TCN’s UK Consumer Survey 2025 Reveals British Consumers Demand Humans and Speed Over Automation
London/Midlands UK, Bucharest, Romania and St. George, Utah, USA – November 25, 2025 – TCN, a leading provider of cloud contact centre technology, today announced the findings of its annual UK Consumer Survey, conducted in partnership with Talker Research (formerly OnePoll). The “Understanding the Modern Consumer” 2025 report surveyed 1,000 UK adults in July 2025, revealing that despite the rise of AI and automation, efficiency and a live agent preference remain the most critical factors influencing brand loyalty and purchase decisions.
Key Findings
The survey data highlights a critical message for UK businesses: customer service must be fast, effective, and human-centric.
Automation Hesitancy Persists
A significant 42% of British people still prefer to talk to a live agent by phone when communicating with a company’s customer service department. They do not want to go through the process of elimination a bot utilises to determine the best course of action for them. In fact, one in four (25%) respondents will immediately try to speak with a live person when they encounter automated service options. This behaviour is due in part to security concerns surrounding technology vs humans. Over half (52%) of consumers would feel more comfortable giving secure information (like credit card or account numbers) to a live person rather than an automated phone system.
Efficiency is Paramount
While a significant portion of consumers want to deal with live agents instead of bots and automated systems, they do have standards for those live agents to live up to. According to the survey, the most valued characteristic of a customer service department is its ability to solve an issue quickly (58%), closely followed by the agent’s ability to solve the issue (56%).
The number one frustration when calling customer service is “waiting on hold for a long time” (44%). The average tolerance for waiting on hold is just 11.6 minutes. This may seem like a lot of time, if agents are unable to resolve a consumer’s concerns quickly then this time runs out quickly causing dissatisfaction within consumers waiting on hold and driving negative consumer sentiment. Another indicator that contact centres have room for improvement is the number of consumers that do not find resolutions through their first contact with customer service departments. Based on this year’s survey, 46% of British people report that their issue is often resolved during the first contact, indicating a clear opportunity for businesses to improve first-call resolution rates, as 39% of consumers commonly need to speak to at least two agents before an issue is resolved.
Driving Loyalty and Revenue
The quality of customer experience is directly tied to a brand’s bottom line and reputation. An overwhelming 78% of British people are either very likely or somewhat likely to abandon a brand after just one poor customer service experience. What this means for a majority of businesses is that they have one-strike per consumer before they lose their business.
It may seem that businesses have to dish out more money to improve their customer service offerings, essentially cutting into their overall profits, but this may not be the case. According to TCN’s survey, consumers are willing to pay an average of 37.1% more for a product or service if the brand offers better customer service than a lower-priced option. While this will not be universal and cannot account for all factors, this margin may enable some businesses to keep their profit margins the same or better if they increase their product cost slightly and keep the customer service improvement costs at or below this 37.1%.
It is important to keep in mind that when choosing one company over another, cost (57%) and the quality of customer service (57%) are equally the top factors for consumers, surpassing past experiences with the company (48%).
TCN’s Takeaway
“This year’s results send a clear message: for the modern UK consumer, efficiency is king, but it must be delivered with a human touch,” said Kerry Sherman, Vice President of EMEA Region for TCN. “While AI and automation are powerful tools, our survey confirms that consumers will quickly bypass them when facing an urgent issue or when needing to share sensitive data. Businesses that succeed in 2025 and beyond will be those that use technology, like TCN’s platform, to support knowledgeable agents, drive first-call resolution, and drastically reduce customer wait times.”
The full results of the TCN 2025 UK Consumer Survey, ‘Understanding the Modern Consumer,’ are available for download now.