Seven out of ten Britons hate dealing with chatbots and are cancelling or switching services when they can’t speak to a human – potentially leading to huge losses in revenue. Banks alone are potentially missing out on £9.3bn in lost revenue thanks to this public dislike of automation, new research has found.
A new survey commissioned by Handelsbanken has found widespread frustration with automated customer service, with many people reporting that when they are only offered a chatbot to talk to they will cancel, switch, or decide against purchasing services – right across the board. For financial services the average amount lost to the provider was just under £1,600 per person – scaling up to a potential £9.3bn in losses for banks alone.
For higher earners – those with a household income of over £100,000pa – the figure was even starker: nearly £3,000 in lost revenue per person. The same research found higher earners were two-and-a-half times more likely to be prepared to pay extra for a service where they got to speak to a human being.
Chris Teasdale, Chief Branch Officer for Handelsbanken, said: “It’s probably no surprise that customers don’t like being fobbed off with chatbots, but these figures are quite conclusive. t looks like many people really want to deal with a person, not an algorithm. And increasingly, it seems that if they aren’t given that choice they will even consider taking their business somewhere else.”
According to the report, 70% of people want to speak to a person in customer service, but when it comes to finances it rises to 75%.
Chris said: “It’s understandable that companies want to embrace new technologies – especially when it helps them do more business, be more efficient, or saves money. But this research suggests it could become a false economy.”
“We live in an increasingly digital world, and person-to-person interaction – whether that’s in person, on the phone, or instant messaging – is sometimes seen as a thing of the past. But it looks like when it comes to the big decisions, many people still value the human touch.”
