I recently went online to check the status of a delayed order.

This should be an easy process in today's age. It wasn't. The company wasn't sharing any helpful information via it's ecommerce system.

So I went looking for live help.

The company's contact information was intentionally buried. I had to first navigate through an endless series of menus designed to deflect my question. None of the options were a match.

Finally, I found a chat button.

I clicked the button expecting to connect with a live agent. Instead, it connected me to a chatbot that didn't understand my question.

I know I'm not alone. We've all had frustrating experiences with chatbots. This is a growing problem for businesses.

Two recent studies from goMoxie reveal how chatbots are sending customers to the competition.

A toy robot is watching a customer chat with customer service, symbolizing an incompetent chatbot.

Your customers are struggling online

It's 2021. You'd think companies would have figured out how to make basic online interactions simple and reliable by now.

You'd be wrong.

One goMoxie study asked 1,056 consumers about their online banking experiences. A whopping 55 percent had recently struggled to complete basic tasks on their bank's website such as logging in, transferring money, or updating personal information.

The really infuriating thing for customers is when they try to contact their bank via phone, email, or chat, they are typically prompted with "did you know you can do that online?"

Another study asked 1,063 consumers about online retail experiences. It found that 42 percent were unable to complete a recent online transaction.

43 percent couldn't find necessary information
43 percent had difficulty navigating
36 percent received error messages

You might assume its older customers who experiences these issues. The goMoxie retail study found that all age groups experienced online challenges, with younger consumers reporting a higher percentage of problems.

Here's the scary part for businesses: 62 percent of customers abandoned the purchase after encountering the first struggle.

Only 26 percent contacted customer service. When they did, a chatbot was the last thing they wanted.

Your customers don't want to deal with a bot

Companies use chatbots to reduce costs by automating customer interactions. The problem is that customers don't want to deal with a bot.

This is not a new trend. A 2018 study from PwC found that 71 percent of Americans would rather interact with a human than a chatbot.

The goMoxie banking survey discovered that 60 percent of banking customers don't trust bots to communicate their issues effectively. One third said chatbots weren't able to answer their questions.

Where do chatbots land on consumers list of preferred channels? According to goMoxie’s retail study, it’s last.

Graphic showing customers’ preferred channels for contacting customer service. Phone is the top choice at 33%. Chatbots are the last choice at 8%.

The explanation is simple. When a customer experiences an ecommerce problem, contacting a live support agent is the customer's way of escalating the problem.

Making customers deal with a chatbot is like telling a customer "No, you can't speak to my supervisor."

How to provide a better customer experience (cost-effectively)

Let's go back to the reason companies use chatbots. The idea is that chatbots are cheaper than a live agent, so therefore chatbots are cheaper.

Are they?

How cheap is that chatbot if it costs you a customer?

How cheap is that chatbot if a customer gets so frustrated, they end up speaking to a live agent anyway? And that live agent has to spend twice as long solving the problem because the customer is now angry?

There is a better solution.

First, fix chronic ecommerce issues. This seems simple, yet we know the problems are widespread. And I can tell you executives aren't taking this seriously.

One executive was dismissive of his company's confusing website. Each day, dozens of customers had the same question about a basic function.

The executive derided the customers as lazy and stupid.

While the answer to the question might have been obvious to him, he completely missed another obvious answer. A simple fix would prevent dozens of daily complaints.

Second, make it easier for customers to connect to a live human when they need help.

Oddly enough, making it easy to reach a human gives customers more confidence in the self-service options you provide. They're more likely to use self-service and feel good about it when they know help is readily available if they need it.