Quadient has identified that the younger generations of Millennials and Gen Z are embracing the emergence of AI usage in customer service engagement. According to a survey by Opimium conducted in late 2024, consumers aged 18-35 are more comfortable with AI usage in communication than those over 55.
- 49% of 18-35-year-olds are comfortable with AI-generated communications
- Only 23% of those over 55 are comfortable
What is clear, not from this survey but from others, is that the customer experience from AI tools is improving. The younger generations seem to accept this more readily than their elders. 47% of 18-34 year olds believe AI enables faster responses to customers, compared to just 30% of those aged 55 and over.
The recent KPMG customer experience report showed a 1.4% rise in customer satisfaction scores among the UK’s leading brands in 2024. That is the most significant rise over the last three years. And it is almost certainly due to the adoption of AI.
AI is coming to customer service
Businesses increasingly use AI for customer service. The IBM Institute for Business Value (IBM IBV) survey found that leaders believe that adopting generative AI is essential. 67% had already begun deploying solutions. 65% of customer service leaders expect to use generative AI with conversational AI to increase customer satisfaction.
There is still scepticism among consumers, though. 61% of 18-34-year-olds and 53% of those 55 and over still believe AI creates lower-quality communication than humans. However, the writing is on the wall. AI offers significant advantages in efficiency, productivity, customer engagement, and customer satisfaction.
This means that organisations must approach AI deployments carefully. Thus, ensuring that the results meet expectations and that they are not sold on the hype. Telephony auto-attendants promised efficiency but, in most cases, helped destroy customer satisfaction.
Antony Paul, Head of Global Product at Quadient, commented, “AI isn’t just about passing the Turing test or mimicking human conversation. From automation to data consolidation, AI is far more than just ChatGPT – at its best, it helps businesses make smarter decisions that deliver genuine benefits to customers.
“The smoke and mirrors around AI have left many consumers uncertain about how it’s actually being used. To build trust, businesses must clearly demonstrate how AI improves customer experience, whether that’s through streamlining processes or personalising messages. Key to this is transparency, organisations simply can’t keep customers in the dark about their use of AI in communications.”
Trust
The above statistics are interesting in that the trend is towards increasing trust in AI. In December 2023, research by Gartner found that. “Sixty-four per cent of customers would prefer that companies didn’t use artificial intelligence (AI) in their customer service, according to a survey by Gartner, Inc. Furthermore, 53% of customers would consider switching to a competitor if they found out a company was going to use AI for customer service.”
In the Quadient research, “53% of consumers believing that if an organisation uses AI to generate communications, then it does not care about its customers.” It will be interesting to see how that is reflected next year if the survey is conducted again.
As organisations approach AI deployment, one message from consumers is clear: they want companies to be honest about AI usage. 81% of consumers of all ages believe organisations should disclose when AI has been used to generate communications.
Therefore, the deployment of AI solutions offers great promise but also risks that organisations cannot ignore. Trust in AI is also situational, which means some industries must be very cautious when considering it.
The survey found that consumers would react with anger, disgust or discomfort if they felt that AI dealt with high stakes or sensitive situations. Examples given were:
- 45% when medical test results were AI-generated
- 34% for insurance claim responses
- 29% for medical appointment letters
It might have been interesting to see the breakdown by age group on this. Also, especially in the case of medical appointments, the advantages of efficiency might quickly outweigh the issue of dealing with an AI. What it does mean is that organisations must carefully consider the human in the loop. And be ready to drop any communication to a human if needed.
A study by Shepard Presentations LLC found that “86% of customers believe AI-powered customer service should always include the option to speak with a human.”
Organisations must focus on transparency and quality for any AI deployment, without forgetting to include humans in the loop.
Paul adds, “When dealing with sensitive or personal situations, the last thing consumers should worry about is whether AI is handling their information securely. This presents a real opportunity for businesses to increase consumer trust in AI-generated communications.
“If businesses can show where customer data is being stored and how AI interacts with it to deliver the right message through the right channel at the right time, they’ll not only gain consumer confidence. They will also unlock the full potential of their technology investments.”
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
Customer Service is changing, organisations are adopting AI, and AI solutions are also improving rapidly. What is clear for organisations is that they must be open about the use of AI. They must always deliver an option to break out to a human. And the AI should be trained in context and monitored rigorously.
Failure of AI projects could lead to a loss of brand reputation and revenues. However, success could see companies scale quickly, without the requirement for hiring, that they once had to do.
The next few years will be evolutionary for customer success, and hopefully, organisations will deploy effective solutions and not auto-attendants that lose customers.
