Updated: July 2026 | 6 min read

Executive Summary

Customer support software is undergoing a significant transformation driven by AI adoption. The Zendesk CX Trends 2026 report found that 74% of consumers now expect customer service to be available 24/7 due to AI. Salesforce State of Service research found that 79% of service professionals are investing in agentic AI. The Intercom Customer Service Trends Report 2024 found that 87% of support teams have seen an increase in customer expectations over the past year. This article compiles verified statistics from multiple industry reports, with clear labeling of what is and is not product-specific. Readers should note that CX trends data reflects broad customer experience and is not support-software-only. No secondary data aggregators were used as sources for any figures in this article.

Quick Overview

  • 74% of consumers expect customer service available 24/7 due to AI per Zendesk
  • 88% of customers expect faster response times than a year ago per Zendesk
  • 79% of service pros are investing in agentic AI per Salesforce State of Service
  • 87% of support teams report increased customer expectations per Intercom
  • 95% of consumers want to know why AI makes the decisions it does per Zendesk
  • 77% of support teams believe AI will accelerate response time expectations per Intercom

Key Takeaways

  • AI is reshaping customer expectations, with 74% expecting 24/7 service availability
  • 79% of service professionals are investing in agentic AI per Salesforce research
  • Only 37% of companies currently offer reasoning behind AI decisions per Zendesk
  • 95% of consumers want to know why AI makes the decisions it does per Zendesk
  • CX trends data reflects broad customer experience, not support-software-only metrics

The Zendesk CX Trends 2026 report surveyed consumers and CX leaders across multiple industries and regions. Key findings include that 83% of CX leaders say memory-rich AI agents are the key to truly personalized customer journeys. A total of 74% of consumers now expect customer service to be available 24/7 due to AI, and 88% of customers expect faster response times than they did a year ago. The report also found that 76% of consumers would choose a company that allows them to drop text, images, and video into the same conversation thread. Regarding AI transparency, 95% of consumers want to know why AI makes the decisions it does, but only 37% of companies currently offer any reasoning behind AI decisions. Additionally, 85% of CX leaders say customers will drop brands over unresolved issues, even on first contact. Furthermore, 82% of CX leaders say that ignoring multimodal support will leave them behind competitors. These statistics reflect broad customer experience trends and are not support-software-only data points.

Salesforce State of Service and Intercom Findings

The Salesforce State of Service report (7th edition) surveyed 6,500 service and field service professionals and found that 79% are investing in agentic AI. The report provides insights into how service teams are scaling operations with AI agents. The full report is available as a downloadable PDF from the Salesforce research page. Separately, the Intercom Customer Service Trends Report 2024 found that 87% of support teams have seen an increase in customer expectations over the past year, with 68% of those believing that expectations have been directly influenced by AI. Intercom also reported that 68% of C-level support executives believe it is harder to retain customers than a year ago, and 43% of support teams attribute this to increased customer expectations. Furthermore, 77% of support teams believe AI will accelerate customer expectations for fast response times. These findings are based on industry surveys and are not specific to any single support software product.

Customer Support Software Market Context

The customer support software market includes vendors such as Zendesk, Salesforce (Service Cloud), Freshworks (Freshdesk), Intercom, and HubSpot (Service Hub). Freshworks is a publicly traded company on NASDAQ under the ticker FRSH and offers multiple products including Freshdesk and Freshservice. However, Freshworks does not separately disclose product-level revenue in its financial filings, and its investor relations website was not directly accessible during the research period. Stand-alone user metrics for Freshdesk are not publicly disclosed. Zendesk was taken private in 2022 and no longer files public financial reports. Intercom is a private company and does not disclose financial data publicly. For this article, specific financial figures for customer support software vendors have been excluded because official primary sources could not be accessed or verified. Market share data for the customer support software category has also been excluded where specific, publicly accessible report URLs could not be verified.

Methodology and Limitations

Statistics in this article are sourced from three publicly accessible reports: the Zendesk CX Trends 2026 report, the Salesforce State of Service report (7th edition), and the Intercom Customer Service Trends Report 2024. The Salesforce State of Service report surveyed 6,500 service and field service professionals. The Zendesk report surveyed consumers and CX leaders across multiple industries and regions. The Intercom report surveyed support teams and C-level support executives. CX trends statistics reflect broad customer experience surveys and are not support-software-only data points. Freshworks financial data was excluded because the company’s investor relations website was not accessible during the research period. Zendesk financial data was excluded because the company is privately held. Market share data has been excluded where specific, publicly accessible report URLs could not be verified.

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