2026 Research Report · In partnership with CMSWire
Beyond Basic CX
How consumers grade AI support on their most complex issues.
Most support teams have already automated the simple requests. The next frontier is complex support: issues that take multiple interactions, run past 30 minutes, or involve money, health or other high stakes.
In July 2026, Zingtree partnered with CMSWire to ask more than 1,000 U.S. consumers how AI handled their hardest support issues, where it broke down, and what it takes to earn their trust.
Highlights from the report include:
- 68% of consumers would abandon AI after two failures or fewer.
- 64% trust AI more when they control when to reach a human.
- 50% got generic, unhelpful answers from AI on their most recent complex issue.
- 33% spent multiple days trying to resolve a complex issue before giving up.
This report is for CX and customer operations leaders deciding where AI belongs in complex support, and how to deploy it without losing customer trust.
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