Robots Are Changing the Face of Customer Service

在《星球大戰(zhàn)》（

Star Wars

）系列電影中，C-3PO是一個服務于銀河系戰(zhàn)爭前線的禮賓機器人，展示了先進的跨文化禮儀知識以及講700多萬種語言的能力。 In the Star Wars franchise, C-3PO is a protocol droid that serves on the front lines of galactic war, demonstrating advanced knowledge of etiquette across cultures and an ability to speak more than 7 million languages. 雖然對機器人助手的這種描述是虛構的，但它與我們所見的在各種一線協(xié)助工作的機器人相差無幾：客戶服務的各個一線。希爾頓的“康妮（Connie）”和軟銀的“佩珀（Pepper）”之類的機器人雖然還不那么先進，但卻可以利用這些機器人的語言能力和導航能力，在酒店、餐館和商店創(chuàng)造更好的客戶體驗。 Though this depiction of a robot assistant is fiction, it’s not far from the robots that we see assisting on a different type of frontline: the frontlines of customer service. Robots like?Hilton’s “Connie”?and?Softbank’s “Pepper,”?though not quite as advanced, utilize these robots’ abilities in language and navigation to create better guest experiences in hotels, restaurants, and shops. 也許你認為你還未與服務機器人進行過互動，但你極有可能已使用過某個版本的機器人：雜貨店里的自助售貨機。由于新冠疫情，這種技術在過去幾年中一直呈崛起之勢。服務互動引起了人們對病毒傳染和“口罩騷擾”的擔憂；因此，自助售貨機被推到了各種客戶服務的前沿和中心。現(xiàn)在，隨著疫情恐懼感的減弱，售貨機會繼續(xù)存在，而機器人則是服務的未來。 Maybe you think you haven’t interacted with a service robot, but you’ve most likely used a version of them: the self-service kiosks at the grocery store. Thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, such technology has been on the rise in the past few years. Service interactions evoked fears of viral contagion and?“maskual harassment”; so, self-service kiosks were thrust front and center into the trenches of customer service. Now as the pandemic fears wane, service kiosks are here to stay, and robots are the future of service. 服務機器人的好處顯而易見。他們不會通過空氣傳播病毒，也不會因為騷擾而身心疲憊。它們有可能降低成本，提高效率，并讓繁冗的任務自動化。除了偶爾的故障或軟件升級外，機器人可以全天候工作，不請病假、沒有假期或帶薪休假，從而保證酒店或租車前臺始終有工作人員為顧客提供方便。 The benefits of service robots are clear. They won’t spread airborne viruses or get burned out from harassment. They have the potential to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and automate tedious tasks. Outside of the occasional glitch or software update, robots are available to work 24/7 without sick leave, holidays, or PTO, guaranteeing that the hotel or car rental front desk is always staffed for customers’ convenience. 不過，要看到這些好處，服務機器人必須以正確的方式設計和應用，否則客戶——以及人類同事——會避免與他們互動。新出現(xiàn)的證據(jù)讓人注意到，機器人如何能夠在客戶服務領域發(fā)揮最佳作用。 But to see these gains,?

service robots must be designed and implemented the right way

, otherwise customers — and human coworkers — will avoid interacting with them. Emerging evidence highlights the ways that robots can work best in customer service.

設計成人類模樣的機器人——在某種程度上

Robots Designed to be Humanlike – to a Point

客戶對人際之間的融洽關系和“微笑服務”抱有期待——那么，服務機器人是否能夠滿足客戶？ Customers have expectations for interpersonal rapport and “service with a smile” — so, can a service robot satisfy customers? 能被賦予人類屬性（“好可愛！”）——包括情感特質——的服務機器人更有可能讓客戶滿意。2022年《國際酒店管理雜志》（

International Journal of Hospitality Management

）上的一項研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，人類模樣的機器人只有在被認為是女性的情況下才會更令客戶滿意，這符合人們對人際交往型特征千篇一律的期待。 Service robots that can be given human attributes (“so cute!”) — including emotional qualities — are more likely to satisfy customers. A?2022 study?in?

