MIT Sloan Management Review summarised three studies on when customers accept automated service. Customers avoided a queue-skipping option even when it saved time, and avoided it further when it was labelled a chatbot; they accepted worse-than-expected offers more readily from a machine than a person, while better-than-expected offers landed better from a person. A review of 163 studies found preference turns on perceived capability and whether the task needs personal treatment.
What changed
Customer service automation decisions largely rested on cost and speed assumptions rather than measured customer acceptance.
What it unlocks
Deciding which customer-facing tasks to automate by weighing whether an automated system is seen as more capable and whether the task needs personal treatment.
- 28% chose the no-queue option
- 78.6% vs 60.4% accepted a poor offer
- 163 studies, 82,000+ participants
Sources