Oneshotted: 70% of customers consider switching brands after one bad AI experience

Companies are facing a “Trust Recession” where customers increasingly lose confidence in AI-powered customer service, despite technological advances promising better experiences. This erosion of trust is becoming a significant business risk, as frustrated customers abandon purchases and switch brands after poor AI interactions, with 70% considering brand switching after just one negative AI service experience.

The big picture: Traditional customer service automation has prioritized efficiency over relationship-building, creating digital barriers that make customers feel companies are actively avoiding them rather than helping.

• Amazon’s satisfaction scores have plunged despite its reputation for service excellence, largely due to over-reliance on automation and self-help tools.
• A 2025 Conviva report found 91% of consumers experienced frustrating digital issues in the past year, with over half abandoning purchases, canceling subscriptions, or switching brands as a result.

Why this matters: Trust isn’t just a soft metric—it’s a long-term economic asset that directly impacts customer loyalty, lifetime value, and brand equity, making the Trust Recession more than a PR problem.

• It costs businesses up to five times more to acquire new customers than retain existing ones, yet most companies fail to deliver memorable service at scale.
• When trust erodes, customer switching becomes habitual and brand advocacy disappears entirely.

The solution being proposed: Instead of choosing between expensive human service or cheap automation, companies should deploy “AI Customer Advocates” that champion customers rather than deflect them.

• These AI systems would understand and prioritize customer goals, remember context across channels, and navigate internal systems better than most employees.
• The approach represents a philosophical shift from gatekeepers that deflect to advocates that resolve, which customers can immediately feel.

What AI Customer Advocates offer: This new model combines the best of automation with human-centered service through five key capabilities.

• Multi-party orchestration: AI that coordinates across departments, systems, and partners seamlessly.
• Role-aware reasoning: Understanding who owns what responsibilities, where, and when throughout the organization.
• Human-aware triggers: Bringing people into conversations for emotional situations, high-risk scenarios, or edge cases.
• Proactive engagement: AI that anticipates and addresses issues before they escalate, rather than just reacting.
• Consistent voice: One unified interface for customers that speaks with empathy in the brand’s tone across all interactions.

What customers actually want: The research reveals a fundamental misunderstanding about customer preferences in the digital age.

• Another 2025 survey found consumers feel negatively toward companies relying more on AI for customer support, citing lack of personal touch, decreased accuracy, and longer resolution times.
• Customers don’t want more efficiency—they want someone to care and advocate for their specific needs.

The business imperative: Success metrics need to shift from measuring human replacement to relationship strengthening.

• Companies should ask themselves who truly advocates for customers daily, and if the answer is “no one,” that represents both the biggest risk and biggest opportunity.
• The future of customer experience isn’t just faster or cheaper—it’s customer-centric AI that understands the critical importance of people, communications, and processes in achieving exceptional outcomes.