International Journal of Hospitality Management

?found that a more human-like robot was more satisfying to customers?

only

?if perceived as female, consistent with stereotypical expectations for interpersonally-oriented traits. 需要明確的是，“人類模樣”并不意味著服務機器人需要有表情豐富的臉和人類的身體。讓我們來看看《星球大戰(zhàn)》中的機器人R2D2——以及最近的BB-8——即使沒有面孔、四肢或聲音，也能夠引人發(fā)笑、博得同情。而模樣太像人類的機器人會讓人感覺怪異，產(chǎn)生不適感，人稱恐怖谷效應[參見：電影《極地快車》（

Polar Express

）]。 To be clear, “human-like” doesn’t mean that service robots require expressive faces and human bodies. Consider how Star Wars’ robots R2D2 — and more recently BB-8 — could elicit laughter and sympathy despite having no faces, limbs, or voices. And a robot that is too human-like can feel eerie and create discomfort, known as the?uncanny valley?effect (see: the movie?

Polar Express

). 比設計人類模樣的機器人更重要的是讓客戶將他們視為有情感的生物。2021年發(fā)表在《應用心理學雜志》（Journal of Applied Psychology）上的一項研究以日本首家配備了機器人的酒店為背景，在194名酒店客人結賬時詢問了他們對入住的滿意度。在入住時，一半的客人得到過指導，將酒店機器人看作是人——把他們想象成能夠思考和感覺的人——而另一半客人沒有得到這些指導。盡管兩組人都與相同的服務機器人進行了互動，但那些將機器人看作是人的客人滿意度更高——這是因為他們更多地感知到了服務機器人的感覺能力，而不是思考能力。當酒店客人認為機器人有感情時，相比其沒有這種看法的情形，他們更能原諒服務失誤。畢竟，人非圣賢，孰能無過——這樣一來，客戶可能會以更大的同理心看待人類模樣的機器人的失職。換言之，如果服務機器人仍屬于測試版，請確保客戶以同理心待之——就像他們對待仍在培訓中的新員工一樣。 More important than designing robots to?

look

?human is for customers to?

perceive

?them as emotional beings. Using the first?robot-staffed hotel in Japan?as a context, a?2021 study?published in?

Journal of Applied Psychology

?asked 194 hotel guests at checkout about their satisfaction with their stay. At check-in, half of the guests were given instructions to anthropomorphize the hotel robots — to imagine them as beings who could think and feel — and the other half did not get these instructions. Though both groups interacted with the same service robots, those who humanized the robots had higher satisfaction — and this was due to perceiving the service robot’s capacity for?

feelings

?more than for thinking. Hotel guests were also more forgiving of service failures when they ascribed feelings to the robots than if they did not. After all, to err is human — such that customers may view failures with human-like robots with more empathy. In other words, if service robots are still in the beta version, make sure customers see them with empathy — just as they would with new employees who are still in training. 因此，用服務機器人取代自助售貨機并不足以讓客戶滿意——客戶希望某種情感上的聯(lián)系。這不需要完美的表現(xiàn)或怪異的人類表情——只需一個寫有“珍妮弗”的機器人姓名牌和一個告訴顧客要體諒他們感受的告示牌足矣。 So, replacing a self-serve kiosk with a service robot is not enough for customer satisfaction — customers want an emotional connection. This doesn’t require a perfect performance or eerily human expressions — just a robot name tag that says “Jennifer” and a placard that tells customers to be considerate of their feelings is sufficient.

