A new customer experience benchmark report from Kore.ai, the world’s leading enterprise AI platform and solutions provider, reveals a growing acceptance for AI-powered intelligent virtual assistants (IVAs) that meet customer service quality expectations. Kore.ai’s report reveals that customers across sectors like banking, health, retail, travel, and telecom/cable/media increasingly rely on IVAs to get prompt and relevant information while engaging conversationally, without having to repeat themselves.
Customers value the efficiency of self-service and desire a quality experience, which legacy chatbots have failed to offer. The survey results showed that they don’t want to sacrifice quality for convenience, and are demanding accuracy, speed, and expertise, along with automated self-service. Thanks to the vast improvements in technologies powered by conversational AI, generative AI and large language models (LLMs), IVAs can now meet these needs.
While users prefer the advanced AI technology’s help with complex service interactions, they also appreciate an easy handoff to a live agent when needed. The study details specific use cases across multiple industries, demonstrating the broad applicability for consumers.
Kore.ai and its outside research partner surveyed GenZ, Millennial, GenX and Boomer consumers based in the U.S. in five key industries: banking, health, retail, travel, and cable/media/telecom (see Customer Experience Benchmark Report, 2023). Key findings include:
- Closing the gap: A 7% gap in approval ratings for IVA (70%) and Live Agent (77%) modes still exists, but consumer preference for IVAs is growing for both simple and complex interactions.
- Speed matters: 66% agree they would prefer getting an order status in 30 seconds from an automated assistant (IVA) versus waiting for 3 minutes from a live agent.
- Can you hear me now? 79% of consumers loathe repeating their situation or problem and cite it as their “biggest customer service frustration”.
- Representative, please: 61% find it highly frustrating when they can’t reach a live agent, and appreciate when an automated assistant (IVA) intelligently determines when to transfer the call.
“Our recent survey shows there is a growing demand for IVAs across industries, and they are reshaping customer interactions,” said Raj Koneru, CEO of Kore.ai. “For enterprises, this data isn’t just insight – it’s an imperative to recalibrate modern customer engagement strategies, adapt to new expectations, leverage the technologies at hand – conversational and generative AI and LLMs – and position IVAs as transformative tools that redefine how technology and humans come together in the customer journey.”
Recently, Kore.ai released its report exploring the perspective of contact center agents on the role of IVAs in the workforce, highlighting a change in attitudes towards the need for and integration of conversational AI and IVAs. In conjunction with the latest survey, the data counters the narrative of AI technology replacing workers; instead, it underscores their strategic collaboration.
About 84% of respondents to the Contact Center Agent Experience Benchmark Report agreed that they could greatly benefit from AI-powered solutions that efficiently handle post-call tasks, such as summarizing key details and generating accurate wrap-up notes.
The recent surveys reveal a greater acceptance from both consumers and contact center agents for AI-powered solutions.
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