This post is to try to understand if the following scenario of customer service / help is achievable given the state of smart device penetration in the masses.
- Jane buys durable A
- She registers durable A
- Durable A comes with a help application for her smartphone
- Jane indicates that she would like help in American English
- At the time of registration she is asked if she is willing to provide help to other buyers of durable A via email / chat / voice / video call / in-person help
- The application she install asks her for the following information and has some functionality to help it route help/service requests better to Jane
- At the outset: comfort with spoken and written language (American English, Hindi, Arabic, et al)
- The application allows for switching on and off of availability to help (email / chat / voice / video call / in-person) depending on what Jane is doing otherwise
- Every three months: the application gives Jane a quiz to rate her level of expertise on the registered durable A
Six months have passed.
- Jack buys durable A
- Jack registers durable A
- Jack also indicates that he would like to help other people out as he becomes better at using durable A
- Jack installs the product registration infrastructure application
- Jack indicates that he would like help in American English
- For the life of him he cannot figure out how to use a certain feature of durable A and is looking for help
- Jane happens to have indicated that she is available to help with durable A related questions from other customers via a phone call
- Jack calls up for help regarding durable A
- The call gets routed to Jane
- Jack and Jane strike up a conversation
- Jack is asked if he is willing to share his location with the person providing help
- Jack feels safe in talking to Jane and says yes
- Jane is asked if she would like to provide Jack her location
- She feels safe in talking to Jack and provides her location
Actually the registration infrastructure based on previously captured information and current location tracking has intelligently concluded that Jack and Jane are in each other’s proximity. (Obviously this functionality has been explained to Jack and Jane by the application when they installed it on their smart devices, so they are not surprised about the prompt for giving up location information and infringement on their privacy)
- Viola, Jane is in Jack’s neighborhood and could potentially walk over and help Jack in person if they mutually agree to do so in the ongoing phone conversation
Guess what, magic just happened and help arrived for Jack to solve his problem, in the form of Jane standing at his front door.
Would it not be interesting if this kind of solution could be provided in the name of customer service where the ecosystem of durable A customer’s help each other out.
Jane collects brownie points on the registration and help infrastructure for having helped out to get a potential discount at another purchase opportunity.