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RightNow's Annual Research Shows 86 Percent of U.S. Adults Will Pay More For A Better Customer Experience

"To thrive in today's consumer-empowered environment, brands need to deliver the very best possible customer experiences when, where and how consumers want it. The annual CEI report continues to show the importance of customer experience; consumers demand it, they will pay more for it and if we don't deliver the repercussions can be severe."
Greg Gianforte, founder and CEO, RightNow
Click here to see Greg share additional insight about customer experience at Techonomy 2011.

The 2011 CEI Report explores the relationship between consumers and brands. The data reveals that consumers call the shots and want personal and engaging experiences that develop into meaningful relationships with brands. Highlights from the report include:

• 86 percent of U.S. adults will pay more for a better customer experience.
• 89 percent of U.S. adults who've ever stopped doing business with an organization due to a poor customer experience began doing business with a competitor.
• When asked specifically how companies can better engage with consumers to spend more, 54 percent said to improve the overall customer experience.

The CEI Report also tracked the impact social media has had on consumers, finding that:

• After a poor customer experience, more than 25 percent (26%) of U.S. adults expressed frustration by posting a negative comment on a social networking site (e.g., Facebook, Twitter message boards, forums).
• 79 percent of those who shared complaints about poor customer experience online had their complaints ignored (i.e., received no response to their post(s) from the company/organization).
• 57 percent of those surveyed who received a response had positive reactions to the same company: 46 percent of those surveyed were pleased and 22 percent of those surveyed posted a positive comment about the organization.

Positive engagements create longstanding, loyal relationships; and, as the CEI report uncovered, consumers are willing to pay for it. To maximize this opportunity, brands today need to implement comprehensive, cross channel customer experience programs to meet the ever-evolving needs of the modern consumer.

To download the full report, click here.

Survey Methodology

The study was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive via its QuickQuery omnibus on behalf of RightNow Technology among a total of 2,291 adults aged 18+ from September 19-21, 2011. Figures for age by gender, education, region and Internet usage were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population within each country. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

About Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive is one of the world's leading custom market research firms, leveraging research, technology, and business acumen to transform relevant insight into actionable foresight. Known widely for the Harris Poll and for pioneering innovative research methodologies, Harris offers expertise in a wide range of industries including healthcare, technology, public affairs, energy, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, media, retail, restaurant, and consumer package goods. Serving clients in over 215 countries and territories through our North American and European offices and a network of independent market research firms, Harris specializes in delivering research solutions that help us - and our clients - stay ahead of what's next. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.

About RightNow

RightNow is helping rid the world of bad experiences one consumer interaction at a time, eight million times a day. RightNow CX, the customer experience suite, helps organizations deliver exceptional customer experiences across the web, social networks and contact centers, all delivered via the cloud. With more than ten billion customer interactions delivered, RightNow is the customer experience fabric for nearly 2000 organizations around the globe. To learn more about RightNow, go to www.rightnow.com.

RightNow Technologies
Chaundera Wolfe, 406-556-3323
cwolfe@rightnow.com