Anytime a customer cuts ties, you experience the negative impact of customer churn. While some churn is a normal part of any business, a high churn rate can cripple the growth of any organization.



Customer Retention by the Numbers

Churn is closely tied to customer satisfaction, and for obvious reasons. Unhappy customers are more likely to leave, and when they do, they take a piece of your business with them.

More and more, companies are recognizing just how much customer happiness impacts revenue, and they’re focusing on transforming their customer experience to meet modern expectations.

In fact, according to Econsultancy’s Digital Trends 2018 report, 45% of companies cite content and experience management as their number one priority.


Great customer experience is a major competitive advantage that drives new sales—and it’s predicted to overtake price and product as the primary brand differentiator for B2B sales by 2020.

Customer retention statistics:

  1. More than 6 in 10 U.S. consumers say that their go-to channel for simple inquiries is a digital self-serve tool such as a website, mobile app, voice response system or online chat. (American Express)
  2. U.S. companies lose $136.8 billion per year due to avoidable consumer switching. (CallMiner)
  3. More than half of Americans have scrapped a planned purchase or transaction because of bad service. (American Express)
  4. 33% of Americans say they’ll consider switching companies after just a single instance of poor service. (American Express)
  5. Companies with great experiences have a 16% price premium on products and services. (PWC)
  6. 63% of U.S. consumers say they’d share more personal information with a company that offers a great experience. (PWC)
  7. One in three customers will pay more to receive a higher level of service. (Genesys)
  8. 66% of adults feel that valuing their time is the most important thing a company can do to provide them with good online customer experience. (Forrester)
  9. 69% of U.S. online adults shop more with retailers that offer consistent customer service both online and offline. (Forrester)
  10. US auto insurance carriers that have provided customers with consistently best-in-class experiences have generated two to four times more growth in new business and about 30% higher profitability than their counterparts with an inconsistent customer focus. (McKinsey)
  11. 54% of U.S. consumers say customer experience at most companies needs Improvement. (PWC)
  12.  80% of American consumers point to speed, convenience, knowledgeable help, and friendly service as the most important elements of positive customer experience. (PWC)
  13. 40% of respondents say they would pay extra for same-day delivery. (PWC)
  14. Among B2B decision makers, lack of speed in interactions with their suppliers is the number one pain point, mentioned twice as often as price. (Temkin Group)
  15. After having a positive experience with a company, 77% of customers would recommend it to a friend. (Temkin Group)
  16. 32% of all customers would stop doing business with a brand they loved after one bad experience. (PWC)
  17. 73% of U.S. consumers say that customer experience is a very important factor in their purchasing decision, so much so that even if they love a company or product, 59% will still walk away after several bad experiences and 17% will walk away after just one bad experience. (PwC)
  18.  75% of online customers said they expected help within five minutes, have used comparison services for consumer goods and trusted online reviews as much as personal recommendations. (Mckinsey)
  19. Satisfied customers are more likely to upgrade or add services and are less likely to cancel. (Mckinsey)
  20. 90% of millennials prefer smartphones for customer service/support interactions. (Genesys)
  21. Only slightly more than 10% of consumers are willing to stay on the line for over five minutes for customer service.  (Genesys)
  22. Faced with poor customer service, 20% of consumers would complain publicly via social media. (New Voice Media)
  23. 47% of consumers would recommend a business to others if it provided better customer service.  (New Voice Media)
  24. 42% of respondents have left a business due to poor customer service. (New Voice Media)
  25. 31% of respondents rated being able to contact the company through any channel as the top driver of feeling emotionally connected to a brand. (New Voice Media)
  26. 29% of consumers ranked first contact resolution as what is most valued in customer service and support interaction. (Genesys)
  27. 9 out of 10 consumers value when a business knows their account history and current activities with that company. (Genesys)
  28. 73% of all people point to customer experience as an important factor in their purchasing decisions. (PWC)
  29. 65% of U.S. customers find a positive experience with a brand to be more influential than great advertising. (PWC)
  30. 7 out of 10 consumers value having the same representative or agent help them each time they interact with the company. (Genesys)
  31. 83% of consumers say the ability to move from one assisted channel to another, such as moving from web chat to a live conversation, is desirable. (Genesys)
  32. Only 19% of businesses report that they have a dedicated customer experience team to manage the experience.  (Genesys)
  33. 30% of consumers are switch providers because they feel that there is no reward for loyalty. (CallMiner)
  34. 37% of consumers want suppliers to apologize when the service is not satisfactory. (CallMiner)
  35. 48% of all consumers have left a business’ website and made a purchase elsewhere because the experience was poorly curated. (Accenture)
  36. 37% of consumers say that it takes five or more purchases for them to consider themselves loyal to a brand. (Yotpo)
  37. 55.3% of consumers are brand loyal because they love the product. (Yotpo)
  38. After building a relationship, customer spend grows alongside trust. Eventually, loyal customers spend 67% more than new ones. (CMO)
  39. Customers enrolled in a loyalty program visit a company’s site 35% more frequently. (Thanx)
  40. When brands develop a history of transparency, nearly 9 in 10 people are more likely to give them second chances after bad experiences and 85% are more likely to stick with them during crises. (Sprout Social)

Customer service and retention statistics:

