Report: 80% of customers choose to talk with AI to keep away from lengthy maintain occasions

A brand new survey carried out by Replicant discovered that almost 80% of customers indicated they would like to talk with a virtual agent or machine to keep away from lengthy maintain occasions. Furthermore, 57% of customers would converse with conversational AI even when the maintain time was solely 5 minutes.

Past consumers’ willingness to talk with AI, the survey discovered pervasive customer support issues, with 91% of customers reporting they’ve skilled poor customer support prior to now six months.

Customers say auto and residential insurance coverage firms have had the very best customer support for the reason that pandemic started, whereas cellular phone and web suppliers ranked the worst. Airways, within the information for lengthy maintain occasions, got here in second place for worst customer support total for the reason that pandemic started.

Nevertheless, airways didn’t current probably the most points for summer season vacationers. For the 77% of summer season vacationers who reported they encountered customer support points, rental automotive firms topped the record, as almost a 3rd of vacationers utilizing rental automobiles had points.

General, manufacturers that don’t tackle gaps in customer support are in danger, with 76% of customers saying a poor customer support expertise negatively impacts their notion of a model and one in three saying it impacts loyalty. The pandemic and its continued impacts have exacerbated extant staffing points, however firms haven’t made modifications to have extra resilient staffing within the face of uncertainty. For a lot of of those firms, AI may present needed support. With the pandemic nonetheless in play, staffing and uncertainty will proceed to influence restoration if not addressed.

Replicant commissioned the survey of 1,000 U.S. customers who’ve interacted with customer support prior to now six months late this summer season, amid stories of points with airline customer support and product shortages, to look at public attitudes towards customer support.

Learn the full report by Replicant.