When we think about all of the interactions we have with a brand, whether it is virtually on your smart phone or in-person at the store, there are many key touch points that are significant to the customer journey. In today’s hyper-modern world, the customer experience is made up of automated and voice activated systems, such as chat bots. These tools simplify many of our everyday processes, but for many, we have found that the human interaction is the most vital of them all.
Internet Retailer recently published an article about this exact research. Even though chat bots have some initial glitches, they still have a place and a potential in the customer experience journey. There needs to be a delicate balance between automated chat bots and human customer service. Automated service should not be depended on to completely replace a genuine human interaction altogether.
A recent study we did with Harris Poll research, found that customers’ preferred communications channels are (in order of preference) email, phone, online chat and mobile apps. Furthermore, 84% of buyers interacted directly with a company representative an average of five times when making a purchase over the phone during the last six months. More than 41% of responding consumers interacted directly with a company agent before making an expensive purchase online or over the phone.
Our society is becoming ever more dependent on technology and its conveniences and amenities, but we can’t and shouldn’t forget the unique necessities of a human touch to fulfill our services. MediaPost also published an article on this trending topic. Does your contact center still involve human interaction in your customer journey? Research shows that, while the bot-pocalypse may be approaching, the human touch is still a key cog in the customer service machine.
