CommBox Study Finds New Gap in Customer Service Quality

According to a new study, it's official — businesses around the world believe the average quality of customer service is is decline.

Let's look closer.

A recent study commissioned by UK-based conversational AI digital customer engagement company CommBox found that there is an overarching disconnect between brands and UK shoppers, respectively. While over 90% of businesses believe the service they provide meets customer expectations, only 43% of customers reported that they were “satisfied” with the service they had received online over the past year.

That’s a big perception gap, and there’s no reason to believe it’s any different in the U.S. and other regions.

The study, which was conducted according to the ESOMAR principles followed by the Market Research Society, revealed that at the heart of UK consumer dissatisfaction lies long wait times (43%) and the inability to speak directly to a human agent (37%), as well as having to use chatbots that can’t solve queries (36%). As automation and AI chatbots become an increasingly popular part of the customer service toolkit, UK shoppers also reported ongoing frustrations with the technology.

This doesn’t mean that customers see AI as the problem, however; a majority of consumers responding to the study said they are willing for AI to be used to resolve their frustrations. They simply want it to work.

When asked about what “good” customer service looks like, consumers said they want brands to strike a balance in two core areas: speed and availability. Speaking to people with the right knowledge (56%) tops consumer requirements for good quality customer service, which is closely followed by speedy resolution (48%) and brands ensuring they are available 24/7 (34%).

“The growing adoption of AI presents a unique opportunity to deliver on customer expectations and close the gap between businesses and consumers,” said Dvir Hoffman, CEO at CommBox. “AI arms chatbots and human agents with the right knowledge, at their fingertips, and it’s time for businesses to adopt AI securely, providing personalized and on-time experiences to improve satisfaction and efficiency, cut costs, and drive growth.”