March 29th, 2023, Bhavika Bansal
Times and tech are evolving. As AI and ML (machine learning) continue to become an integral part of business systems the world over, the AI market is expected to reach the USD 500 billion mark by 2024. With a majority of businesses relying on chatbots to enhance their customer experience, it is evident that this technology is making a tangible impact.
Yet a recent YouGov Surveys poll – conducted across 18 global markets - paints a discouraging picture. Almost a third of consumers globally (29%) think that customer service chatbots would not be useful when purchasing any of the given categories of products or services online.
While close to a fifth of consumers believe that chatbots can be beneficial when shopping online for mobile phones and electronics (16% for both), a significantly lesser proportion of consumers believe the same when it comes to healthcare products (11%), out-of-home-entertainment services (11%) and cosmetics and beauty products (11%).
Taking a closer look at consumers who selected cosmetics and beauty products by region reveals some interesting differences.
Consumers in India (24%) and Indonesia (20%) are the most likely of all APAC markets to think that customer service chatbots can be helpful while purchasing cosmetics and beauty products. Chatbots can recommend products based on skin types or suggest products to complete a look.
Though a quarter of consumers in the UAE (24%) believe that customer service chatbots can be useful while shopping for apparel online, they are much less likely to believe the same about cosmetics and beauty products (17%).
Moving to the North American markets reveals that consumers in Mexico (15%) are significantly likelier than their counterparts in Canada (9%) and the US (6%) to think that customer service chatbots can be useful when buying beauty products online.
With slightly more than a tenth of consumers (12%) who find chatbots useful when it comes to cosmetics and beauty products, Poland is the only European market to outpace the global average. On the other hand, less than one in ten consumers in Germany (9%), France (7%), Denmark (7%), Sweden (6%) and Great Britain (5% - the lowest of all markets) share the same opinion.
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Methodology: YouGov Surveys: Serviced provide quick survey results from nationally representative or targeted audiences in multiple markets. The data is based on surveys of adults aged 18+ years in 18 markets with sample sizes varying between 431 and 1,572 for each market. All surveys were conducted online in December 2022. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples. Learn more about YouGov Surveys: Serviced.
Photo by pmv chamara on Unsplash