Most consumers prefer to speak to real people

A study commissioned by travel agency retail platform Travelport and conducted by Toluna Research, has found that despite the best efforts of businesses to automate their customer services, three quarters of all respondents still said they would prefer to speak to a real human when something goes wrong – either via phone or online chat.

More surprisingly, this tendency was strongest among younger consumers aged 18–41, with 83 per cent wanting human support.

The report, titled ‘What Consumers Want’, also found that over three quarters (77 per cent) of respondents, regardless of age, have responded to a chatbot – however, their use was limited. Even among younger users aged 18–41, only a quarter said that they used them frequently.

The study used a sample of 2,000 consumers from Australia, Colombia, Saudi Arabia, the UK and the US.

Many travellers would pay more to reduce carbon emissions

The study also found that nearly half of consumers (49 per cent) would choose to spend more on travel to reduce CO2 emissions. Those aged between 18–41 were most willing (84 per cent) to pay more for environmentally friendly travel options, compared with just over half (55 per cent) of those aged over 42.

Additionally, 60 per cent said that they would choose to take longer, more indirect transport routes to their destination to offset their carbon emissions. This tendency was strongest in younger travellers, with 33 per cent of respondents aged 18–41 saying they would travel an additional two to three hours to reduce CO2 emissions, compared to only 19 per cent of respondents aged 42 and older.

Interest in knowing more about the ‘carbon impact’ of journeys was high across all types of travel, with 71 per cent of leisure travellers and 80 per cent of business travellers wanting more information on their potential impact to help them assess journey options.

While it is easy to get excited about the potential of new technology, this report highlights why responding to the needs of customers is important. Lawrence Buckler, Vice President for Sales at Sprout.ai spoke in ITIJ’s April 2023 issue about why a customer-centric approach will define the future of insurance.