All year, we’ve been bringing you the latest tips, advice, and insights when it comes to improving your business’s customer experience. We’ve shared tips on how to be more transparent, collect more feedback, and expect the unexpected. Now, we’re laying out the stats that prove these changes make a big difference.

Check out the four most important customer experience stats below and discover what they can teach you about your business, its customers, and its future.

62% of Customers Will Pay More for a Simple Experience

Customers ultimately want service that’s simple. They want to buy their goods or purchase their service with as little disruption to their daily routine as possible.

Think of the grocery chain Aldi. Customers enter the store one way, are woven through a handful of organized aisles, and end their journey at the registers. There are no complex promotions. No coupons with restrictions. No cashiers pushing credit card apps. In less than 30 minutes, customers have their groceries for the week and are on their way.

For an even better example, look at Amazon’s most recent endeavor: Amazon Go. These new grocery stores are entirely self-service, allowing customers to pull what they want from shelves while a tab is calculated on their smartphones. No lines. No cashier. No cash. Customers are in and out with all of their groceries and none of the time-consuming hassle.

(Now that Amazon recently purchased Whole Foods, these cashier-less grocery stores may soon pop up in your neighborhood.)

We’re not saying that your business should go cashier-free. However, do whatever you can to simplify the experience your business offers both online and off. Put the goods your customers need in the front of the store. Eliminate complex promotions that only make it harder for customers to buy what they need at the prices they want. Online, make sure your site answers any questions your customers may have. Make sure it’s accessible from any device using any browser.

60% of Consumers Expect Personalized Service

Once again, Amazon may be leading the way in this category. This stat is a result of what some experts are calling the “Amazon Effect.” When you shop on Amazon, the site recommends products based on your browsing history and past purchases. Amazon can understand an individual’s needs. Now, businesses are expected to do the same.

This is where communication comes into play. Only by truly listening to your customers can you understand what they want. This involves not only listening, but asking questions and acting on customers’ answers. Review their behavior and learn from their questions. Pick up on what they leave unspoken.

You can also do this on the web. You may not have the size, power, or influence of Amazon, but the basis of their technology is available to anyone. Amazon uses big data analytics to observe customers’ behavior. Invest in your own big data analytics. Today’s CRM programs can track customers and their purchases. They can send them personalized, automated marketing emails and then run detailed reports on their activity, reports which you can use in your decision making.

85% of People Will Bail on a Business After a Poor Mobile Experience

Mobile phones have made it possible for people to keep computers in their pockets. They can access information whenever, wherever. In fact, about 75% of people aged 35-44 use their mobile device to seek online support and information. Your mobile website should look just as good and work just as well as your desktop site.

We say this to clients all the time: your website is your digital front door. People will visit your website before they even step foot in your store or office. A quality website, with useful content and an engaging design, shows care and professionalism. A website with broken links, flashy colors, and spelling errors doesn’t give an impression of a serious or trustworthy business.

If you’re not providing an online experience that’s accessible, you’re doing your customers and yourself a disservice. Among the biggest issues customers have with mobile sites?

  • Difficult navigation
  • Unhelpful content and results
  • Slow load time
  • No search capabilities

Make sure your website doesn’t commit any one of these offenses. If you need to, find a UI/UX design team that can help.

72% of customers who share positive experiences share them with at least six family members, friends, or other acquaintances.

If you do all of the above—if you simplify your experience, personalize your service, and optimize your business’s mobile capabilities, you should have no trouble when it comes to this last stat.

Providing just one flawless customer experience can lead to more clients and customers by word of mouth. Through just a brief reference at the dinner table, a post on Facebook, or a review on Yelp, a great experience is usually shared far beyond the initial customer.

With 88% of people saying they use social influence in their decision making, you should be doing everything you can to make sure the experience you offer customers is “share worthy.” But keep in mind: just as good news spreads, so does bad news. As many as 95% of customers will share their poor customer experience with others.

No matter what, statistics show that people are going to talk about your business. Only you have the power to influence what they say.