Dive Brief:
- Three in five consumers say they only engage with companies that demonstrate genuine care, according to a survey of more than 11,500 consumers conducted by YouGov on behalf of Zurich, a global insurance company.
- Three in five respondents say they would be willing to pay more to use a brand that demonstrates care. Additionally, consumers say empathy is more important than online reviews when choosing a brand.
- However, customers are dissatisfied with the state of care. More than three-quarters of consumers say they believe most companies only care about money, not the needs of their customers, according to the survey.
Dive Insight:
Many consumers feel companies are failing at empathy, and the growing use of AI in customer service likely isn’t helping.
Seven in ten consumers respondents say AI cannot recreate human connections, according to Zurich. While the technology can enable greater efficiency, it can’t generate the empathy people want from the brands they frequent.
Failure of empathy can affect the bottom line. More than 2 in 5 consumers say they have abandoned a brand due a perceived lack of empathy, according to the report.
“Companies that can genuinely demonstrate empathy earn a significant competitive advantage” Jamil Zaki, director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Laboratory, wrote in the Zurich report. “Companies that fail to do so risk customer churn, reputational damage, and missed growth opportunities.”
Other research has found similar emotions regarding AI. Just over half of consumers say they dislike or hate AI’s use in service interactions, according to an August HubSpot and SurveyMonkey survey.
Consumers’ aversion to the technology is a sign that it often falls short of customer expectations regarding empathy, nuance and genuine connection, Zoe Padgett, senior research scientist at SurveyMonkey, told CX Dive in August.
Emphasizing customer support can help companies win customers’ business. More than 4 in 5 consumers say they are more likely to stay loyal to a company that prioritizes human customer service over automated or self-service options alone, according to an October survey by digital services company Ricoh.
