Bad Customer Service Interactions More Likely to be Shared Than Good Ones

April 15, 2013

This article is included in these additional categories:

Brand Metrics | Customer Service & Experience | Digital | PR | Social Media | Youth & Gen X

ZenDesk-sharing-customer-service-stories-Apr2013Good – and bad – customer service interactions affect brand loyalty, according to [pdf] results from a survey of more than 1,000 individuals who have had experiences with the customer service of a mid-sized company. The survey, conducted by Dimensional Research and sponsored by ZenDesk, found that 62% of B2B and 42% of B2C customers purchased more after a good experience, while 66% and 52% respectively stopped making purchases after a bad experience. Companies beware: respondents reported being more likely to share bad than good experiences.

[SPONSORED – Free Report: The State of Customer Service]

Overall, 95% of respondents who have had a bad experience said they told someone about it, compared to 87% who shared a good experience. In fact, bad experiences were more likely to be shared across each of the social circles identified. Friends or family (in person) were most commonly told, by 81% of those with bad experiences and 72% with good experiences, followed by coworkers (in person – 57% and 40%; respectively).

Respondents who suffered a bad interaction were 50% more likely to share it on social media than those who had good experiences (45% vs. 30%) and 52% more likely to share it on an online review site such as Yelp (35% vs. 23%). That’s particularly problematic for companies getting bad reviews: separate results from the survey indicate that 86% of respondents who have read negative reviews claimed that the information impacted their buying decision.

Other Findings:

  • Propensity to share bad customer service was above-average among Gen X (36-50) respondents (99%) and those with annual household income of more than $150,000 (100%). Those groups were also more likely to share positive experience (95% and 100%, respectively).
  • 54% of respondents who had shared a bad experience said they shared it more than 5 times, compared to 33% of those who had shared a good interaction.
  • 58% of respondents said they are more likely to tell others about customer service experiences now than they were 5 years ago. That figure rises to 61% among Millennials (18-35) and 65% among Gen Xers.

About the Data: Dimensional Research surveyed 1046 individuals online in early 2013. All survey participants lived in the US and had recent experience with the customer service of a mid-sized company either as a consumer (B2C) or in a business context (B2B). For the survey, “mid-sized’ was defined as any company that was not a large, well-known company or a small local or online company. 56% of respondents are female. 27% are Millennials, 35% Gen Xers and 38% Boomers (over 50). 14% had annual household income of more than $150,000.

Chart-Library-Ad-1

Explore More Articles.

Which Skills Are Important in RevOps?

Which Skills Are Important in RevOps?

9 in 10 RevOps professionals view data analysis skills as being important, a high percentage also don’t believe they need this skill for their job.

Marketing Charts Logo

Stay on the cutting edge of marketing.

Sign up for our free newsletter.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This