Customer support: agent-led deflection at the contact moment
How leading B2C teams are reducing tier-1 ticket volume by 35-55% with a tightly-scoped support agent.
The most reliable agent ROI in 2026 is still tier-1 support deflection. The pattern: a narrow agent with read-only access to the order/account graph, three or four tools, and a guarded handoff to humans.
Why it works. Bounded scope, structured data, immediate feedback signal, and a clean fallback to humans.
Why it fails. Teams that try to make it generic. The good agents know exactly five things and refuse the sixth.