30+ important customer support statistics and trends

Agentic AI offers new possibilities for B2B support, and adoption is growing. However, the data shows that ROI is mixed, and AI is best used as part of an integrated support platform, not a standalone solution.

In this guide, we’ll walk through over 30 customer support statistics for B2B teams. We’ll start by looking at what customers need, then explore how support teams can meet those demands while staying efficient and productive. We’ll look at statistics in categories like automation and channel usage, and finish by going through some key trends for 2026.

Customer expectations and preferences

Today’s B2B customers expect convenient, consistent, and personalized interactions from support teams. Here are some key statistics on customer service expectations:

• 52% of B2B companies switch suppliers because different teams provide inconsistent information, 52% because they struggle to find people with the knowledge or authority to help, and 51% because they’re unable to interact across channels. (McKinsey, 2026)
• 65% of consumers say convenient experiences are more important than friendly customer support. (Hyken, 2026)
• 79% of B2B and B2C customers expect consistent interactions across departments, yet 55% say it generally feels like they're communicating with separate departments instead of one company. (Salesforce, 2023)
• 91% of B2B buyers use advanced AI agents in the buying process. They want faster answers and greater transparency. (Accenture, 2025)

What this means for B2B teams: To give customers the convenience, speed, and consistency they expect, use systems and workflows that help your team collaborate on customer issues and share context.

Channel usage and performance

These customer experience statistics show today’s preferred customer support communication channels:

• B2B buyers use an average of ten channels. (McKinsey, 2026)
• Overall, consumers’ preferred communication channels are telephone (62%), live chat (54%), email (47%), texting (38%), chatbots (23%), brand apps (14%), and social media (14%). (Hyken, 2026)
• Nearly 70% of consumers in the United States use phone support, yet only 35% of that group prefers it. Similarly, email is widely used (63%) but preferred by just 23%. (YouGov, 2025)
• When facing an unsolvable problem, about 70% of Gen Z individuals prefer to make a phone call, a share similar to older generations. (McKinsey & Company, 2024)

What this means for B2B teams: Customers will want to reach out from multiple channels. Use a strong omnichannel customer support platform that lets you manage conversations across email, Slack, and other channels in one place.

Team experience and productivity

It takes a productive, motivated team to create a positive customer experience (CX). At the same time, many teams struggle with high ticket volumes and disconnected tools. Here are some statistics to illustrate recent trends within customer support teams’ work:

• 65% of B2B and B2C service leaders expect case volume to increase in the coming year, and 38% say they struggle with hiring due to an inability to meet work-life balance demands. (Salesforce, 2024)
• Although 81% of B2B and B2C service representatives say building relationships with customers is an important part of their job, they spend more than half of their time on admin tasks and only 46% of their days working with customers. (Salesforce, 2024)
• Leaders who say their service team’s tools are interconnected are 130% more likely to say their customer support strategy is very effective. (HubSpot, 2024)
• 78% of service reps agree that customers expect more personalized experiences than ever before. (HubSpot, 2024)
• 82% of B2B and B2C service representatives say they’ve developed new skills by working with AI, and 67% say AI provides opportunities for career growth. (Salesforce, 2024)

What this means for B2B teams: The latest AI agents and customer support tools help teams automate routine tasks, so they can focus on issue resolution and customer retention.

AI, automation, and technology adoption

AI agents and copilots are now a core part of B2B customer support, as these service trends show:

• 42% of CEOs say their companies are unable to unlock either revenue or cost benefits from AI. (PwC, 2026)
• Industry leaders predict that by 2029, agentic AI will autonomously resolve 80% of common customer service issues without human intervention, leading to a 30% reduction in operational costs. (Gartner, 2025)
• 72% of B2B and B2C customers say it’s important to know if they’re communicating with an AI agent. (Salesforce, 2024)
• 46% of B2B and B2C customers are more likely to use an AI agent if there is a clear escalation path to a person. (Salesforce, 2024)
• 45% of B2B and B2C customers are more likely to use an AI agent if its logic is clearly explained. (Salesforce, 2024)
• 88% of consumers get their issue resolved by AI, but only 22% prefer the company after. (Gladly, 2026)
• 77% of consumers expect their AI agent use to increase in the future, but 88% aren’t comfortable relying on AI agents for major purchase decisions. (The Trade Desk, 2026)

What this means for B2B teams: To make the most of AI, you need to integrate it with your customer support workflows, not use it as a replacement for team members. Adopting an agentic support platform that comes with built-in AI agents can help customers get quick, accurate answers, and make the escalation path to a support team member clear.

