5 Reasons Help Scout's Anti-AI Stance is Misguided and Lazy

Discover why Help Scout's "anti-AI" stance on customer support is misguided and lazy. Explore 5 key reasons why AI can enhance customer service, improve efficiency, and unlock new opportunities for support agents. Don't miss this direct response to Intercom's AI-first approach.

Created time

Jul 15, 2024 11:44 AM

Author

Alex Rainey

We Have Our 1st ""Anti-AI"" Customer Support Company, Help Scout

I think they're wrong. And worse, I think it's lazy. 5 reasons why ðŸ‘‡

This is a direct & opposite response to Intercom's new AI-first positioning.

Customer-First Future

Firstly, no one disagrees with ""the future is still customer-first."" It positions AI customer support as somehow in contrast to the customer being first. Like all these AI features being built are only with agents, and the bottom line in mind. This is a fallacy.

Problems with Their Strategy ðŸ‘‡

Customers prefer fast/instant answers to their questions, assuming it's accurate (which is possible, with a bit of hard work).

~50-75% of typical SaaS customer support questions can be correctly answered by AI today. Isn't this better for the customer?

Should a support agent have to answer the same questions day in, day out?

Filling their time with the most basic of tasks sounds deeply unfulfilling and a waste of a person's potential, both for themselves and their business.

It ignores the opportunity cost of time spent dealing with basic support requests (50%+ of support requests).

If an agent suddenly has 2-3hrs free in their day from AI, what can they do? Spend more time on complex requests. Provide proactive support. Analyse common requests.

It prevents companies from scaling efficiently.

They're saying to companies, ""you should increase your headcount as your customer base grows."" This just flies in the face of what new technology can offer us: productivity gains.

It's lazy.

Maybe Help Scout has hit a brick wall in the quality they can offer with AI customer support. Or they prefer the easy path to keep the status quo & focus on providing an excellent human live chat product. They're choosing to avoid the hard, meaningful, work.

Historical Parallel

This reminds me of Barnes & Noble, in the early internet days, who made some small bets on digital, but ultimately believed (wrongly) that the in-store experience for buying books was more important.

They understood in-store. They were good at in-store. But they preferred the status quo. Naturally, but unfortunately, they confused what they were good at, with what they needed togetgood at."