Despite a rise in consumer spending in April driven by consumers stocking goods ahead of potential price increases due to tariffs, some industry experts worry that consumer spending may decrease in the coming months.
This is putting significant pressure on brands to demonstrate value that goes well beyond meeting the typical needs of consumers, and, rather, anticipating customer needs and delivering highly personalized engagement across the customer journey.
As brands explore the best ways to achieve and maintain customer loyalty, no doubt AI will play a significant role in enhancing overall customer satisfaction, engagement, and retention.
The Vonage Global Customer Engagement Report 2025 (now in its 13th year) once again took a deep dive into consumer expectations of brands. Critically, as we will see later, it explored how AI can play a role in enhancing customer engagement (CX).
Let’s take a closer look at what consumers are expecting of brands and where AI can help make an impact when it matters most.
Same Old Frustrations Remain
Despite a wide selection of communications channels, less than half (42%) of consumers are “very satisfied” when communicating with businesses, the same as the year prior. Common frustrations once again include:
- Long wait times to speak to an agent (65%, up from 63% in 2024).
- Contacting customer service multiple times (65%, up from 63% in 2024).
- Describing an issue to multiple agents/being transferred multiple times (63%, up from 61% in 2024).
These frustrations can be detrimental to a brand and its relationship with customers, as three-quarters (75%) say they are likely to take their business elsewhere following a bad experience (up from 74% in 2024).
As brands explore the best ways to achieve and maintain customer loyalty...AI will play a significant role in enhancing overall customer satisfaction, engagement, and retention.
With the stakes already high in maintaining customer share, brands can’t afford to allow these frustrations to continue. Especially as nearly half (48%) of consumers only need one to two bad experiences before moving on (up from 46% in 2024).
Optimistic Consumers Want Options
Despite these ongoing frustrations, there is some optimism among consumers. Two in five (about 40%, remaining flat from 2024) feel customer service and support has improved.
Consumers cited faster resolution (57%), ease of contacting support (55%), and better information available through messaging (51%) as positive points in this year’s report.
But consumers have many options to choose from when communicating with family and friends, from social media to voice to messaging apps, and they expect this same flexibility with their brand communications.
In the past year, three-quarters (75%) of consumers say they’ve had multi-channel communications with businesses, discussing the same topic over several communications channels. What’s key here is that brands ensure these conversations remain seamless across varied channels, limiting the need for consumers to repeat information and risk frustration.
For brands to maintain consumer relationships, must-haves include (See FIGURE 1):
- Access to live customer service (64%).
- The ability for customer service callback (52%).
- Offering multiple platforms (49%).
- 24/7 customer service (48%).
- The availability of virtual agents (34%).
Seeing the Value in AI-Powered Support
As brands consider the power of AI in improving CX, consumers appear open to the technology in aiding customer communication, especially if it results in overall better CX. In fact, two-thirds (66%) would be likely to use AI-powered support if it meant faster response/shorter wait times.
When asked about the most useful applications of AI-powered CX support, consumers noted resolving simple issues (54%) and answering FAQs (50%) as top responses. This might include login issues, password resets, reservation bookings, etc.
AI technology can also be particularly powerful in delivering support throughout the customer journey, as nearly three-quarters (72%) of consumers say they are more likely to make a purchase online if they can ask questions in real-time.
When it comes to their preferences for future AI-powered support, consumers would like to see brands implement that which:
- Leads to proactive issue resolution (47%).
- Enables more personalized experiences (45%).
- Works smarter across communications methods (42%).
- Delivers real-time voice recognition and response (39%).
- Provides multi-language support (31%) and recommends other products or services (30%).
AI technology can also be particularly powerful in delivering support...
Among the channels consumers feel most comfortable with for AI-powered support, messaging apps led with 44%, followed by website chat (39%), email (30%), a company’s mobile app (28%), SMS/text (26%), and voice calls (26%).
The Road Ahead
Without question, the future of CX will incorporate some level of AI-powered assistance. Even now, a significant portion (83%) of consumers report recent use of some AI-enabled tools, including AI-powered chatbots or AI-powered virtual assistants or agents.
These actions represent yet another area of preference by consumers that brands must get right, or risk damaging or losing the relationships. It will require careful implementation by brands, being careful to ensure the proper data and AI guardrails are implemented to maintain successful AI-powered support.
By layering AI-powered support across a brand’s already-established communications channels, brands can deliver more meaningful, seamless, and memorable engagements with their customers.
Even now, a significant portion (83%) of consumers report recent use of some AI-enabled tools...
After all, nearly half (52%) of consumers will become more loyal to a company or provider after a great CX, 53% will tell friends and family, and more than a third (35%) will make additional purchases.