by Angela Guess

A new press release reports, “A new global study released by Pegasystems Inc., the software company empowering customer engagement at the world’s leading enterprises, revealed consumers are open to the promise of AI-powered customer experiences but need more transparency, data privacy, and a human-like touch to feel more comfortable with machine-powered interactions. According to the survey of 6,000 consumers across six countries, nearly 70 percent of respondents are open to AI solutions assisting them in their daily life – for example, to save them time or money – and nearly 40 percent expect AI to improve customer service in the future. But despite this potential, current AI experiences are falling short of consumers’ expectations, presenting an opportunity for companies to set themselves apart. More consumers than not (38 percent vs. 26 percent) said they don’t think AI delivers the same or better service than humans can today.”

The release goes on, “The survey identified three core areas that businesses need to address to help make AI a customer experience differentiator: (1) Bringing a more human-like touch: The study revealed a significant preference for human interaction over AI-powered experiences for customer service – making it imperative for businesses to better humanize their AI or supplement it with live agents. The most popular method to get help remains calling a human service agent (45 percent) – beating online chat (20 percent), social media (3 percent), or going into a store (15 percent). When consumers do turn to online channels, an overwhelming majority (nearly 80 percent) want to chat with a real person, not with a machine. This sentiment was shared across all age groups, even with younger or digital native respondents.”

Read more at Nasdaq.

Photo credit: Pegasystems