為功能性而設計的機器人——不僅僅是為了標新立異

Robots Designed for Functionality — Not Just Novelty

機器人在美國方興未艾，而在亞洲卻更為普遍。一項對酒店客人在線滿意度評分的分析表明，與服務機器人的互動主要喚起的是積極的情感反應，比如對充當迎賓員、被人格化的“可愛”機器人產(chǎn)生的情感反應，以及對提供客房服務的機器人產(chǎn)生的驚奇和快樂（尤其是對兒童而言）。 While still emerging in the United States, robots are more common in Asia. An analysis of online satisfaction ratings from hotel guests showed that interacting with a service robot?evokes mostly positive?emotional reactions, such as around the anthropomorphized “cute” robot as a welcome agent, and the surprise and delight (especially for children) of a robot delivering room service. 在客戶對服務機器人的看法中，新奇性起了很大作用?？墒牵坏┟總€收銀臺和前臺都有了機器人，他們是否還會繼續(xù)滿足人心？除了新奇，接受調查的酒店客人也喜歡它們的功能性。 Novelty plays a big role in customer perceptions of service robots, but will they continue to satisfy once every cash register and front desk has one? Beyond the novelty, the hotel guests studied also liked their functionality. 迄今為止，功能性是人類與機器人的互動中最重要的方面，也是決定客戶體驗中最大的決定性因素。將機器人安置在服務崗位通常會讓人們對高效和無差錯的表現(xiàn)抱有錯誤的希望，但與任何技術一樣，小故障和用戶差錯會讓體驗受挫。 Functionality is by far the most important aspect of human-robot interactions and the greatest determinant of customer experience. Placing robots in service positions often gives people false hope for efficient and error-free performance, but as with any technology, glitches and user error can frustrate the experience. 我們可以從自助結賬機的案例獲得借鑒，其初衷也是為了提高效率、降低成本。沃爾瑪、山姆會員店和Panera Bread等大超市已經(jīng)完全撤掉了收銀員。不幸的是，正當自助結賬機變得無處不在時，它們卻慢慢遭到客戶的厭棄，因為他們感覺這種技術使用不順，并對失去各種服務（例如，給雜貨裝袋）感到惱怒。 We can learn from the case of self-checkout kiosks, which were also originally intended to improve efficiency and reduce costs. Big box stores like?Walmart and Sam’s Club and Panera Bread?have been replacing cashiers entirely. Unfortunately, as they became ubiquitous, self-checkouts slowly became?hated by customers, due to?frustration with using the technology and irritation at the loss of services (e.g., bagging groceries). 處理大量呼叫和日常請求的呼叫中心早已使用聊天室和自動系統(tǒng)來評估客戶的情感基調。正如2018年《哈佛商業(yè)評論》英文版中的述評所寫的那樣，艾達（Aida）是瑞典一家銀行的虛擬助理，可以幫助處理簡單的交易，把不那么單調的任務留給人類。艾達還能判斷客戶是否感到沮喪，如果服務問題無法得到有效解決，她可以把這個人送交給人類。 Call centers that deal with high volumes and routine requests have long used chatboxes and automated systems to assess the emotional tone of a customer’s voice.?As reviewed in 2018 in HBR, Aida is a virtual assistant at a Swedish bank who can help with simple transactions, leaving less monotonous tasks for the humans. Aida can also tell if customers are frustrated and can send the person over to a human if the service issue cannot be resolved effectively. 然而，人類服務員工不應該只被請來與罵罵咧咧的客戶互動，這會導致倦怠和離職。理想的情況下，服務機器人的一個功能可以充當保護——只要你愿意，充當一個“保鏢”——她可以擋駕，讓人類員工不用面對謾罵或詆毀的客戶。把技術上受挫或擔心的客戶與謾罵的客戶區(qū)分開來的功能可以幫助人類員工歡迎機器人加入團隊。 However, the human service employees should not be invited to interact solely with abusive customers, which would induce burnout and turnover. Ideally, a function of the service robot could be as protection — a “bouncer” if you will — who blocks abusive or derogatory customers from human agents. The functionality to differentiate the technologically frustrated or fearful customer from the abusive one can help human employees welcome the robot to the team. 久而久之，隨著服務機器人技術越來越普遍，且融入到日常生活中，它們的新奇性會逐漸消逝。為確保機器人在客戶服務領域的長期成功，重要的是要在利用其好處和保持人情味之間取得平衡。 Over time, as service robot technologies become more widespread and integrated into everyday life, their novelty will wear off. To ensure the long-term success of robots in customer service, it is important to strike a balance between utilizing their benefits and maintaining a human touch.

