40% customers face trouble reaching a human agent on e-commerce: Survey

New Delhi: Kapture CX recently conducted a survey that showcases that refund requests are a major customer experience (CX) challenge as customers face delays, difficulty in support, and a lack of transparency. 

20-30% of e-commerce orders require either returns or refunds. The broken refund process affects the customer experience.

The survey shows that 40% of customers face difficulty in approaching a human agent, as they get stuck in endless chatbot loops that fail to address their concerns.

Additionally, 28% find chatbots unhelpful, as they provide information but lack execution capabilities to resolve refund requests, while 20% of them experience long waits without updates, which leads to uncertainty and frustration due to a lack of proactive communication.

Apart from this, the survey also underlines that around 12% of customers are caught in an endless transfer loop, as poor routing between departments makes resolution difficult.

These pain points underscore the urgent need for brands to refine their refund processes, leveraging automation and intelligent support solutions that prioritise efficiency and transparency.

As per the report, the pace of technological advancement is outpacing evolution in chatbots, especially for brands that have been laggards in adopting AI. Flow-based workflows have become obsolete and further fail to resolve refund-related issues.

These conventional systems are reactive and merely respond to queries rather than taking meaningful action to process refunds efficiently. Oftentimes, they are not adept at handling complex requirements in exceptional circumstances.

This showcases a disconnect in the communication as chatbots and live agents operate in silos, causing frustrating transfer loops where bots do not recognise when to escalate to a human and agents are unsure when to step in.

This process further requires approvals at multiple levels, which demands manual interventions and backend coordination, leading to unnecessary delays. This inefficiency leaves customers stuck in a waiting cycle that escalates frustration and damages brand trust.

With the advent of agentic AI, AI agents can verify refund eligibility instantly and cross-reference policies and purchase data. These AI agents can autonomously initiate refunds without requiring manual intervention, significantly reducing delays.

The report adds that when human support is necessary, AI agents can escalate cases, coordinating with and assisting live agents rather than merely transferring chats. They keep customers informed at every step instead of leaving them in the dark.

This changes the reactive communication process to an execution-driven approach, streamlining refund processes, enhancing customer satisfaction and eliminating the inefficiencies of outdated CX systems. 

Gaurav Juneja, CRO, Kapture CX, said, "Refunds have long been a pain point for businesses and customers alike. The challenge isn’t just automation—it’s ensuring AI can take meaningful action. With Agentic AI, brands can finally deliver a seamless, proactive refund experience that builds trust and drives long-term loyalty." 

AI agents can autonomously handle repetitive refund requests, which significantly lowers operational costs. Moreover, AI agents allow businesses to manage sudden surges in refund requests without overloading support teams, providing scalability and turning the entire process into a smooth and frictionless experience.

The survey findings exhibit a gap in today’s CX landscape. Though automation exists, most AI lacks the execution power needed to truly resolve refund issues. On the contrary, Agentic AI changes this by making AI truly autonomous and capable of taking actions, not just answering questions. Businesses embedding this technology can further witness faster resolutions, happier customers and a more efficient support team.