CUSTOMER EFFORT
BY BRYAN CHEUNG, LIFERAY
ILLUSTRATION PROVIDED BY ADOBE STOCK
SHOULD YOUR CUSTOMERS WORK FOR YOU? HOW TO MAKE AUTOMATION SUCCESSFUL SO THEY DON’ T.
Every customer has felt it. You log into a portal, try to find an answer, and get caught in a maze of automated menus, chatbot responses, and dead-end links. After a few failed attempts, the only solution is to call customer service. By the time a human answers, patience is thin and frustration is high.
That cycle of rising effort and falling satisfaction – resulting in customer friction- is now a defining feature of modern customer experience( CX). The 2025 Liferay Digital Self-Service Report reveals how deep this frustration runs.
• 68 % of consumers have abandoned a digital task.
34 CONTACT CENTER PIPELINE
• 73 % have skipped a purchase because the process was too annoying.
• 82 % said they feel they are doing work that company employees once handled.
These numbers demonstrate that customers are working harder than they should to get basic things done.
This shift carries consequences that extend beyond individual interactions. When people feel they are performing labor for a brand, they lose trust. When their frustration reaches the contact center, it affects both customer relationships and the wellbeing of frontline employees.
This article explores the hidden costs of customer effort and the human toll it takes on service teams. But it also examines the opportunity organizations have to restore balance through better design, smarter orchestration, and renewed empathy.
THE COST OF EFFORT
Customer self-service was built on the simple idea that you can give people the tools to solve their own problems quickly and conveniently.
The promise was efficiency for both sides. But over time, it has eroded. The Liferay survey found that 64 % of respondents feel frustrated during digital self-service experiences, and 39 % feel exhausted afterward( see CHART 1).