Brands and businesses are increasingly turning to AI-powered customer service to reduce costs and increase efficiency, but the majority of participants in a new survey from customer experience and business process outsourcing firm Acquire BPO have had plenty of time to make their AI-driven customer service functional and satisfactory, As companies, they risk alienating a large portion of their customer base if the customer experience is compromised.
When asked how likely they’d consider a different brand after a frustrating experience with an AI chatbot, 70 percent of consumers surveyed said they’d take their business elsewhere after just one bad experience. Companies only have one shot at getting it right—underlining the importance of mapping out a strong AI deployment strategy.
The firm’s new 2024 AI in Customer Service Survey, based on research conducted by Pollfish, sought to explore consumer sentiment insights and how companies can proactively map out their AI customer experience strategies. Pollfish surveyed the experiences of 600 U.S. consumers aged 18+ who contacted a company for support issues over the past year.
Key findings include:
- 70 percent of consumers would consider a different brand for their next purchase after just one frustrating experience with AI-supported customer service.
- Consumers are 2.5X more positive about their experience chatting with humans versus AI-powered bots.
- Half of consumers feel negatively about companies relying more on AI for customer support, citing downsides such as the lack of personal touch, decreased accuracy and longer resolution times.
- Consumers are willing to put their money behind their preferences, with 57 percent of chatbot fans saying they’ve chosen a service or product because they knew it offered chatbot support, and 72 percent of those with a human preference saying the availability of human customer support factored into their buying decisions.
- Many chatbot fans would rather complete an unpleasant or inconvenient task instead of speaking to a human customer support agent, with 29 percent saying they’d rather file their taxes, 29 percent saying they’d rather help a friend move out of a 6th floor apartment with no elevator, and 26 percent saying they’d rather clean the toilet.
- 40 percent of consumers are confident in AI’s ability to handle simple issues as well as a human, and 49 percent said they’d feel more comfortable using AI-powered support if they had the ability to switch to a human agent at any time.
To maximize AI’s benefits while avoiding its pitfalls, the researchers advise that companies use it judiciously for the right tasks—and do the same for human agents as well.
- Don’t be afraid to use AI to address simple requests: 40 percent of consumers were confident in AI’s ability to handle simple issues as well as a human, presenting an easy opportunity for companies to streamline a portion of their support workload.
- Use AI to reference past issues–but don’t go too far in predicting future issues: 61 percent of survey respondents liked the idea of AI remembering past issues in order to streamline future contact with customer support, however 50 percent responded negatively to AI being used to predict problems before they happened.
- Use AI to escalate issues: 55 percent of consumers responded positively to knowing that AI could detect frustration with sentiment analysis and help route them to a resource or human agent to help with more complex issues.
- Provide clear paths for customers to request a human agent: 49 percent of customers said they’d feel more comfortable using AI-powered support if they had the ability to switch to a human agent at any time.
“Unlocking the power of AI is essential for companies to gain a competitive edge, however the future of exceptional customer service requires striking the right balance between AI and human support,” said Scott Stavretis, CEO of Acquire BPO, in a news release. “By carefully mapping out an experience that blends AI and human support seamlessly, brands can meet customers where they are and deliver consistently outstanding service across all touchpoints.”
