How AI Voice Agents Handle Peak Customer Demand

eHealth’s Alice voice agent handled calls during the peak season for healthcare insurance enrollment and garnered a majority of “exceptional” satisfaction ratings.

In 2026, the phone remains the most vital—and most volatile—customer touchpoint, with every ring being a moment of truth for customer experience. For CX leaders grappling with not just maintaining but excelling at phone interactions, Metrigy has some good news from its recently published Q1 2026 Consumer CX Index, based on a study of 1,000 consumers in North America. That is: Most consumers today will give AI voice agents a chance.

Specifically, 59.1% of consumers studied said they’re willing to give an AI voice agent some time to solve their issue. There is a caveat, though. They’ll only do so if they know that escalating to a human agent is in the offing. Where do the other callers stand on the AI voice question? About 30% skip the “give it a try” step and jump immediately to the human option, and 11% hang up the moment they realize they aren’t speaking to a person.

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Author(s)

Beth Schultz