The data: Shoppers are quick to form judgments about brands’ AI chatbots and show little patience for bad experiences.

• 63% of US adults who shop online at least a few times per month say they know within a few interactions if a brand’s AI is sufficiently knowledgeable about its products, policies, and customers, per Gladly.
• 83% would be less likely to buy from a brand again if its AI doesn’t connect them to a person when they need one, including 32% who wouldn’t buy from that specific brand again.

The impact of negative AI experiences on sales is even more pronounced for daily US shoppers:

• 59% have reduced spending on a brand after repeated instances of frustrating AI service.
• 53% have warned friends, family, or colleagues to avoid a brand as a result of a bad AI experience.

Why this matters: Brands are entering a customer satisfaction minefield by rolling out public-facing chatbots. While these systems are meant to mirror the seamlessness of large genAI platforms—which we expect 95.5 million US shoppers will use by next year—they can easily fall short of expectations, such as by providing inaccurate product information, responding too slowly, or simply glitching out.

Marketers need to understand the ramifications of an inconvenient AI experience. Consumers are willing to hold a long-term grudge against brands that drop the ball and will extend the damage by spreading the word to their community.

Some of this frustration may be unrelated to AI—consumers have always lamented poor customer experiences and punished brands that consistently offer bad service. But the rise of AI has fueled a higher awareness of and intolerance for low-quality content, exposing brands to heightened risks if they are seen as contributing to the slop.

Recommendations for marketers: Simplify the purpose of branded chatbots and take proactive steps to prevent consumer frustrations.

• Focus branded AI experiences on providing the most up-to-date product and company information that a consumer can find, and leave the rest to larger AI search platforms like ChatGPT.
• Make a human customer service agent clearly available at every stage of an AI-powered interaction. Don’t implement automated responses that are meant to keep customers talking to AI even if they don’t want to.
• Use human employees to analyze conversations between customers and branded chatbots in real time. Enable the employee to step in for the AI whenever they see fit to prevent a frustrated customer from dropping out of the interaction.

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