analytics
- Personalisation
- Australian Specific CX Stats
- 10 Stats to support getting CX RIGHT
- 10 Stats to support the cost of getting CX WRONG
- Opportunities to use CX as a Differentiator in 2024
CX Impact on Revenue and Business Growth
“Customer Experience is a skilled profession that optimises a customer’s perceptions and interactions with a brand to deliver better business outcome” (- Justin Tippett, ACXPA CEO) so linking CX to revenue, growth, profit etc. is critical.
- 41 % of customer-obsessed companies achieved at least a 10% revenue growth in their last fiscal year, compared to just 10% of less mature companies. (Forrester)
- Companies that prioritise CX experience an impressive 80% increase in revenue. (Zippia)
- Organisations that demonstrate the connection between customer satisfaction, growth, margin, and profitability are 29% more likely to secure additional CX budgets. (Gartner)
- Companies that experience rapid growth generate 40% more of their revenue from personalisation compared to slower-growing counterparts. (McKinsey & Company)
- A substantial 71% of CX leaders acknowledge that personalisation significantly impacts their brands’ customer strategy (Deloitte)
- Investing in customer experience can be highly profitable, as companies earning $1 billion annually can expect to earn an additional $700 million within 3 years (Temkin Group)
- Customer lifetime value that’s 600%-1400% higher than a Detractor (Bain & Company)
- CX leaders achieved more than double the revenue growth of CX laggards between 2016 and 2021 (McKinsey).
- CX Leaders outperformed the broader S&P500 index, generating a total return that was 108% higher than the S&P 500 Index and 304% higher than that of the CX Laggards (Watermark Consulting).
- Customers are shown to spend up to 140% more after a positive experience than customers who report negative interactions (Deloitte).
- Lower Lifetime Value: Poor CX leads to 9.5% revenue loss, on average. Research from Qualtrics across 17 different industries shows that just one bad experience is enough to have a negative impact on revenue. (Qualtrics)
- Increasing customer retention rates by just 5% can increase profits by between 25% and 95%. (Bain and Company)
Customer Preferences and Behaviour
Customer expectations continue to rise in how brands interact with them throughout the entire customer journey and in an increasingly commoditised marketplace, CX can be the differentiating factor in determining the short and long-term success of any business.
- CX drives over two-thirds of customer loyalty, which represents more than brand and price combined (Gartner)
- A remarkable 73% of customers now consider CX as the primary factor when deciding whether to purchase from a company. (PwC)
- Customers are willing to pay up to a 16% price premium for a great experience. (PwC)
- Despite the importance of personalisation, more than 50% of consumers find it off-target and not meeting their needs or preferences (Deloitte)
- 81% of customers say a positive customer service experience increases the chances of them making another purchase (Zendesk).
- More than 80% of customers say they would renew with an organisation if their customer service interaction added incremental value to them. Conversely, only 27% of customers said they would renew if the customer service interaction provided no resolution at all (Gartner).
- Customers rarely tell you that they’re unhappy. Only 4% of unhappy customers actually complain. The rest will silently stop doing business with you (Mindful).
- 92% of customers will completely abandon a company after 2-3 negative interactions (PwC) and 52% of customers will switch to a competitor after one poor interaction (Zendesk).
- 56% of consumers say most companies treat them like numbers. (Salesforce)
- 60% of customers say it feels like they are communicating with separate departments, not one company. (Salesforce)
- Consumers say making it simple to access human-like experiences when needed – such as engaging with a real person – would have the biggest impact on improving their customer experience (44%) (Qualtrics)
- Customers use an average of nine touchpoints to engage with companies. (Salesforce)
- More than 80% of consumers have shopped across at least three channels in the last six months. (PwC)
- 52% of consumers expect to get their question answered within one hour of posting it on a brand’s digital channels. (Emplifi)
- 65% of consumers say they love fewer than three brands. (Redpoint)
- 69% of consumers try to solve issues on their own. (Hubspot)
- 81% of consumers say they want more self-service options. (NICE)
- 83% of customers agree that they feel more loyal to brands that respond and resolve their complaints. (Khoros)
- 72% of customers will tell six or more people if they have a satisfying experience. (Esteban Kolsky)
- Nearly 60% of customers feel that long holds and wait times are the most frustrating parts of a service experience. (Zendesk)
- Product & service quality still beats price – Even in the current inflationary economy, the biggest purchase driver is product and service quality. Price is second on the list, followed by customer service. (Qualtics 2024 Consumer Trends Report)
AI and Technology in CX
Technology continues to play a big role in the customer experience but as some of the CX Statistics will show below, it’s not always the solution to everything! However, there is no question that AI in particular is going to play an increasing role in CX and we are still in the very early stages of the AI revolution.
