Customer experience statistics 2026
Recent figures on what customers do after a bad experience, how many speak up before leaving and how many people answer surveys. Every figure links to its original source, with the sample size.
Key figures
63%
of consumers say they would switch to a competitor after just one bad experience.
30%
tell no one after a bad experience, 9 points more than in 2021.
32.34%
is the average rate of surveys shown inside a website or app.
47%
of bad experiences end with the customer spending less with that company.
What happens after a bad experience
63%
of consumers say they would switch to a competitor after just one bad experience.
Source: Zendesk, CX Trends 2025 · about 5,100 consumers in 22 countries, June and July 2024
52%
of US consumers stopped buying from a brand because of a bad experience with its products or services.
Source: PwC, Customer Experience Survey 2025 · 5,511 US consumers, May and June 2025
29%
stopped buying from a brand because of poor customer service, online or in person.
Source: PwC, Customer Experience Survey 2025 · 5,511 US consumers, May and June 2025
47%
of bad experiences end with the customer spending less with that company.
Source: Qualtrics XM Institute, Consumer Experience Trends 2026 · 20,000+ consumers in 14 countries, Q3 2025
62% and 58%
Fast food and online retail are where the most customers cut spending after a bad experience.
Source: Qualtrics XM Institute, Consumer Experience Trends 2026 · 20,000+ consumers in 14 countries, Q3 2025
How many customers speak up before leaving
Most customers do not complain: they just stop coming back. Asking is the only way to find out in time.
30%
tell no one after a bad experience, 9 points more than in 2021.
Source: Qualtrics XM Institute, Consumer Experience Trends 2026 · 20,000+ consumers in 14 countries, Q3 2025
29%
tell the company directly what happened, 7.5 points fewer than in 2021.
Source: Qualtrics XM Institute, Consumer Experience Trends 2026 · 20,000+ consumers in 14 countries, Q3 2025
74%
get frustrated when they have to repeat their information to a company.
Source: Zendesk, CX Trends 2026 · consumers and CX leaders in several countries
How many people answer surveys
The channel changes everything: a survey inside your site or app gets about ten times the responses of an email survey.
3.24%
is the average response rate of surveys sent by email.
Source: Retently, The State of Survey Response Rates 2025 · 25 million invitations from 600 ecommerce brands, all of 2025
32.34%
is the average rate of surveys shown inside a website or app.
Source: Retently, The State of Survey Response Rates 2025 · 25 million invitations from 600 ecommerce brands, all of 2025
4.5%
answer NPS surveys, versus 9.76% for CSAT and 22.54% for effort (CES) surveys.
Source: Retently, The State of Survey Response Rates 2025 · 25 million invitations from 600 ecommerce brands, all of 2025
Why keeping customers is worth so much
25% to 95%
more profit from keeping just 5% more customers. It is a classic Bain estimate and the exact figure varies a lot by industry.
Source: Bain & Company (F. Reichheld y P. Schefter), E-Loyalty, 2000 · Bain's classic estimate on the economics of loyalty
What to do with these numbers
- Measure before they leave: a short NPS or CSAT after each purchase or support contact catches the customers who never complain.
- Put the survey where your customers are. Inside your site or app you will get many more responses than by email.
- Compare your results with your own industry, not with the overall average.
Free calculators to measure
Before you quote a figure
Each study uses its own sample, country and question, so their figures cannot be added up or compared with each other. Many figures that circulate online are misattributed; here we only use figures that appear in the original source or its press release.