SINGAPORE: Although we live in the age of AI, the majority of Singapore customers who have questions, concerns, or complaints still prefer to pick up their phones to get the help they need.
The problem is, not many businesses plan on prioritising phone service, which may backfire and end up costing them significant amounts of money.
The study of customer expectations in the age of AI, conducted in 2025 by ThoughtLab, evaluated the state of service in Singapore.
It showed that four in five (80%) of customers expressed a preference for calling a service representative when they needed to interact with an organisation, and Singaporeans spend more time on the phone to resolve service issues than any other channel.
However, less than one in 10 organisations (9%) intend to make phone service their priority as a customer service channel in the next three years.
What customers want from organisations is “fast, effective, and empathetic support that makes them feel heard and understood,” said CK Tan, the APJ Innovation Officer, Singapore at ServiceNow.
The importance of empathy
The study also showed that empathy is a characteristic that is downplayed by Singaporean organisations when it comes to customer service interactions. Only slightly more than one-fourth (28%) of executives consider that a lack of empathy could lead to difficulties for customers.
In contrast, almost half (48%) of customers identified a lack of empathy as one of their main frustrations.
This could very well lead to a loss of business for companies, given that 52% of customers said that they would change brands in the wake of slow or poor experiences.
What should cause companies concern is that, because of poor customer service, 3% of organisations lost revenue and 52% suffered high customer churn.
The survey also showed that most firms may invest mainly in digital-only channels such as self-service portals, intelligent chatbots, and social media.
“Singapore customers are pragmatic: they’ll use self-service, live chat, or the phone depending on what helps them resolve an issue fastest and with confidence.
However, if such options are too slow, complicated, or unresponsive, the majority of customers will naturally look for alternatives with less friction – including those with fewer safeguards against threats like scams,” Mr Tan added. /TISG
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