2021 Customer Engagement & Loyalty Statistics

• 2021 Customer Engagement & Loyalty Statistics
• 2021 Loyalty Program / Loyalty Marketing Statistics
• 2021 Retail Loyalty Statistics
• 2021 Mobile/Online Marketing Statistics
• 2021 Restaurant Loyalty Statistics
• 2021 B2B Loyalty Statistics
• 2021 Travel Loyalty Statistics
• 2021 Other Loyalty Statistics

2021 Customer Engagement & Loyalty Stats

• 75% of consumers are more likely to purchase from brands whose apps allow them to transact quickly (Google)
• Businesses report that 20% to 40% of their live customer service interactions could easily be resolved using existing self-service functionalities (Gartner)
• 70% of customers who contact customer service attempt self-service during their resolution journey, but only 9% are wholly contained within self-service (Gartner)
• An estimated 80% of customers in the developed world call phone-based interactive voice response (IVR) using a smartphone (Gartner)
• By 2025, it’s predicted that proactive outbound interactions will overtake reactive inbound interactions (Gartner)
• By 2025, it’s predicted that 40% of customer service organizations will become profit centers by becoming de facto leaders in digital customer engagement (Gartner)
• By 2025, it’s predicted that 80% of customer service organizations will have abandoned native mobile apps in favor of messaging on third-party social platforms (Gartner)
• The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60-70%, while the probability of selling to a new prospect is 5% to 20% (Markinblog)
• The probability of selling to an existing customer is 3x to 35x higher than selling to a new one (Markinblog)
• 44% of companies have a greater focus on acquisition vs. 16% that focus on retention (Markinblog)
• 65% of a company’s business comes from existing customers (Markinblog)
• For most industries, the average customer retention rate is below 20% (MixPanel)
• Loyal customers spend 67% more than new customers (Markinblog)
• Only 40% of companies have an equal focus on acquisition and retention (Markinblog)
• 89% of businesses see customer experience as a key factor in driving customer loyalty and retention (Markinblog)
• When dealing with customer service: 44% of customers value “get it done right” (effectiveness, accuracy, security), 39% value “make it painless” (success with a live agent, trust in method, speed, ease of use, convenience), 17% value “on my terms” (friendliness, personalization, creativity, channel choice) (Aspect)
• 75% of consumers consider voice calls to be an effective form of customer service, 66% for chat, 58% for email and only 45% for messaging apps like Facebook Messenger (Aspect)
• 46% of consumers say that the choice to interact using their own contact method of choice to be the most important part of personalized customer service, while 27% said it’s anticipating needs/requests, 15% said it’s knowing customer names and history and 12% said it’s sending targeted/relevant offers (Aspect)
• Preference for voice call customer service rebounded by 10% in 2020 to be preferred by 43% of consumers , compared to 34%of customers in 2019 (Aspect)
• In 2020, the most preferred method of contacting customer service was via voice call (43%), followed by chat (22%), email (14%), text (8%) and messaging app (7%) (Aspect)
• In 2020, 40% of consumers reported having ceased doing business with an organization because of poor customer service, this is down 13% from 2017 (Aspect)
• 25% of customers have stopped doing business with a cable company because of poor customer service, 24% with a retail location, 22% with a financial institution, 21% with an online retailer, 20% with a wireless company and 17% with a travel company (Aspect)
• 46% of consumers have started doing more business with an online retailer because of exceptional customer service, 31% with an in-store retailer, 16% with a travel company (Aspect)
• 26% of people are willing to pay 5% more for great customer service (Aspect)
• 27% of people are willing to pay 10% more for exceptional customer service (Aspect)
• 72% of consumers are likely to rate or review a customer service experience, down 8% from 2018 (Aspect)
• Consumers are 2x more likely to rate or review a good customer service experience over a bad one (Aspect)
• When asked how important each of these marketing reasons were to them, consumers rated : alerts of new services or products at 44%, businesses checking in on them at 40%, stories about the business or organization they might find interesting at 33%, requests to participate in marketing research 32% and fundraising requests at 28% (Aspect)
• 41% of consumers prefer proactive contact from businesses to come in the form of email, 24% via voice call, and 15% via SMS/text (Aspect)
• 72% of consumers choose a live agent when contacting customer service, 28% choose self service 
• (Aspect)
• 77% of consumers will choose a live agent over self-service to help with complex customer service tasks compared to only 58% when the task is simpler (Aspect)
• 74% of consumers would prefer their customer service experience to be a longer interaction with a happy agent over a slightly faster interaction with an uninterested agent (Aspect)
• 35% of customer service agents working in the field are very satisfied with their job (Aspect)
• Marketing email messages have roughly a 20% open rate while SMS messages have roughly a 98% open rate (Mobile Marketing Watch)

