Convenience versus conversation: Understanding the value of every interaction

May 03, 2023

In the past decade, customer experience (CX) professionals have faced an ongoing conundrum: how do they balance the desire to adopt digital, self-service, and automation technologies with the need to develop deeper, more human relationships with customers?

At first glance, these may seem like competing ideas, one promotes the use of the latest technology and the other advocates for friendly customer service advisors. The potential of digital and automation technologies is clear: they make lives easier for customers and less costly for the organisation. Likewise, meaningful human experiences can turn customers into loyal and vocal brand advocates, but can prove more expensive.

Still, despite this CX dilemma, these two necessities are not mutually exclusive. There is a balance to be struck, which can be achieved if you know when to get out of the customer's way and when to offer human support. Achieving this balance is at the heart of modern customer experience design — when organisations understand the value of each interaction and adapt accordingly, their customer experience and profitability improves.

In this article, Dave Pattman, Managing Director, Customer Experience Practice at Gobeyond Partners, explores how convenience (digital and self-service automation tools) and conversation (human engagement), despite providing benefits in different ways, can both create significant value when applied correctly.