Marketing

Survey: Consumers hungry for messaging, conversational AI

Photo by istock.com

December 28, 2020

A good majority, 85%, of worldwide consumers are on board with messaging brands, up from 65% last year, and 75% would spend more with brands that offer messaging.

Those are two top findings from LivePerson's 2020 Consumer Preferences for Conversational Commerce report.

The company polled more than 5,000 adults in six countries and found that messaging and conversational AI are more widely adopted and trusted than ever before, with the overwhelming majority of consumers of all ages reporting a strong desire to message with brands, according to a press release.

"For the first time, older consumers are showing the same level of interest in messaging with brands as younger demographics. In addition, vast majorities of consumers now report they'd be more likely to do business with — and spend more with — brands that allow them to message rather than call," stated the release.

Additional findings include:

• The European countries surveyed had the highest average demand for messaging, with France's figures above 90%.
• The youngest group of people surveyed, 18-24 years of age, were just as likely to want messaging options as the oldest group, 65 and older — 82% of both groups want to message with brands.
• Consumer use of bots to make purchases continues to rise. Assistance in making a purchase was the second most common use case in 2020.
• Conversational AI is considered on par with human assistance in many cases. For tasks like checking an account balance or updating an address, more than 50% of consumers prefer to use bots over interacting with humans.
• Most people feel "neutral" toward chat bots: 31% of respondents worldwide feel positive, and 18% feel negative.

"The evidence is clear: AI-powered messaging experiences are more in demand than ever before. Consumers around the world are clamoring for them, and they'll even spend more money with brands that give them what they want," Robert LoCascio, founder and CEO of LivePerson, said in the release. "Brands that embrace conversational AI and infuse it with human qualities like empathy, love and understanding will outperform their competitors and reach the cutting edge of customer service, marketing and sales."