AI is Great But Customers Still Crave the “Human Touch”
Artificial intelligence may be the future, but emotional intelligence is still very much the now. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the field of customer service. Whether we’re talking about cashiers in retail stores, service technicians in auto repair shops, food servers in restaurants, or technical support specialists in corporate call centers, how employees communicate with customers has a huge impact on a company’s success as a whole.
With all due respect to our vaunted 21st century tech wizards, no algorithm, neural network, or even machine learning system—no matter how advanced—can yet take the place of a flesh-and-blood human with empathy, dedication, and enthusiasm when it comes to solving customer problems and cultivating brand loyalty.
While so many retailers, fast food restaurants, and call center managers are scrambling to automate their operations as much as possible these days, it’s clear AI remains a hard-sell among the general public. A recent study by software provider Redpoint Global found that 77 percent of consumers believe that “a positive customer experience still requires human interaction.” Likewise, a poll by customer support provider Calibrio posits 58% of customers still believe picking up the phone and talking to an actual representative is the right way to get the best and most efficient service.
This is understandable. Anyone who has spent 15 minutes screaming “Representative!” into their phone knows just how frustrating automated customer service systems remain, and also, what a relief it is when an actual human being finally appears at the other end of the line.
But simply having warm bodies standing at critical customer points-of-contact is not enough. Companies have to commit themselves to optimizing the customer experience. That takes real effort and a commitment of resources—both up and down the chain of command. The global consulting firm McKinsey & Company has performed significant research in this area, and they have some specific suggestions as to how companies of all sizes can benefit by promoting “the personal touch” in customer service.
Specifically, they advise the following:
Create a customer-centric culture. Back in the early 1900s, retail pioneer Harry Gordon Selfridge coined the now-famous phrase, “The customer is always right.” However, 70 years later, economist Milton Friedman supplanted Selfridge by promoting the idea that “the social responsibility of a business is to increase its profits.” General Electric CEO Jack Welch turned Friedman’s dictum into a holy crusade, slashing costs and jobs wherever he could in search of ever-greater “shareholder value” and became the poster boy for late 20th century American business leadership in the process. Today, many companies are returning to Selfridge’s way of thinking and putting the customer experience ahead of everything else. Replacing “The purpose of our company is to make money” with “The purpose of our company is to create customers” is what helped propel Amazon to the top of the global retailing heap and is reaping similar rewards for companies like Chick-fil-A, Toyota, Costco, and Trader Joe’s.
Learn what your customers want—and why they may not be getting it. Once you have committed to a customer-centric culture, the next step is to critically analyze customer behavior to determine what they wish from your company and what aspects of your business promote—or, conversely, impede—the delivery of these desired products or services. Note: It’s not enough to just survey customers about their wishes. As the late Apple founder Steve Jobs famously noted, ask any customer what they want and the answer will always be some variation of, “faster, bigger, and cheaper.” It can take some subtlety and sensitivity to deep dive into authentic customer desires and motivations.
Empower your people. Perhaps the most frustrating part of any customer experience is when the person you’re dealing with doesn’t have the knowledge or the authority to handle your issue. When multiple people must be brought into a decision chain, the customer is usually heading for the exit. To address this vexing problem, companies need to: 1) Properly train their customer-facing employees to handle all common questions and problems; 2) Emphasize empathy, courtesy, patience, and respect in addition to product and technical knowledge, 3) Allow front-line personnel to “own” an issue and take necessary steps to resolve problems without consulting with higher authorities, 4) Hire enough employees to avoid long wait-times and other frustrating delays.
Naturally, employee hires, training, and management require a sizeable commitment of any company’s resources. (In other words, that means time and money.) But it’s an investment that handsomely pays off, as customer-centric companies are, as a whole, 60 percent more profitable than those that are not.
I can help make your business more customer-centric so you enjoy the many rewards that come from putting your clientele first. As a seasoned corporate culture and compensation specialist, I would be delighted to help you identify your needs and optimize your operations to deliver a smooth and satisfying customer experience—even in the AI age. You can start now by contacting me at laura@conoverconsulting.com.