25 Must-Know Customer Experience Statistics [2023]: The Benefits Of A Positive Customer Experience

Research Summary. Unlike other aspects of a business, customer experience (CX) has the power to improve brand loyalty, customer satisfaction, traffic, and sales all at the same time. That’s even more true given that today, customers have higher standards for customer experience than ever. To determine how much CX affects businesses, we’ve gathered all the best and most recent statistics on the subject. According to our extensive research:

• 42% of customers are willing to pay more when offered a friendly, more welcoming customer experience.

• When given a positive customer experience, 72% of customers will share their experience with six or more people.

• Improved CX can increase company revenue by 10-15%.

• Following a poor customer experience, up to 89% of consumers have switched to a competitor.

• When making a purchase 64% of consumers consider customer experience to be more important than price.

For further analysis, we broke down the data in the following ways:
Positive | Negative | Customer Opinions | Impact on Businesses | Trends and Predictions

General Customer Experience Statistics

A positive customer experience can make or break a business. Satisfied customers bring in new customers, while unsatisfied ones can do massive damage to a brand. With that in mind, here are some insights into the importance of CX that our research uncovered:

• 73% of consumers believe that CX is a deciding factor when making purchasing decisions.

  That means that customer experience can make or break purchasing decisions for the majority of customers. In fact, only 6% of consumers believe a positive CX would have no impact on their purchasing decisions.

• 42% of customers are willing to pay more when offered a friendly, more welcoming customer experience.

  For instance, on average, those surveyed were willing to pay 16% more for coffee when they experienced a good CX or 14% more for a hotel stay. Overall, a large chunk of customers are willing to pay 13-18% more on products when offered a good CX.

• 89% of companies compete primarily based on CX.

  In fact, over two-thirds of all marketers responsible for a company’s CX say their companies compete almost entirely on a positive CX. Plus, 81% suggest that their company will compete primarily based on CX in two years.

• The average customer tells at least six people about their positive CX experience.

  And that’s 72% of the customer base, meaning that if you had 100 customers with a positive customer experience, 72 of them would tell 432 people about your brand.

Positive Customer Experience Statistics

If it weren’t made obvious already, a positive customer experience matters. But, even if over 400 new people hear about your brand, does this really make a difference? Here’s what the facts say:

• 40% of customers prefer self-service over human contact.

  Further, even if the majority still prefers human contact, 70% of today’s customers expect companies to have a self-service option. That means that companies without this option will stand out.

• 92% of consumers trust positive reviews from friends and family more than advertising.

  And while this is the largest factor in word-of-mouth marketing, a considerable 88% of customers also trust online reviews written by strangers much as they trust recommendations from friends and family.

• Of those who experience a positive CX, 77% will recommend the brand/company to a friend.

  Even further, 72% will recommend the brand/company to 6 or more people. This means that a positive CX greatly increases brand exposure.

Negative Customer Experience Statistics

As much as a positive customer experience can increase company sales and exposure, a negative customer experience can also do a lot of damage. A customer may tell others about their negative experience or switch to a competitor. Here are the facts:

• 32% of customers will stop doing business with a brand they love after a bad CX.

  In more detail, 17% of U.S. customers reported that they would stop doing business with a brand they love after one bad experience, while 59% would walk away after several bad experiences.

• Following a poor customer experience, up to 89% of consumers have switched to doing business with a competitor.

  And this isn’t surprising, given that customer experience drives over 60% of brand loyalty, which is more than price and product combined.

• U.S. companies lose roughly $75 billion per year to poor customer service.

  And this number continues to increase over time, as the current figure has increased by $13 billion compared to two years prior. That means that the amount of money lost to a poor CX increased by 18%.

Customer Opinions on Customer Experience

It’s clear that a positive customer experience is important for the success of any company or business, but what do customers themselves think about it? Well, the truth is that even customers understand how crucial a good CX is. Here are the facts:

• A massive 96% of customers say that customer service is an essential factor in brand loyalty.

  This aligns with the fact that 89% of customers will switch brands following a poor experience and that CX drives over 60% of brand loyalty.

• 66% of consumers expect companies to understand their needs.

  With that in mind, the 16 most common needs customers prioritize are functionality, price, Convenience, Experience, Design, Reliability, Performance, Efficiency, Compatibility, Empathy, Fairness, Transparency, Control, Options, Information, and Accessibility. [8]

• A positive experience and personalization are the most important aspects of CX for customers.

  A considerable 74% of customers have a chance of buying a product based on a positive CX alone, while 80% are more likely to buy when brands offer experiences personalized to them.

Impact of Customer Experience on Businesses

There’s no doubt that companies have access to these same statistics, so it’s interesting to see how they prioritize CX. According to our research:

• Of the companies that focus on CX, there’s an 80% increase in revenue.

  Despite this, 60% of marketers are actually concerned that their company is at a competitive disadvantage due to CX. That means that many companies don’t believe they’re doing enough to earn that 80% increase in revenue.

• On average, companies that prioritize CX achieve 4-8% higher than their competitors.