  1. 78% of consumers have bailed on a transaction because of a bad service interaction. (American Express)
  3. 58% of consumers are willing to spend more with companies that provide excellent customer service. (American Express)
  4. Following a negative customer interaction, 58% of Americans would never use that company again. (New Voice Media)
  5. 82% of consumers have stopped doing business with a company because of bad customer service. (Zendesk)
  6. 85% of consumers churn because of poor service that could have been prevented. (Kolsky)
  7. 67% of customer churn could be avoided if the business resolved the customer’s issue during their first interaction. (Kolsky)
  8. 11% of customer churn could be avoided if the business simply reached out to the customer. (Kolsky)
  9. 55% of consumers say easy access to support and information can make them fall in love with a brand. (RightNow)
  10. 52% of consumers have purchased more from a company after having a positive customer service experience. (Zendesk)
  12. 79% of high-income households avoid vendors for 2+ years after having a bad customer service experience. (Zendesk)
  13. 45% of women avoid vendors for 2+ years after having a bad customer service experience. (Zendesk)
  14. 51% of B2B companies avoid vendors after a poor customer service experience. (Zendesk)
  15. 54% of Generation X avoid vendors for 2+ years after a bad customer service experience. (Zendesk)
  16. 62% of B2B customers purchased more after a good customer service encounter. (Zendesk)
  17. 42% of B2C customers purchased more after a good customer service encounter. (Zendesk)
  18. 66% of B2B customers stopped buying after a bad customer service experience. (Zendesk)
  19. 52% of B2C customers stopped buying after a bad customer service experience. (Zendesk)
  20. Only 1% of customers feel their customer service expectations are always met. (RightNow)

Other customer retention statistics:

  1. Churn can increase by up to 15% if businesses fail to respond to customers over social media. (Gartner)
  2. Providing customers with short tutorials on product features before hanging up can reduce churn by 6%. (Harvard Business Review)
  3. A 10% increase in a company’s customer satisfaction score leads to a 12% increase in trust from customers. (Institute of Customer Service)
  4. Loyal customers are 5x as likely to repurchase, 5x as likely to forgive, 4x as likely to refer, and 7x as likely to try a new offering. (Temkin Group)
  5. 50% of customers naturally churn every 5 years. However, only 1 out of 26 unhappy customers complain; the rest simply churn. (Kolsky)

How to combat customer churn & boost customer retention

1. Ask your customers for feedback.

No one understands your customer needs better than your customers. If you want to boost customer retention, ask for customer feedback—and take real action with it.

The Net Promoter Score® (NPS®) survey is a reliable way to measure customer loyalty. It asks customers how likely they are to refer your business to others. If you allow for open responses, customers can expand on their rating with specific pain points and suggestions that may give you a fresh perspective.

Learn more about Net Promoter Score surveys.

2. Set and measure customer expectations.

When customer expectations are set and met by your sales and service teams, customers are generally happy. If you’re wondering how to measure your success there, remember that 80% of customer service organizations use customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores as their primary customer experience metric. Though CSAT only reflects a slice of the greater customer journey, it’s a good start.

Ideally, you can create a customer feedback program that sets your CSAT and NPS results alongside your churn rates, so you can draw relationships between the two. This is simple when you integrate surveys with Salesforce.

But at the very least, measuring and tracking your CSAT score will encourage the entire company to focus on customer experience and add some visibility to each customer interaction.

Learn more about customer satisfaction surveys.

3. Always add value through products and services.

Of course, you want your team to have unmatched skills, but you also want your products to walk the talk. If you offer high-quality products and services, you’ll drive customer loyalty. And a big aspect of “quality,” in the customer’s mind, is progress. Make sure your offerings are keeping up with customer expectations. Product surveys can help you do that.

Ask for customer input through product satisfaction surveys and take that feedback to heart. You may find that the majority of their concerns can be addressed with small tweaks. Or maybe customers are asking for a service that’s already on the roadmap. You’ll quickly gain visibility around customer preferences, and you can use that to make future decisions around strategy.

Learn more about product surveys.

4. Cultivate customer relationships.

Brands are in the business of relationships, not the business of sales. Your customer relationships need to be mutually beneficial. That means customers should feel invested in the future of your organization, just as you do.

Encourage customers to surface issues and share feedback on features, functionality, and interactions. And most of all, make it clear that you value their input.

As you involve customers more in your operations, they’ll be more committed to your company’s success. As you succeed, so do they. So the more work you put into understanding and connecting to your customers, the greater your shared success will be.


The numbers don’t lie. The more energy you devote to your customer relationships, the higher your customer retention. The rationale is simple: keeping a loyal customer is typically much cheaper than acquiring a new customer.

Plus, loyal customers help grow your customer base organically by referring friends and colleagues. And lastly, every customer you lose is another negative opinion you’re forced to overcome—another customer you’ll have to replace.

It’s nearly impossible to fake a relationship with your customers. A positive customer experience comes from the top, so as a business leader, you have to create a culture of cultivation by devoting resources and strategy to better customer experience.

Once you figure out how to break down the walls between your customers and your business operations, you’ll quickly see that a lot of the answers you’ve needed have been right in front of you all along—you just had to ask.

Learn more about developing an effective customer experience management program with Salesforce. Download the ebook today.

Do You Really Know What Your Customers Are Thinking?

Use these survey questions to predict and increase customer retention.

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