South African consumers are increasingly willing to use artificial intelligence(AI) for customer service, but new research shows they still want access to human assistance when problems become complex, urgent or difficult to resolve.
The finding is contained in the 2026 South African Customer Experience Report, produced by Rogerwilco, ovatoyou and Julia Ahlfedt CX Consulting, based on responses from 2,000 consumers and 56 business executives.
According to the report, Brandspur Tech News found that 52% of South African consumers would stop supporting a brand without publicly complaining, while 55% would quietly move to a competitor after a poor experience. The figures highlight the risk businesses face when automated customer service fails to provide an effective route to human assistance.
The report suggests that customers are not rejecting AI itself. Rather, they expect companies to combine automated tools with transparency, proper governance and responsive human support.
This shift is also reflected among customer service teams. Gartner’s April 2026 research, based on a survey of 321 customer service and support leaders globally, found that 85% were expanding the responsibilities of human agents as AI handled more routine interactions.
For businesses, the implication is that AI may reduce the volume of straightforward customer enquiries without eliminating the need for skilled support staff. Human agents are increasingly being relied upon for issues requiring judgement, investigation and problem-solving.
Data from Everlytic illustrates the distinction. The company reviewed 164 chatbot interactions during June and July and found that only 12.4% required escalation to a support ticket. Routine matters such as navigating the platform, account questions and finding documentation were generally suitable for automated assistance.
More complicated problems, however, were typically referred to support staff. These included deliverability and integration issues, compliance questions, platform problems and urgent campaign deadlines.
The need for rapid human intervention becomes particularly important for marketing teams working against fixed launch schedules. A technical problem shortly before a campaign goes live can potentially affect committed media spending and leave little time for corrective action.
Everlytic said its support team handled 717 tickets during June and July, recording an average first-response time of six minutes and 52 seconds. Its first-response service-level agreement achievement stood at 98.45%, while resolution SLA achievement reached 99.19%.
The company also reported that 92.1% of users during the period were based in South Africa, reinforcing the importance of locally accessible support for customers who need assistance beyond automated responses.
Everlytic’s support team operates from 8am to 9pm South African Standard Time on weekdays, with weekend standby during the same hours and an escalation process for urgent platform-impacting problems.
The report’s findings are particularly relevant to agencies and larger marketing teams, where a single technology platform may support campaigns for multiple clients or business units. An unresolved technical issue can therefore have consequences beyond one customer account.
The research also points to a consideration for businesses choosing technology platforms: customer support should be assessed alongside features and pricing.
While automated systems can provide quick answers to routine questions, customers facing urgent or complicated problems still need a clear path to someone capable of investigating the issue and helping them resolve it.
The broader message from the research is that AI is becoming an important part of customer service, but its effectiveness depends on how well businesses combine automation with human expertise. For brands seeking to retain customers, providing an accessible human safety net could remain just as important as deploying smarter automated tools.