  Which makes sense, given that customers are willing to pay up to 18% more for products when given a positive CX.

• Companies that focus on CX have 1.5 times as many engaged employees.

  This is outlined by the fact that 79% of employees who work at companies with a great customer experience are at least “moderately engaged” or even “highly engaged.”

• Companies that focus on CX are 60% more profitable.

  And this is unsurprising, given that loyal customers are five times more likely to be returning customers and four times more likely to recommend the brand to new customers.

Customer Experience Trends and Predictions

Given that customer experience is currently one of the most important aspects of running a business, it’s easy to see why CX would continue to become more important over time.

In part, this can particularly be explained by the sheer quantity of options available to consumers. If you can buy coffee from ten businesses instead of just three, the value of customer experience becomes more pronounced. Here are some other CX trends:

• By 2025, AI could power 95% of customer interactions.

  This number is so high due to the automation of phone calls and the implementation of chatbots. However, you might be surprised to know that currently, customer interactions are already 85% AI-powered.

• As of 2019, spending on CX technologies reached $508 billion.

  From 2018 to 2019 alone, spending on CX technologies increased by 7.9%. Further, spending is expected to reach $641 billion by 2022.

Customer Experience FAQ

1. What are the three main components of customer experience?

   The three main components of customer experience are:

   • Discovery. This component is all about how companies contact customers and how they make that contact relevant and meaningful. Having good discovery is all about knowing where and when to market.

   • Engagement. This component is about how customers interact with the company and company products. Having good engagement is all about finding ways for customers to interact with products in new ways that yield new benefits.

   • Delivery. This component combines speed with consistency. Customers want you to deliver products on time and in good condition.

2. How many people do you tell about a good customer experience?

   The average customer tells 6 people about a good customer experience. Conversely, only 13% of customers who’ve had a negative experience tell 15 or more people.

3. What do customers value the most in an experience?

   What customers value the most is a positive customer experience and personalization. A considerable 74% of customers have a chance of buying a product based on a positive CX alone, while 80% are more likely to buy when brands offer experiences personalized to them.

4. What is the goal of customer experience?

   The main goal of customer experience is to improve how customers interact with your brand. In turn, improving this interaction increases profits, as companies that focus on CX are 60% more profitable, and have an 80% increase in revenue.

   Additionally, there are many other benefits such as improved employee engagement, and better customer reviews and recommendations.

5. How do you identify customer needs?

   To help identify customer needs you use use your existing customer data and study what your competitors are doing. Reviewing your existing customer data allows for you to see any trends over the years. Try to identify any patterns.

   Studying competitors can help you identify what the customer may need. Try to see what your competitors are doing right or wrong to help you adjust you change anything about your customer experience process.

Conclusion

With at least 73% of consumers believing that customer experience is a deciding factor when making purchasing decisions, having a positive CX is an undeniably important aspect of any successful business. For example, 74% of customers have a chance of buying a product based on a positive CX alone.

On top of that, CX is highly competitive. Up to 89% of consumers have switched to doing business with a competitor after a poor CX experience. Further, 96% of customers say that CX is a vital factor for brand loyalty.

Companies are aware of this, as 89% of companies compete primarily based on CX. This focus can lead to 10-15% increases in revenue and customers paying up to 16% more for individual products.

Overall, CX is a crucial aspect of any business and will continue to be going forward.

Sources:

1. Sitel Group. “CX Appeal: What is the Role of Customer Experience in Purchasing Decisions?” Accessed on October 12th, 2021.

2. 10 to 8. “Why Customer Experience Will Be The Deciding Factor for Your Brand.” Accessed on October 12th, 2021.

3. Gartner. “Key Findings From the Gartner Customer Experience Survey.” Accessed on October 12th, 2021.

4. SuperOffice. “The Value of Customer Self-Service in the Digital Age.” Accessed on October 12th, 2021.

5. BigCommerce. “Word of Mouth Marketing in 2021: How to Create a Strategy for Social Media Buzz Skyrocket Referral Sales.” Accessed on October 12th, 2021.

6. PWC. “Experience is everything: Here’s how to get it right.” Accessed on October 12th, 2021.

7. Forbes. “Businesses Lose $75 Billion Due To Poor Customer Service.” Accessed on October 12th, 2021.

8. HubSpot. “16 Types of Customer Needs (and How to Solve for Them).” Accessed on October 13th, 2021.

9. Epsilon. “Tap Into Forward Thinking.” Accessed on October 13th, 2021.

10. Oracle. “Global CX Insights Report.” Accessed on October 13th, 2021.

11. Qualtrics. “Employee Engagement Benchmark Study, 2017.” Accessed on October 13th, 2021.

12. Finance Digest. “AI will power 95% of customer interactions by 2025.” Accessed on October 13th, 2021.

13. Forbes. “10 Stats Showing The Growth Of CX.” Accessed on October 13th, 2021.

Author

Jack Flynn

Jack Flynn is a writer for Zippia. In his professional career he’s written over 100 research papers, articles and blog posts. Some of his most popular published works include his writing about economic terms and research into job classifications. Jack received his BS from Hampshire College.