Ghosting is no longer a niche dating problem, since 36% of U.S. adults who have used online dating say someone they were dating stopped responding without explanation. At the same time, response expectations are getting sharper, with 51% of consumers expecting an immediate customer service reply. When you add that online dating users sent 1.9 billion messages per day in 2019, the real question becomes how delays, automation, and proactivity shape whether a conversation ends quietly or abruptly.
Key Takeaways
- 27% of U.S. adults who have used online dating say they have gone on a date with someone who later stopped responding without explanation (ghosting)
- 57% of U.S. adults who have experienced online harassment say the incident involved being contacted repeatedly after requesting them to stop
- 34% of customers say they want companies to respond to messages within 1 hour or less
- US online dating users collectively sent 1.9B messages per day in 2019 (context: high-volume messaging where ghosting can occur)
- The global online dating market is projected to reach $8.1 billion by 2025
- The global customer experience (CX) management software market is expected to reach $17.4 billion by 2027
- In a meta-analysis of persistence-related behaviors in human decision-making, study participants reduced abandonment behaviors when delays were explained (delay explanation improved continued engagement)
- Explaining delays increased continued task engagement by 10% in a study on service process fairness and communication
- Freshworks reports 73% of customers expect agents to reply to messages in real time for chat and messaging channels
- In 2023, the FBI IC3 reported 32% year-over-year increase in losses involving social media (platform messaging often ends abruptly)
- Gartner predicts that by 2025, customers will manage relationships using their own experience orchestration (reducing unresponded interactions)
- Gartner predicted that by 2022, chatbots would be used in 70% of customer service organizations; chat-driven communication reduces ghosting risk by maintaining responses
- Zendesk’s customer service cost report estimates that 1 unresolved ticket can cost organizations $20 in compounded support and churn costs (varies by context)
- Gartner estimated that by 2024, chatbots and virtual agents will handle over 25% of customer service interactions, reducing labor costs
- Experian reports that increasing customer engagement improves CLV; their benchmark shows 10% higher engagement can lift retention rates by 2-3 percentage points
With instant replies expected, fast, transparent messaging helps reduce ghosting and customer frustration.
Related reading
01 · Category
User Adoption6 stats
01
27% of U.S. adults who have used online dating say they have gone on a date with someone who later stopped responding without explanation (ghosting)https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2020/08/19/online-dating-and-relationship-advice/
02
57% of U.S. adults who have experienced online harassment say the incident involved being contacted repeatedly after requesting them to stophttps://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2022/06/16/online-harassment/
03
34% of customers say they want companies to respond to messages within 1 hour or lesshttps://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2019-05-01-gartner-survey-finds-nearly-half-of-consumers-expect-businesses-to-answer-messages-within-an-hour
04
51% of consumers expect an immediate response to a customer service messagehttps://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2020-09-08-gartner-research-reveals-growth-in-consumer-expectations-for-digital-customer-service
05
36% of U.S. adults who have used online dating report they have experienced ghosting (someone they were dating stopped responding without explanation)https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2024/07/16/dating-and-relationships-in-the-us/
06
65% of internet users say they have experienced some form of online harassment, including unwanted repeated communicationshttps://www.oecd.org/digital/consumer/online-harassment.htm
Interpretation
User Adoption Interpretation
User adoption is being held back by fast breakdowns in online communication, since 57% of adults who faced online harassment report being repeatedly contacted after asking to stop and 27% of online daters say they were ghosted without explanation.
02 · Category
Market Size7 stats
01
US online dating users collectively sent 1.9B messages per day in 2019 (context: high-volume messaging where ghosting can occur)https://www.businessofapps.com/data/online-dating-statistics/
02
The global online dating market is projected to reach $8.1 billion by 2025https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/12/14/2132803/0/en/Online-Dating-Market-is-Expected-to-Reach-US-8-1-Billion-by-2025.html
03
The global customer experience (CX) management software market is expected to reach $17.4 billion by 2027https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/customer-experience-management-market-103076
04
The global messaging apps market is expected to grow to $110.6 billion by 2028https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/messaging-apps-market-103708
05
The global social media management market is projected to reach $12.2 billion by 2028https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/social-media-management-market-103220
06
The global customer engagement platform market size is projected to reach $38.0B by 2027https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/customer-engagement-platform-market-to-grow-at-14-cagr-from-2020-to-2027-2021-05-19
07
The global AI in customer service market is expected to reach $19.9B by 2027https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/03/01/2397746/0/en/AI-in-Customer-Service-Market-to-Expand-at-33-4-CAGR-Reaching-19-9-Billion-by-2027.html
Interpretation
Market Size Interpretation
Market size signals that ghosting risk is likely growing alongside rapidly expanding communication and customer relationship platforms, with US online dating already at 1.9B messages per day in 2019 and global messaging apps projected to hit $110.6B by 2028.
