Will human connection be a luxury?
How AI is making talking to people something only valued customers can afford.
It took the fashion industry by storm, then soon came to the hospitality industry, and now it’s on track to become a global industry standard. But will it really happen? With companies like Salesforce automating the sales funnel and making responses faster than a representative can type, what good will people be? Luckily, with scarcity comes demand, and with demand comes innovation.
On the Inside
ForbesLife contributor Stéphane JG Girod writes that executing this shift into making connection a luxury item can only be driven by a strong digital backbone. An excerpt from his article states it clearly.
For brands, it’s crucial to remember that no technology is useful unless a clear strategy is behind it: where should the technology be used and how will it help the brand to differentiate vis-a-vis rivals?
That’s a huge hurdle in my opinion. There’s so much information on how to plan a concise and direct digital strategy, and firms get paid six to seven figures to do it. To innovate a strategy to force connection through digital interfaces is already a challenge, but to commercialize it to a standard whereby it’s the expectation and not the extra mile will be interesting to see; flipping the script.
My Issue
I remember when I called my phone provider and the automated machine told me that I can do everything without speaking to a person. I can check my phone balance, change my plan, pay my bills all by using the number pad and saying keywords. Now as our purchase intentions shift, and even moreso with luxury goods, speaking to a person just makes things more easier.
I like to call this the “Siri Complex”, whereby technology makes life a tad bit harder. For example, when you ask Siri the weather and it reports the latest news about bread. It adds extra steps to what you’re trying to get to. This equals inconvenience. GrabCad writes a great article about this and how it relates to human behaviour.
It’s the Siri Complex that make talking to a human much more valuable. That’s where the cake is. And as demand for humans grow stronger, especially after the Pandemic, hearing a voice is even more sought after
The infograph above tells us exactly what we know about people. They’re in demand- with 50% having to wait up to 3 minutes- which on the phone, listening to royalty free music, while you’re waiting to call your grandmother but you’re bill is due- is a really long time.
The Big Picture
From hearing Mr.Girod’s take, looking at Formilla’s trends, and seeing how technology is having it’s minor counterintuitive issues, I do think that human connection is a luxury for some industries already, but for day-to-day things, the average person won’t need that as much.
The Finance has already branched out into the FinTech industry with automation, so has Medtech/Biotech. These are industries where time and decisions can cost a lot of money and lives, and as a result having an on-demand representative is a privilege. For the college student who’s just trying to get a refund for his Hulu trial that he forgot to cancel, that’s another story.
Ultimately, the answer is no. I don’t think human connection will be a luxury item for now. Maybe soon, maybe if we were all in a high-pressure society, but as marketers, the use of human connection is a great carrot on a stick to prospective clients.
I do hope you enjoyed exploring this topic with me. Do let me know what you’re thoughts are regarding automation and human connection. Until next time.
