Customers have two big complaints from their AI interactions: they can’t reach a person when they need to and they have to repeat themselves, an Alchemer survey found.
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Dive Brief
- Nearly 9 in 10 consumers say AI has hurt their experience with a company, according to an Alchemer survey of 2,000 U.S. consumers released on Tuesday. More than one-quarter said that AI hasn’t made their experience better.
- The single biggest reported negative effect: 44% of customers said AI has made it harder to reach a person.
- Nearly one-third said they have to repeat information they already provided when connected to a live agent.
Dive Insight
Many brands are deploying AI for self-service, which can often work well, especially for easy-to-solve issues. But the technology isn’t foolproof, and when consumers need to talk with live agents, AI appears to be getting in the way.
Alchemer’s survey results echo persistent customer complaints about how companies have used automation in customer service and support. Well-designed systems make self-service helpful while also giving customers an easy route to a human if they need it.
Too often, implementation falls short.
Technology implementations should reflect straightforward customer-centric processes. But, organizations are often burdened by layers of fragmented systems, have unclear escalation rules and limited staffing, Jeannie Walters, CEO and chief experience investigator with Experience Investigators, told CX Dive in an email.
“Plus, a bot’s ‘scorecard’ often rewards keeping customers away from live agents, so that’s what the bot is literally trying to do,” Walters said.
If the system is built to contain calls and reduce costs, CX leaders should also track customer effort and repeat service requests
Brands should then use their findings to “help the customer get where they want faster,” Walters said.
Helping the customer achieve their goal faster could mean getting callers to a human agent, or customer journey data might reveal areas where process tweaks and better access to information could allow the customer to fix their issue by themselves.
Customers aren’t against AI at face value, but they want it to be helpful. Nearly 2 in 5 consumers said they want a company’s use of AI to help them resolve their issues faster, Alchemer found.
Improving service experiences, whether or not a live agent is involved, often requires CX leaders to obtain executive buy-in. Jon Picoult, founder and principal of Watermark Consulting, suggests that a “show don’t tell” approach might prove effective.
“Get the people holding the purse strings together to experience the horror themselves,” Picoult told CX Dive in an email. “Gather the executive team, or even the Board of Directors, in a room and — gasp — have them call the 800-line or initiate an online service chat. Then let the fun begin.”
CX leaders could use the same approach to drive home the absurdity of forcing customers to repeat themselves, Picoult said. That repetition often reflects a lack of integration between back-end systems, such as the company’s CRM, ordering and billing systems
Filed Under:AI & Automation,Customer Service
