05-03-2020 10:44 | By: Reinier Rombouts and Floris Regouin | www.nederlandsmediannieuws.nl
Do digital, but invest in human contact
Increasing technologicalisation changes the relationship between human, technology and nature. This change is happening at high speed: robots are acquiring human traits and smart software and algorithms are digitising the interactions between humans and human and computer.
This development brings us a lot of benefits, such as speed, convenience and cost savings. But it also has a clear downside: the erosion of the human factor. When do you still have that valuable personal contact? What is fake and what is real? In short: how do we keep the human dimension in our communication, while at the same time making use of the conveniences offered by technology?
Who will help you?
Chatbots, who doesn’t know them? Useful for simple, factual questions. But a crime when your questions become a little more complex. Then a human being has to be involved. Before you catch them, you’re already over an irritation line at a lot of companies these days. Let alone if you want to call them. A lot of companies don’t even allow people to call them anymore or make it very difficult. Everything goes online or via the app. A lot of customers drop out because they don’t feel heard. The market party that understands that and keeps a human counter open, in addition to the digital counter, can count on extra attraction for potential customers. It’s very simple, but it’s often forgotten. Because companies think in terms of costs and not in terms of serving their customers to the maximum. Let us choose for ourselves whether I want to be helped digitally or personally. We are even happy to pay extra for that.
Who do you buy from?
Ordering online, of course, works fantastic and is super simple these days. Yet, many websites usually feel cold and the human experience in a shop is usually better. Of course, online stores do everything they can to provide you with a great customer experience. Think about photos, videos and not to forget the experiences of other customers in the form of ratings and reviews. But also here the human factor can go up. A good example is a company like Coolbue, which emphasizes personality in every transaction. Not only with their well-known smile, but also by adding the names and faces of their involved employees to all their communication moments. In this way, we also feel more digitally seen. And that buys just that little bit better.
How social are we?
Scrolling through your Instagram feed or Facebook timeline, forgetting everything around you for a moment and only realizing for a moment that the world around you is moving. We connect drowsy and get happy from lots of followers and likes on our posts, but when are we really in touch with another person? Every day we consume tens or hundreds of messages within our own filter bubble based on the data we leave online. But what is the real, human story behind all those messages? If it isn’t fake news or deepfake posts. Then we’re even further from home.
Invest in humanity
The question is, of course, whether we are waiting for that personal interaction. All too often we use our phone as a screen behind which we hide and whose messages may disrupt any valuable conversation.
Technologization and digitization are perfect tools to make our lives simpler and easier. If used properly, digitisation can save us time. Time we can spend with human interaction. This also applies to companies: make sure you have your processes in such good order that customers can easily and simply get through them. But always give them the opportunity to make real, personal contact with you. Yes, that takes time. Yes, that’s an investment. It’s an investment that shows that you really care about your customers. An investment like that wil pay itself back twice as much or more.
Floris Regouin
