Customer Connection

This blog from the beginning has been all about trying to bring together ideas about what it means to create the authentic customer experience. Truly connecting with people in a way that engenders a sense of loyalty to your brand and your company. So the question that is on my mind today is, does the application of technology in service eliminate the opportunity for connection?

So, the two extremes in this argument are best represented by two stories.

I was working with a mobile service provider about a year ago and they told me something about their service philosophy that was a bit shocking to me and took me off guard. They said that they actually encouraged and pushed their service people to have customers take their issues to their stores so that they could have the chance for the sales people to get them to buy more stuff. I found this strange because it seemed that there was a cost balance that one would want to strike in providing service that ensured you were not eating up peoples time in your stores for things that could be easily dealt with over the phone. The second thing that struck me as odd was that they were going out of their way to ensure that the customer was being serviced the way the company wanted them to be serviced versus the way the customer wanted to be serviced. Again, odd to me, but that was their stated path forward. This to me is an example of an extreme non-use of technology in providing customer service.

The other extreme can be represented by the Netflix story of about a year or so ago when they refused to staff a customer service group and did not publish any kind of customer service number. Another example would be earlier this year when Google came out with their first phone and the customer service that was provided was all forum based online and there was no phone support. Both examples are classic stories of people taking technology too far and creating a poor customer experience by not connecting with their customers.

So what is the right answer? My belief is that, like anything else in the world, it is a nice balance of the two that gets you the connection that you desire without requiring customers to have too much or too little choice around the technology they use to communicate with you. A classic example of this philosophy of balance would be Apple. I am not a Apple fanatic but do have an IPhone and my wife does use a Macbook. So we have had our fair share of experiences with their service groups. The beauty of their philosophy is that they balance somewhere in the middle with providing just enough technology for their technical customers but also plenty of human interaction with their customer service numbers or their stores. This allows them to really connect with their customers in ways that are comfortable and natural for the customer versus what is natural for the company.

Finding that balance can be tricky and can take some time to do when businesses are evolving and changing so quickly. But, I would argue that getting this balance right is the only way that connections can be made and authenticity will be instilled.

Humanity in Service

I have a question for you, How Human is your customer service?

I don't think that we can go around the room and assign a numerical value to the level of humanity that is baked into a companies service organization. But I do think it is a fair question to ask and a question that many customers ask themselves subconsciously when making a choice between doing business with Vendor X or Vendor Y.

I work in the technology industry in customer service, so I am naturally a big fan of using technology for the things that it makes sense to automate. But, I am also a traditionalist in the sense that I believe that there are things that just make it simpler, faster and an overall better customer experience if you handle in a human to human interaction. For example, I was on an airlines voice self service the other day and I was trying to buy a ticket with a voucher. I walked through their prompting and it actually did a pretty nice job of understanding me and putting my trip together. But, at the end of the day, the linear and locked in fashion with which the automated system works is just too slow and too static for my taste and I am sure for many others. I could communicate exactly what I want in about half the time to a live agent and get wrapped quickly.

What the airline is thinking in this case is, "I can really save some money on this transaction because I am using a machine to do the work for me and not paying an agent to take that call." So maybe, by the time all is said and done, it might be a tad cheaper for them to keep me in that automated system. But is that small cost really worth the poor customer experience I had in having to deal with that system instead of talking to a live agent in about half the time to finish the transaction?

Working in the technology industry in service, I see a lot of different applications of technology to save money or to boost productivity. I see a lot of companies trying to find their way through the maze of technology to ensure they are picking the right one for their company. But what I am seeing a lot more of these days is the thoughtful application of that technology versus just falling in love because everyone else is. I am seeing more thought being put into what the customer experience will be instead of just what the cost savings will be.

I wish the airline would have thought about this a bit more before trapping me in the self service path when I knew it was not going to be my final stop.