7 Reasons AI Is Beating Phone Support Jobs (And What’s Next)

AI is taking over phone support jobs, and here’s why it’s better for businesses and customers:

• Always Available: AI operates 24/7 without breaks, ensuring no missed calls or sales.
• Handles More Calls: AI can manage 15+ calls at once, reducing wait times and improving efficiency.
• Cuts Costs: Businesses save up to 80% on support costs by automating repetitive tasks.
• Multilingual Support: AI supports 18 languages, breaking down barriers for global customers.
• Scalable: No need to hire more staff - AI adjusts to demand instantly.
• Data-Driven Insights: AI tracks customer issues, improving service and identifying trends.
• Boosts Sales: AI recovers abandoned carts and suggests products, increasing revenue.

Quick Comparison

AI is transforming customer support by being faster, cheaper, and more reliable than traditional methods. Businesses adopting AI tools like Ringly.io are staying ahead by improving customer experience while saving costs.

Will AI Replace 80% of Customer Support Jobs? | The Future of AI in Customer Service

1. AI Answers Every Call

Missed calls can mean missed sales. When a potential customer tries to reach your support team and gets no response, they often turn to another store that's ready to assist. With Ringly.io's AI phone agents, this issue disappears. The AI answers every call instantly, ensuring no opportunities slip through the cracks.

How AI Manages Multiple Calls Simultaneously

Traditional phone support often creates bottlenecks that hurt e-commerce revenue. Human agents can only handle one call at a time, which leads to long queues or busy signals during peak hours. Ringly.io's AI, however, can manage over 40 calls at once - all without compromising service quality. This is especially valuable during busy shopping seasons when a small team of human agents might struggle to keep up. The AI ensures consistent, reliable service, no matter the call volume.

Here’s a quick comparison for a typical e-commerce store:

This efficiency has allowed e-commerce businesses to reduce customer service costs by 40%, while also improving service quality. By eliminating wait times and handling high volumes, the AI creates a seamless experience for customers.

Boosting Customer Experience

Instant availability builds trust. When customers know they’ll get quick, accurate answers every time, it strengthens their confidence in your brand. Unlike human agents, whose responses can vary based on mood or expertise, AI agents deliver consistent and precise answers every single time. This dependability has real results - some companies have saved over $2 million annually with AI assistants and reported a 25% increase in customer satisfaction. Ringly.io’s AI can also cut support costs by up to 80% by automating routine inquiries.

When customers can always reach your store, they’re more likely to make high-value purchases and get immediate answers about product details, shipping, or returns. This kind of responsiveness gives your e-commerce business a strong competitive edge.

2. 24/7 Support Without Breaks

Ringly.io's AI takes customer support to the next level with its ability to operate nonstop, ensuring your business is always available. In e-commerce, where customers shop at all hours, this constant availability is a game-changer. With 99.5% uptime, Ringly.io's AI phone agents guarantee your store never misses a chance to convert a visitor into a buyer. Beyond just availability, this continuous operation also brings significant cost efficiencies.

Unlike human agents who need breaks and time off, AI agents work tirelessly around the clock. This uninterrupted service gives businesses a clear edge. While traditional systems often leave customers stuck with voicemail after hours, Ringly.io’s AI steps in to provide immediate and helpful responses - turning late-night browsers into loyal customers.

This around-the-clock service becomes even more critical during high-demand periods like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or the holiday season. During these times, customer inquiries spike, and human teams often struggle to keep up, leading to costly overtime or frustrated shoppers. Ringly.io's AI handles these surges with ease, maintaining high-quality support no matter how many calls come in at once.

Cost Savings with Always-On Service

The financial benefits of this always-on support are hard to ignore. Traditional customer service setups require multiple shifts, more hires, and added expenses like employee benefits and complex scheduling. On top of that, human agents cost more per minute compared to AI-driven solutions.

AI-powered tools also directly impact customer retention, with businesses reporting up to a 30% reduction in churn. Missing support at critical moments often leads to abandoned purchases, a costly issue for e-commerce stores. Ringly.io's AI eliminates these missed opportunities by being available whenever the customer needs assistance.

Consider this: human agents take an average of 15 coffee breaks per week, while Ringly.io’s AI takes zero breaks per year. This uninterrupted reliability not only increases efficiency but also boosts customer satisfaction by 25%. With consistent, dependable service, businesses can strengthen customer relationships, improve lifetime value, and lay the groundwork for even more advanced customer engagement strategies.

