I was recently sitting with a co-worker at lunch one day when she tried to pay for her bill with a new credit card. When the credit card came back as declined, she naturally wanted to know why, so she called her credit card company. As it turns out, it was a credit card that had not yet been activated, but it took my co-worker around 15 minutes on the phone with someone who had a very bad connection and a very thick accent to figure that out—not an ideal customer service experience. The representative told her that he could activate her card, but in the time it took him to tell her that, she was already on the company’s website doing it herself. She politely declined his help and continued assisting herself via iPhone.

There are always days where we get frustrated with the people around us who are trying to help, and we think to ourselves “this would be faster if I could just do it myself.” Well, the day is here, and the time is now.

No longer do we need to stop and ask for directions—our iPhones can get us there and tell us where to eat lunch along the way! Interested in losing weight? No need to visit a nutritionist when there are dozens of calorie-counting apps available to help you reach your goals! Thinking about visiting a local record store for recommendations on new music? Why not use Pandora to get new music recommendations instantly and on the go?! Even cashiers are becoming a thing of the past with the ability to pay via iPhone (as seen on a previous blog post by J Ackley).

The consumer is as empowered as companies’ websites and apps allow them to be, which puts great responsibility in the hands of web and app content managers. Power and speed are great things, but in today’s fast-paced environment, I can’t help but caution companies not to overdo it. Great customer service may be an ancient art form, but it isn’t extinct yet. Consumers love to feel empowered; but it is important to remain balanced. You don’t want your company just to have the greatest website in town, but you want them to be positioned as a place where your consumer wants to do repeat business!