42 Customer Service Statistics To Move Your Business Forward

Here’s a customer service statistic that might make you rethink your approach to customer experience: 88% of service pros say customer expectations are higher than they used to be. The same research reveals that 82% say that customers ask for more than they used to. 

Our Salesforce Snapshot Survey of 350 technicians and tradespeople in the United States uncovered some eye-opening stats for field service: nearly half (47%) of appointments run off schedule, and 66% of technicians face burnout at least once a month. Plus, administrative tasks consume 30% of an average technician’s working hours — slightly more than the 29% they spend delivering their actual services. These issues put both customer service experience and potential business growth at risk.

With customers looking for top-notch experiences, it makes you wonder: are you doing enough to meet their expectations? Are you using the right customer service platforms like Service Cloud and AI technologies like Agentforce to deliver what customers want? And is your customer service the best possible representation of your brand? Whether you’re fine-tuning your customer service strategy, looking for insights about customer service rep burnout, or curious about the latest technological advancements in AI in customer service, these 42 customer service statistics offer valuable benchmarks so you can stay ahead in the future of customer service.

Table of contents

• Are customer expectations changing?
• How will service leaders meet customers’ demands?
• Are reps and mobile workers under pressure to keep up?
• How are high-performing companies responding to these customer service trends?
• Takeaway

Are customer expectations changing?

Customers demand more than ever: they want better service across more customer service channels, and they want it now. The good news? Service organizations are getting better at meeting those expectations. Our research shows that 69% of customer service reps say balancing customer service speed and quality is difficult — down from 76% in 2022. 

Here are a few more key insights: 

• 86% of reps and 74% of mobile workers say customer expectations are higher than they used to be
• 82% of reps and 76% of mobile workers say customers ask for more than they used to
• 81% of reps and 73% of mobile workers say customers expect a personal touch more than they used to
• 78% of reps and 72% of mobile workers say customers seem more rushed than they used to (back to top)

How will service leaders meet customers’ demands?

The short answer: by increasing budgets and headcount. Maybe that’s why decision makers expect service budgets to increase by an average of 23% over the next year.

Check out these numbers:

• 70% of service team leads, 62% of mobile workers, and 55% of reps say they can’t reach their goals without more budget
• 80% of decision makers expect to see an increase in budget, 76% expect an increase in headcount, and 76% foresee higher case volume

If higher budgets aren’t enough to keep pace with rising case volume, then technologies like AI agents built with Agentforce and automation could help bridge the gap. The Serviceblazer Community on Slack can help you gain valuable insights on how to tackle these challenges and set up for success with AI. (back to top) 

Are reps and mobile workers under pressure to keep up?

The data is clear: today’s customer service professionals are spread thin. In fact, 77% of reps and 74% of mobile workers report increased and more complex workloads compared to just one year ago. 

How does that affect morale? Our research suggests a few answers:  

• 79% of reps and 73% of mobile workers say they support more products and services than they did a year ago
• 65% of reps and 66% of mobile workers say their cases are more complex than ever
• 56% of reps and 57% of mobile workers say they’ve experienced burnout at work
• 69% of service decision makers say rep attrition is a major or moderate challenge (back to top)

How are high-performing companies responding to these customer service trends?

You might be thinking: OK, research is fine. But what do I do about it? Here are five practical ways that high-performing service leaders are tackling today’s most pressing challenges:

1. They’re investing in field service technology

Our guide on field service trends shows that 90% of decision makers at organizations with mobile workers are embracing the future of field service. They’re investing in the right field service management software, field service AI, and field service automation to enhance mobile worker productivity and experience and improve field service metrics. Our Salesforce Snapshot Survey shows that 81% of this overworked field service workforce believe that AI agents will help them work more efficiently. These workers estimate they waste more than 7 hours per week on inefficient, unproductive, or low-value tasks. Implementing agent-first field service with AI could significantly benefit field service technicians by reducing administrative tasks by 35%. This could help to alleviate burnout and free them up to focus more on service delivery, ultimately boosting customer satisfaction.  

2. They’re making the most out of AI

If you’re like most service professionals, you might be curious how AI like agents built with Agentforce will impact your work. The preliminary results are in — and the results are already impressive: over 90% of organizations with AI report time and cost savings, and 87% of service decision makers say this technology helps them better serve customers.

3. They’re enabling self-service

Our research shows that 61% of customers would prefer to use self-service to resolve simple issues. When self-service is done right, your customers can resolve problems faster and your reps can focus their time and attention on higher-value tasks like revenue growth through upselling and cross-selling. Just as important, data from our research shows that self-service is a major differentiator between high-performing and underperforming companies: 80% of high-performing service organizations provide a self-service solution, compared to just 56% of low performers.

4. They’re unifying their data

We found that 26% of reps say they often lack context about a customer’s situation, while 80% believe that better access to other departments’ data would improve their work. 

Perhaps that’s why the highest-performing service organizations are unifying their data to achieve more cohesive and compelling customer service experiences. For example, many teams are connecting customer relationship management (CRM) systems and sharing accountability for metrics like customer satisfaction scores (CSAT), customer effort scores, and Net Promoter Scores (NPS).

5. They’re automating processes

Inefficient processes and manual taskwork monopolize service and field service professionals’ time and jeopardize the customer experience. That might explain why so many service organizations are turning to customer automation software to enable greater efficiency at scale, with 83% of decision makers planning to increase investments in automation over the next year. (back to top)

Takeaway

When you consider these 42 customer service statistics, the conclusion is clear: by understanding customer needs, embracing innovation, and committing to continuous improvement, high-performing service organizations are finding new ways to navigate a highly competitive market. (back to top)

Chris Jensen and Devon McGinnis contributed to this blog article.