- Business leaders recognise the value of conversational chatbots, with 57% believing they deliver a significant ROI on minimal investment. (Accenture)
- A substantial 72% of business leaders agree that expanding the use of AI and bots across the customer experience in the next 12 months is crucial. (Zendesk CX Trends Report 2023)
- The automation of customer interactions through AI and machine learning has increased from 25% to 40% and continues to grow. (Gartner)
- 57% of customers prefer to engage companies through digital channels. (Salesforce)
- 54% of brands say their chat feature isn’t good enough yet. (NICE)
- 47% of consumers prefer a website with a chatbot. (Smart Tribune)
- 75% of customers desire a consistent experience, regardless of how they engage a company (through social media, in person, by phone, etc.). (Salesforce)
- More than 50% of customers across all age groups typically use the phone to reach out to a service team, making it the most-used channel for customer service. (Zendesk)
- 69% of consumers first try to resolve their issue independently, but less than one-third of companies offer self-service options such as a knowledge base. (Zendesk)
- Millennials prefer live chat for customer service over every other communication channel. (Comm100)
- More than half (54%) of customers are frustrated with the number of questions chatbots ask before routing them to a live agent. (Zendesk)
- AI can potentially lower client acquisition costs by up to 50% (Marketing in Asia)
- AI-powered customer service automation is projected to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 58.5% and to be valued at $1 billion (Revechat)
- Consumers’ Top AI Concerns: Lack of Human Connection (59%), Misuse of Personal Data (54%), Loss of Jobs (54%), Interaction Quality (51%), Trust in Information (42%), Extra Effort (32%). (Qualtics 2024 Consumer Trends Report)
Mobile Customer Experience
With over 59% of internet traffic now over a mobile device, the need to ensure your mobile CX experience is working flawlessly has never been more important as customer experience stats below demonstrate.
- Mobile-friendliness is essential; if a website isn’t mobile-friendly, half of the clients will abandon it, even if they like the brand. (socPub)
- 90% of consumers who have had bad encounters with brands seek customer help on their mobile devices. (Software Advice)
- 57% of customers would not recommend a company with a badly designed mobile website. (socPub)
- 66% of chats occur via mobile device. (Live Chat)
- 59% of all internet traffic worldwide now comes from mobile. (Statista)
- 66% of customers say that a frustrating experience on a website hurts the overall opinion of the brand.
- 84% of companies who claim to be customer-centric are now focusing on the mobile customer experience. (SuperOffice)
Customer Service and Support
Customer Service and CX are often confused as the same thing but as you would know, customer service is only one component of the Customer Experience journey, albeit a very important one as the CX & Customer Service stats below demonstrate.
- The average response time for customer service emails is 12 hours. (SuperOffice)
- 54% of consumers say brands treat customer service as an afterthought. (Zendesk)
- 90% of customers rate an “immediate” response as essential or very important when they have a customer service question. 60% of customers define “immediate” as 10 minutes or less. (HubSpot Research)
- 49% of customers had more bad customer service experiences in the past year compared to the year before. (Amazon)
- 67% of customers prefer self-service over speaking to a company representative. (Zendesk)
- A customer is four times more likely to switch to a competitor if the problem they’re having is service-based. (Bain and Company)
- 52% of consumers prefer chat, making it the top digital channel preferred by most customers. (NICE)
- 90% of consumers worldwide consider issue resolution as their most crucial customer service concern. (KPMG)
- 80% of leaders plan to increase customer service budgets over the next year. (Zendesk CX Trends Report 2023)
- Consumers are making fewer complaints to brands – 72% of consumers do not share feedback directly with a brand after a bad experience, up 6 points from 2021. In contrast, half of consumers say they will tell their friends and family, 14% will leave an online review, and 13% post to social media. (Qualtics 2024 Consumer Trends Report)
Data and Analytics in CX
Data is often referred to as the new gold and for CX, it’s now a critical component in enabling you to optimise your Customer Experience across all key stages of the customer journey.
- According to 58% of firms, their channels are maintained in silos, and 42 percent claim channel data is not actively shared across teams. Furthermore, 72% fail to gather data in order to assess and improve journey patterns (Dimension Data).
