Customer Experience In The Consulting Industry Statistics 2026

Consulting clients are 2.1 times more likely to become repeat buyers when firms improve their customer experience. At the same time, 61% would switch to a competitor after a poor service interaction. This data defines the new competitive standard for the industry.

Key Takeaways

2.1x higher likelihood to become a 'repeat' buyer when a firm improves its CX, based on a correlation between CX and repeat purchase behavior
5x more likely customers who report excellent CX to repurchase than those who report poor CX
61% of customers say they would switch to a competitor after experiencing poor service (survey-based)
84% of executives expect to compete mostly on customer experience rather than price (executive survey result)
88% of customers are less likely to recommend a company after a poor customer experience (survey result)
66% of consumers say they have stopped using a service due to a bad customer experience within the last year (survey-based)
Global CRM software market size estimated at $65.7 billion in 2022 (market estimate)
Digital customer experience software market is projected to reach $30.0 billion by 2028 (forecast)
Global knowledge management software market size projected to reach $13.4 billion by 2027 (forecast)
The US services-producing sector generated $9.7 trillion in 2023 (BEA value added for services industries)
Customer acquisition cost for B2B organizations averages about $120 per lead (marketing cost metric commonly reported in industry benchmarks)
Organizations see an average 10% reduction in service costs with effective automation (benchmark from robotic process automation and contact automation analyses)
Companies can reduce call handle times by 10% to 20% with workforce management improvements (WFM benchmark)
73% of customers expect an immediate response on support channels (customer expectation metric)
32% average reduction in customer effort score (CES) after CX transformation (benchmark)

Improving customer experience drives repeat purchases, reduces costs, and boosts loyalty more than pricing does.

01 · Category

Industry Trends6 stats

84% of executives expect to compete mostly on customer experience rather than price (executive survey result)https://www.salesforce.com/resources/research-reports/state-of-the-connected-customer/

88% of customers are less likely to recommend a company after a poor customer experience (survey result)https://www.pepperjam.com/blog/customer-experience-statistics/

66% of consumers say they have stopped using a service due to a bad customer experience within the last year (survey-based)https://www.superoffice.com/blog/customer-service-statistics/

68% of B2B buyers believe customer service has to be as good as or better than product quality (survey-based)https://www.helpscout.com/blog/customer-service-statistics/

In 2023, the US Postal Service delivered 128.3 billion pieces of mail (operational scale metric for service expectations context)https://about.usps.com/who-we-are/financials/

62% of B2B buyers expect vendors to provide personalized experiences (B2B personalization expectation)https://www.forrester.com/report/The-B2B-Buyers-Expectations-Of-Modern-Experience-and-Best-Practices/

Interpretation

Industry Trends Interpretation

In consulting, customer experience is becoming the clear battleground as 84% of executives expect to compete mainly on it, while 62% of B2B buyers demand personalized experiences and poor service drives 66% of consumers to stop using a service within a year.

02 · Category

Market Size And Spend6 stats

In 2023, the US information and data processing services sector had value added of $1.7 trillionhttps://apps.bea.gov/industry/xls/ValueAddedByIndustry.xlsx

The global customer experience management software market was valued at $9.4 billion in 2023 (market estimate)https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/customer-experience-management-market

The global contact center software market is projected to reach $13.8 billion by 2030https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/contact-center-software-market-A08732

The global customer data platform (CDP) market is projected to reach $8.2 billion by 2026 (forecast)https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/customer-data-platform-cdp-market-104846

The global customer analytics market size was $8.4 billion in 2023 and is expected to reach $27.6 billion by 2032https://www.precedenceresearch.com/customer-analytics-market

The global CRM software market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.4% from 2024 to 2030 (forecast)https://www.market.us/report/crm-software-market/

Interpretation

Market Size And Spend Interpretation

Across the Market Size And Spend landscape, customer experience related software and data tools are scaling fast, with the global customer experience management market reaching $9.4 billion in 2023 and projections rising to $13.8 billion for contact center software by 2030 and $27.6 billion for customer analytics by 2032.

03 · Category

Performance Metrics4 stats

Companies can reduce call handle times by 10% to 20% with workforce management improvements (WFM benchmark)https://www.informs.org/ORMS-Today/OR-Applications/Workforce-Management-Improves-Call-Center-Performance

73% of customers expect an immediate response on support channels (customer expectation metric)https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/3980407

32% average reduction in customer effort score (CES) after CX transformation (benchmark)https://www.pepperjam.com/blog/customer-effort-score-statistics/

In the US, average time-to-resolve for complaints is 20 days in consumer dispute resolution datasets (time metric benchmark)https://www.consumerfinance.gov/data-research/consumer-complaints/

Interpretation

Performance Metrics Interpretation

For performance metrics in consulting customer experience, firms that invest in workforce management can cut call handle times by 10% to 20%, while nearly three quarters of customers expect an immediate response and CX transformations can reduce customer effort scores by 32%.

