One dissatisfied customer will tell 9-15 other people about their negative experience, but only 4% will tell the company. This can lead to the loss of 86% of existing customers and over 1,000 potential new customers through word-of-mouth. It costs 5 times as much to acquire a new customer as it does to retain an existing one, so poor customer experiences can be very costly for businesses. The document advocates for treating customers well to prevent negative word-of-mouth and retain existing customers.