The case for customer support

Most businesses have customer support and I feel most of them are broken. They use forms, sequential chatbots, now AI powered chatbots.

This is why I feel the support is broken. If someone is reaching to customer support, it is either one of the below:

1. The customer is looking to learn. (How)
2. The customer is unable to find something. (Where)
3. The customer encountered a broken system or flow. (Why)

We need to prioritise the top two and can automate as much as possible.

But when someting is broken, it should be addressed right away. Sending the automated triggers will only frustrate the user more. When the system is broken, it is the show stopper. The people should stop working and look at it. Fix it. Then update their processes so that it does not repeat.

Best possible, if the process is broken and a request is received, a human should understand and take it from there instead of automated system.

Automated systems are cost-effective and efficient but they cannot replace a human addressing a problem when other human is in need.