As technology and AI continue on their conquest of world domination, many consumers have experienced fantastic benefits—and some frustrations.
It’s nice to have chatbots provide instant answers to common questions, but you would hate to see Carly, who has never even once messed up your quintuple-shot espresso from Starbucks, be replaced by a robot.
When considering whether automation or human client service is superior, it’s important to consider the strengths of each.
Automation
Technology is powerful. In the last 200 years of humanity, we’ve seen the greatest rise in productivity in human history. This explosion of capability is largely attributable to technology.
But just as anyone who has ever had to use an automated telephone system can tell you, automation doesn’t always make for an ideal consumer experience.
Here are a few considerations for using automation:
- Automation can drastically increase your efficiencies through instant client feedback
- Because automation is constrained by its own parameters, you can expect consistent service
- Robots can be programmed to run at all hours of the day, allowing for 24/7 availability
- Many automated systems also record data to give clients the feedback they desire
For clients, automation can make for a quick, convenient and powerful way of engaging with a company. In contrast to personal client service, automation can aid a client in a fraction of the time.
What then does personal client service offer to clients?
Personal Client Service
Human-driven service has been the norm for the last few millennia. Of course, it’s all we’ve had to work with up until a few decades ago, but personalized client service has established the foundations of the economy we share today.
Tried and true, here are a few benefits of personalized client service:
- Personal service allows for tailored flexibility to accommodate the unique needs of each client
- A customer service representative can handle complicated and uncommon tasks to deliver an ideal product for a client
- Should a misunderstanding occur, the consumer can benefit from having a client service representative to clarify
In contrast to automation, personalized client service can offer solutions to complicated issues much easier than a robot can. Additionally, personalized service is more flexible by nature than automation, potentially reducing the number of frustrated consumers.
If both automation and personalized client service provide important benefits to the client, what’s keeping an organization from utilizing the strengths of both?
A hybrid approach to automation and client service is considered ideal for effective client service. Using the hybrid approach, clients are able to:
- Receive automated, rapid responses for simple inquiries and personalized service for more complicated issues
- Receive products quickly and with superior quality
- Experience fewer mishaps in the client experience by automation and service representatives monitoring for potential issues
The hybrid approach to client service provides the consumer with the most optimal experience. By taking the great traits of Carly from Starbucks and the speed of automation, consumers can get their product quickly and still feel connected to the organization.
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