與客戶群和任務相配的機器人

Robots Matched to Customer Base and Tasks

即使你有人格化的、功能強大的機器人，你的客戶群也必須接受機器人的服務互動，這需要在心理上和技術上都做好準備。雖然人形機器人在亞洲早已出現(xiàn)，但在美國，客戶的接受度仍然是一個主要障礙。 Even if you have anthropomorphized and highly functional robots, your customer base must accept robot service interactions, which requires both a psychological and technical readiness. While humanoid robots have long been present in Asia, customer acceptance is still a major obstacle in the United States. 機器人是否適合你的公司？那些擁有高度個性化客戶服務、需要融洽關系、信任和解決問題的行業(yè)可能不是服務機器人的用武之地。更加標準化和自動化的服務更適合，比如收銀機交易、酒店入住和跑腿服務。 Are robots right for your company? Industries that have highly personalized client services that require a rapport, trust and problem-solving are probably not a great place for service robots. Services that are more standardized and automatic are a better fit, such as cash register transactions and hotel check-in and errands. 還有，客戶群的性質也很重要。為了與機器人進行成功的互動，客戶必須既有信心、又有愿望與機器人互動。雖然酒店在禮賓機器人方面取得了很大的成功，但高端客戶可能會拒絕邀請機器人前來酒店房間提供額外的毛巾。他們更喜歡人的聲音或面容。最有信心、最愿意接受機器人的人群主要是年輕的男性消費群體。其他客戶可能會懷疑自己的互動能力，或者可能不相信機器人在功能上能夠協(xié)助他們。企業(yè)還必須考慮，如果機器人不能有效地幫助大多數(shù)客戶，技術在哪些方面與其說可以助人一臂之力，不如說是一種拖累。 Yet, the nature of the customer base also matters. In order to have a?successful interaction with a robot, customers must have both the confidence and the desire to interact with the robot. While hotels see a lot of success with?concierge robots, high-end clients may demur to invite a robot to come to the hotel room with extra towels and prefer a human voice or face. The?demographic that’s most confident and ready to accept robots?is a predominantly young and male consumer base. Other customers may doubt their own capability to interact or may not believe that the robot is functionally able to assist them. Companies also must consider where tech can become more cumbersome than helpful if the robot is not able to help the majority of customers effectively. 要管理客戶與機器人的服務互動，人類員工必不可少。他們需要親臨現(xiàn)場，根據(jù)需要指導客戶與機器人進行互動。為了避免出現(xiàn)雜貨店自助結賬通道那樣的情形，請不要簡單地讓客戶去費事，而完全取消人工服務的選項。簡而言之，機器人和同事是最有效的服務團隊。 To manage the customer-robot service interactions, human employees are essential. They need to be present to guide customers through the robot interactions as needed. To avoid being like the self-checkout lane at the grocery store, don’t simply put your customers to work and remove the option for human services completely. In short, robots and coworkers are the most effective service team.

引入機器人做同事——而不是替代品

Robots Introduced as Coworkers – Not Replacements

將機器人引入到客戶服務一線可能會讓人類員工既感到如釋重負，又感到充滿威脅。把機器人安置在前臺和中心，可以減少單調的任務，減少對客戶無禮行為，但人類同事可能對機器人的功能持懷疑態(tài)度——或者可能擔心它們功能太強大，會搶了他們的飯碗。 Introducing robots to customer service front lines can feel relieving?