3. Custom Support in 18 Languages

Language barriers can be a major hurdle in e-commerce - 42% of consumers avoid making purchases if support isn’t available in their native language. To address this, Ringly.io’s AI now offers support in 18 languages, enabling your store to cater to a global audience effortlessly.

Here’s why this matters: 76% of users prefer information in their native language, 72% are more likely to make a purchase when supported in their language, and 56% prioritize language accessibility over price. These numbers highlight how multilingual support can drive international sales. For instance, ASOS expanded its global sales to 60% by offering assistance in 10 languages, while Airbnb boosted bookings by 19% after adding support for 62 languages. By breaking down language barriers, businesses create seamless, consistent experiences that appeal to customers worldwide.

"Communicating with customers and prospects in their native language can improve the quality of interactions and strengthen relationships with them, resulting in better customer loyalty."
– Salvador Ordorica, Forbes Councils Member

Keeping Your Brand Voice Consistent

For e-commerce, removing language barriers is as important as reducing wait times. However, traditional multilingual support often struggles to maintain a consistent brand voice. Different agents may convey varying tones and styles across languages, creating a disjointed experience. Ringly.io solves this by learning your brand’s tone, messaging, and values during setup. Whether customers reach out in German, Italian, or Japanese, they’ll receive a consistent experience that reflects your brand identity. This consistency fosters trust and recognition - key factors in building a strong international presence. Companies that offer native-language support often see higher satisfaction scores, making a unified brand voice a powerful competitive edge.

Serving International Customers

With a consistent brand voice in place, supporting a global customer base becomes straightforward. In the past, expanding internationally required hiring native-speaking staff and managing complex operations. Ringly.io simplifies this with an AI phone agent capable of handling inquiries in 18 languages simultaneously, making global expansion as easy as flipping a switch.

When customers are served in their preferred language, misunderstandings decrease, and resolutions happen faster, boosting satisfaction. For example, a financial services company reported a 40% jump in customer satisfaction after adopting multilingual AI, while an e-commerce business saw international sales grow by 30% in just one year of implementing multilingual support. These results show the clear benefits of eliminating language barriers. With Ringly.io, every customer receives personalized, immediate assistance in their language, available 24/7.

4. Scale Up Without Hiring More Staff

One of the standout advantages of Ringly.io is its ability to grow with your business without the need to bring on additional staff. As your e-commerce store expands, traditional phone support often requires hiring, training, and managing more team members - a process that can be time-consuming and expensive. Ringly.io sidesteps this challenge by handling an unlimited number of calls simultaneously, eliminating the need to scale your team.

Here’s the difference: while human agents can handle only one call at a time and typically work in 8-hour shifts, Ringly.io manages over 15 calls at once, operating 24/7. This means your support capacity automatically adjusts to meet demand, ensuring quick response times and consistent service quality - all at a fraction of the cost.

Human support agents can cost anywhere from $50 to $100 per hour (including training), while Ringly.io provides comparable service for roughly 80% less. The money saved can then be funneled into other areas of your business, like expanding inventory, boosting marketing efforts, or developing new products.

Managing Black Friday and Holiday Rush

Ringly.io's ability to scale on demand is especially valuable during high-pressure shopping seasons, like Black Friday or the holidays. These periods often overwhelm traditional support teams as call volumes spike. With Ringly.io, there’s no need to scramble to hire temporary staff or pay for overtime. The system effortlessly adapts to increased demand, ensuring your customers receive instant, personalized support - even during the busiest times.

Let’s compare the two approaches:

Beyond managing call surges, Ringly.io also takes care of routine tasks like checking order statuses, processing returns, recommending products, and recovering abandoned carts to reclaim lost sales. This allows your human team to focus on complex issues that require a personal touch, while the AI efficiently handles high-volume, repetitive tasks.

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5. Call Data That Improves Your Business

Managing phone support for an e-commerce store often feels like trying to solve a puzzle with missing pieces. Sure, you know customers are calling about returns or product questions, but you’re left guessing about the bigger picture: Why are they calling? Are they satisfied? What issues come up most often? That’s where Ringly.io steps in, turning every call into actionable insights that help you fine-tune your store’s strategy. It identifies trends and opportunities you might otherwise miss, ensuring no data goes to waste.

Call Reports and Performance Numbers

Ringly.io doesn’t just track calls - it organizes and analyzes them for you. Every conversation is categorized, whether it’s about order statuses, product inquiries, returns, or technical hiccups. This system gives you a clear view of what’s driving your support volume. Plus, it measures how often issues are resolved on the first call, a critical metric known as First Call Resolution (FCR). Why does FCR matter? It’s a direct indicator of customer satisfaction, with industry standards ranging from 70–85%, and top-performing centers hitting over 90%. Ringly.io clients typically see a 50% improvement in their FCR rates.

