{"id":147167,"date":"2025-08-01T13:08:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T12:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/?p=147167"},"modified":"2025-07-31T13:19:21","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T12:19:21","slug":"ai-crosses-the-trust-threshold-half-of-all-consumers-embrace-it-for-critical-life-advice-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/2025\/08\/01\/ai-crosses-the-trust-threshold-half-of-all-consumers-embrace-it-for-critical-life-advice-2\/","title":{"rendered":"AI crosses the trust threshold: Half of all consumers embrace it for critical life advice\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Smart Communications, a leading technology company focused on helping businesses engage in more meaningful customer conversations, released its 2025 Customer Experience Benchmark research<\/em>. The global survey of 3,000 consumers found that while many are ready for Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enhance their experiences in healthcare, financial services and insurance, they remain frustrated with poor omnichannel experiences and outdated form processes.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cCustomers\u2019 expectations are set by the best brands in retail, technology and eCommerce,\u201d said Leigh Segall, CEO, Smart Communications. \u201cWhen healthcare, banking and insurance organisations fail to meet these expectations, they risk losing customer loyalty and business. That\u2019s why we set out every year to gauge where that bar is set, and light the way for organisations in these industries to exceed their customers\u2019 expectations through frictionless, digital-first experiences.\u201d   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The customer communications scorecard: Solid improvement, but risks remain  <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2018, Smart Communications\u2019 Customer Experience Benchmark<\/em> research has tracked consumer attitudes and preferences towards customer communications from healthcare, financial services and insurance organisations. In 2025, most consumers (62%) rated communications from these organisations as good or excellent, with significant improvements in each sector: satisfaction rates improved by 67% in banking, 46% in insurance and 75% in healthcare.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The survey also highlights the importance of customer communications in ensuring loyalty, driving referral business, and reducing customer churn. Nearly all respondents (84%) say customer communications are important in their overall experience, and two-thirds (67%) would switch away from a company if communications didn\u2019t meet their expectations.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

AI: Hesitation cut in half as consumers see value in real-world use cases<\/strong>   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s report highlights a warming of consumers\u2019 overall attitudes towards AI, particularly when it comes to specific use cases. Half of all respondents would value AI being used to offer financial advice (46%), suggest insurance plan changes (51%), or make health recommendations (54%).   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consumer confidence in AI is strong, with less than a third of all respondents expressing hesitation over AI handling data securely (32%) or ethically (31%). People are also less likely to demand disclaimers of AI\u2019s use in customer communications; only 37% say its use should be called out, compared to 77% in 2024.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, increased comfort and trust do not mean increased confidence in quality. Only 13% believe that generative AI is better than humans at creating customer communications content, and nearly half (46%) say humans should always check content suggested by generative AI.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poor omnichannel experiences are letting brands down  <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While consumers\u2019 improved attitudes towards AI offer encouragement, their feelings on omnichannel experiences should serve as a warning to organisations. Only half (54%) of consumers reported satisfaction with the quality of these experiences, while 60% said they would trust companies more if they offered a consistent omnichannel experience.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The complexity of omnichannel communications was also reflected in the survey.  Despite being the oldest age group surveyed, Silent Generation consumers (respondents between 79 and 97) were the most likely to prefer email communications (48%). Conversely, the youngest respondents \u2013 Generation Z \u2013 were the least likely to prefer email (39%). Bottom of the list for all generations was print, with just 12% of all respondents listing it as their preferred method of communication.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bad forms are driving younger consumers away  <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data intake remains a silent killer for customer experience. Two-thirds of all consumers (66%), including 73% of Millennials and 71% of Generation Zers, said they would end their interaction with a company if the data intake process were too difficult. To fix this problem, organisations should focus on speed and simplicity, which were ranked by 90% of all consumers as their priority when completing a form.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Companies have an opportunity to transform the data intake process based on consumer preferences with guided, digital forms. Nearly two-thirds of all respondents (63%) said they would prefer this process to a fillable PDF document, and 77% say it\u2019s important that companies offer some sort of digital data collection instead of manual processes that involve printing, scanning or mailing.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe data is clear: consumers are ready to see what AI can do,\u201d said Leigh Segall.  \u201cOrganisations have an opportunity to use this groundbreaking technology to create outstanding customer experiences that exceed consumer expectations. Our research shows them where to start, by orchestrating smarter omnichannel experiences.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additional findings are available through the company\u2019s new interactive web experience, which includes downloadable charts, detailed industry, regional and demographic analyses and industry-specific versions of the 2025 Customer Experience Benchmark<\/em> reports. Read here.<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Smart Communications, a leading technology company focused on helping businesses engage in more meaningful customer conversations, released its 2025 Customer Experience Benchmark research. The global survey of 3,000 consumers found that while many are ready for Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enhance their experiences in healthcare, financial services and insurance, they remain frustrated with poor omnichannel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":147168,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21064,42,9442,573,22293,6617,15429,93],"tags":[158,22626,406,17006,18386,76,71,1691],"class_list":["post-147167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai","category-banking-finance","category-digital-transformation","category-features","category-innovation","category-research","category-tech-trends","category-top-stories","tag-ai","tag-ai-chat","tag-banking","tag-banking-and-finance","tag-chatgpt","tag-digital-transformation","tag-finance","tag-fintech"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147167"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":147487,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147167\/revisions\/147487"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}