New research has found that the average quality of customer service is on the decline, as brands and UK shoppers are more disconnected than ever.
A recent study by CommBox found that while nearly all business respondents (90%) believed their serviced met customer expectations, only 43% of customers were satisfied with it. This was in relation to customer service over the past year.
87% of dissatisfied customers will take action following a negative customer service experience, the research found. As a result, over half would avoid spending anymore money with the brand, and nearly a third would seek out a competitor.
The research also revealed what customers are particularly dissatisfied with. Long wait times was the biggest pain point for customer service (43%). The inability to speak directly to a human agent (37%) and using chatbots that can’t solve queries (36%) indicated ongoing frustrations with automation and AI chatbot technology.
To counter this, the research revealed that customers are ultimately seeking a balance in two core areas from brands: speed and availability. For this, 80% of customer responders want to see AI utilised practically to resolve issues of speed and agent knowledge.
“The growing adoption of AI presents a unique opportunity to deliver on customer expectations and close the gap between businesses and consumers,” says Dvir Hoffman, CEO at CommBox.
“It’s time for businesses to adopt AI securely, providing personalised and on-time experiences to improve satisfaction and efficiency, cut costs, and drive growth.”
Despite the willingness to give AI a go in aiding customer service frustrations, only 15% of businesses have deployed AI extensively in their service functions.
Overall, the new research reveals a huge disconnect between what customer service should deliver on – and brands are not up to scratch. Brands that are missing the mark on customer service standards and frustrations have the chance to fix this with possible AI deployment, but are falling short.