You’re well aware that good customer service is important for your business. But when things get busy, it’s all too easy to get short with customers, put people on hold, and forget just how much a good customer experience affects your bottom line. The following stats will make it easy to keep this part of your business top of mind at all times.
Why bad customer service is worse for your business than your customers:
1. 70% of buying experiences are based on how the customer feels they are being treated. – McKinsey
2. 55% of consumers would pay more for a better customer experience. – Defaqto Research
3. 59% of consumers would try a new brand or company if they thought it would be a better service experience. – American Express, 2011
4. 89% of consumers began doing business with a competitor following a poor customer experience. – RightNow Customer Experience Impact Report 2011
5. A customer is four-times more likely to buy from a competitor if the problem is service-related vs. price or product-related. – Bain & Co.
Why putting customers on hold should be a rare exception and not standard operating procedure:
6. 94% of most marketing budgets is spent on persuading a customer to call.
7. But only 6% of most marketing budgets is spent on how to handle the customer’s call.
8. 60% of callers put on “silent” hold hang up.
9. 34% of callers who hang up do not call back.
10. 93% of callers placed on “silent hold” estimated their on hold time to be two and a half-times longer than it actually was.
– All stats this section: North American Telecom
Why, if you have no alternative than to put customers on hold, you should at least try to keep them occupied:
11. Callers will stay on the line up to three minutes longer with an on-hold message. – Sales & Marketing Magazine
12. 88% of callers prefer on-hold messages versus dead silence or radio.
13. 68% of callers stay on the line if they hear relevant information.
– Teleconnect Magazine
14. 16-20% of callers made a purchasing decision based on information they heard while on-hold. – U.S. West Communications
15. Businesses experience a 20% increase in requests for additional products and services that are mentioned while customers are put on hold. – AT&T
