Why Technology Alone Will Fail Your Customer Experience: 8 Ways to Keep It Human!

• Do you think faster response times translate into better customer experience?
• Do you think 24/7 availability translates into better customer experience?
• Do you think deploying self-service portals translates into better customer experience?
• Do you think automated ticketing systems translate into better customer experience?
• Do you think predictive analytics can translate into a better customer experience?

While all of these translate into better customer experiences, are they enough to provide exceptional customer experiences?

While we see a lot of advancements in AI, chatbots, and automation, they often fall short of delivering personalized, empathetic, and context-aware interactions.

A study by PwC found that 59% of customers feel companies have lost the human touch in customer service. This signals a huge gap between efficiency and emotional connection.

While technology can enhance efficiency, speed, and convenience, it cannot empathize with frustration, reassure an anxious customer, or navigate complex emotional scenarios.

Here are eight proven ways to keep the customer experience human-driven while leveraging technology effectively.

1. Chatbots – Do They Empathize?

They don’t. Use them for simple queries only.

According to Hubspot, 86% of customers prefer talking to a human for complex issues. Instead of forcing customers to interact with bots, you should provide them an option to reach a human for their needs.

Does that mean you cannot use chatbots?

Not at all. Use them for FAQs, order tracking, and payment inquiries. Also, provide an option for the customer to seamlessly transition from a bot to a human agent at any point during the interaction.

Would it make sense if the bot is programmed to route complex queries to a human agent within 30 seconds of starting the interactions?

2. AI – Do They Reassure an Angry Customer?

They don’t.

An empathetic response can diffuse the situation faster than a scripted reply.

Studies show that customers are 4.6 times more likely to forgive a company if they feel understood.

Do you know that American Express trains its agents to validate customer emotions before offering solutions? This reduced customer escalations by 20%.

3. Does Automation Make You Feel Robotic?

They do. Customers hate being treated like a number.

While CRMs and AI can store customer data, they cannot use it creatively or personalize services for your customers.

Only humans can make use of the data creatively and personalize services, thereby increasing customer satisfaction by 80%.

A luxury hotel chain trains staff to remember guest preferences. For instance, if you are someone who takes green tea regularly, room service brings it before you ask. Can you imagine automation doing this for your customers?

4. Self-Service Is Not Enough

Do you hide human support behind endless IVRs? If you do, remember that this backfires, and 57% of the customers abandon a brand after just one bad self-service experience.

I was booking an emergency train ticket using the chatbot on the booking website. I was told that it was easy. When I started the booking, there were 72 available tickets. Everything went smoothly till the payment, and after that, I received a message stating that something went wrong with my booking.

Now, when I accessed the bot again, it said that my booking was pending and that I should receive a confirmation soon or my money would be refunded. This was a non-cancellable booking if I get a confirmed ticket. So, I waited a few minutes, and there was no change in the status.

So, I called their customer service, and I went through endless IVR menu items, but I could not get to speak to anyone, and the IVR was not equipped to handle my request.

After about a couple of hours, I got a message stating that the refund had been initiated and that my transaction had failed. However, by this time, all the tickets had sold, and I could not book the tickets to my destination.

Imagine having a human agent accessible in this situation.

5. Does Data Feel Cold?

Yes, they do.

Have you ever received a quick personal email or a call from a human agent after your interactions with the brand’s customer service?

They increase customer retention by 48%.

Recently, I received a call from the nurse of a healthcare facility I visited to check on my health. I was fully cured, and I did not have to go back to the facility. However, I have referred five of my friends to visit the healthcare facility for their needs.

6. Metrics Don’t Measure Everything

Do you measure Average Handling Time (AHT)?

One of my customers recently figured that measuring AHT wasn’t helping them, and their customers felt rushed during the interaction. This brought down the customer satisfaction (CSAT) levels drastically.

They stopped penalizing agents for exceeding their AHT goals. They started measuring the number of issues that were resolved in the first interaction, and for those that didn’t get resolved, they started looking at the reasons.

This has considerably increased their CSAT scores and reduced repeat calls by 25%.

7. AI Can’t Apologize Authentically

They aren’t authentic.

Let us assume that there is a delayed delivery. How does a genuine apology look vis-à-vis an automated response?

Automated response: Your package is delayed. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Genuine apology: Sorry, we missed the delivery window, and it is on us. I’ve arranged for express shipping at no extra cost, and you should be receiving this by this evening, around 6 pm. As an acknowledgment of our mistake and an appreciation of your loyalty, we’ll also send you a discount code for your next order.

8. Automation – Do They Build Relationships?

They don’t.

Loyalty is built on relationships and not on transactions.

A McKinsey report states that emotional connection is 52% more valuable than customer satisfaction alone.

My bank assigned a dedicated relationship manager instead of relying on impersonal automation messages. The relationship manager is just a call away, and most of my needs get addressed by her directly. In the last three years, I would have called her half a dozen times, and my relationships have extended to five of their product offerings.

That is the value of relationships.

Customer experience is not a battle of Humans Vs. Technology. It is the perfect blend of humans and technology.

Invest in technology that supports the human agents. Use technology to automate the routine and boring stuff. Ensure that you always provide an option for your customers to talk to a human agent anytime during their interaction with your business.

After all, customers won’t remember how fast your chatbot responded, but they will definitely remember how you made them feel.