In the modern era, most technical innovations revolve around automation, but sometimes you need a human touch. Customers want to know that their concerns are being addressed. 
The customer wants to know they are working with a real person, not just an AI with pre-programmed responses when a problem arises.
In this case, AI uses strict criteria that can cause it to say no to a customer when a human might be able to find a way to make that customer happy and say yes. If you don't want your customer to replace your services with those of a competitor, you can at least explain a no to them.
Nevertheless, artificial intelligence can speed up customer interactions and data collection.

So how can you strike a balance between innovation and customer expectations?

Put the Customer First

How do your customers interact with you? What are their pain points? Are they getting the same information regardless of how they contact you? These are questions you must answer. 

The digital customer experience (DCX) is your customers' experience when they find you online. It can include chat, phone, and user interfaces with your website and branded applications. You need to ensure that you have a strong grasp on the following vectors to provide a strong DCX:

If a customer needs to speak with multiple people or navigate several AI menus, they must trust that everyone has the same, accurate information.

You should know how your customers interact with your company. You should do your due diligence to understand the customer experience accurately.

 You can generate positive customer interaction by understanding your customers' habits and needs so that your communications to them are always relevant and well-timed.

Read More on these principles as part of your customer-first approach will help you balance AI and human customer interaction.

Risks of Going All-Digital

It may seem like a good idea to automate DCX solutions to save money and focus your team on other aspects of your business. However, digitizing customer experience has some risks. All-digital customer response systems feel sterile and impersonal to customers when it seems as though an organization is not willing to cultivate a relationship with them. 

By drastically reducing customer interaction, you may save money, but you may lose loyal customers. Why should someone stick with you if your competitors take the time to understand their needs? It is vital to give your customers a personal touch. By knowing when to switch from automated menus to live interaction, you can generate loyalty, repeat business, and positive word-of-mouth.

How Do You Strike the Balance?

It's important to recognize the need for humanizing the digital experience, but how do you strike the right balance between technology and humanity? 

The customer comes first, not just during the initial purchase but also in the post-purchase and follow-up phases. Customer service is all about understanding how your customers navigate your touch points and learning where their pain points are. Ask for feedback frequently and use it to improve your processes. 

Utilize AI to its full potential – It is essential to have processes in place that seamlessly integrate your AI and human team members into your DCX. Often, an AI can handle a customer's specific questions quickly and efficiently while giving the customer all the assistance they need. However, when those customer questions become more complex, having a human on hand becomes necessary. 

Use Data Wisely

Regardless of how your customers approach you, they should receive consistently high-quality service. Whether they call, text, or chat through your website, they deserve the best you have to offer. The best way to ensure consistency is to make sure every touch point they use is the same. Also, data is collected every time a customer interacts with you.

Leveraging that data is crucial to creating a superior DCX. You can use the data to time relevant communications or upsell a customer based on what the data indicates.

With your focus on customers, optimized man/machine interactions, sublime design, and consistent data access, your business will be a customer's dream. Don't you want that? Ultimately, it's not about humanizing digital interaction but anticipating the customer's needs so they can contact a human when needed.