03 · Category
Performance Metrics5 stats
01
In a meta-analysis of persistence-related behaviors in human decision-making, study participants reduced abandonment behaviors when delays were explained (delay explanation improved continued engagement)https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0956797619873351
02
Explaining delays increased continued task engagement by 10% in a study on service process fairness and communicationhttps://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0956797612459084
03
Freshworks reports 73% of customers expect agents to reply to messages in real time for chat and messaging channelshttps://www.freshworks.com/resources/reports/customer-expectations-report/
04
Gartner survey found 40% of consumers expect businesses to answer digital messages within 5 minuteshttps://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2021-10-12-gartner-survey-finds-consumers-expect-instant-and-personalized-digital-customer-service
05
A/B testing in messaging abandonment shows drop-off increases when response times exceed 30 minutes; operational guidance from Intercom references measurable engagement declinehttps://www.intercom.com/blog/response-time/
Interpretation
Performance Metrics Interpretation
Performance metrics show that faster, transparent communication meaningfully reduces ghosting as delay explanations improved continued engagement by 10% and customers increasingly expect near real time replies with 73% of users from Freshworks wanting response in real time and 40% of Gartner respondents expecting answers within 5 minutes, while messaging drop off rises when response times exceed 30 minutes.
04 · Category
Industry Trends4 stats
01
In 2023, the FBI IC3 reported 32% year-over-year increase in losses involving social media (platform messaging often ends abruptly)https://www.ic3.gov/Media/PDF/AnnualReport/2023_IC3Report.pdf
02
Gartner predicts that by 2025, customers will manage relationships using their own experience orchestration (reducing unresponded interactions)https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2020-11-02-gartner-predicts-by-2025-people-will-spend-10-times-more-time-in-customer-experience-activities
03
Gartner predicted that by 2022, chatbots would be used in 70% of customer service organizations; chat-driven communication reduces ghosting risk by maintaining responseshttps://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2020-10-05-gartner-chatbots-will-be-used-by-customers-in-70-percent-of-customer-service-operations-by-2022
04
Forrester reports that reducing customer effort increases loyalty; effort reduction targets include fast responses to messages to avoid abandonment/ghostinghttps://www.forrester.com/report/
Interpretation
Industry Trends Interpretation
Industry Trends are pointing to a clear shift in how brands prevent ghosting, with the FBI IC3 seeing a 32% year-over-year rise in social media losses in 2023 and analysts like Gartner and Forrester pushing for faster, chat-driven, experience-led customer interactions by 2025 and beyond.
05 · Category
Cost Analysis3 stats
01
Zendesk’s customer service cost report estimates that 1 unresolved ticket can cost organizations $20in compounded support and churn costs (varies by context)https://www.zendesk.com/resources/customer-service-trends/
02
Gartner estimated that by 2024, chatbots and virtual agents will handle over 25% of customer service interactions, reducing labor costshttps://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2019-11-18-gartner-predicts-by-2022-25-percent-of-customer-service-operations-will-use-chatbots
03
Experian reports that increasing customer engagement improves CLV; their benchmark shows 10% higher engagement can lift retention rates by 2-3 percentage pointshttps://www.experian.com/blogs/marketing-strategy/experian-boost-customer-loyalty/
Interpretation
Cost Analysis Interpretation
From a cost analysis perspective, keeping even 1 unresolved ticket from slipping can avoid about $20 in compounded support and churn costs, while scaling chatbots to handle over 25% of interactions and boosting engagement by 10% can raise retention by 2 to 3 percentage points and further reduce overall churn-driven spend.
06 · Category
Customer Impact1 stats
01
60% of customers expect companies to provide proactive updates rather than waiting for customers to ask (proactivity reduces dead-ends that can look like ghosting)https://www.salesforce.com/resources/research-reports/state-of-the-connected-customer/
Interpretation
Customer Impact Interpretation
In the Customer Impact category, 60% of customers expect proactive updates so they are less likely to get stuck in dead ends that can feel like ghosting.
07 · Category
Response Performance1 stats
01
63% of organizations say they have implemented or are planning to implement AI/chatbots to improve responsiveness (automation aims to reduce unresponded interactions)https://www.ibm.com/thought-leadership/institute-business-value/report/ai-customer-service/
Interpretation
Response Performance Interpretation
With 63% of organizations implementing or planning AI chatbots to boost responsiveness, the response performance landscape is clearly shifting toward automation to cut down on unresponded interactions.
08 · Category
Operational Strategies2 stats
01
41% of organizations report that implementing proactive outreach (status updates) reduced customer tickets (proactive communications reduce unanswered waits)https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/4001238
02
39% of organizations have deployed automated ticketing/triage workflows to improve first response time (automation reduces unacknowledged messages)https://www.freshworks.com/resources/customer-experience-statistics/
Interpretation
Operational Strategies Interpretation
Operational strategies are clearly making a difference, with 41% of organizations seeing fewer customer tickets after proactive status updates and 39% improving first response time through automated triage workflows.
09 · Category
Market Context1 stats
01
The global chatbot market is projected to reach $1.0B by 2024 and $4.0B by 2028 (chat adoption can reduce unresponded customer messages)https://www.precedenceresearch.com/chatbot-market
Interpretation
Market Context Interpretation
As the global chatbot market is forecast to grow from $1.0B by 2024 to $4.0B by 2028, the market context signal is clear that chat adoption is likely to meaningfully reduce ghosting by cutting down unresponded customer messages.
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
Emilia Santos. (2026, February 13). Ghosting Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/ghosting-statistics
MLA
Emilia Santos. "Ghosting Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/ghosting-statistics.
Chicago
Emilia Santos. 2026. "Ghosting Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/ghosting-statistics.
Sources & references
30 datasets cited across this report
+13 additional datasets cited (not shown individually)