I spend most of my working days in front of executives who want to improve customer service. The question I am asked the most is how to get rid of the human using AI. I die a little inside every time I am asked this question.
Was there a meeting in a smoke-filled room where the LinkedIn customer service gurus decided the road to excellent service is paved with replacing human interaction with technology? I don’t think I’ve heard a dumber idea this year, and as I write this, I’m watching people chase tornadoes.
Are customers asking for this?
Is there a silent majority of customers who have stated that what they want more than anything else is to never speak to another human again? Because they love chatbots and phone menu jail so much? Because they would like to go from one touchscreen to another touchscreen, then to a chatbot, then die? In case you have been under a rock for the last five years, customers are asking for the opposite—they are explicitly asking for more human interaction in service, not less.
Are employees asking for this?
What about the humans who work in customer service? Did anybody bother asking them what they want? Did they tell you that the top of their wish list is to never talk to customers? Of course not. They shared a long list that includes autonomy, smarter tools, and management trust, and we landed on making sure we eliminate lowly paid customer service employees?
Is the C-Suite asking for this?
Did anybody check with the C-suite on this automate-first, ask-questions-later service plan? Did the CMO agree that the path to the hearts and minds of customers is to reduce humans in service to zero? The path to building customer loyalty is undifferentiated automated service? Let’s be clear: everyone will have an AI-powered service center, and they will be very similar. Your hyper-efficient bot will not be a loyalty driver.
At a conference a few weeks ago, the keynote speaker confidently said, “Call center agents are a thing of the past.” It reminded me of the Niall Ferguson quote, “The dead outnumber the living 14 to 1, and we ignore the accumulated experience of such a huge majority of mankind at our peril.”
We have been in this very moment before in customer service. It was not AI; it was the automated phone system—we were having the exact same conversation. Yes, AI-powered conversations in service will be ubiquitous and will drive efficiency through automation. Are the best companies in customer service the ones with the best phone automation? Of course not.
What service leaders seem to overlook is the data—the part of the service experience that drives loyalty the most is the human part of the interaction, and it’s not close.
So what should you do?
Focus on improving the humans. Ask better questions of your favorite guru—how can AI make the service employee love their job? How can AI eliminate the parts of the job they hate? How can AI give customers what they want—more human interaction when they need it?
You will get your efficiency as a byproduct of improving the lives of the human.
Connect with me; I share unpopular truths about customer service and living blissfully. My book, Waiting for Service, has been featured on NPR, Fox Business, and NBC.
