Source page: McKinsey & Company
Commentary
Are the chatbots taking over?
Operations | Customer experience | Technology
April 12, 2024 – AI technologies are reshaping customer care. Partners Eric Buesing, Julian Raabe, and coauthors find that while customers of all generations prefer interacting with a human agent, they also want the flexibility to use different channels according to their needs. Digital-chat services have achieved a high level of acceptance across generations, and email remains important, especially for older consumers.
To read the article, see “Where is customer care in 2024?,” March 12, 2024.
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Visual form
Bar chart.
Layout / body structure
This is a multi-panel grouped bar chart with separate channel panels laid out across the page. The reading order is left to right through live phone, live chat or messaging, and social media, comparing the age-group bars within each channel.
What is being compared
It compares consumers’ likelihood of reaching out to customer care by channel and by generation.
Measurement system
The values are percentages of respondents. Each panel shares the same bar format, and color separates Gen Z, millennials, Gen X, and baby boomers.
Visible structure inside the graphic
Each channel has a tight cluster of four vertical bars. Live phone shows the tallest set overall, live chat and messaging sits close behind, and social media has much shorter bars, especially for older cohorts.
Main takeaway from the visual
The chart shows that consumers are becoming more open to nonphone channels, but phone remains highly valued across generations and still outperforms social media by a wide margin.
Key standout values or extremes
Live phone ranges from 71 percent for Gen Z up to 94 percent for baby boomers. Live chat or messaging sits in the mid-70s to high-80s, while social media falls much lower, dropping to 19 percent for baby boomers and only reaching the high 50s for the youngest groups.
Controls / sequence, when applicable
This is a static chart image with no in-chart controls to operate.
Companion media, when applicable
There is no separate companion audio or video; the chart image is the full visual on this page.