Although consumers are starting to accept artificial intelligence (AI) and automation is increasing, they still prefer dealing with a human being when querying a bill (85%), changing account details (62%), making a complaint (84%), buying a product or service for the first time (77%), chasing an order (73%) or dealing with a fault (78%).
These are the findings of an online YouGov survey of more than 2 000 British adults commissioned by Webhelp, a global business process outsourcing (BPO) and customer experience expert.
Nearly half of respondents (45%) said they had never used any type of AI, but amongst those who had there was widespread dissatisfaction around its efficiency and perceived value. Nearly half (44%) also believe that AI will not positively impact their lives in any way over the next five years.
Just over a quarter said they had used a customer service chatbot (27%), interactive voice response or IVR (27%) or smart home speaker such as Amazon Alexa or Google Home (26%).
While over a third of those who had used these types of AI were dissatisfied with the chatbots (35%) and IVR (38%), smart home speakers proved more popular – possibly because these are chosen rather than encountered by chance.
Fewer than half (45%) of those who had experienced a customer service chatbot were satisfied with it and 38% were either fairly or very dissatisfied with IVR. In contrast, 77% claimed to be satisfied with smart home speakers.
Looking ahead five years, over a quarter of respondents (26%) felt that increased use of AI-driven customer experience tools would make interacting with companies “much worse” compared to only 19% who felt the impact would be positive.
Other negative perceptions include fear that AI will make dealing with brands/companies more impersonal (52%), increased threats to privacy and security (46%) and detrimental impact to human-to-human interactions (43%).
Brandon Aitken, chief commercial officer at Webhelp SA, comments: “We know from anecdotal evidence that human-to human contact is important, but this study goes even further, highlighting the degree to which people favour it over AI-powered customer service tools and are negative about AI’s potential future impact.
“As exposure to AI increases in day-to-day life, people are likely to become more receptive, but this research confirms the importance of striking the right balance between the advanced technology services we offer and the incredible human talent of our local teams of agents, advisors and planners.”
Dave Pattman, innovation director at Webhelp, adds: “Good customer experience cannot be delivered by technology alone. It’s important to think about the overall process and journey, and how to create value for both companies and customers. Any attempt to leverage automated services should start with this thinking and ensure that automated and human-led services are working effectively, in tandem with one another.
“From a customer experience point of view, AI creates an opportunity for brands to deliver greater convenience, speed of response and accessibility. But it’s important to note that this doesn’t replace people. It decreases the volume but increases the value of human interaction.”