Customer service statistics: What matters in 2025?

If you care about growth, you have to care about customer experience. The good news: we have solid numbers in 2025 that show what actually moves the needle. The better news: you don’t need a giant team to act on them.

The cost of a bad experience

More than half of consumers will switch after just one bad experience. (Zendesk)
73% of consumers switch after multiple bad experiences. (Zendesk)
56% of consumers rarely complain, they just switch silently. (Zendesk)
89% of consumers have switched to a competitor after a poor customer experience. (Help Scout)

What this means: a single bitter experience, a missing context loop, or a slow reply can cost you the customer. Build for fast context, clear ownership, and simple self-service.

The upside of great Customer Experience (CX)

75% of consumers spend more with businesses that provide a good CX. (Zendesk)
60% have purchased based solely on the service they expect to receive. (Zendesk)
60% of consumers have chosen one brand over another based on the service they expect to receive. (HubSpot)
93% of customers are likely to make repeat purchases with companies that offer excellent customer service. (Help Scout)
40% of organizations view customer service as a revenue driver, not just a cost center. (HubSpot)
86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a great customer experience. (Help Scout)
72% of customers will share a positive experience with six or more people. (Help Scout)
Customer-obsessed organizations report faster revenue growth and better retention. (Forrester via Zendesk)

Takeaway: CX isn't a warm and fuzzy initiative. It is a revenue lever.

Personalization is now table stakes

76% of customers expect personalization. (Zendesk)
46% of customers expect more personalized communications to trust a brand. (HubSpot)
Brands that excel at personalization report stronger loyalty. (Deloitte via Zendesk)

Practical move: unify your customer timeline so agents (and automations) always see history, intent, and next best action.

AI, instant answers, and what customers want

51% of consumers prefer interacting with bots when they want immediate service. (Zendesk)
54% of customer service leaders believe a human assisted by AI is the best choice for complex requests. (HubSpot)
CX leaders expect AI assistants across the customer journey within the next few years. (Zendesk)
90% of CX Trendsetters think AI will resolve 8 in 10 issues without a human in the near future. (Zendesk)

The pattern is clear: fast, accurate, 24/7 first responses become your default. Humans handle the exceptions and the relationship.

Security and trust still make or break decisions

70% of consumers won’t buy from companies they view as weak on security. (Zendesk)
60% think businesses are falling short on data security. (Zendesk)

If you are adopting AI, document data flow, retention, and access. Make that clarity visible to customers.

Key takeaways

Map your top 5 intents: review the last 100 conversations, group by intent, write one-sentence resolutions
Create instant answers: add FAQ entries and saved replies for those intents; connect the knowledge base answers to your bot
Set response targets: chat first reply under 2 minutes; email under 4 hours; add these targets for your team
Personalize the basics: greet by name, reference the last interaction, remember preferred channel and timezone
Track outcomes weekly: CSAT, first contact resolution, median resolution time; fix the slowest intent first
Show security clearly: publish a privacy policy, terms, subprocessor and other pages to talk about how you handle data and security