Recent current events have me thinking a lot about the ‘enshitification’ of everything. The term was originally coined by author and blogger Cory Doctorow and describes the gradual decline in quality of online platforms and services as they prioritize profit over user experience. You may have read Seth Godin write about the “race to the bottom” years ago, and there are some significant parallels.
While AI and automation are so valuable in terms of scaling up, cutting costs, and doing things that wouldn’t be possible with manual processes, it’s incredibly important to monitor and audit the product of these systems.
This often appears in email marketing and automated messaging. Have you ever received a message starting with: ‘Dear [//Campaign Recipient]’ which was clearly missing some key elements?
Sometimes these simple oversights and “copy and paste” can lose context and add insult to injury.
Take for example, this automated e-mail message from a recruiter informing an applicant that they didn’t get the job they were hoping for. No rationale, no reason, no one to contact to get feedback. But, hey, connect with us on our socials!
This morning ALONE, I’ve had three other examples of this:
1. A reimbursement claim denied for the fourth time with no notes as to why following a phone call with someone who personally guaranteed me that I submitted all of the necessary information.
2. Prescription coverage denied for information that the insurer claims was missing but was included in the prescription.
3. An invitation to update my ESPP contribution rate with no hyperlink or instructions on how to do it. Once I arrived at the website, another alert reminding me of the deadline to do so with no instructions or links on where I could make the changes.
I think we can do better than this. I think we can hold ourselves accountable not to just revenue and profitability, but the mark we leave on humanity and the way that we make people *feel* through their interactions.
Whether as mundane as approval of a tuition reimbursement claim (don’t get me started on that) or as significant as a decision on employment or housing, having compassion for one another is what our society needs most.
We can do better. We must do better.
#Automation #CX #UX #EX
