The Danger of Over-Automating Customer Experience
No matter who your cell phone carrier is, I’m guessing you’ve had this experience:
You have a billing or technical question.
You call the “customer support” line.
And you begin your dialogue with an intelligent “robot.”
At first, you think, “Wow, that’s cool. This is really fast… and she sounds just like a human!”
A few questions in, the feeling has worn off…
You are spinning in circles.
“She” (the robot) can’t understand what you want…
And you’re getting more and more frustrated.
Ultimately, it’s only a few more seconds before you are screaming: “LIVE PERSON! GET ME A LIVE PERSON!”
Full transparency: I’m a technologist. I make a living helping mid-market companies deploy technology solutions as a competitive advantage.
But even as a technologist, I can’t help but wonder… what are these companies thinking?!
If you and I feel the same way…
It’s likely there are thousands (even millions) of other customers that would share our sentiment…
And with a competitive product like cell phone service, wouldn’t you want these people to be loyal to your brand?
After all, it’s definitely easier to keep a customer happy than to have to acquire a new one.
I think I have a rough sense of their perspective: cell phone services are hard to switch (whether you like them or not), and it’s 100x cheaper not to use humans in a call center process unless you ABSOLUTELY have to.
I just can’t accept it, though. Not when there are examples of brands like Zappos…
That literally sell a complete commodity (shoes) in a way that is so spectacular, customers keep coming back. Again and again.
The difference is in the philosophy.
Zappos doesn’t see customer service as a cost center. They see it as a marketing channel.
Every interaction is an opportunity to create a story worth telling. A moment that makes someone say, “You won’t believe what just happened to me…”
And that story gets shared. At dinner tables. On social media. In casual conversations with friends.
That’s the kind of marketing money can’t buy.
Meanwhile, the cell phone companies are playing defense. They’re optimizing for efficiency metrics that look great in a boardroom presentation but feel terrible on the other end of the line.
Average handle time. Call deflection rate. Cost per interaction.
None of those metrics measure what actually matters: Did the customer leave feeling valued?
Here’s the thing about AI and automation…it’s not inherently good or bad. It’s a tool. And like any tool, the outcome depends entirely on the intention behind it.
You can use AI to make experiences faster, smoother, and more personalized. To anticipate what someone needs before they even ask. To solve simple problems instantly so that human agents can focus on the complex, high-touch situations where they really shine.
Or you can use AI as a wall. A barrier between your company and the people who pay your bills. A way to exhaust customers into giving up.
The technology is the same. The philosophy is completely different.
So, I submit to you that we all need to be asking this question: “What do we want our customers to feel when they interact with us?”
If the answer is anything other than “valued,” we have work to do.
Because at the end of the day, people remember how we make them feel. Both good and bad.