Every year, customer experience (CX) becomes more important. Today, it’s second to none for top company priorities.
In the future, great customer service and support can open the possibility for more sales through word of mouth, positive online reviews, and loyal customers. Below, you can see that CX has measurable financial benefits.
Customer Journey Trends
The customer journey is the route you take a customer through to encourage them to purchase a product or service.
Today, companies do this with CRM software tools, which foster and grow the customer journey to maximize your customer’s satisfaction and your sales rep’s ability to convert prospects.
Nowadays, AI-powered tools are becoming more popular because of their ability to handle massive amounts of data in a short period of time. If you’d like to go through data quickly, you can look into customer engagement tools with a proven track record. Keep in mind, your choice depends on your customer experience priorities.
These trends also apply to small businesses, which can use tools to help cover ground with a smaller amount of employees.
The customer journey affects CX by ensuring the customer has the best and most fluid service.
For 2023, there are a few key statistics that you should know for CX. The numbers don’t lie and provide valuable insight into how important a positive customer experience actually is.
Customer Experience Statistics
Below are the 43 CX statistics that you should study and understand, which are broken down into sections.
Performance and Growth
Regarding how companies value CX and its potential for growth, most companies are optimistic but aren’t implementing their strategies to the fullest.
- While 71% of companies cite CX as their top performance measure, only 13% of them rate their CX a nine out of ten. (Dimension Data)
- Regarding both in store and online, 69% of customers will buy from brands that offer the better CX. (Forrester)
- For top-performing companies, CX is the highest priority for the next five years. This is 12% higher than product importance and 25% higher than pricing priorities. (SuperOffice)
- 88% of companies prioritize CX in their contact centers. (Deloitte)
- Only 44% of companies are increasing their CX budgets next year. (SuperOffice)
- Companies investing in omnichannel marketing went up over 60% since 2010. (PWC)
- 70% of marketing leaders expect to use more online customer data in the next couple of years. (CMO)
- Improving data analysis is very important for the CX of 65% of companies. (SuperOffice)
The very first stat says it all: a vast majority of companies regard CX as the highest priority, but few value their current CX strategy.
Competition
Today, more companies regard CX strategies as the best way to compete with rival companies.
- CX is a competitive differentiator for 81% of companies. (Dimension Data)
- The number of companies that compete on CX went up 30% since 2010. (Gartner)
- Companies with excellent CX have a growth in revenue between 4-8% compared with competitors. (Bain)
- Companies with “above-average” CX perform better than their competitors. (Experience Matters)
- Companies with good CX have 1.5 times more engaged employees than their non-CX oriented competitors. (Experience Matters)
- Brands with better customer experience than their competitors have 5.7 times more revenue. (RCE)
As you can see, excellent customer service goes a long way with the competition. It’s more profitable, the employees are more willing to sell your products and services, and it gives you a bigger market share.
Brand Loyalty and Word of Mouth
So, what happens when you’ve beaten your competitors and a customer remains loyal to your brand? Hint: when it’s good, it’s great.
- CX is important for 96% of customers when they remain loyal to a brand. (Microsoft)
- A delightful experience with CX influences 73% of customers for brand loyalty. (PWC)
- The biggest reason customers switch brands is the feeling of being underappreciated. (Vonage)
- Customers will pay 16% more for products from companies with good CX. (Amex)
- 33% of customers will leave a brand they’re loyal to after one awful experience. (PWC)
- 72% of satisfied customers will tell six people on average, while 16% of unsatisfied customers tell 15 or more people. (Esteban Kolsky)
- 66% of customers will share their personal information with brands if they receive value. (Accenture)
- 85% of companies outperform their competitors if they provide an emotional connection. (Gallup)
- 80% of customers will do business with a company if they can provide an emotional connection. (Epsilon)
There are quite a few takeaways from this set. First, brand loyalty depends on CX. Customer interactions need to be valuable and emotional, if companies want loyalty.
Next, customers will pay more, and go out of their way, for a company that excels in CX. But if customers don’t have a positive experience with a brand, they won’t buy from the same brand again.
And last, although you should avoid bad CX at all costs, its damage value isn’t as large as the value gained from good CX. Meaning, prioritize pleasurable experiences and you shouldn’t dwell upon terrible experiences .
Therefore, customer retention is one of the most important goals you can strive for.
CEOs
Today’s CEOs, are increasingly relying on CX to grow their business and drive competitive growth.
- A plurality, 39%, of CEOs believe CX is the best method in creating a competitive advantage. (Walker)
- 64% of companies with a customer-centric CEO believe they are more profitable than companies that don’t have one. (Genesys)
- 59% of companies with a customer-centric CEO have higher rates of revenue. (Genesys)
- 63% of CEOs want to place CX as their biggest investment opportunity. (Business2Community)
- 90% of CEOs believe CX has the largest impact on their business. (PWC)
- More than twice as many Fortune 100 companies have a c-level CX position than Fortune 500 companies. (CCO Council)
More than ever before, top-level executive managers are looking at experience statistics to drive the direction of their company. Their end goal is to increase profitability.
Revenue
The numbers speak for themselves. Better CX translates to higher revenue.
- Customer-centric companies are 60% more profitable than those not focused on CX. (SuperOffice)
- Poor CX cost companies $1.6 trillion when customers switched to competitors. (Accenture)
- Companies that earn $1 billion per year can expect an increase of $700 million in three years if they invest more in CX. (Temkin Group)
- Customer journey map implementation can save companies 15-20% from the cost of their services. (McKinsey)
- High-quality customer service can save the company 33% from the cost of their services. (Deloitte)
- A 2% increase in retaining customers equals about a 10% cut in overall costs. (SuperOffice)
And there’s also the flip side to revenue growth. Bad CX leads to financial costs too large for any company to ignore.
Social Media and Mobile
Personalized experience and customer feedback happens mostly on social media channels and a company’s mobile site. That’s why most companies are investing in their success.
- Social media is the first and best option for interacting with customers; 68% of consumers use social media to ask questions about or research brands (Emplifi)
- 33% of customers will leave a brand they’re loyal to after one unpleasant experience. (PWC)
- 50% of customers won’t visit a poorly designed mobile site, even if they’re loyal to the brand. (Sweor)
- 57% of customers won’t recommend a brand with a poorly designed mobile site. (Sweor)
- 58% of internet traffic is through mobile, which is why 84% of companies are focusing on their mobile sites CX. (StatCounter and SuperOffice)
AI and Self Service
These two aspects are the newest trends that will increase in usage for 2023. Most companies are adopting chatbots. A lot of customers prefer this technology because of their frictionless ability to guide them across a site.
- Just over two-thirds of customers prefer self-service CX to a live representative. (Zendesk)
- Companies expect AI and machine learning CX to grow in usage from 25% of companies in 2019 to 40% of companies in 2023. (Gartner)
- 90% of companies plan to implement AI and machine learning for their CX strategies. (Gartner)
You can use many of these statistics as key takeaways to better inform your position on CX. Apply them either through direct implementation of customer service software tools or more internal changes regarding the way your company approaches sales.
There are many options available to improve the customer experience, so why not do your best in fostering the best possible relationship?If you want to see more about Customer Experience, feel free to reach out to us at marketing@dyl.com
