What makes a support experience bad? Simply put, it’s when things start to get difficult for the customer. It’s difficulty of reaching a support agent, limiting support options or making customers wait too long for an answer. It could also mean not solving the customer’s problem at all. Here are 25 customer service beliefs, habits and traditions that wreak havoc on your business:

1. by Helprace
Get Started
25WorstCustomerServiceMistakes
and WhatTheyCostYourBusiness

2. Badserviceisthemainreasonpeoplestopdoing
businesswithcompanies
non-personal,
automatedservice
waittimesare
waytoolong
staffaren’t
trainedproperly
customersfeel
unappreciated
over60% ofcustomerswillmovetoacompetitorduetobadservice

3. Badcustomerserviceexperiencesspreadmuch
quickerthangreatones
95+5+t95%
ofcustomerssharetheirbadexperiencewithothers
1 angry
customer
20detractors

4. Customerexpectationsaregettinghigher,yet
manycompaniesstruggletokeepup
U.S.brandscontinutetolose $ 84 million / year
duetopoorcustomerservice

5. Customersdon’tfeelliketheyowecompanies
asecondchance
ofcustomersavoidbusinessesfor
anumberofyearsafterabadexperience
40+60+V
58+42+V
40%
refusetodealwiththecompanyafter
onebadexperience59%

6. GenXclientsarenexttoleaveyou
High-payingcustomersleavefirst
Price-sensitivecustomersleavenext
B2Bcustomersarelasttoleave
Badserviceputsyourmostvaluablecustomers
atriskofleaving

7. 91+9+X
Sayingthewrongthingindifficultsituationscan
alienatecustomers
servicerepsusethecustomer’snameonly20%ofthetime
70%ofpurchasesarebasedonhowthecustomerfeels
25%ofcustomersswitchtoacompetitorduetorudestaff
negativewordslike“can’t”,“won’t”or“don’t”reducescustomereffortby 18.5%
Avoiding

8. Customerexpectationsaren’tbeingexceeded
onaregularbasis
talktocompetentservicerepresentatives
recievepersonalizedservice
reachaservicerepresentativequickly
Customers want to:

9. Notreducingtheamountofworkcustomers
mustdotogetissueresolved
91+9+A91% ofunhappycustomerswillnotwillinglypurchaseagain
91+9+A70% willbuyagainiftheirissueisresolvedtotheirliking
87+13+A 87%ofcustomerssharegoodexperienceswithothers

10. Whatthecompanybelievesisnotwhatthe
customerpercieves
yetonly1%feelthatcompaniesare
consistentlydeliveringgreatservice
65% arefrustratedbyinconsistentexperiencesacrosschannels
80% ofcompaniesbelievetheyoffergreatservice

11. Customersdon’tlikeitwhenyoudon’t
followupwiththem
Overhalf of allcustomersthataredisappointedwillnotcomplain(butquietlyleaveyou)
70% ofthosethatlost$1to$5
willbuyagain
54% ofthosethatlostover
$100willbuyagain
46% ofthosethatlost$1to$5
willbuyagain
19% ofthosethatlostover
$100willbuyagain
Ifcomplaintsarenotresolved: Ifcomplaintsareresolved:

12. Constantlyputtingcustomers“onhold”
drivesthemtoswitch
29 percentswitchbecaysethey’reannoyedbyincompetentstaff
32 percentswitchbecausethey’refedupwithspeakingtomultipleagents
25 percentswitchbecausethey’retiredofbeingputonhold

13. 56+44+V
Inadequatelytrainingsupportagents
incommunicationskills
Employersdon’tdoenoughtodriveculturechangeandcommunicationinitiatives
Businessesseeonly20%ofculturechangeinitiativesmaterialize
56%ofcustomershavetore-explainorexerthighefforttoresolveanissue
20+80+V

14. 80+20+R
Keepingpromisesisn’thighontheagenda
amongmanybusinesses
Over80% ofcustomersdon’tfeellikebrandsarekeepingtheirpromises
...andthat’senoughtomakethemswitch!

15. 50+50+R
Servicerepsaren’tbeinghumanor
empatheticenough
Ofallimprovements,50% believecompaniesneedtofocuson
“morehumanservice”

16. 80+20+R
Businessesareignoringrecurringissues
ornotaddressingthem
Over80% saythatcompaniesdon’thavethecontextoftheirlastconversation

17. 91+9+R
Socialmediaquestionsaren’tbeinganswered
quicklyenough
Over91% ofquestionsonsocialmediaaren’tansweredontimeoratall

18. Companiesaren’ttrackingtheirconversation
history
Over80% saythatcompaniesdon’thavethecontextoftheirlastconversation
80+20+R

19. Negativereviewsdriveawaypotential
customers
Newsofbadcustomerservicereachestwiceasmanypeopleasnewsofgoodservice
= =
24%ofAmericanspostreviewsorcommentsaboutproductsand
customerserviceexperiences
84% willnotpurchasefromabusinesswithbadreviews

20. Unhappycustomerswouldratherkeepsilent
thanreachouttoyou
24% of customerswaitandseeifthecompanywouldtake
actionorshowinitiativetosolveanissue
complainingisn’tworththeirtimeoreffort
25+75+ttheybelievecomplainingwon’tdoanygood;noonewilllisten
theydon’tknowhoworwheretocomplain
Customers don’t complain because...

21. Customersdon’tliketorepeatthemselves
(buttheyoftenhaveto)
66% of customers
reportedlyhadtoaskforthe
sameinformationtwice
25% of customers
arebeingtransferred
fromagenttoagent

22. Whilehumanserviceisimportant,speedisalso
importantincustomerservice
Valuing their time
isthemostimportantthingacompany
candotomakecustomershappy
40%
ofcustomersexpectresponseswithinsixhoursyet...
only36% ofvendorsrespondthatquickly
Howlongittakesforvendors
torespond:
36%
21%
18%
7%

23. Frustratedcustomersdon’tcomeback
(theyarefrustrated!)
40%avoidthevendorfor3+yearsafterabadexperience
91%offrustratedcustomerswillnevercomeback
...whenyouresolvetheircomplaints,theydocomeback!
56+44+V
91+9+R

24. Multichannelsupportstilllagsbehindin
manyorganizations
40% sayabettermobileexperiencecouldhavekeptthemfromswitching
65% arefrustratedbyinconsistent
experiencesacrosschannels
62% havetorepeatedlycontactacompanytoresolveanissue

25. Only10%ofmerchantsareabletoofferstellar
customerservice!
75% ofcustomersbelieveittakestoolongtoreachaliveagent
63%ofcompaniesexpecttospendmoreonthecustomerexperience
75+25+R
63+37+R

26. Listeningtocustomerfeedbackhelpsyou
maketheproducttheywant
1 suggestion
usuallyhas36+
silentsupporters
Direct Feedback
usingemail,feedback
forms,brandcommunities
Indirect Feedback
leftonareviewsite,
commentsonanewsblog
Inferred Feedback
collectedviaanalytics,
interactions,heatmaps