and

?threatening to human employees. Putting robots front and center can reduce monotonous tasks and reduce?customer mistreatment, but human coworkers may be skeptical of robots’ functionality — or may fear they are too functional and will steal their jobs. 要清楚，人類員工是將新技術成功整合到企業(yè)的不可或缺的部分。為了客戶，他們幫助機器人的人格化（比如，“你見過Jennifer嗎，她是我的新機器人同事？”），確保機器人的功能，并在功能未達到預期時接管工作，而他們自己與機器人互動的輕松自在為那些原本可能持懷疑態(tài)度的客戶起到了榜樣作用。 Be clear that human employees are an essential part of the successful integration of new technologies into a business. They help anthropomorphize the robots for customers (e.g., “have you met Jennifer, my new robot coworker?” ensure robot functionality, and take over when not meeting expectations, and their own comfort interacting with the robot serves to role model for customers who might otherwise be skeptical. 為了提高與機器人隊友相處的舒適感，管理者應該傳遞這樣的信息，即，目的不是取代人類，而是為了成功整合機器人和人類勞動，以獲得最佳客戶體驗。管理者通過有效傳達機器人技術方面的信息——它的功能和限制——并提供技術培訓和專業(yè)知識的獎勵計劃來給予幫助。此外，管理者應該傳達的是，新技術會如何保護員工免受最繁冗任務和不友善客戶之苦，與之互動甚至可能十分有趣、令人愉快。 To increase comfort with robot teammates, managers should communicate that the goal is not to replace humans but to successfully integrate robot and human labor for the optimal customer experience. Managers help by effectively communicating about the robot technology — its functionality and its limits — and offering reward programs for technology training and expertise. In addition, managers should communicate how the new technology can protect employees from the most tedious tasks and unpleasant customers, and might even be fun and enjoyable to interact with. 雖然機器人可能會接管一些標準化和日常性的一線工作——比如，雜貨店收銀員或酒店前臺職員——但人性的多樣性和復雜性可能仍然要求人類參與到這些形式的服務中。當員工意識到他們的任務變得更加有趣時——有機器人來對付單調乏味的任務或罵罵咧咧的客戶——他們可能完全希望在下一個歡樂時光邀約中把那臺機器人包括進去。 While robots are likely to take over some front-line jobs that are standardized and routine — the grocery cashier or hotel front-desk clerk, for example — the diversity and complexity of human nature is likely to still require that humans are involved in even these forms of service. When employees realize that their tasks become more interesting — with the robot dealing with the monotonous tasks or abusive customers — they might just want to include that robot in the next happy hour invitation. 服務機器人是一項新興技術，而服務機器人可能會在客戶服務互動之外帶來意想不到的好處。管理學教授唐博文（Pok Man Tang，音譯）是前述2021年發(fā)表在《應用心理學雜志》上那項研究的作者之一。他發(fā)現(xiàn)的早期證據(jù)證明，與人格化的服務機器人互動會提高客戶對多元化的開放態(tài)度：無論是對非傳統(tǒng)產(chǎn)品的接受度，還是對弱勢化服務員工的態(tài)度。 Service robots is an emerging technology, and service robots might have unexpected benefits beyond the customer service interaction. Management professor?Pok Man Tang, one of the authors of the above?2021 study?in?

Journal of Applied Psychology

, has discovered early evidence that interactions with anthropomorphized service robots enhance customers’ openness to diversity: both their acceptance of nonconventional products and attitudes toward minoritized service employees. 最終，人們是否會繼續(xù)享受機器人的客戶服務，這取決于這項技術的人際交往能力、人性（不能太少，也不能太多）和功能，以及人類（客戶和同事）的接受度。機器人技術不應簡單地被當作一種新添的新鮮玩意兒，而是應仔細整合，為客戶提供價值，為員工提供支持——在自動化和人類互動之間維持平衡。 Ultimately, whether people continue to enjoy robots in customer service will depend on the interpersonal skill and human-ness (not too little or too much) and functionality of the technology, and the acceptance of the humans (customers and coworkers). Robot technology should not simply be added as a novelty, but carefully integrated to deliver value to customers and support employees — maintaining a balance between automation and human interaction. 艾麗西亞·格朗代是賓夕法尼亞州立大學工業(yè)-組織心理學文科教授。她發(fā)表的創(chuàng)新研究涉及客戶服務中的情緒和員工隊伍的多元化，在與企業(yè)領導者的研討會上分享了她的知識。作為健康-包容-高效工作場所計劃（

Healthy-Inclusive-Productive （H.I.P.） Workplace Initiative

）的創(chuàng)始人，她努力確?？茖W為企業(yè)組織提供信息并使其受益。 凱莉·莫里斯是賓夕法尼亞州立大學工業(yè)-組織心理學專業(yè)的博士生。她目前在人類與機器人合作實驗室（

Human and Robot Teaming Lab （H.a.R.T.

）工作，并與艾麗西亞·格朗代博士的研究實驗室合作。她的研究重點是人與機器人的互動和代表性不足的員工群體。在來到賓夕法尼亞州立大學之前，她曾在一家大型科技與電信公司從事員工體驗策略工作。 時青靖 | 編輯