Almost three-quarters of consumers have already interacted with artificial intelligence (AI) and 69% of them are satisfied about how it went, according to research.

The Capgemini survey of 10,000 consumers also found that 55% of people prefer a mix of AI and humans when they interact with organisations.

Just under half (48%) said they would have a stronger affiliation with a company if its AI interactions were more human-like. But although they want the AI to be able to read human emotions and speak like a human, they don’t want robots to look human because they consider this creepy, the survey report said.

But according to the report, The secret to winning customers’ hearts with artificial intelligence: add human intelligence, organisations implementing AI are too concerned with costs and potential return on investment than actually giving customers what they want.

It said that despite the fact that getting interactions right will encourage customers to spend, organisations are not taking into account consumer preferences and are instead focusing on costs and savings.

As a result, many organisations are failing to take consumer pain points and preferences into account when applying AI technology to their customer experience, focusing more on traditional metrics such as the cost of implementation and expected return on investment.

In fact, only 7% of organisations said solving known consumer pain points was an important factor in implementing AI. “That is a clear oversight, given that consumers are willing to spend more when the experience is positive,” said the report.

Mark Taylor, chief experience officer in Capgemini’s digital customer experience practice, said: “It is somewhat ironic that natural language processing and machine learning provide organisations with the opportunity to build deeper, more human relationships with their customers.”

Taylor added that by focusing their AI implementations to re-imagine, streamline and simplify customer interactions, organisations can boost customer spend and loyalty. “To see the biggest bottom-line boost, firms need to make both artificial intelligence and customer experience a strategic priority,” he said.

When it comes to assistance provided by AI, 63% of consumers who are au fait with AI said they like it because it offers 24-hour assistance. Meanwhile, nearly half 48% said they would like to delegate tasks to an electronic digital assistant.