Creating a good retail customer experience can have real business benefits. According to a 2021 research paper from Sitel, 65% of US consumers said CX plays a very important role in choosing where to buy. On the flip side, a bad interaction with your brand can be enough to lose a customer altogether. Take 2022 research from Zendesk, which found that more than 50% of customers will switch to a competitor after only one bad experience. Two or more bad experiences, and you lose almost three-quarters of them.

In short, if you get the customer experience right, you can earn more business and gain customer loyalty over the long term. If you get any part of it wrong, you could lose customers instead.