Consumer Behavior

Customers embracing AI-driven personalization but still value the human connection

Photo: Adobe Stock

September 10, 2024

Consumers are embracing the personalized sales experience that artificial intelligence technology offers but still highly value human to human connection.

Those are top findings from a Cogito survey on consumer preference when it comes to engaging with AI in the customer experience.

Respondents ranked customized sales offers as the number one positive impact of AI on customer service experience, according to a press release on the findings. This tech benefit was ranked higher than resolving issues/queries faster (second) and widening support windows (third).

Over half (53%) welcome an agent using AI to suggest relevant upgrades or deals tailored to their needs and purchase history.

"This data confirms a growing trend Cogito is seeing in the contact center to boost revenue growth. Organizations are evolving from purely resolving service issues, to taking the opportunity to present new offers during a customer service experience," Josh Feast, CEO and co-founder, Cogito, said in the release. "AI ushers this movement forward by helping identify the right proposal to make based on the customer's personalized history and needs, while simultaneously enhancing the agent's capabilities by recommending the best moment and language to seamlessly integrate into the service experience."

Additional findings include:

• Respondents ranked lost human-to-human connection as the number one negative impact of AI on customer service experiences, next to lack of empathy and fear over human job loss.
• Over 1-in-3 (39%) respondents consider AI-driven customer service (e.g., chatbots) much or slightly worse than human customer service (e.g., phone call).
• Over a quarter (27%) of Gen Z respondents are comfortable with a customer service agent leveraging AI in the background to better understand emotional intelligence to provide empathy and deepen connections, in comparison to only 8% of Boomers.
• 20% of Gen Z respondents aren't concerned about human job loss as they believe AI will never be able to replace human connection and empathy, in comparison to just 12% of Boomers agreeing.