18
For the best support teams, AI is already driving great customer experiences
04
The majority of customers say they prefer a human agent. In most countries where we surveyed consumers, no more than a third say they’ve interacted with a support bot, and among those who have, around 80% say they later interacted with a human agent. Most agents say their support teams aren’t yet using AI to handle customer requests. These responses likely indicate a disconnect between awareness of AI and the extent to which it has become ever-present in our daily lives. Support teams that have adopted bots and other AI features are already benefiting: High-performing support teams using Zendesk are twice as likely to leverage AI. Customers see AI as an emerging technology Consumers aren’t sold on the benefits of AI. Nearly three-quarters of customers say they prefer to interact with a human agent. Still, about half tend to agree on some core benefits of AI: It’s helpful for simple issues and for allowing support teams to provide around-the-clock service.
• AI is widely expected to have a big impact on customer support.
• Gartner estimates that by 2020 a quarter of customer service interactions will involve some form of AI technology. • AI can help agents with automated actions, predictive analytics, chatbots, and virtual assistants. It can tackle repeat requests, freeing up human agents to handle more complicated inquiries.
Customer service may be thought of as the most relevant practical application of AI for businesses, but it’s still a ways off from being fully harnessed by support teams.
Please rate your level of agreement with the following statements related to AI and its impact on customer support.
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
I prefer to interact with a human agent
70%
25%
6%
57%
31%
12%
Ai is helpful for simple issues
AI allows me to contact support 24/7 AI makes customer support interactions more confusing AI makes it easier to find the answers I need on my own AI enables business to provide more personalized support
53%
35%
13%
47%
41%
12%
41%
37%
22%
38%
33%
29%
30%
35%
35%
AI is helpful for complex issues
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
% of surveyed customers
2019 Zendesk Customer Experience Trends
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