- 54% of organisations stated that their biggest barrier to leveraging data was fragmented or siloed data. (Treasure Data)
- 66% of consumers say they will share personal data about themselves if they think it will elevate their customer experience. (Redpoint and Harris)
- 56% of companies use data that captures the interactions of the most engaged customers to evaluate which customer segments to nurture (Treasure Data).
- More than 19 in every 20 CX leaders have invested or plan to invest in data integration, data integrity, or data enrichment technologies. (CX Today)
- 23% of businesses use social media as a tool to collect and analyze data. (Gartner)
- AI can potentially lower client acquisition costs by up to 50% and help inform more successful marketing initiatives by deleting old, ineffective, or simply unattractive data. (Marketing in Asia)
Personalisation
The not-so-secret weapon in Customer Experience is creating personalised journeys for customers and the CX stats below demonstrate why that is now so important for businesses looking to harness CX to deliver better business outcomes.
- Your online conversion rate can improve by roughly 8% when you include personalised consumer experiences. (Trust Pilot)
- 79% of customers are willing to share relevant information about themselves in exchange for contextualized interactions in which they’re immediately known and understood. (Salesforce)
- Brands that lead in personalisation improve customer loyalty 1.5x more effectively than brands with poor personalisation. (Deloitte)
- 80% of consumers are more likely to buy from brands that offer more personalised experiences. (Freshworks)
- 73% of customers expect companies to understand their unique needs and expectations. (Salesforce)
- More than 50% of consumers say personalisation tends to feel off-target and doesn’t meet their needs or preferences. (Deloitte)
- Only 6% of organisations are currently doing 1:1 personalisation. (CMSWire)
- 92% of customers appreciate companies giving them control over what information is collected about them. (Salesforce)
- On average, customer service agents only ask for a customer’s name 21% of the time. (Glance) and this is supported in our local Australian Call Centres Mystery Shopping data.
- Successful personalisation initiatives can result in 20% higher customer satisfaction, sales conversion rates, and employee engagement” (McKinsey & Co)
Don’t have time to trawl through all the Customer Service and CX Statistics?
That’s OK because we’ve done the hard yards for you!
We’ve sifted through them all and selected the top ten statistics which we think add support to the benefits of investing in a better customer experience for your customers:
- Higher Lifetime Value – Using the NPS metric, a NPS Promoter has a customer lifetime value that’s 600%-1400% higher than a Detractor (Bain & Company)
- Increased Revenue – Companies that are recognised leaders in CX achieved more than double the revenue growth of CX laggards between 2016 and 2021 (McKinsey) or alternatively, companies that prioritise CX experience an impressive 80% increase in revenue. (Zippia)
- Higher Stock Market Returns – It might be a specific USA example, but it can be applied globally. CX Leaders outperformed the broader S&P500 index, generating a total return that was 108% higher than the S&P 500 Index and 304% higher than that of the CX Laggards … (Watermark Consulting)
- Higher Spend – Customers are shown to spend up to 140% more after a positive experience than customers who report negative interactions (HBR)
- Customers will pay more – Customers are willing to pay up to an 18% price premium for a great experience. (PWC)
- More receptive to upselling – The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70% whilst the probability of selling to a new prospect is only 5-20% (Marketing Metrics)
- More repeat purchases – 89% of consumers say a positive customer service experience increases the chances of them making another purchase (Salesforce)
- It might help you be recession-proof – 88% of buyers say experience matters as much as a company’s products or services. (<>Salesforce)
- Your competitors get it – 81% of organisations already cite CX as a competitive differentiator. (Dimension Data).
