The need for human brands: The ‘premium’ of human assistance

Much of what was traditionally done by people, is increasingly outsourced to machines. As of today, scientists in a new study found that “a shocking amount of the web is machine-translated content”. 

One of the most noticeably outsourced services for brands in the last few years is customer service. Traditionally an important touch point in consumer interaction and troubleshooting that over the years has increasingly been replaced by FAQ lists, automated chatbots, and AI-powered assistance robots. Officially, the reason is often to ‘increase efficiency and convenience’ for customers, despite 80% of people claiming they would rather talk to a person than a chatbot. 

Even though chatbots allow for some pretty hilarious blunders, navigating the customer service maze (and consecutive phone tree) in order to find an actual person to speak to is often a frustrating experience, if not downright impossible. But on the flip side, this technological development also comes with some new opportunities for brands. Easy, no-nonsense access to human assistance–once a standard business practice–is slowly turning into a differentiating factor. 

A recent example of a brand tapping into this sentiment is American-based Amica Insurance and their ‘More Human’ campaign. As an insurer, they emphasize the value of human contact and no-nonsense access to a human assistant whenever you need them. We would not be surprised if more brands start using this (rediscovered) ‘premium’ of human contact to set themselves apart from competitors–it’s bound to resonate with those who ever (unsuccessfully) attempted to wrestle a useful answer out of a chatbot.