Top Customer Service Statistics to Know in 2024 [Latest Data]

Your customers not only remember the quality of your product but also the service you deliver. Your customer service shapes the story that people will tell about you. This is where your brand's voice finds its true pitch, not in the echoes of advertisements but in the soft-spoken language of care and attentiveness. Your service experiences greatly impact your users — and we have solid customer service statistics to show for it. Let’s get into them. 

What are customer service statistics?

Customer service statistics are quantitative data points that measure the effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction levels associated with a business's customer service or contact center operations. They track everything from how quickly customer questions are answered to how satisfied people are with the help they receive. These insights not only highlight what's working well but also identify where improvements can be made, helping businesses fine-tune their customer service strategy to make every customer interaction count. 

30+ customer service statistics to watch out for in 2024 

Your customer service is the competitive differentiator you need beyond the product’s value. To get started, let’s look at the statistics to define your customer service priorities this year. 

What do customer service priorities look like? 

2024 will define the way customer service is perceived by experts and customers. Let’s begin with what the customer service industry believes are the major impact drivers in defining great customer experience.  

Improving CX is the fastest-growing priority area for customer service leaders of tomorrow. 

But a Gartner survey of 250 customer service leaders reveals some interesting trends in the industry. 

70% of leaders are looking to deploy tech to truly tap into the voice of the customer and drive their service experiences in 2024. 

Meanwhile, 65% will work to ensure their customer service builds higher customer retention. 

Coming in close, 64% of leaders will prioritize leveling up their customer self-service to ensure faster resolutions. 

Good customer service matters to your users — and for your P&L 

We know you’re trying your best to ensure your customer service is flawless. And as it turns out, your customers probably think that too — with 58% of Americans believing customer service is improving today.  

Well, you may already believe good service boosts business growth, but we have numbers and facts to back up our claim. 

About 80% of American customers say what really makes an experience shine for them is getting a blend of “speed, convenience, knowledgeable help and friendly service.” 

In fact, the same customers are also willing to pay more for great service experiences — 43% say they wouldn’t mind shelling out more for greater convenience. Meanwhile, 42% would be happy to pay a premium if they found their experience with you friendly and welcoming.  

So unsurprisingly, delivering superior service experiences can improve your net promoter score (NPS), turn regular customers into promoters and multiply their customer lifetime value (CLV) by 14 times that of detractors. 

And if you are a B2C business, prioritizing those you serve could mean driving twice as much revenue as your peers who don’t think customer-first. 

Moreover, a study targeting roughly 42,000 customers calling in for a credit card is particularly interesting. K. Sudhir of Yale and Guofang Huang of Purdue found out that the impact of efficient customer service is greatly underestimated, with its value being a cool 50% more than previously believed. The study showed that if a customer spoke to a skilled contact center agent, they were half as likely to abandon their credit card usage. 

Impact of poor customer service is tangible

Today, customers don’t shy away from letting you know if your service is sub-par. Let’s look at some customer service statistics to know how. 

Roughly six in 10 Americans will walk away from a brand they actually like if it consistently delivers poor customer service — with almost two in 10 not giving it a second chance at all! 

But when it comes to quantifying the latter across generations, boomers seem to be the pickiest — with 44% of them abandoning a brand after a single bad experience. This same stands true for 30% of millennials and 24% of Gen Z. 

Inefficient customer service could also increase your service costs when more than seven in 10 consumers readily switch channels in case of a bad service experience.  

Struggles the customer service industry faces today 

When we teamed up with CCW Digital in 2023 for our study, "Outsmarting Adversities | Customer Service Trends & Opportunities," we dove deep into the worlds of over 300 customer service leaders. We wanted to understand the hurdles they're jumping over every day. And let me tell you, the stories we uncovered were nothing short of eye-opening. 

One of the top customer service challenges they reported was rendering disconnected experiences. Most of these organizations were dealing with fragmented customer journeys, and only a mere 22% of them reported leading their experiences with unified customer data. 

In taking a hard look at their digital gaps, 62% of surveyed leaders recognized a troubling trend: their messages aren't always lining up. From mismatched information to varying levels of service and even shifts in their brand's voice, there's a disconnect. This misalignment means they're missing the mark on delivering consistent, seamless customer service. 

Many leaders also reported an inability to truly personalize their interactions. While 53% of leaders are striving to get it right, about a third confess they're just skimming the surface, using just the basic customer details to try and tailor the conversation. 

What makes personalization even more challenging is not being able to capture meaningful data about customers — which nearly 51% of brands, for example, say they struggle with. 

Good to know: This challenge doesn’t stop almost seven in 10 customers from having high expectations.  

Staying technologically current in customer service 

Trying to manually scale up your customer service is simply not viable. The trends in the customer service industry stand as a solid testament to the growing need for intelligent automation and smart analytics. 

Our CCW Digital report also brings to light 64% of service leaders who are looking to invest in AI to improve their team’s efficiency.  

Service teams are also betting big on conversational AI, directing 69% of their new investments to better understand and map their customer journeys. 

To improve contact center agent productivity, Gartner recommends equipping them with the right technology to enhance their efficiency by up to 30%.   

But out of everything, service leaders are especially excited about using generative AI in their customer service — with over 83% of their enterprises already investing in it or planning to in the coming months. 48% of the leaders believe it will have a high impact on their virtual agents for customers — whereas, 36% believe it could truly assist agents during interactions. 

Read More: How Does Generative AI Influence Customer Experience? 

Bonus: Customer service and empathy 

Life isn’t easy in the service sphere. Whether you’re leading your team or managing call center stress, compassion goes a long way. Even more so when you have to empathize with your customers. 

Understanding where your customers come from will help you always ensure you make them comfortable in each interaction. After all, emotions subconsciously dictate their purchase decisions a whopping 95% of the time — Harvard Business School claims. 

While we are on the topic of consumer psyche, do you know what’s even more amusingly disconcerting?  

Gartner predicts that by 2026, about 75% of customers will call in — not due to an issue — but simply because they are lonely.  

This revelation is quite poignant in the way that it gives service teams like yours a call to action to be more than just problem solvers — to be listeners, companions in times of need. It also points to a need for your agents to be adept in handling emotionally tense situations — a soft skill that needs a bit of training.  

Read: Top Tips to Coach Your Customer Service Teams 

Blending generative AI with conversational AI 

Beyond the buzz, we're standing at the brink of a significant shift in AI-driven customer service. This insightful study by CCW Digital and Sprinklr cuts through the hype, offering a candid look at the true potential and current limitations of generative AI and chatbots in the customer service space. 

• What the pros think: Get the scoop on how generative AI is shaking up customer chats from those leading the charge. 
• AI or human: Figure out where AI fits best and where it's still all about the human touch, plus how ChatGPT in customer service fills the gaps. 
• Looking ahead: Spot the opportunities and watch out for the pitfalls with generative AI in the customer service scene. 

Short, sweet and to the point — your orientation into GenAI to stay ahead in the customer service game.

CCW Digital | 2023 Market Study: Generative AI and chatbots

Download the study