Research: Commonly Quoted Customer Service Statistics

I have not been able to source these statements and statistics, however they are used in many articles regarding customer service, customer loyalty, and word of mouth.

-Commonly Quoted Customer Service Statistics-

A typical business hears from only about 4% of its dissatisfied customers — 96% just go away … and 91% will never come back.

Most customers just go away because they believe their complaints will not do any good, not worth the trouble or personal stress, or don't know where or to whom to complain.

56%-70% of the customers who complain to you will do business with you again if you resolve their problem. If they feel you acted quickly and to their satisfaction, up to 96% will do business with you again, and they will probably refer other people to you

A dissatisfied customer will tell 9-15 people about it.  And approximately 13% of your dissatisfied customers will tell more than 20 people about their problem.

It costs five to six times as much to get a new (first time) customer as it does to keep a current one.

It takes 12 positive service incidents to make up for one negative incident 

Long term customers are usually more profitable.  A 5% increase in customers retention can boost profit by 25% to 125% 
 
note: more commonly quoted customer service statistics can be found on a powerpoint presentation titled "Customer Service – 101" (ppt version, html version)

WaiterBell Angle: Even though these statements and statistics are not industry specific, we believe that they can be applied to restaurants. The main idea behind these statements and statistics are that when a dissatisfied customer leaves your restaurant, they will have an impact on your restaurant's business. This impact may vary because you will not only lose their business, but possibly the business of many others. What makes this even more difficult for restaurants is that dissatisfied customers will often not complain, and once they leave the restaurant, there is nothing that can be done.

The WaiterBell system is an investment in customer service that prevents customer dissatisfaction [from poor service] and can address a service gap while the customer is still in the restaurant.