Automating FAQs without losing the human touch
A practical framework for deciding what should be automated, what should always reach a person, and how to design the handover.
Not every question deserves the same treatment. Store hours, delivery times, and return policies are asked often enough, and answered consistently enough, that automating them saves time without costing anything in customer experience. Complaints, negotiations, and anything involving a mistake on the business's side generally need a person.
A useful way to sort questions is by how much judgement the answer requires. If the correct response is the same regardless of who's asking, it's a strong candidate for automation. If the right answer depends on reading the situation, it belongs with a person.
The handover itself is where automation succeeds or fails in the customer's eyes. A clean handover carries the full conversation so far, so the customer isn't asked to repeat themselves, and ideally happens the moment automation recognises it's reached the edge of what it should handle.