But FCR is just the beginning. Ringly.io also tracks key metrics like:

• Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) and Net Promoter Score (NPS): These measure how happy and loyal your customers are.
• Average Handle Time (AHT) and Cost Per Call (CPC): Operational metrics that reveal how efficiently your support team operates.

With 95% of companies acknowledging the value of call center metrics in boosting customer satisfaction, having this data automatically analyzed gives your store a major edge.

"What I like most about Ringly is that it allows me to see what issues were the most frequent. I can identify the key areas where users need the most help." - Kevan Williams, Founder Ascendant

Ringly.io goes a step further by analyzing customer sentiment during calls. It picks up on emotions like frustration or satisfaction, helping you pinpoint which problems cause the most stress. This allows you to prioritize fixes that truly improve the customer experience.

AI Gets Better Over Time

Ringly.io’s AI doesn’t just track data - it learns from it. Every call makes the system smarter, ironing out inconsistencies that can arise with human agents. Trained on millions of calls, the AI refines its problem-solving skills after each interaction.

Here’s how it works: After every call, the AI evaluates its performance. If a customer leaves happy, it notes what worked. If a customer gets frustrated or needs to be transferred to a human, the AI identifies areas for improvement. This self-assessment happens automatically, so the system keeps improving without extra effort on your part.

You can speed up this learning process by uploading resources like your website content, product manuals, and other business documents to Ringly.io’s knowledge base. Over time, clients often see a 30–40% boost in customer satisfaction as the AI becomes more precise and effective. The system is even great at recovering abandoned carts, bringing back 35% of lost sales.

Unlike traditional phone support, which can suffer from agent turnover and inconsistent training, Ringly.io’s AI continually evolves. This ensures your support quality improves month after month, making your entire system smarter and more efficient. By leveraging this data-driven approach, Ringly.io sets the foundation for even more advanced AI capabilities, transforming how e-commerce businesses handle customer support.

6. Works with Your Existing E-commerce Tools

Ringly.io doesn’t just handle calls and analyze data - it also integrates effortlessly with your e-commerce tools, simplifying operations across the board.

Managing an e-commerce business often feels like juggling multiple platforms - your online store, CRM, email marketing software, inventory systems, and more. The last thing you need is another tool that adds to the chaos by requiring manual data transfers. That’s where Ringly.io stands out, connecting to over 7,000 tools through platforms like Zapier and Make.com.

E-commerce integrations are a priority for Ringly.io. Shopify was the first native integration, and upcoming additions include BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Magento, Wix, and Webflow. This ensures that your AI phone support works directly with the platform powering your store. No more jumping between tabs or manually updating customer records after every call.

These integrations work both ways. Ringly.io agents can perform actions in your connected tools - like checking order statuses or creating support tickets - while other apps can trigger actions in Ringly.io, such as initiating calls after form submissions or abandoned carts. This two-way connectivity automates workflows in real time, cutting down on manual tasks and boosting efficiency.

Less Manual Work for Your Team

Manual data entry is a time sink. Traditional phone support often requires agents to dig through systems, manually update records, and switch between platforms during a call. Ringly.io eliminates these inefficiencies by automatically accessing and updating customer information across your integrated tools.

For instance, if a customer calls to check on an order, Ringly.io can instantly provide real-time updates, modify shipping details, or even cancel the order directly in your system - no manual input needed.

But it doesn’t stop there. Ringly.io can also:

• Create support tickets in your help desk software
• Update customer profiles in your CRM
• Trigger follow-up emails via your marketing automation platform

By streamlining these processes, your team can focus on tasks that directly grow your business instead of getting bogged down by administrative work.

Making Your Team More Productive

The productivity boost from AI-powered workflows is hard to ignore. Studies show that AI can increase sales productivity by 35% and improve conversion rates by 30%. For e-commerce teams, this means faster resolutions, fewer errors, and happier customers.

Industry leaders are already seeing these benefits:

"With AI purpose-built for customer service, you can resolve more issues through automation, enhance agent productivity, and provide support with confidence. It all adds up to exceptional service that's more accurate, personalized, and empathetic for every human that you touch." - Tom Eggemeier, CEO of Zendesk

Ringly.io’s integrations create smarter workflows that anticipate your team’s needs. For example, if a customer issue escalates, the system automatically generates a high-priority ticket and alerts your team, ensuring urgent matters get immediate attention. Routine inquiries, on the other hand, are handled automatically.

