58% of Customers Feel Their Support Issue is Not Truly Resolved, New Research Finds

Capacity introduces The Closure Index, a new research framework to understand how customers experience resolution in support interactions

ST. LOUIS, Jan. 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Capacity, the AI-powered support automation platform, today announced the release of The Closure Index, a new report designed to examine whether customer support interactions leave customers feeling truly resolved.

Based on a survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers, The Closure Index looks beyond traditional performance metrics to understand how customers evaluate the end of a support interaction. While tickets may be marked closed internally, the report found that only 42% of customers feel confident that their issue is fully resolved. The remaining majority report lingering concerns, unanswered questions or uncertainty after the interaction ends.

"Resolution is what companies measure. Closure is what customers feel," said David Karandish, founder and CEO of Capacity. "It's clear that customer support has become very good at closing tickets, but far less consistent at delivering confidence. Customers want speed, but they also want to know the issue won't resurface."

The findings highlight the downstream consequences of incomplete closure. One in three customers (33%) stops using a brand after a single unresolved or partially resolved support experience, underscoring the risk of leaving issues emotionally unfinished.

Customer sentiment following support interactions further reflects this gap. While many customers report feeling relieved (33%) once an issue is addressed, 18% say they feel frustrated after customer service interactions, compared to just 16% who feel confident in the brand afterward, indicating that resolution often ends in relief without building lasting trust.

Beyond emotional outcomes, The Closure Index examines how support channels influence perceived closure. Interactions that allow for direct human involvement consistently deliver stronger confidence and reassurance than AI-only experiences, reinforcing the importance of intelligent escalation paths that seamlessly transition context from AI to human.

"True closure requires an intelligent system that adapts to each individual's needs and ensures a seamless bridge to a human the moment it's required," said Karandish. "That final moment of comprehensive reassurance is where trust is either built or quietly lost."

Capacity developed the index to provide organizations with a clearer way to evaluate the emotional outcome of support interactions and to complement existing metrics, such as resolution time and Customer Satisfaction Scores.

Additional findings from The Closure Index include:

• 58% of customers say their issue feels only partially resolved or resolved with lingering concerns after a support interaction.
• 85% of consumers say smooth escalation from AI to human support is important, with nearly one in four (23%) stating their ideal balance is an equal mix of AI and human.
• Clear communication (52%) and speed to resolution (43%) are the top factors that help consumers feel closure after a customer support interaction.
• In-person and phone support deliver the strongest sense of closure.

The Closure Index report is available at Capacity.com.

About Capacity
Founded in 2017, Capacity is an all-in-one, AI-powered support automation platform that uses practical and generative AI to deflect tickets, emails and phone calls—so your team can do their best work. More than 20,000 companies across industries use Capacity for external customer support and internal employee enablement. Today, Capacity offers support over web, SMS, email, voice, social, Slack, MS Teams, help desks and more. To learn more about Capacity, visit Capacity.com.

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SOURCE Capacity