Marketing Focus: The death of personal contact

Friday 22 December 2017

In Connect magazine, marketing expert Chris Journeaux discusses the current key issues facing the industry. This month, he talks about how he'd rather meet his clients face to face than email them.

"The next client who declines my offer to meet, and states their preference is to email me, I will eviscerate. And not metaphorically you appreciate, I have ordered the tools.

"What irks me to the point of risking a prison term is that “email me” takes longer than meeting. I know my emails are being read with one eye whilst the second scans
lunch, or social media. It is an excuse to pretend multi-tasking is a reality. So, I will spend time pointing out where the client’s questions have already been answered in previous emails, re-explaining clearly made points because they couldn’t be bothered to focus on the words in front of them. It seems, however, that I am also swimming against the forceful tide of machine- learning and the power of artificial intelligence. My desire to actually talk to someone is increasingly setting me apart from the herd.

"Marketing Week recently reported that Facebook’s Head of Messenger Products, Stan Chudnovsky, speaking at Web Summit in Lisbon in early November, believed
the, “…sky was the limit” in terms of Messenger 2.2. The journalist reported that “Facebook is making a major push on its Messenger service as it looks to provide
marketers with a ‘more efficient’ customer service alternative to call centres.” This includes the facility for brands to start sending sponsored messages to their eager
customers. Chudnovsky, apparently, “…believes consumers have grown tired of the traditional ways of dealing with a complaint, or product query, and are looking for a better way to talk to brands.” Sure, a different way that obviates the facility to actually talk to anyone, face to face. Is personal contact in marketing and business dead, then?

"If ‘machine-love’ is for you, then what I am about to say may be anathema to you. My belief is that personal contact is coming back; that the further the internet gives us the facility to withdraw from the real world, the more we crave personal contact. If this is the case, then we marketers need to be aware that the seduction of AI, and
automation, may actually be driving us apart from the customers we have only recently learnt how to cherish.

Pictured:  "My belief is that personal contact is coming back; that the further the internet gives us the facility to withdraw from the real world, the more we crave personal contact," says Chris Journeaux.

"An example. Last year I invested in a new laptop. I spend a good deal of my time travelling between various locations lecturing, professional training and completing client work. A powerful, flexible laptop is my mobile office made reality. Online or offline supplier? Tough call. I am a long-term user of all things Amazon. They just get it right for me, time after time. ‘People who bought this, also bought that’ actually works. But this is a potentially bigger spend than a book or CD, (remember those?) and I retain an unshakable fear that the returns policy just won’t work. That, plus a habit of dumping all the packaging material, so useful for the return journey. In the end, then, I went for The Powerhouse. Prices are competitive, which matters, but critically, there are people. People to explain, to discuss and talk to if the laptop fails.

"For a moment, let’s consider this from the perspective of the Powerhouse. I researched online, identified what I wanted, found it on display and yet, strangely,
left with a different model. Different, as in more expensive. “What happened?” you may ask. People happened. The guy I spoke to nudged me gently to upscale my needs, and plump for some extras. When I looked like sticking steadfastly to my original choice, he pointed out the benefits of the slightly ‘better’ version. I didn’t give
in, I was persuaded. People upgraded my needs and sold me the more expensive option.

"Back to me. My fears came to fruition and the laptop failed. Four attempts to fix were unsuccessful, but I found the experience bearable because each time I went to the shop, I knew there would be a person there. Real customer service. On my fourth trip, I had the speech prepared. I could not go on, the laptop is my office, and so on - none of which I got to use, because apparently after the fourth failed repair, or replacement, you get another one.

"It appears that I may actually not be alone. A study by Accenture Strategy of over 25,000 US customers found that more than 80% prefer human contact over digital,
when it comes to customer services. It seems that we are in danger of forgetting that customer service, how we manage the marketing and sales process, is being subsumed by the cost-cutting obsession of a digital age. Do this at your peril though. We are a social species and personal contact will always be king, even for a
generation brought up with digital ‘relationships.’ And when we lose sight of the customer, we lose to the competition."

You can read the digital edition of Connect here.