Customer service trends as we know them are dead

For years, we’ve conducted annual research on the trends shaping the customer service space and shared those insights in our Customer Service Trends Report. But AI changed everything.

We can’t predict what’s going to happen by looking at the past anymore; we’ve moved beyond trends and into a completely transformed world of AI-first customer service. To reflect this new reality, we’ve decided to disrupt our annual trends report. In its place, we’ll be documenting the permanent and irreversible change brought about by AI in an annual Customer Service Transformation Report.

Ready to dive straight into the data?Check out the 2025 Customer Service Transformation Report →

The end of customer service trends as we know them

In evolution, “trends” describe gradual adaptations that emerge over time due to environmental pressures. These changes can be temporary or reversible, but do not necessarily redefine a species.

But there are some disruptions so significant they permanently alter a species’ trajectory, or lead to the emergence of an entirely new species. These disruptions transform ecosystems, create new challenges and opportunities, and force species to adapt – or risk extinction.

In customer service, AI represents one of these great disruptions; a “paradigm shift” that permanently changed the industry’s trajectory. Now, we must learn to adapt in order to survive.

For our new Customer Service Transformation Report, we surveyed over 2,000 customer service professionals to find out how they’re navigating this new era. The report is filled with insights from global support teams across a range of industries and company sizes, with special commentary from innovators in the space who are paving the way forward.

Here are some key takeaways from our research.

AI investment has surged – and the window of opportunity is closing fast

Our data reveals that 54% of support teams planned to invest in AI for customer service last year – whereas in reality 76% ended up investing in AI. And that trajectory is set to continue, with 79% planning to invest in the year ahead.

Why are these teams racing to adopt AI? They likely pivoted when they realized just how big this transformation would be – and saw how much they risked falling behind if they didn’t start using it, fast.

For support teams that haven’t adopted AI yet, the positive news is that it’s not too late to catch up. But the window of opportunity is closing quickly – and the risk of being left in the cold when it does is getting bigger. These teams need to work fast if they want to make the most of the AI opportunity that lies ahead.

The economics of customer service have been rewritten, unlocking infinite scalability

Scaling customer service alongside business growth has always been a tricky balance to strike. To meet rising demand, the only real option was to add more and more headcount to your support team, which was costly, time-consuming, and unsustainable.

AI-first customer service has broken that traditional linear growth model, and support teams are seeing that play out in real-time. Our survey shows that 81% of support teams agree that AI is changing the economics of CS.

It’s now possible for businesses to infinitely scale their support, without having to scale their teams. Or put another way, the ability to provide better, faster, and cheaper customer service has been unlocked.

Support teams need cutting-edge tools, but many CS tech providers are falling behind

When it comes to customer service, the tools you use are make or break. They represent your company, so you want them to be intuitive, easy to use, and reliable.

But our research suggests that this isn’t always the case: only 19% of customer service teams report that the tools they use can always fully support their needs. This signals that many customer service tech providers are falling behind – and impacting support teams’ ability to move the needle on what matters most to their businesses.

Fortunately, getting access to the latest-gen technology no longer has to be all or nothing. Leading customer service tech providers now offer the ability to buy AI agents as standalone tools with pricing plans you can control. For example, Fin works with your existing platform and offers outcome-based pricing at $0.99 per resolution, so you only pay for what your customers care about most – solutions to their problems.

This removes a major barrier for customer service teams. Without innovative, AI-powered tools in your tech stack, you run the risk of falling behind your competitors when it comes to offering the best possible customer experience – and missing out on a chance to really contribute to your business’s goals.

Customer attitudes towards AI have flipped

The benefits of using AI for support teams are clear, but how do customers really feel about it?

The majority of this year’s respondents (89%) believe that customer attitudes towards AI in customer service have changed in the past 12 months – and only 20% now believe that those attitudes are negative. It’s clear that AI is now expected, and even appreciated, by the majority of end-users.

What’s more, this normalization of AI is having a big influence on customers’ expectations of customer service: 85% of this year’s respondents think AI customer service tools – like AI agents or copilots – are responsible for rising customer expectations.

Support teams are enthusiastic about AI’s potential – roles and career paths are evolving

Our research shows that 82% of support teams feel positive about working alongside AI, with 60% saying customer service roles on their team are evolving because of the technology.

This is a far cry from the former fear of AI taking jobs, and an extremely strong signal that suggests support teams are seeing – and feeling – the benefits of incorporating AI into their workflows.

In addition to everyday improvements in job fulfillment – like reducing burnout and reclaiming more time to focus on complex customer problems and value-adding activities – AI is also having positive effects on career and role development for support agents.

Some of the biggest shifts are:

• Support teams report that their agents are doing more consultative work and providing proactive support, taking responsibility for areas traditionally associated with customer success – and which improve key business goals like activation, adoption, and customer loyalty.
• Promotion pathways and job descriptions are also evolving. With simpler, repetitive queries being handled by AI, agents are working on high-complexity cases that require specialist insight and knowledge, so roles are becoming more strategic.
• This is also impacting salaries and earning potential. With the cost savings from AI, as well as the additional value- and revenue-generating activities that agents are now able to work on, there’s more money to be invested back into support teams.

It’s time to embrace the paradigm shift

Heading into 2025, support leaders who haven’t adopted AI yet have a choice to make: continue to wait and see what happens – and fall even further behind – or join the innovators. The teams that have already embraced AI have an opportunity to get even further ahead by delivering even greater efficiency and customer satisfaction.

Our data shows that AI has already transformed every aspect of customer service. Soon, many of the benefits support teams and customers are seeing will become table stakes, but right now, there’s still time to take advantage of this immense opportunity.

With AI-first customer service, you can provide human-quality support at scale, elevate your support team, and drive real business growth to not only survive, but thrive in this new era.