This week, leading CX analyst Gartner released a survey highlighting how eight percent of its survey participants used a chatbot in their most recent customer service experience.
More worryingly, only a quarter of that eight percent said that they would use that chatbot again.
The Gartner survey also showcased the success rate of chatbot CX service for a range of use cases.
Of its collected figures, Gartner discovered that chatbot’s resolution rate of various questions, including:
- Return/Cancellation: 48 percent
- Order/Purchase: 52 percent
- Account Information: 43 percent
- Payment/Transaction: 40 percent
- Feedback: 38 percent
- Troubleshooting: 36 percent
- Account Changes: 27 percent
- Check Status: 26 percent
- Complaint: 25 percent
- Registration/Activation: 24 percent
- Information on Product/Service: 19 percent
- Change in Product/Service: 18 percent
- Billing Dispute: 17 percent
Michael Rendelman, a Senior Research Specialist at Gartner, said:
While many customer service and support leaders look to chatbots as the future of the function, customers clearly need some convincing. To improve chatbot adoption, the key is to focus on improving the chatbot’s ability to move customers’ issues forward.
Moreover, the survey pinpointed the biggest driver of bot adoptions is “the ability of a chatbot to move the customer’s issue forward”. Gartner also notes this as a core adoption driver for enterprise end-users.
Finally, according to the survey, there is an 18 percent variance in customers’ likelihood to use their chatbot again.
The Capabilities and Limitations of Chatbots
According to Gartner, while CX organizations are familiar with and leverage the benefits of chatbots, customers do not have the same understanding.
In addition, Gartner’s survey found that just two percent of customers are more likely to use chatbot CX services for returns/cancellation over a billing dispute, despite a significant difference in the resolution rates.
The analyst also states that its findings suggest that chatbots do not consistently help customers accomplish their goals.
Yet, there is hope in the near future for an uptick in bot performance – alongside further caution. As Michael Rendelman added:
Chatbots aren’t effective for all issue types. As generative AI makes them more advanced, customer confusion about what chatbots can and can’t do is likely to get worse.
“It’s up to service and support leaders to guide customers to chatbots when it’s appropriate for their issue and to other channels when another channel is more appropriate.”
Gartner conducted its study across 497 B2B and B2C customers between December 2022 and February 2023.
Last year, the analyst predicted that bots will cut contact center agent labor costs by $80BN in 2026. Nonetheless, this new piece of research suggests that there is some way to go.
