AI has changed how people expect to get information and assistance. Customers are getting used to immediate answers, available whenever they need them. Yet many businesses still rely on support systems built around inboxes, ticket queues and long response times.
The challenge is no longer just providing good customer service. It is providing it at the speed customers have come to expect.
Customer expectations have changed
People use AI to solve problems, understand unfamiliar topics and get things done. Naturally, those experiences influence what they expect when interacting with a business.
The research reflects this shift. In Zendesk’s 2026 CX Trends study, 74% of consumers said they expect customer service to be available around the clock, while 86% said responsiveness and accurate resolution strongly influence their purchasing decisions.
Customers are also becoming accustomed to AI that can take action, not just provide information. Gartner found that customers are about three times more likely to turn to third-party generative AI tools than company-provided chatbots for customer service.
For businesses, this creates a new benchmark. Customers are comparing their support experience not only with other companies, but also with the tools they use every day.
Why most chatbots fall short
Many businesses have responded by adding chatbots to their websites. But a chatbot is not automatically a better customer experience.
Some provide generic answers, send customers to help-centre articles or struggle when a question falls outside a narrow set of scenarios. Others cannot complete the task a customer came to do in the first place.
The result is another layer between the customer and a solution.
Speed without accuracy creates frustration. An answer that cannot be trusted is of little value, and a bot that cannot act still leaves the customer to do the work themselves.
Human support remains essential, too. In Gartner’s August 2026 research, 87% of customers said businesses using generative AI for customer service must provide access to a human agent.
The opportunity, then, is not simply to automate conversations. It is to help customers reach the right outcome with less effort.
What better customer support looks like
A useful AI support experience needs to do three things well.
- Give accurate answers. Customers should receive clear, specific information based on the business’s actual products, policies and records, not guesses or generic responses.
- Help get things done. Whether a customer wants to track an order, check stock or start a return, support should help them move towards resolution without unnecessary steps or channel changes.
- Bring in a person when needed. When an issue requires human judgement, the conversation should transfer smoothly to a team member, with the context preserved so the customer does not have to explain everything again.
Getting all three right is what separates genuinely useful AI support from a chatbot that simply responds quickly.
Where Anchor fits
We built Anchor AI to help businesses deliver this kind of support.
Anchor answers customer questions using a business’s existing content, including its help centre, policies, product details and past conversations. It can respond in seconds, in the customer’s language, through the business’s website and supported messaging and social channels.
It is also designed to recognise what it does not know. When the available information does not support an answer, Anchor says so rather than inventing a price, policy or delivery date. If a teammate needs to take over, Anchor passes along the conversation transcript so the customer can continue without starting again.
Answering questions is only part of the picture. Customers also need to complete transactions and resolve issues.
That is why our first focus beyond support is commerce. Anchor brings together a storefront, product catalogue, orders and checkout in one dashboard, with the AI agent built into the experience. It can help shoppers check stock, understand products and track orders when they need answers before making a purchase.
The goal is to put useful assistance directly where customers need it, rather than adding another tool they have to navigate.
The new standard
AI has raised the bar for customer service. Businesses that continue to rely on slow, disconnected support processes risk creating a frustrating contrast between the rest of their digital experience and the help they provide.
Keeping up requires more than a chatbot. It means giving customers accurate answers, helping them take action and making human assistance available when it matters.
The real opportunity is not to make customer service sound intelligent. It is to make getting help easier.
Try Anchor free for 30 days and see how it answers questions using your own business content.
Sources
- Zendesk — CX Trends 2026
- Gartner — Third-party GenAI and company chatbots
- Gartner — Customer access to human agents
Common questions
What do customers expect from customer service in 2026?
Immediate, accurate help whenever they need it. In Zendesk's 2026 CX Trends study, 74% of consumers said they expect customer service to be available around the clock, and 86% said responsiveness and accurate resolution strongly influence their purchasing decisions.
Why do so many customer service chatbots fall short?
Speed without accuracy creates frustration. Many chatbots give generic answers, send customers to help-centre articles, or struggle when a question falls outside a narrow set of scenarios, and many can't complete the task the customer came to do. The result is another layer between the customer and a solution.
Do customers still want a human when a business uses AI for support?
Yes. In Gartner's August 2026 research, 87% of customers said businesses using generative AI for customer service must provide access to a human agent. Good AI support hands the conversation to a teammate with the context preserved, so the customer doesn't have to explain everything again.