Put the “Us” Back in Customer Service, Please

I just switched telecom providers because of a bad customer service experience with a chatbot. When I spoke to a human at the new company receiving my business, it was such a juxtaposition, I moved my whole family onto a family plan within a week. My original provider has tried reaching out multiple times since, and while I was happy to complete their surveys about why I left, it was too little too late.

The People Have Spoken, We Will Wait to Speak to a Human

These types of CX failures are on autopilot all day as more organizations turn to chatbots and AI agents instead of relying on humans. A recent Gartner study said that as many as 80% of customer service agents could be automated by agents by 2029. Meanwhile, a poll from CX Today caught my attention on LinkedIn, asking what is the most frustrating aspect of a customer service experience - unsurprisingly 25% said it was dealing with a confused chatbot.

People want to talk to people, and there’s an amassing body of evidence to support our need for one another. Consider that:

• Live phone conversations are among consumers’ preferred support methods, with 71% of Gen Z to 94% of baby boomers likely to use them [McKinsey]
• A substantial 54% of customers believe a live agent call resolves problems fastest [UJET]
• Among 80% of customers who say using chatbots increases frustration levels, 72% think they’re a waste of time [UJET]
• 60% of customers prefer to wait in a queue to speak with a human agent (rather than speak to a chatbot immediately) [Userlike]

Just last week, HubSpot and Survey Monkey released fresh data revealing that 82% of customers prefer service from a human even if the outcome and wait times are the same. And of the same group of respondents, 53% said they actually hate the use of AI in service interactions. “The human touch remains irreplaceable in many interactions, and organizations must balance technology with human empathy and understanding,” says CX Today reporting on Gartner data.

Shout Out to all the Human Agents Out There

Despite amassing data, Salesforce is digging in their heels about laying off thousands of customer-facing employees, so bots can serve them instead. Don’t get me wrong, I believe there’s room for smart automation. Like how about using AI as a fast lane to a capable human and eliminating hold times - that’s a use case I can cheer for.

So, here I am digging in my heels on behalf of frustrated humans everywhere. I will continue to press zero and say thank you when the interaction is done, knowing that my politeness didn’t cost the planet anything.

And as for the person who picked up the phone and connected my family to an unlimited data plans at lightning speed, and the human at the Bell kiosk at the mall who removed the malaware from my mom’s phone for no fee at all, and to the person who walked me through a delightful corporate card setup with CIBC two weeks ago…for every human generated how can I help you? happening right now… we salute you.

‍

Image Credits

Feature Image: Unsplash/Hector Reyes

Image 1: Via LinkedIn

‍