Want a quick way to lose your customers? Give them bad customer service, of course!

A new study by Dimensional Research, sponsored by ZenDesk, shows that respondents are more likely to share bad customer service experiences than good ones. Not surprised?

According to a MarketingCharts article:

95% of respondents who have had a bad experience said they told someone about it, compared to 87% who shared a good experience.

In fact, bad experiences were more likely to be shared across each of the social circles identified. Friends or family (in person) were most commonly told, by 81% of those with bad experiences and 72% with good experiences, followed by coworkers (in person – 57% and 40%; respectively).”

Now that social media is such a strong communications channel, people are turning to major sharing sites to broadcast their dismay. Respondents who suffered a bad interaction were 50% more likely to share it on social media than those who had good experiences (45% vs. 30%) and 52% more likely to share it on an online review site such as Yelp (35% vs. 23%).

If your company or organization relies on positive online review sites to generate new business, take note of this: 86% of respondents who have read negative reviews claimed that the information impacted their buying decision!

If you think this problem may go away soon, forget it - 58% of respondents said they are more likely to tell others about customer service experiences now than they were 5 years ago. That figure rises to 61% among Millennials (18-35) and 65% among Gen Xers. It’s growing more prevalent every day.

Do you monitor bad customer service mentions in social media and online? Do you use any brand reputation software? Share your experience so we can all learn from it.