Customer experience should be getting better. Companies are increasingly claiming to be customer-centric and appointing Chief Experience Officers to focus on improving CX. They are investing in AI and other technologies to provide a faster, more seamless experience.reveals these technology investments are backfiring. Shockingly, the research indicates consumer satisfaction has plummeted over the past year rather customers reporting better experiences.
Over a third of consumers take their complaints directly to the contact center, subjecting agents to inefficient and hostile conversations. And when they do reach an agent, just one in four customers believe that employee seems happy, engaged and knowledgeable. Clearly, there's a disconnect between companies' investment in AI-powered automation and consumers' desire for genuine human interaction to solve problems.As companies strive for efficiency in support, have they inadvertently made the customer experience worse? Spending on AI and automation would be justified if it actually solved issues more quickly and boosted customer satisfaction. Instead, the data suggests the move toward AI is actively repelling consumers.
Rather, AI can be used to enhance agents' knowledge and efficiency while still preserving their central role in delivering satisfying service. The key to improving customer experience is to deploy AI solutions only when the service they provide is faster and better than that offered by human reps. Viewing AI-driven self service options solely from a cost-reduction standpoint will continue to increase customer frustration and discontent.