One place in your business you don't want to automate

Running a business has many moving parts. The more you can automate, the more it frees you up to address high level strategic challenges of your business. This is a newsletter about automating aspects of your business.

Automating business processes is not just knowing how to use the no-code tools / programming, but it's also a habit of mind. You have to be able to spot places for automation while you're doing the manual work.

But you can take automation too far. Learning how to use a tool is only half the skill. Knowing when to apply it is just as important. [1]

Where should customers not interact with your automation? One important place is with inbound customer support. This is when customers take the initiative to email, call, or chat on [Intercom](https://www.intercom.com/) for help.

When a customer is taking the initiative to contact you, it's usually because they've exhausted their options and need a human to understand the nuances of how they need help. The last thing they want is to talk to an automated bot or an automated email that says you'll get right back to them.

Phone and cable companies like AT&T and Comcast get this terribly wrong. When you call in with a problem, you're greeted by a natural language bot that can only answer the simplest questions. It can't solve any complex problems for you, and it mostly gets in the way of you reaching a live human to help solve your complex problem.

Google is famously worse. Often times, the support teams for their products or APIs are completely unhelpful.[2] If my money is frozen, I need to get on the phone, not be directed to some FAQ pages.

While your customer shouldn't interface with automations for inbound customer support, you should definitely have automation tools for your customer support person. These automations can be quick access to answers to commonly asked questions or triggers for quick refunds. That way, the customer interacts with a human customer support, and the customer support person the one that leverages automation.

That way, you can keep the human touch. And even when customers have problems, it can be a positive experience where they're heard and their problem solved. In fact, when customers have a postitive experience with customer support, they become fervent evangelists for your business. It's so rare to just be taken care of nowadays that it's remarkable enough for users to spread the word if they are.

Photo by Becca Tapert on Unsplash

[1] Check out Maslow's hammer
[2] Not entirely true. They have responsive support for their Google Cloud offerings that support other businesses.