- Your peers also get it – 79% of executives say digital customer experience is extremely or very important. (CMSWire)
- Customers rarely tell you that they’re unhappy. Only 4% of unhappy customers actually complain (1 out of 26). The rest will silently stop doing business with you … (CXACT, formerly TARP)
- It costs 5x more to acquire a new customer, compared to retaining an existing one. (CXACT, formerly TARP)
- 92% of customers will completely abandon a company after 2-3 negative interactions (PwC)
- 52% of customers will switch to a competitor after one poor interaction (Zendesk)
- Poor CX leads to 9.5% revenue loss, on average. Just one bad experience is enough to have a negative impact on revenue. (Qualtrics)
- Customer defections are more than 5x higher for unresolved calls than when First Call Resolution (FCR) is achieved. 95% of customers expressed intent to continue doing business when FCR was achieved, compared to 25% of customers when their issue took multiple contacts. (SQM)
- It takes 12 positive customer experiences to make up for one negative experience. (Ruby Newell-Legner)
- Feeling unappreciated is the #1 reason customers switch products and services. (Vonage)
- 78% of customers have backed out of a purchase due to a poor customer experience. (Glance)
- 65% of customers said they have changed to a different brand because of a poor experience. (Khoros)
- Consumers are making fewer complaints to brands – 72% of consumers do not share feedback directly with a brand after a bad experience, up 6 points from 2021. In contrast, half of consumers say they will tell their friends and family, 14% will leave an online review, and 13% post to social media. (Qualtics 2024 Consumer Trends Report)
Australian Customer Experience Statistics
There isn’t a plethora of Australian CX Statistics however we’ve been able to extract some data from various reports to provide you with some Customer Service and CX Stats specifically related to Australia.
In addition to the Australian Call Centre Rankings we publish each month, the following Customer Service and Customer Experience statistics directly relate to Australian data:
- Over 70% of consumers surveyed said that speaking to a real person instead of a chatbot is highly important (The State of CX in Australia)
- More consumers than ever are preferring to speak to a real person on the phone (80%) or via live chat (50%). (The State of CX in Australia)
- Company websites/FAQs and live chats have become the top preferred channels for simple queries. (The State of CX in Australia)
- 89% of consumers stopped shopping with at least one company in 2022 because of a poor customer experience. (The State of CX in Australia)
- Eight out of the top ten reasons consumers stop purchasing with a company relate directly to the knowledge, capability and professionalism of customer service representatives. (The State of CX in Australia)
- Businesses across Australia are risking 7% of their sales due to poor customer experiences – putting almost AUD$87 billion in consumer spending at risk in the country (Qualtrics 2022 Global Consumer Trends Study)
- On average, almost 80% of consumers share their customer experiences with others. In 2022, consumers are somewhat more likely to be vocal about negative experiences than positive experiences, with 84% of customers having shared a negative experience, and 74% having shared a positive one. (The State of CX in Australia). Significantly, bad customer experiences are shared more widely. Positive and negative experiences are shared similarly to 1-5 people. However, while 9% of people share positive experiences with six or more people, 25% share their negative experiences with six or more people. (The State of CX in Australia)
- In 2022, Australian customers showed a strong preference for resolving complex customer service issues by speaking with a real person on the phone (80%). This was followed by speaking with a real person via live chat (50%) as the second-most preferred channel for complex enquiries.
- The proportion of consumers preferring to use human-assisted channels rather than self-service channels for difficult queries has been increasing across all age groups since 2016. This trend continued in 2022, with more consumers than ever preferring to speak to a real person on the phone (80%) or via live chat (50%). (The State of CX in Australia)
- First-time resolution was clearly seen as being the most important factor impacting upon customer experience, with 46% of Australian survey respondents ranking it in first place, and a further 41% placing it within the top three. (The 2023-24 Australian and New Zealand Contact Centre Decision-Makers’ Guide)
- Australian survey respondents report that around 70% of inbound customer contact is through telephony, compared to just over 62% for New Zealand.(The 2023-24 Australian and New Zealand Contact Centre Decision-Makers’ Guide)
- 75% of customers say it feels like most businesses need to improve the training of their customer service agents (Zendesk CX Trends report)
- 45% of customers report not getting accurate answers with a chatbot (Zendesk CX Trends report)
- 54% of customers say it takes too many questions for the bot to recognise it can’t answer their issue (Zendesk CX Trends report)
And specifically on AI in Australia (thanks to Qualtics):
- While the race is on and there is optimism about the impact of AI, CX professionals in Australia are more skeptical than their global peers:
- The rapid advancement of generative AI, such as ChatGPT, has accelerated expectations for AI to take on human-like capabilities, with the study revealing 39% of CX professionals feel under pressure to implement these types of tools into their business strategy
- While the competitive advantage enabled by AI is widely accepted by local CX professionals, with 41% agreeing with this sentiment, it is not as strong as in other parts of the world – specifically the UK, France, Germany, Mexico, and Brazil
- The benefits of AI: Solving experiences in the experience:
- The main focus areas for CX professionals over the next year are improving customer satisfaction scores, enabling frontline employees, and employee retention – and leaders believe AI can directly address these priorities
- 81% of CX professionals in Australia believe AI will benefit their work, with the most commonly cited benefits reduced workload (38%), and helping frontline employees respond in the moment with customers and resolve issues faster (29%)
- The concerns of AI: Data security, proven value, and change management are top of mind:
- CX professionals say data security is the biggest concern they have about using AI, with the majority agreeing they have the necessary security measures in place
- Respondents believe the best way to address consumer concerns regarding security is to give them the option to opt out data being used (68%), share with customers how data will be used (51%), and publish a code of ethics (37%)
- 32% of Australian CX leaders are also asking for proof of the success of AI before adopting it – a figure higher than any other country in the study
- Change management and adopting AI technologies is another top concern for CX leaders in Australia
CX Opportunities in 2024 and beyond
There’s no doubt reading some of the statistics above that CX is becoming an increasingly important battlefield for companies looking to grow their business.