Customer Experience In IndustryCustomer Experience In The Motion Picture Industry Statistics

04 · Category

Customer Outcomes3 stats

2.1x higher likelihood to become a 'repeat' buyer when a firm improves its CX, based on a correlation between CX and repeat purchase behaviorhttps://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2021-09-14-gartner-reveals-top-insights-for-how-customer-experience-leaders-can-improve-repeat-purchase-behavior

5x more likely customers who report excellent CX to repurchase than those who report poor CXhttps://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2020-07-09-gartner-what-consumers-actually-want-from-customer-experience

61% of customers say they would switch to a competitor after experiencing poor service (survey-based)https://www.zendesk.com/resources/customer-experience-statistics/

Interpretation

Customer Outcomes Interpretation

In consulting, strengthening customer experience directly drives better customer outcomes, with improved CX linked to a 2.1x higher chance of repeat buying and customers reporting excellent CX 5x more likely to repurchase, while 61% say they would switch after poor service.

05 · Category

Market Size3 stats

Global CRM software market size estimated at $65.7 billion in 2022 (market estimate)https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/analytics-market-structure?ref=site

Digital customer experience software market is projected to reach $30.0 billion by 2028 (forecast)https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/digital-customer-experience-software-market-size-worth-30-0-billion-by-2028-report-by-fortunebusinessinsights-2023-10-10

Global knowledge management software market size projected to reach $13.4 billion by 2027 (forecast)https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/knowledge-management-software-market-238123349.html

Interpretation

Market Size Interpretation

For the Market Size angle in consulting customer experience, the category is set to keep expanding fast, with the CRM software market at an estimated $65.7 billion in 2022 and digital customer experience software forecast to reach $30.0 billion by 2028.

06 · Category

Overview6 stats

The US services-producing sector generated $9.7 trillion in 2023 (BEA value added for services industries)https://apps.bea.gov/iTable/?ReqID=19&step=2&isuri=1&table=10&category=1&year=2023&frequency=Annual&units=Millions&size=5&refresh=1

Customer acquisition cost for B2B organizations averages about $120per lead (marketing cost metric commonly reported in industry benchmarks)https://www.hubspot.com/state-of-marketing

Organizations see an average 10% reduction in service costs with effective automation (benchmark from robotic process automation and contact automation analyses)https://www.salesforce.com/blog/automation-customer-service/

In the 2024 Microsoft Work Trend Index survey, 82% of workers said they want technology to reduce repetitive tasks at workhttps://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/2024

In a 2021 Gartner Digital Consumer Strategy survey, 69% of consumers expect proactive updates from companieshttps://www.gartner.com/en/documents/4006461

In a 2020 peer-reviewed study, companies that measure service quality and customer experience report improved service outcomeshttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212567119300991

Interpretation

Industry Overview Interpretation

Across the consulting industry, customer experience is increasingly shaped by measurable expectations and efficiencies, with 82% of workers wanting technology to cut repetitive tasks and organizations seeing an average 10% reduction in service costs from effective automation.

report visual · Key figures

Consulting CX: Customer Experience Beats Price—and Poor CX Drives Churn

Across consulting-relevant surveys, customer experience is the primary competitive lever, while poor experiences significantly reduce recommendations and increase switching.

84%

84% of executives expect to compete mostly on customer experience rather than price (executive survey result)

88%

88% of customers are less likely to recommend a company after a poor customer experience (survey result)

66%

66% of consumers say they have stopped using a service due to a bad customer experience within the last year (survey-bas

68%

68% of B2B buyers believe customer service has to be as good as or better than product quality (survey-based)

62%

62% of B2B buyers expect vendors to provide personalized experiences (B2B personalization expectation)

73%

73% of customers expect an immediate response on support channels (customer expectation metric)

source-verifiedsalesforce.com · pepperjam.com · superoffice.com · helpscout.com · forrester.com · gartner.com

Reference

Cite This Report

This report is designed to be cited. We maintain stable URLs and versioned verification dates. Copy the format appropriate for your publication below.

APA

Julian Richter. (2026, February 13). Customer Experience In The Consulting Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/customer-experience-in-the-consulting-industry-statistics

MLA

Julian Richter. "Customer Experience In The Consulting Industry Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/customer-experience-in-the-consulting-industry-statistics.

Chicago

Julian Richter. 2026. "Customer Experience In The Consulting Industry Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/customer-experience-in-the-consulting-industry-statistics.