Self-service and knowledge management

As agentic AI becomes more powerful, companies can offer self-service knowledge bases that take less customer effort. Here are some key self-service statistics:

• 61% of B2B and B2C customers prefer to use self-service for simple issues. (Salesforce, 2024)
• 40% of B2B and B2C customers say AI agents raise the bar on customer experience. (Salesforce, 2024)
• NiCE reports that using an AI agent for self-service leads to a 20–40% reduction in resolution time, with 80% of basic inquiries answered automatically. (NiCE, 2026)
• 35% of B2B and B2C customers would work with an AI agent instead of a person to avoid repeating themselves. (Salesforce, 2024)
• 50% of consumers would prefer no self-service option if it’s going to be a bad experience. (Coveo, 2023)
• When asked what makes for a poor self-service experience, 53% of consumers defined it as being “too hard to talk to an actual person,” 46% said “getting conflicting information from customer service representatives,” 43% said “not being able to find the information on their own,” and 26% said “having a different experience across the same company’s digital touchpoints.” (Coveo, 2023)

What this means for B2B teams: Center the customer experience on support team member interactions. AI agents are generally better for automations and tasks like AI-powered knowledge base management, where they can find knowledge gaps and draft articles and updates.

Customer satisfaction and loyalty metrics

Here are some industry benchmarks around customer loyalty and satisfaction:

• 65% of Americans are either very likely or somewhat likely to abandon a brand after just one poor customer experience, and 61% are likely to make a repeat purchase with a brand after a great customer support experience. (TCN, 2025)
• 66% of consumers say that no matter how much they enjoyed the product, if the company doesn’t provide good customer support, they will find another company to do business with. (Hyken, 2026)
• 52% of consumers will switch to a competitor after a single bad experience. (PWC, 2025)
• The top reasons consumers give for switching companies are rudeness or apathy from an employee (82%), inconsistent information (80%), and not responding to a message (76%). (Hyken, 2026)

What this means for B2B teams: Set up automated CSAT and net promoter score (NPS) surveys to track customer loyalty and demonstrate the value of your support work.

Cost, ROI, and business impact

Customer support has a measurable impact on business outcomes like customer satisfaction and retention:

• Moving from poor (1 or 2 star) to excellent (5 star) customer experiences increases a consumer’s likelihood to recommend by 3.7x, likelihood to trust by 3.4x, and repurchase intent by 2.5x on average. (Qualtrics, 2024)
• 77% of service teams are using AI, with 92% saying it improves their response time and 86% saying it improves customer satisfaction (CSAT). (HubSpot, 2024)
• Only 28% of agentic AI use cases in infrastructure and operations fully meet ROI expectations, while 20% fail outright. (Gartner, 2025)
• Only 3% of companies are “customer-obsessed,” but those that are customer-obsessed reported 41% faster revenue growth and 51% better customer retention. (Forrester Research, 2024)
• 92% of customer support leaders say AI agents improve time to resolution. (HubSpot, 2024)

What this means for B2B teams: Poor support has a significant impact on customer satisfaction. Use an analytics dashboard to track key datasets and spot and fix workflow bottlenecks.

The future of support: Key 2026 trends

Looking ahead, we can see customer service industry trends are driven by agentic AI use and individual customer interactions:

• Over 68% of enterprises have now adopted AI-driven analytics. (Business Research Insights, 2026)
• Contact center leaders say their top challenges are technology integration, systems and tools (72%), legacy systems (58%), and data security and compliance (53%). (Deloitte, 2026)
• Compared to their low-maturity peers, AI-centric contact centers are 85% more profitable, 69% more likely to have good or excellent customer experiences, 60% more likely to have good or excellent employee experiences, and 23% more likely to deliver personalization. (Deloitte, 2026)
• Companies using agentic AI are seeing double-digit reductions in cost per contact, containment rates exceeding 80%, and CSAT scores improving by up to 20%. (NiCE, 2026)
• 82% of consumers prefer companies that offer a personalized experience. (Hyken, 2026)
• 59% of consumers trust companies and brands to use their data responsibly. (Hyken, 2026)

What this means for B2B teams: Customers have complicated feelings about AI tools. But the future of customer support is being built around agentic AI. You need a support platform that blends automation with tools, so your team can deliver personalized omnichannel support and stay on top of customer needs.

Pylon’s agentic B2B support platform is built to help humans and AI agents collaborate on customer work. Automated workflows, powerful self-service options, and analytics you’ll find in Pylon give you all the information you need to make better decisions for your customers.

FAQ

What are the most important customer support statistics for 2026?

The clearest signal for customer support teams in 2026 is that AI has moved from experimental to expected. Most CX leaders now report positive ROI from AI tools, and a majority expect AI agents to resolve the bulk of customer interactions within the next few years.

How is agentic AI changing customer support?

AI's role has shifted from answering simple FAQs to handling roughly a third of service cases, which were resolved by agentic AI in the past year, and is projected to climb sharply in 2027. Most organizations using AI agents report measurable time and cost savings, and a large majority of service leaders say it's helping teams serve customers better instead of simply cutting headcount.

What percentage of customers prefer self-service over live support?

Roughly 60% of customers say they want to resolve simple issues on their own through self-service resources instead of contacting a live agent.

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