Whilst each company will have their own CX Strategy, we’ve included some key stats that provide some opportunities for businesses looking to stand out from the crowd and use CX as a differentiator.
- Online Reviews Matter. Ratings and reviews are the most important factor impacting purchase decisions. 93% of shoppers say this content impacts whether or not they purchase a product. (The Ever-Growing Power of Reviews 2023 Edition)
- Reward Loyalty: The greatest demand that customers have of the brands they do business with in 2023 is that they reward them for their loyalty. (Emarsys)
- Invest in customer service training: 59% of customers say it feels like most businesses need to improve the training of their customer service agents (Zendesk) and 46% of consumers will abandon a brand if employees are not knowledgeable (PwC)
- Keep it local: Australian customers were far more likely to value speaking with Australia-based agents, with 42% of customers stating that this was a top 3 CX factor for them. Only 12% of businesses had thought that this would be the case. (The State of CX in Australia)
- Resolve Issues Promptly: Customers are 2.4 times more likely to remain loyal to brands that quickly solve customer service issues. (Forrester)
- Beef up your self-service options: 28% of consumers say the most frustrating issue is information that is simple but hard to find (Drift) and 69% of consumers first try to resolve their issue independently (Zendesk)
- Keep it real: 75% of consumers will still choose to interact with a real person even as the technology for automated solutions improves. (PWC)
- Don’t ignore online complaints: Over 60% of consumers don’t feel like they get excellent customer service on social media when making a purchase (Emplifi)
- Consumers are placing a premium on human connection in 2024 – Not only do 64% of consumers prefer to engage with brands via human channels, their biggest concerns with AI-enabled services is a loss of human connection, misuse of personal data, and the fear others will lose their jobs. (Qualtics 2024 Consumer Trends Report)
- Purchase Drivers in 2024 – Product & Service Quality (63%), Price (52%), Customer Service Support (47%), An Easy Digital Experience (24%), Doing Good Things for Society (14%). (Qualtics 2024 Consumer Trends Report)
Conclusion
Hopefully, you found some useful statistics from the list that can help support you on your CX Project.
If you did, please just click the heart button below (it costs nothing to say thanks!) and if you think these CX statistics would be useful to others in your network, please share the page.
We’ve also included some handy links below that can be useful for people working in Customer Experience Roles.
CX Roundtables - Upcoming Guest
Live and interactive sessions for customer experience professionals in Australia.
Contact Centre Manager Roundtables - Upcoming Guest
Live and interactive sessions for contact centre professionals in Australia.
Next Members Symposium Livestream: Tuesday, 21st May, 2024, 13:30 AEST
The Members Symposium sessions are only available to ACXPA Members!
ACXPA Members can watch the symposium live, and, can watch any of the sessions at any time in their Video Library.
Preview of upcoming Symposium Sessions:
IVR Best Practice
Over 90% of contact centres are using an IVR (Press 1 for this, press 2 for that), and we've encountered many contact centres with over four layers of options for customers to select from. In this session, Nadine will be sharing some best practice tips on IVR design for 2024.
Presented by Nadine Power, Chief Product Officer, Datagamz (and ACXPA National Advisory Board Member)
Tips to Boost Engagement on Calls
Of the five quality competencies we assess as part of the Australian Call Centre Rankings, the 'ENGAGE' competency from the Australian Contact Centre Quality Standards has consistently been at the bottom of the rankings throughout 2023 and into 2024.
In this session, Simon will provide some tips that can be shared with agents on how to increase engagement with customers at the start of calls.
Presented by Simon Blair, General Manager Quality Insights, ACXPA
More sessions announced soon!
(If you're interested in speaking at one of our events, click here to learn more >)
