Keep clients coming back · Every business
How Many Unhappy Customers Never Complain, and What That Hides
The famous claim that only one unhappy customer in 26 complains can't be traced to a published study, but the research that can be traced points the same way: for every complaint an owner hears, one to three more problems go unspoken.
At a glance
- A figure repeated across the internet says only 1 in 26 unhappy customers complains; we could not find a published study with a method and sample behind it, so we don't use it.
- Traceable research puts the share who speak up at roughly one-fifth to two-fifths, which means each complaint you hear stands for about one to three and a half problems you don't.
- For an illustrative business that hears four complaints a month, the customers who leave without saying anything are worth about $14,400 a year.
Where the real number comes from
Three sources with published methods measure how often customers voice a problem, and they agree more than they differ. A 1975 survey of consumer reactions to common purchases, published in the Law & Society Review, found that people voiced complaints about roughly one-third of the problems they noticed. Three 2016 customer surveys in the United States, Japan and Bolivia, each with more than 1,200 respondents, found that only 22% to 41% of consumers had complained even once about their most serious problem. A 2022 UK government study of 6,582 consumers found a higher rate of action, with only 18% of problem incidents left unactioned, but that study counted any action at all, most often contacting the seller directly, so it measures how many people did something rather than how many told the business they were unhappy.
The useful way to read these figures is as a multiplier. If one-third of problems are voiced, every complaint at the front desk stands for two more that walked out quietly; at 22%, the ratio is closer to three and a half.
Why customers stay quiet
Most silence comes from a quick judgement that the problem isn't worth the effort, or from a plan to deal with it that never turns into action. In the UK study, the most common reasons for leaving a problem unactioned were that it did not seem serious enough or that the consumer meant to deal with it later, and one in ten expected that complaining would get nowhere.
Unhappy customers also talk to other people, whether or not they talk to the business. In the 2016 research, complainants who were left dissatisfied told an average of nine people about the experience, while in one of the surveys satisfied high-value customers told a median of three about a good one, and complainants who were not satisfied were 40% less loyal, as the authors measured it. The owner who thinks Nobody's complained, so we're fine is reading the one-third of problems that reached the counter as if they were all of them.
What the silence costs: a worked calculation
| Complaints heard per month (Assumption) | 4 |
|---|---|
| Share of problems voiced (Benchmark: Law & Society Review survey) | One-third |
| Total problems per month (Calculated (4 ÷ ⅓)) | 12 |
| Problems never voiced (Calculated (12 − 4)) | 8 |
| Share of silent customers who leave (Assumption) | 25% |
| Customers lost per year (Calculated (8 × 25% × 12 months)) | 24 |
| Average revenue per customer per year (Assumption) | $600 |
| Revenue lost to quiet departures (Calculated (24 × $600)) | $14,400 |
Illustrative example; replace every assumption with your own numbers.
How you compare
- Your complaint count: a business that hears very few complaints is more often hard to complain to than free of problems; a rise in complaints after you add an easy way to give feedback is usually a sign the channel works.
- Your silent share: ask every customer one question after the visit, such as "Was anything not quite right?", and compare the answers with the complaints that came in on their own; the gap is your own version of Exhibit 1.
- Your return rate: customers who had a logged problem and came back within their normal visit cycle are the clearest measure of whether your fixes are working.
About this research: The 1-in-26 figure is excluded because we could not trace it to an original study. The figures above come from a peer-reviewed U.S. survey, three 2016 company surveys with published samples and a UK government study; the worked example is illustrative.
Sources
- Best, A. and Andreasen, A. R. Consumer Response to Unsatisfactory Purchases: A Survey of Perceiving Defects, Voicing Complaints, and Obtaining Redress. Law & Society Review 11(4), 1977.
- Goodman, J. and Hatanaka, N. Quantifying Service Impact in Multiple Countries: Do Consumers Behave the Same? Customer Care Measurement & Consulting, 2016. Three surveys, each with more than 1,200 respondents.
- Department for Business and Trade. Consumer Protection Study 2022. 2022. 6,582 interviews.
Related reading: Why Customers Don't Come Back (and How to Find Out Which Ones Left) · What to Do When Something Goes Wrong: How Small Businesses Win Customers Back · How to Handle Complaints So Customers Stay
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