by Helprace

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25 Worst Customer Service Mistakes and What They Cost Your Business

Bad service is the main reason people stop doingbusiness with companies

non-personal, automated service

wait times are way too long

staff aren’t trained properly

customers feel unappreciated

over 60% of customers will move to a competitor due to bad service

Bad customer service experiences spread much quicker than great ones

95+5+t95%

of customers share their bad experience with others

1 angry customer

20 detractors

Customer expectations are getting higher, yet many companies struggle to keep up

U.S. brands continute to lose $ 84 million / yeardue to poor customer service

Customers don’t feel like they owe companies a second chance

of customers avoid businesses fora number of years after a bad experience40+60+V

58+42+V40%

refuse to deal with the company after one bad experience59%

Gen X clients are next to leave you

High-paying customers leave first

Price-sensitive customers leave next

B2B customers are last to leave

Bad service puts your most valuable customers at risk of leaving

91+9+XSaying the wrong thing in difficult situations can

alienate customers

service reps use the customer’s name only 20% of the time

70% of purchases are based on how the customer feels

25% of customers switch to a competitor due to rude staff

negative words like “can’t”, “won’t” or “don’t” reduces customer effort by 18.5%

Avoiding

Customer expectations aren’t being exceeded on a regular basis

talk to competent service representatives

recieve personalized service

reach a service representative quickly

Customers want to:

Not reducing the amount of work customers must do to get issue resolved

91+9+A91% of unhappy customers will not willingly purchase again

91+9+A70% will buy again if their issue is resolved to their liking

87+13+A 87%of customers share good experience s with others

What the company believes is not what the customer percieves

yet only 1% feel that companies are consistently delivering great service

65% are frustrated by inconsistent experiences across channels

80% of companies believe they offer great service

Customers don’t like it when you don’tfollow up with them

Over half of all customers that are disappointed will not complain (but quietly leave you)

70% of those that lost $1 to $5 will buy again

54% of those that lost over $100 will buy again

46% of those that lost $1 to $5 will buy again

19% of those that lost over $100 will buy again

If complaints are not resolved: If complaints are resolved:

Constantly putting customers “on hold”drives them to switch

29 percent switch becayse they’re annoyed by incompetent staff

32 percent switch because they’re fed up with speaking to multiple agents

25 percent switch because they’re tired of being put on hold

56+44+V

Inadequately training support agentsin communication skills

Employers don’t do enough to drive culture change and communication initiatives

Businesses see only 20% of culture change initiatives materialize

56% of customers have to re-explain or exert high effort to resolve an issue

20+80+V

80+20+RKeeping promises isn’t high on the agenda

among many businesses

Over 80% of customers don’t feel like brands are keeping their promises ...and that’s enough to make them switch!

50+50+RService reps aren’t being human or

empathetic enough

Of all improvements, 50% believe companies need to focus on “more human service”

80+20+RBusinesses are ignoring recurring issues

or not addressing them

Over 80% say that companies don’t have the context of their last conversation

91+9+RSocial media questions aren’t being answered

quickly enough

Over 91% of questions on social media aren’t answered on time or at all

Companies aren’t tracking their conversation history

Over 80% say that companies don’t have the context of their last conversation

80+20+R

Negative reviews drive away potential customers

News of bad customer service reaches twice as many people as news of good service

= =

24% of Americans post reviews or comments about products and customer service experiences

84% will not purchase from a business with bad reviews

Unhappy customers would rather keep silent than reach out to you

24% of customers wait and see if the company would take action or show initiative to solve an issue

complaining isn’t worth their time or effort

25+75+t they believe complaining won’t do any good; no one will listen

they don’t know how or where to complain

Customers don’t complain because...

Customers don’t like to repeat themselves(but they often have to)

66% of customers reportedly had to ask for the

same information twice

25% of customers are being transferred from agent to agent

While human service is important, speed is also important in customer service

Valuing their timeis the most important thing a company can do to make customers happy

40%

of customers expect responses within six hours yet...

only 36% of vendors respond that quickly

How long it takes for vendors to respond:

36%

21%

18%

7%

Frustrated customers don’t come back(they are frustrated!)

40% avoid the vendor for 3+ years after a bad experience

91% of frustrated customers will never come back

...when you resolve their complaints, they do come back!56+44+V 91+9+R

Multichannel support still lags behind in many organizations

40% say a better mobile experience could have kept them from switching

65% are frustrated by inconsistent experiences across channels

62% have to repeatedly contact a company to resolve an issue

Only 10% of merchants are able to offer stellar customer service!

75% of customers believe it takes too long to reach a live agent

63% of companies expect to spend more on the customer experience

75+25+R 63+37+R

Listening to customer feedback helps you make the product they want

1 suggestion usually has 36+

silent supporters

Direct Feedback using email, feedback forms, brand communities

Indirect Feedbackleft on a review site,comments on a news blog

Inferred Feedbackcollected via analytics, interactions, heatmaps