Talk to a person

Fewer than half of customers, 46%, rated their last experience with a chatbot as good. About two-thirds said the same about phone, email or in-person help. That's from a Five9 survey of 3,000 consumers in the US, the UK and Germany, released this month. If someone is pitching you a chatbot for your website or your phones this fall, start there.

AI is good at the easy questions. It needs a way out for everything else. Here's how to set one up that your customers won't fight with.

The human button builds the trust

Five9 found that 55% of people trust AI to fix their issue when they can reach a human. When there's no human option, that drops to 26%.

So the button that lets people skip the bot also helps them trust it. Put "Talk to a person" where anyone can see it, on the first screen, in plain words.

Metrigy's survey of 1,000 US consumers points the same way: 71% said the people they deal with matter more to a good experience than the tools do.

Give the bot the easy questions

Hours, directions, how to book, order status, the return policy. These have one right answer, and you can check every one of them.

My own rule for AI: if I know what good looks like, AI can take the first pass. Send complaints, refunds and upset customers to a person.

Keep its answers current

When people gave up on a bot and asked for a human, 46% said it was because the bot kept misunderstanding them. Brad Cleveland, a customer-service author, told CX Dive: "It's a huge need to make sure the underlying knowledge is sound."

For a small business that's simple. When your holiday hours change, the bot finds out the same day. Put it on the same checklist as your Google listing and the sign on the door.

Test it like your grumpiest customer

Cleveland's advice is to test with frustrated customers and fast talkers, "not just with a perfect, polite customer."

So before it goes live, type to it the way someone types at 9 PM after a bad day. Misspell things. Ask 2 questions in one message. Be a little sarcastic. Then count how many tries it takes to reach a person. If you get stuck, so will they.

Count the misses

"Don't celebrate containment if customers feel trapped," Cleveland said. Containment is the share of chats the bot finished without a person. A high number can just mean people gave up.

Track how often people ask for a human and why. Customers don't give you many chances. Metrigy found 58% of consumers leave a brand after 2 or fewer bad service experiences. People now put up with 2.8 bad experiences before they leave, down from 3.2 in the first quarter.

3 questions before you sign

• How does my customer reach a person, and how many clicks does it take?
• Who updates the answers, and how fast?
• Can I see the chats where it got it wrong?

Worth knowing: Five9 sells customer-service software, and Metrigy ran its index with NiCE, another vendor. Read the numbers as direction, and run your own grumpy-customer test anyway.

Your turn

Next week I'm showing you the HQ I run my business from, and I've got something free for you. If you're weighing a chatbot and want a second set of eyes before you sign, grab a time with me.

Sources: Five9 via CX Dive, "Why customers are fed up with AI chatbots", Oct 22, 2026. Metrigy via CX Dive, "Customer patience for bad service is wearing thin", Oct 19, 2026.