2021 Loyalty Program / Loyalty Marketing Stats

• 68% of consumers agree that their loyalty is more difficult to than ever before (Clarus Commerce)
• 81% of traditional loyalty program members would join a premium loyalty program at their favorite retailer, as long as the benefits were valuable (Clarus Commerce)
• 79% of consumers say they don’t want to accumulate points anymore, but that loyalty programs should provide immediate benefits to maintain their loyalty (Clarus Commerce)
• 90% of consumers would likely choose a retailer where they hold a premium loyalty membership over another retailer offering a lower price (Clarus Commerce)
• 95% of businesses with traditional loyalty programs have discussed launching a premium loyalty program in 2021 (Clarus Commerce)
• 90% of businesses say enhancing or expanding their loyalty programs is a priority in 2021
• 78% of marketing and loyalty professionals anticipate an increase in the number of premium loyalty programs due to COVID-19 (Clarus Commerce)
• 57% of marketing and loyalty professionals report lack of budget, internal resources or IT support as the main reasons for not launching loyalty programs (Clarus Commerce)
• 51% of businesses with premium loyalty programs consider program members to be at least 4x as valuable as non-members (Clarus Commerce)
• 41% of retailers say loyalty program members receive benefits in the first month (Clarus Commerce)
• 65% of retailers say their premium loyalty program members receive benefits at least in the first week, 17% say immediately (Clarus Commerce)
• 86% of retailers who deliver benefits to loyalty program members within the first week report that members shop at least once per week, compared to 63% of retailers who offer benefits within the first month (Clarus Commerce)
• 62% of retailers who deliver loyalty program benefits in the first week of membership experience ROI within the first 6 months, compared to only 21% of retailers who deliver benefits within the first month (Clarus Commerce)
• Only 7% of retailers offer holiday discounts as part of their program while 73% of millennials have joined a loyalty program solely to use discounts during the holiday shopping season (Clarus Commerce)
• 37% of retailers report that competing priorities is the biggest barrier to launching a loyalty program (Clarus Commerce)
• 27% of retailers who offer a loyalty program through a vendor say they have updated their program within the last month compared to only 8% of those who manage loyalty programs in-house (Clarus Commerce)
• 44% of retailers who use a vendor report loyalty members shop with them at least one every few days, compared to 30% of retailers who manage their loyalty program in-house (Clarus Commerce)
• 51% of retailers who use a loyalty program vendor report ROI within the first 6 months, compared to 41% of retailers who manage their loyalty program in-house (Clarus Commerce)
• Consumers are motivated to join a premium loyalty program by these perks: free shipping (66%), instant discounts (60%), surprise rewards (45%), holiday discounts (38%) and exclusive deals (35%) (Clarus Commerce)
• Only 22% of retailers who don’t offer instant discounts as a member benefit would like to in the future, while 60% of consumers report instant discounts would motivate them to join a premium loyalty program (Clarus Commerce)
• 58% of retailers with premium loyalty programs think cost is the main deterrent to customers joining (Clarus Commerce)
• 70% of consumers who aren’t enrolled in a premium loyalty program would join one if their favorite retailer offered it and the benefits were valuable (Clarus Commerce)
• 94% of premium loyalty members shop at that program’s retailer at least once a month, 44% at least every few days (Clarus Commerce)
• 84% of retailers with a premium loyalty program rate the profitability of their program at an 8 out of 10 or above (Clarus Commerce)
• 51% of retailers offer a traditional loyalty program, but no premium loyalty program (Clarus Commerce)
• 73% of premium loyalty members shopped more with their favorite retailers during the pandemic (Clarus Commerce)
• 72% of consumers are more likely to be loyalty to a brand if it offers a personalized experience with additional rewards and benefits (Google)
• 77% of millennial consumers belong to at least one premium loyalty program (Clarus Commerce)
• The percent of consumers who belong to any premium loyalty program: 70% of Gen Z, 77% of millennials, 78% of Gen X, 57% of baby boomers, 74% of consumers over the age of 74 (Clarus Commerce)
• 75% of current premium loyalty members are likely to join an additional premium membership in the next 12 months, 37% will definitely join (Clarus Commerce)
• The top categories for which consumers will pay for a premium loyalty membership include: groceries (58%), clothing & accessories (49%), health & beauty (36%), gas (35%) and travel & hospitality (29%) (Clarus Commerce)
• 88% of premium loyalty members say they are likely to recommend a retailer with valuable premium benefits to a family member or friend (Clarus Commerce)
• In 2021, 67% of premium loyalty members shopped at their favorite retailers at least once a week, up from 58% in 2020 (Clarus Commerce)
• In 2021, 72% of consumers expect to see benefits of a premium loyalty membership within the first week or immediately, compared to 70% in 2020 (Clarus Commerce)
• 40% of consumers belong to 3-4 traditional (free) loyalty programs, 28% belong to 1-2, 20% belong to 5-6, 11% belong to 7+ (Clarus Commerce)
• 81% of consumers say they are likely to pay to join a retailer’s premium loyalty program if they are already a part of its free traditional program, this is up from 67% in 2020 (Clarus Commerce)
• The top 3 reasons for not belonging to a premium loyalty program include: I don’t see the value (44%), It’s too expensive (37%), I would, but the retailers I shop with don’t offer them (30%) (Clarus Commerce)

