Why Is It So Hard to Talk to an Actual Person Regarding Customer Service Issues?

Customer service is the lifeblood of most businesses today. In the past we have learned that if people experience bad customer service they will mention it to at least ten other people. Now if people have a pleasant customer service experience they may not tell as many people about it but it is a good reflection on the company. Although companies are placing more emphasis on customer service, yet there is still something missing. It seems like almost every aspect of customer service is now automated. The customer service industry, which was once represented by a large presence of human beings, has now been reduced as a result of new technology.

Companies have begun to put more discretionary funds into something called customer relationship management. This is a widely implemented strategy for managing a company's interactions with customers, clients, and sales. Although this may be a very effective tool when it comes to customer service it still does not truly foster relationships with customers. One of the goals of customer relationship management is to not only establish a rapport with customers but to also improve customer satisfaction. This is almost impossible if there is no human interaction. Customer service and human interaction go hand in hand. In this day in time it is unheard of to speak with a human being regarding customer service related issues. Everything is automated! Like most people I prefer interacting with people rather than machines. There is nothing more frustrating than when you have a customer service issue that you cannot resolve by speaking with an actual person but are forced to endure the grueling process of hearing one automated prompt after another. I always try to bypass the prompts hoping to speak with an actual person. This type of experience has become too common. People want to feel like any problems that they may have dealing with customer service issues are going to be handled properly. If they are unable to speak with a human being they are going to be very frustrated because the lack of human interaction makes customer service both confusing and impersonal. Unfortunately, with the ongoing advancements in technology human interaction in the customer service industry may well become a thing of the past.

Ashkenas, Ron, How simple (and Human) Is your customer service, Harvard Business Review