• By quade
• 9 September 2024

Acquire BPO Warns of How AI Experiences Can Turn Customers Off

Acquire BPO has recently conducted a study that warned of the potential for AI to alienate customers from using your products. Although there are many potential benefits from using these tools, there are also potential pitfalls.

AI can automate many tasks but still require human interference to operate smoothly. If customers have a negative experience with AIs, they are far less likely to use their tools and will look for other products instead.

Acquire BPO Warns the Problems With AI

A recent study created by Acquire BPO shows that 70% of consumers will likely shift to a different brand if they have bad experiences using AI tools. This comes as AI tools are becoming increasingly common among countless companies. 

Although it is meant to reduce costs and increase efficiency, there is a tradeoff of alienating customers if they find the experience unsatisfactory. Acquire BPO remains one of the global leaders in customer experience and has proven to be incredibly knowledgeable of this topic. 

The reason for this is that many consumers responded that using AI tools can be incredibly frustrating and something customers would not want to repeat if possible. That puts more pressure on companies who use AI to make sure that their AI tools are properly trained as they only have one shot at winning over their customer. 

The study that Acquire BPO conducted was called 2024 AI in Customer Service Survey where they talked to third-party survey platform Pollfish. This was done to explore what their customers thought and how companies can plan their AI strategy. They talked with over 600 US-based consumers aged 18 and above.

Acquire BPO’s Findings

Among the things that Acquire BPO discovered included that 70% of consumers would rather switch to a new platform than use the AI tool again if it was frustrating. AI is generally frowned upon by consumers as 2.5x more respondents said that they feel more comfortable talking with humans and that half of them have negative feelings about companies that rely on AI. 

The reasons they gave are that it lacks a personal touch provided by human workers. this in turn makes the responses feel less accurate and requires more time to come to a resolution. However, those who support AI are more willing to use the tools and may even choose services based on whether they have chatbots. They are even willing to endure more inconvenience. Those who prefer human contact will choose products that explicitly use human customer support.

Meanwhile, 40% of consumers believe AI is capable of handling simple issues with the same ability as humans, and over 49% say that they are comfortable using AI chatbots so long as there are options to switch to human operators.

What Can Be Done With These Results?

Based on What Acquire BPO has said, some important developments must be considered. One is the possibility of saving previous conversations to use in future chats. A majority of respondents responded that they would appreciate it and improve efficiency instead of just predicting existing issues.

The other idea is for AI to try escalating concerns as many users say they would appreciate it if AI could predict frustration or anger and offer to redirect them to human agents if the issue is not resolved.

“Unlocking the power of AI is essential for companies to gain a competitive edge, however the future of exceptional customer service requires striking the right balance between AI and human support. By carefully mapping out an experience that blends AI and human support seamlessly, brands can meet customers where they are and deliver consistently outstanding service across all touchpoints.”

-Scott Stavretis, CEO of Acquire BPO.

How Can These Results Affect the BPO Industry

With all these revelations, the BPO industry as a whole needs to take note of this information and make adjustments to avoid alienating its customers. With this report, it shows the potential benefits but also the risks of this tool. So companies that want to use AI tools must consider these trends carefully.

The biggest thing is that AI cannot stand on its own. It’s clear that people still enjoy having human operators even if they won’t need to talk to them. the option is enough to put people at ease. More importantly, this should be the idea in developers’ minds when using AI. They want AI tools to understand their issues and if necessary, direct them to other services.