The platform also supports your agents by offering suggestions and reminders when human intervention is needed. By analyzing data across systems, Ringly.io identifies trends and provides actionable insights, helping your team make informed decisions. By automating repetitive tasks and delivering valuable data, Ringly.io is redefining what phone support can achieve.

"Zendesk AI simplifies and eases the workflow on our agent side. The summarization feature has been a huge help, especially for onboarding new reps. It saves us the time and energy of looking through an entire thread so we can work more efficiently." - Jessica Hannes, Director of Support at Esusu

7. AI Calls Customers to Increase Sales

Unlike traditional phone support that waits for customers to reach out, Ringly.io takes a proactive approach by calling potential buyers to close missed sales opportunities. This AI-powered feature doesn't just handle incoming calls - it actively engages with customers to drive revenue. A significant challenge for e-commerce stores is abandoned carts, with research showing that 74.09% of online shoppers leave their carts without completing the purchase. Of these, unexpected costs and fees are responsible for up to 55% of abandonments. Ringly.io tackles this issue by contacting customers who showed interest but didn’t finalize their purchases. For instance, Jim Miranda, Founder of Elite Sales & Automation, managed to close three deals in just one week after adopting Ringly.io. Some users have reported impressive ROI figures, averaging 34x and even reaching 37x in ideal conditions.

Getting Abandoned Carts Back

AI-driven phone calls offer an effective way to recover lost sales from abandoned carts. When a customer leaves items in their cart, Ringly.io can quickly initiate a call, often within minutes. These calls address customer concerns in real time, such as unexpected fees or other barriers to completing the transaction. By resolving these issues immediately, the AI agent reduces friction in the buying process. Additionally, Ringly.io’s built-in analytics continuously monitor and refine these interactions, making future conversations even more effective. This proactive approach not only recovers sales but also opens doors for deeper, personalized engagement with customers.

Suggesting Related Products During Calls

Once sales are recovered, Ringly.io takes it a step further by suggesting related products during the call. Using real-time data, the AI agent transforms each call into an upselling opportunity. It can recommend complementary items, offer upgrades, or introduce frequently purchased products. To put this into perspective, Amazon generates 35% of its revenue from product recommendations, and personalized AI shopping experiences account for about 44% of repeat purchases globally. By analyzing customer data instantly, Ringly.io tailors suggestions to individual preferences - like proposing a laptop bag for someone who’s interested in buying a laptop.

The impact of such smart recommendations is evident. Sapphire, a fashion retailer in Pakistan, achieved a 12x ROI through AI-powered product discovery. Suraj, a Production Engineer, summed it up perfectly:

"AI is all about giving personal experience to customers which will enhance the sales."

Whether it’s recommending add-ons or alternative options, Ringly.io ensures every customer interaction boosts order value while genuinely addressing customer needs.

What's Coming Next for AI Phone Support

AI phone support is moving beyond simple call handling to a future where it can anticipate customer needs and streamline interactions. Two key advancements - predictive analytics and deeper integration with e-commerce platforms - are set to reshape how online stores engage with their customers.

Retailers using AI-driven personalization tools have already reported a 15% growth increase in their businesses.

Predicting What Customers Need

The next generation of AI phone support will harness predictive analytics to foresee customer behavior and address potential issues before they even occur. By analyzing patterns in browsing and purchasing, AI can identify problems before a customer picks up the phone.

"AI analyzes vast amounts of customer data, including browsing history, purchases, and behavior patterns, to provide insights that help online retailers understand their customers better."

This approach has the potential to make a big impact. For example, predictive analytics can reduce stockouts by 75%, increase conversion rates by up to 50%, and lower call volumes and service costs by 20–30%. It can even detect subtle hesitation signals - like customers repeatedly viewing shipping costs - and intervene before they abandon their carts.

Sentiment analysis is also improving, allowing AI systems to adjust their tone and responses in real time, making interactions feel more human and personalized.

Better E-commerce Platform Integration

As AI becomes more adept at anticipating customer needs, tighter integration with e-commerce platforms will make interactions even smoother. These advancements will go beyond current capabilities, utilizing large language models (LLMs) to deliver faster responses, smarter recommendations, and less need for manual oversight.

For instance, AI agents will soon handle tasks like updating inventory, processing returns, modifying orders, and even redesigning storefronts based on customer behavior. A real-world example: In 2025, Hexaware used Google Cloud's PaLM 2 to create SEO-optimized product descriptions for a furniture retailer, covering 19 departments and over 3,000 subclasses. This effort cut content creation time by 75%, boosted product visibility by 25%, and improved conversion rates by 20%.

