UK businesses stand accused of fundamentally misreading their customers – from how quickly they respond to enquiries to the importance of personalisation – with a major gulf emerging in how firms think they perform against how customers view them.
That is according to a new report by Moneypenny, which quizzed over 2,000 businesses and 5,000 consumers, and shows that, in real life, businesses are living in cloud cuckoo land when it comes to customer experience.
Crucially, the research also suggests that when service falls short, customers are unlikely to complain, instead choosing to go elsewhere, creating a hidden and often unmeasured revenue risk for businesses.
The survey also reveals that the channels businesses rely on the most to drive sales conversions are often those that fall short in terms of meeting customer expectations, exposing a disconnect between the channels businesses believe drive conversion and those customers feel actually deliver a good experience.
For example, 74% of businesses surveyed said their social media drives conversion, but only 34% of consumers felt it meets expectations. Company web forms show a similar perception gap, with 72% of businesses believing they drive conversion but only 38% of consumers feeling they meet expectations. The pattern was repeated for company AI receptionists: 55% (business belief) versus 25% (consumer perception) and for chatbots: 58% versus 27%.
Speed of response is key in a world where consumers order dinner, book taxis, and stream films on demand. They do not wait around for a call back, with 70% of consumers saying they are likely to choose the business that responds first.
Worryingly, some 77% of businesses believe a customer will try a company again if they don’t receive a response to an enquiry, yet only 23% of consumers say they would keep trying, while around 1 in 5 or more would stop trying and go elsewhere.
The findings also highlight how little feedback businesses receive when things go wrong, with customers far more likely to abandon an enquiry than raise a complaint, reinforcing how easily missed interactions can translate into lost revenue.
Meanwhile, when asked what matters most on first contact, both businesses and consumers rated clarity, professionalism and human reassurance as most important, but there was a big perception gap in the importance of personalisation, with 87% of businesses rating it as important, compared with only 68% of consumers saying this.
The survey also showed that 40% of consumers say support between 9am and 5pm would best meet their needs, while 26% would prefer early evening support between 5pm and 9pm. This preference is even stronger among households with children, with 32% saying evenings work best for them. This suggests many businesses may be missing a key window of customer intent outside traditional working hours, particularly in the early evening when demand remains high.
The survey also showed that out-of-hours availability makes customers more likely to feel reassured (35%), complete an enquiry or purchase (27%) and choose or stick with a business (25%). Unfortunately, most businesses surveyed cite staffing and cost as the reason they cannot extend cover.
The report also highlights a broader experience challenge, with 1 in 10 consumers unable to recall a single memorable customer service experience, reinforcing how difficult it has become for brands to stand out.
Moneypenny group CEO Jesper With-Fogstrup said: “Genuinely brilliant experiences are rarer than they should be. But the bar for ‘good’ isn’t set by your industry. It’s set by every effortless experience people have had elsewhere; the playlist that anticipates your mood, the returns process that took less than 30 seconds.
“The future of customer experience isn’t about deploying every trend or automating everything you can. It’s about listening to your customers, acting on what they tell you, and delivering speed, clarity and human connection in the moments that matter. The opportunity is to make every interaction personal, relevant and contextually right.”
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