Cogito Research Finds Customers Prefer AI-Powered Selling, Ushering in a New Era for Contact Centers
06 Agosto 2024 - 8:00AM
Business Wire
New data from Cogito reveals that consumers
view personalized offers as the most positive impact of AI on
customer service experiences, affirming the contact center’s focus
shift to sales
Cogito, the leader in real-time AI coaching and guidance for the
enterprise, today announced survey results that reveal insights
into consumer preferences when it comes to engaging with artificial
intelligence (AI) during the customer service experience. The
findings confirm that consumers are embracing the personalized
sales experience AI offers, but still highly value human-to-human
connection and empathy in their interactions.
The Shift from Service to Sales
Respondents ranked customized sales offers as the number one
positive impact of AI on customer service experience. This
technology benefit was ranked higher than resolving issues/queries
faster (second) and widening support windows (third). Moreover,
over half (53%) of respondents welcome an agent using AI to suggest
relevant upgrades or deals tailored to their needs and purchase
history. Notably, Millennials (62%) were the most receptive
demographic to this offering. Overall, more than half (54%) of
respondents feel AI is more helpful than harmful in customer
service interactions.
“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,” said Josh
Feast, CEO and co-founder, Cogito. “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.”
The Value of Human Connection
The future of contact centers lies in the synergy between human
expertise and AI capabilities. While AI offers many advantages,
much of its potential lies in supporting agents, not taking their
place. Notably, over 3-in-4 (77%) respondents would prefer
interacting with a human agent who uses AI tools in the background
instead of using self-service options like chatbots.
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).
- However, nearly half (47%) of respondents are comfortable with
a customer service agent leveraging AI in the background to
automate their tasks.
- 37% of respondents are only slightly concerned about human job
loss in certain industries or roles but overall, believe AI will
best work as a tool, not a replacement.
The Quality Gen Z Favors Most
A generational divide is emerging when it comes to AI's role in
customer service, with Gen Z valuing human empathy more than older
generations like Boomers. Over 1-in-3 (38%) of Gen Z respondents
consider lack of empathy to be the most negative impact of AI on
customer service experiences, in comparison to only 23% of
Boomers.
Further insights reveal:
- 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.
Cogito integrates the nuances of Emotion AI, the precision of
Conversation AI, and the expertise of Generative AI. By analyzing
vocal, lexical, and behavioral cues during a conversation, Cogito's
AI equips agents with real-time guidance and support, enabling them
to effectively serve customers. This approach allows agents to
maintain the human-to-human connection and empathy that customers
value in service and sales interactions.
To learn more about Cogito and its impact on service-to-sales in
the contact center, click here.
Methodology
The online survey, which was completed by 1,000 18+ U.S. adults,
was commissioned by Cogito and fielded by Dynata, a global market
research firm, in July 2024.
About Cogito
Cogito innovates with emotion and conversation AI to deliver
real-time coaching and guidance to contact centers and frontline
teams. Cogito supports agents and supervisors to improve
effectiveness, experience and empathy by providing human-aware and
human-empowering coaching and insights. The world’s most well-known
brands, including 5 of the Fortune 25, use Cogito to improve their
connection with customers and elevate team member well-being.
Founded in 2007, Cogito is a venture-backed software company based
in Boston, MA. Learn more at www.cogitocorp.com.
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PAN Communications Sarah Sturba cogito@pancomm.com