These integrations will also drive omnichannel personalization strategies. Research from McKinsey highlights that such strategies could increase revenue and retention by 10–15%. AI phone agents will draw from customer data - like email campaigns, social media interactions, and website activity - to create tailored conversations.

"AI systems can explore highly complex and varied options for customer engagement very quickly, and continuously optimize their performance as more data becomes available. This means marketers can set parameters and allow the AI to optimize and learn to achieve precision." – Accenture

AI-driven integration will also enable real-time dynamic pricing during calls, with agents adjusting offers based on factors like supply, demand, and competitor pricing. At the same time, generative AI will produce personalized content on the fly, such as product descriptions, follow-up emails, and social media posts. In 2025, Nordstrom applied machine learning techniques to achieve a 35% increase in conversion rates, a 22% drop in customer acquisition costs, and a 40% boost in customer retention.

These advancements signal a future where AI phone support doesn’t just respond to customers - it actively shapes and enhances their entire shopping experience.

Conclusion: Why AI Will Replace Traditional Phone Support

AI phone support is outpacing traditional methods, addressing challenges like limited availability, language barriers, and scalability. Solutions like Ringly.io offer consistent, multilingual support that operates 24/7 - a game-changer for modern e-commerce.

The numbers back this up: companies using AI report a 17% boost in customer satisfaction and a 38% reduction in average call handling time compared to traditional support methods. For example, a global camping retailer revamped its contact center in 2024 with AI, achieving a 33% increase in agent efficiency while cutting average wait times to just 33 seconds. These results highlight how AI can significantly improve both efficiency and profitability.

"With AI purpose-built for customer service, you can resolve more issues through automation, enhance agent productivity, and provide support with confidence. It all adds up to exceptional service that's more accurate, personalized, and empathetic for every human that you touch." - Tom Eggemeier, Zendesk CEO

The momentum is clear: 72% of business leaders prioritize expanding AI and chatbot use for customer experience, and by 2025, 80% of customer service organizations are expected to implement generative AI to improve both agent productivity and customer satisfaction.

Ringly.io eliminates the limitations of traditional phone support, offering unmatched capabilities. With costs as low as $0.22–$0.39 per call for customer support and $0.21–$0.37 for abandoned cart recovery, it provides enterprise-grade service at a fraction of the price. The platform supports 18 languages, manages unlimited simultaneous calls, and integrates seamlessly with over 7,000 tools to optimize your entire operation.

The shift is already underway. Businesses adopting AI phone support now will secure a competitive edge that becomes increasingly difficult to replicate as the technology advances. With Ringly.io's free trial and a money-back guarantee if you don't see savings within 90 days, there's no downside to exploring how AI can transform your customer support.

The choice is yours: embrace the future with AI or risk being left behind.

FAQs

How does AI compare to human agents in handling complex customer inquiries for e-commerce support?

AI leverages advanced algorithms and predictive tools to manage a range of customer inquiries, from tracking orders to suggesting products and handling returns. For straightforward tasks like answering FAQs or processing simple requests, AI delivers fast and precise responses, saving time for both customers and support teams.

That said, when it comes to more intricate or emotionally charged issues - such as resolving disputes or addressing unique concerns - AI often falls short in areas like empathy and creative problem-solving. To address this, systems like those used by Ringly are designed to smoothly transfer complex cases to human agents when necessary. This approach ensures customers get the personalized, attentive support they need, while AI efficiently takes care of repetitive tasks.

What challenges or limitations come with using AI in phone support for e-commerce?

AI has undoubtedly transformed e-commerce phone support, but it’s not without its hurdles. One of the biggest challenges is its inability to understand emotions. AI struggles with addressing sensitive or complicated customer issues that call for empathy or a deeper level of understanding. This can sometimes leave customers feeling misunderstood or dissatisfied.

Another issue is the risk to data security and privacy. Like any technology, AI systems can become targets for hackers, potentially putting customer information at risk. In an industry where trust is everything, even a single breach could shake customer confidence if not handled carefully.

That said, AI is constantly evolving. When combined with human oversight, it has the potential to offer quicker and more efficient support while mitigating these challenges.

How does Ringly.io protect customer data and ensure privacy during support interactions?

Ringly.io prioritizes customer data security and privacy by using end-to-end encryption to protect all interactions. We adhere to a strict data minimization approach, collecting and storing only the information that's absolutely necessary. On top of that, we ensure compliance with U.S. regulations like HIPAA when dealing with sensitive data.

We handle customer data with care, following retention and deletion practices that meet legal standards. Plus, we never sell or share personal information without explicit consent, so you can feel confident every time you engage with us.

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