I hope you’re replaced by a machine

“Don’t worry, customer service isn’t going anywhere. People will always crave that human connection,” said a former store manager of mine who was soon after made redundant.

From 2005 to 2013, I worked in various customer service roles, in pizza shops, cosmetic houses and department stores. The rise of online shopping in the early 2000’s made us all uneasy. We watched as sales declined and our hours got cut. Every so often our once regular customers would drop by just to justify their absence, “I meant to come see you but my makeup is just so much cheaper on StrawberryNet.”

Scared as we were, our managers assured us that our roles were safe. The argument which still holds true today, is although people can buy the same product online, they are emotional beings who crave human connection. That craving will keep driving them back in store.

But the in-store experience sucks.

The end of the decade saw a second major threat; self-service. Grocery stores and other major retailers began replacing cashiers with self-checkouts. Customers rejected help from sales associates in favour of googling. In training, we were warned that the average customer often knew just as much, if not more, about the product than we did. They weren’t looking for our help anymore.

“But don’t worry,” the argument persisted, “They still want that human connection.”

By the time I started working in digital in the early 2010’s, there was a hyperawareness that no matter how easy and convenient we made it for people to find what they’re looking for online, it was equally important that we provided a memorable customer experience; one that rivaled what the user would get in-store.

In the beginning, we looked to traditional customer service to inspire our digital experiences. How do they talk to the customer? How do they help them? How do they build trust? What do they do that makes the customer want to come back to see them?

Lucky we have UX to look up to.

But the tables are turning. The UX revolution has made a customer advocate of anyone in the business of online products or services. Digital designers, engineers, marketers and writers have become obsessed with understanding who their user is and how to serve them better, and they have the technology, skills and resources to figure it out. Meanwhile, with 93% of people using their phones while shopping and nearly 60% of customers using their mobile phones to look up product info in store, it seems communication between staff and customers is at an all-time low. Gone are the days we look to sales associates for glowing examples of how to treat the customer right. Instead, it’s the digital experience that sets the bar.

Twice this week in different stores, I have witnessed customer service associates make human errors (incorrect change and entering the wrong price) at the point of sale, and then proceed to suggest it was the customer’s fault. When others in line expressed frustration, the associates treated the customers as though they were an inconvenience and asked them to go to a separate “Customer Service” counter to sort out the issue. Both associates used a cold, unfriendly tone and expressed annoyance by rolling their eyes, whispering to colleagues and sighing.

These are just two specific examples but on a whole, I have noticed the standard of customer service steadily declining both in Australia (where I live) and Canada (where I spend 6–8 weeks of the year). Most notably, I’ve found the tone is apathetic, eye contact is rare and the customer, although still “always right” is made out to feel like a burden.

The glory days are over.

I get it. Working in customer service isn’t what it used to be. There was once a glamour to the role, you were respected for your product knowledge, your empathy for customers and your almost sixth-sense ability to help people find things they didn’t even know they were looking for. Drawing on my personal experience working retail, I found the smarter our phones got, the less the customer wanted anything to do with me. An average skincare consultation used to last 30 minutes but towards the end of my stint in cosmetics, very few people wanted a consult at all. They had taught themselves everything they believed they needed to know online and our conversation was reserved for pleasantries and the sales transaction. At the same time, I grew hesitant in approaching customers at all, as most of them seemed distracted by their phones. In an industry that relied heavily on relationship building, I knew my success was at risk. As a result, I ended up looking at the customer as almost a burden to getting other tasks done that I knew I could succeed at without their help, like paperwork and cleaning.

The truth is, it’s a terrible thing to not feel needed, and it’s understandable why someone in a role that could easily be replaced by a machine would have little incentive to go above and beyond anymore.

My advice is: then don’t. Leave it for the machines.

Because now, a third threat is here — me.

This is the last straw.

Product Writers like myself spend their days thinking about their customers; what they want, what they need, how to speak to them and how to make them happy. We are focused not just on guiding and helping our users, but on making them feel comfortable. Wanted. Special. Our words are nice. Our tone is friendly. We make sure no one puts their phone down feeling like less of a person for not having understood or done something right.

It is true that people will always crave a human connection, but it doesn’t have to be in person. Products have trained us to expect and enjoy digital experiences just as much as face-to-face. In the 15+ years that self-checkouts have been around, they’ve gotten more and more humanlike. They greet us, thank us, remind us to swipe our rewards card. They’ve even replaced once robotic error messages with spoft-spoken apologies. All of this is to say that the better that product writers get at holding conversations with our users, the higher we raise the bar for what is considered a good customer experience.

So my plea to you is this: If you work in customer service and find yourself treating customers like they’re an inconvenience, or you just can’t be bothered to try to make our day, then please, step aside. There are machines out there who will take care of us for you, and without the attitude.