According to Zen Desk, 67% of customers in 2023 say that they would prefer self-service over speaking with a company representative.

But there are certain situations where speaking with a human is critical and when you can’t easily get to one, it’s unacceptable and infuriating. 

Case in point last week.

My family was sick and I decided to order some comforting matzah ball soup for dinner.

I ordered online, directly through the restaurant.

I selected delivery.

But for some reason my credit card needed to be reentered and to my horror when I pressed submit the second time the order showed a pick up request, NOT delivery.  

The restaurant was 15 blocks away and I was home with a sick kid.  

Not going to happen. 

I immediately called the restaurant in an effort to switch the order back to delivery.  

I called the host stand.

I called the corporate office.

I called the events department.

Nobody answered.  

I went through this exercise two more times.  

I ultimately called my husband, who was still at work, 20 minutes away, in a panic and he graciously served as our delivery driver.  

Automation is great, until it is not.  

What are you doing to ensure your customers have a choice of both a high touch and high tech experience?