Will customers hate talking to a bot?

Not if it's done well.

Studies show 69% of consumers prefer chatbots for quick answers, and satisfaction rates for AI chatbots now rival human agents for routine inquiries. Customers get frustrated with bots that are poorly designed - giving irrelevant answers, running in loops, or making it impossible to reach a human. The key is setting clear expectations (let visitors know they're chatting with AI), providing genuinely helpful responses, and offering an easy handoff to a human when needed. A well-designed chatbot that instantly answers questions at 2am is far better than a contact form that gets a reply 18 hours later.