Gladly Report Proves Personalized Customer Service is Vital to Creating Customer Loyalty

New customer expectation survey reveals consumers spend more with retail commerce brands that provide a tailored customer experience

Gladly, the company that makes customer service Radically Personal, released its 2022 Customer Expectations Report. According to the report, customer service plays an essential role in customer loyalty – with 72% of respondents stating they’d be “willing to spend more with a brand that provides a great customer service experience.”

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“Customer loyalty has been proven to be the single most important indicator for a company’s long term success. And given the economic uncertainties of , this is ever more important and ever more challenging,” said Joseph Ansanelli, CEO of Gladly. “Our annual customer expectation report again shows that a foundation for loyalty is world class and personalized customer service.”

With 44% of shoppers saying they want brands to know their names and past purchases and 66% of shoppers saying they prefer brands that can make personal recommendations based on their likes, personalization that builds connection is an essential part of customer loyalty. In fact, according to the survey, 1 in 4 customers have purchased items that were recommended by customer service agents in the past, with an even higher number (4 in 10) reported specifically for Millennials.

Privacy also comes into play here as that same 44% of shoppers mentioned above say they only want brands to know their information, not advertisers. Customer service is a great way for online brands and e-commerce teams to get to know their customers without crossing any privacy lines.

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Other notable findings and trends from Gladly’s report include:

• Two bad service experiences can lose a customer for life: 42% of shoppers say they would stop buying from a brand altogether after just two bad service experiences.

• A quick and easy experience is key: 58% of respondents said they would rather stand in line at the DMV than jump through hoops to get in touch with a live agent.

• Options are everything: 42% of customers ranked reaching customer service agents on their preferred channel as the most important attribute in the customer experience.

• Meet customers where they’re at: Phone is still the #1 preferred method of contact with email taking the #2 slot above chat. Now, chat is most often used for simple questions or as a backup to a phone conversation.

• Word of mouth matters: 59% of respondents said they’d recommend a brand to a friend because of its customer service, with women being the most likely at 64%.

• People-first, not tickets: 73% of consumers want to be treated like a person, not a case number.

Now more than ever shoppers want a personalized experience that is efficient, yet human.  Customer service presents a unique opportunity to stand out among millions of brands. By making both the consumer and support hero experiences seamless, brands open the door to creating deeper customer connections and loyalty. Personalized customer service maintains the human aspect of shopping that will bring customers back again and again.

The report, created in collaboration with Stitch Marketing Research, collected insights from 1,500 retail customers across the U.S. The full 2022 Customer Expectations .

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