2021 Mobile / Online Marketing Stats

• 63% of consumers will continue to seek out the best app experiences even once stores reopen after the pandemic (Google)
• 71% of consumers have been purchasing more items online since the pandemic (C+R Research)
• 67% of consumers did more than half of their shopping online during 2020, 14% did all shopping online (C+R Research)

2021 Retail Loyalty Statistics

• 74% of consumers are likely to be loyal to a brand if its app is seamless and easy to use (Google)
  Some of the most common types of purchases during the pandemic were clothing (47%) and electronics (44%), close behind were furniture (32%), housewares (23%), cosmetics (20%) and food & drink (20%) (C+R Research)

2021 Restaurant Loyalty Statistics

• Single parents are most likely to have switched to ordering food online rather than onsite since the pandemic began (31%) followed by married parents (25%), single adults (18%) and married couples (12%) (PYMNTS)
• US households spent on average $4520 on digital food orders since the pandemic began, which is 42% of the average household ($10,832) spent on all food orders: $3,034 on food orders placed by phone and $3,278 on food orders placed in person (PYMNTS)
• US households headed by married parents spent an average of $7,792 on digital food orders since the pandemic began (PYMNTS)
• 56% of married couples who order at table-service restaurants do not use loyalty programs because they don’t believe one is available (PYMNTS)
• Single parents are more likely to use restaurant loyalty programs than single people without kids (45% vs. 25%) (PYMNTS)
• 37% of people reported a restaurant loyalty programs would encourage them to spend more on food orders, 40% of parents (PYMNTS)
• 39% of people would spend more on food orders if they could pay online, 44% of married parents (PYMNTS)
• 32% of people would spend more on food orders if they could place them via app, 37% of single parents (PYMNTS)

2021 B2B Loyalty Stats

2021 Travel Stats

• 74% of travelers say they will spend more time choosing a destination this year in 2021 (TripAdvisor)
• 66% of travelers say they will spend more time reading reviews about destinations in 2021 (TripAdvisor)
• 72% of travelers say they will spend more time selecting their accommodations in 2021 (TripAdvisor)
• 70% of travelers say they will spend more time finding things to do at their travel destination in 2021 (TripAdvisor)
• The top factors that influence consumer trust in travel and hospitality businesses include (Morning Consult): 
  • Is reliable or dependable (85%
  • Has good customer service and is responsive to problems (84%)
  • Protects customers’ data, privacy and security (83%)
  • They have a good safety record (83%)
  • They make me feel secure and safe (83%)
  • Consistently delivers on what they promise (82%)
  • Is a good value for the price (82%)
  • Treats customers well , even in tough times (82%)
  • They regularly clean and sanitize (81%)
  • Has always treated me well (80%)
• The top factors that cause consumers to lose trust in travel and hospitality businesses include (Morning Consult):
  • They mistreat passengers’ luggage or personal possessions (86%)
  • They have surprise fees (85%)
  • You had a bad experience with them or their customer service (85%)
  • They do not follow clear safety precautions (85%)
  • They had a data breach and your personal information was compromised (85%)
  • They are known for not being reliable (84%)
  • They do not regularly clean or sanitize (84%)
• 35% of millennials say they have lost trust in a travel or hospitality brand and, as a result, will never use that brand again (Morning Consult)
• Business travelers (61%) and wealthier Americans (57%) say if they trust a brand, they go out of their way to purchase from them. This is higher than the average among adult travelers (44%) (Morning Consult)
• 8 of the 10 most trusted travel and hospitality brands are hotels or resorts, with only one airline on the list (Morning Consult)
• Overall, travelers have a higher net trust in travel brands than they did before the pandemic (Morning Consult)
• 65% of US adults say they would stop purchasing from a travel brand if it did not follow safety precautions, 62% would stop purchasing if a company failed to regularly clean (Morning Consult)
• 47% of US adults say they tend to trust travel and hospitality companies by default, only losing trust if the company does something bad (Morning Consult)
• 32% of US adults say travel and hospitality companies have to earn their trust (Morning Consult)
• 57% of all US adults say trust is a major factor in deciding on travel brands. Trust is even more important to consumers who are members of airline and hotel rewards programs (64%) and business travelers (64%) (Morning Consult)

2021 Other Loyalty Stats

• By 2021, data analytics driven businesses are predicted to take $1.8 billion annually from less informed peers. (Forrester Research)
• 60% of consumers have used a buy now, pay later service and 46% are currently making payments through a buy now, pay later service, even though 66% believe it’s “financially risky” (C+R Research)
• The average debt for buy now, pay later purchases is $883 per person (C+R Research)
• 57% of consumers say they regretted making a purchase through Buy Now, Pay Later because it was too expensive, and 56% have fallen behind making a payment (C+R Research)
• 56% consumers say they prefer Buy Now, Pay Later over using credit cards for purchases, and 38% believe Buy Now, Pay Later services will eventually replace credit cards (C+R Research)
• The top reasons why consumers prefer Buy Now, Pay Later over credit cards for purchases include: It’s easier to make payments (45%), more flexibility (44%), lower interest rates (36%) and easy approval process (33%) (C+R Research)

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