Zendesk Releases New Research With Insights on the Power of Service in Influencing Customer Loyalty

Zendesk, Inc. (NYSE: ZEN) today released the Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report 2020, analyzing how businesses can drive customer loyalty, what matters most to people when they engage with businesses, and what differentiates leading companies from their competitors. The annual report is based on global survey results and the Zendesk Benchmark, an index of product usage data from more than 45,000 global companies using Zendesk and the gold standard of data on how companies use their customer experience solutions.

Customer expectations are at an all-time high, and loyalty is fleeting. According to the report, half of customers will switch to a competitor after just one bad experience, and 80 percent will leave after multiple bad experiences. The research also reveals that service is a primary driver of customer loyalty, second only to price in determining whether customers feel loyal to a brand.

The weight that customers place on service continues to increase. Gartner’s recent report, Delivering Relevant Content and Knowledge to Customers Is Key to Great Customer Service (Gartner subscription required) predicts that, “By 2023, organizations at advanced stages of digital transformation will find that poor customer experience is their biggest barrier to further success.”

“We are in an entirely new era of customer expectations to such an extent that service can make or break a company,” said Elisabeth Zornes, chief customer officer at Zendesk. “To build a loyal customer base and truly differentiate themselves, companies of all sizes across industries and geographies must provide an easy and frictionless customer experience, earning and re-earning a customer’s business with every interaction.”

While customer expectations continue to rise, the Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report 2020 shows that companies aren’t living up to these expectations. For example, according to the report many of the channels people want for fast, efficient resolution aren't being offered — only a third of companies offer self-service options like knowledge base help centers, and less than a third offer chat, social messaging, in-app messaging, bots or communities.

At the same time, businesses are facing competition from companies that are providing purpose-driven solutions that are in service of the customer, raising the stakes for everyone. Well-established and iconic brands like Disney, Levi Strauss & Co., and the Four Seasons remain one step ahead because they invest in new technologies in continued pursuit of an easy and excellent customer experience.