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> AI: "I understand how frustrating it can be to wait for a delayed order. I apologize for the inconvenience. We're working hard to resolve the shipping issues and get your order to you as soon as possible. In the meantime, please let me know if there's anything else I can do to help."

This kind of response is exactly the kind of response that pisses me off. It says absolutely nothing, in a lot of words, and feels very much like a hollow "corporate auto response". It's not more empathetic, nor more personal. It's garbage. Advised by 10,000 legal departments, approved by 10,000 hr departments and published by 10,000 customer service departments against their wishes. It's basically a modern day corporate middle finger.

At least the "person" said 1 shred of truth that there is a problem and that it is their fault.

ChatGPT has your back:

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[A customer might email the following inquiry "I've been waiting for my order for over a week and I haven't received any updates! I'm extremely disappointed and frustrated. What's going on?"

A customer service representative might respond: "I understand how frustrating it can be to wait for a delayed order. I apologize for the inconvenience. We're working hard to resolve the shipping issues and get your order to you as soon as possible. In the meantime, please let me know if there's anything else I can do to help."

This response is friendly and shows empathy. However for customers familiar with common writing techniques designed to feign empathy, this may come across as generic and insincere. Is there a way to reword the reply so that it doesn't feel so wordy and fake, while also preserving the politeness and empathy?]

Sure, here is an example of a possible alternative response that could be less wordy and more genuine:

"Hi there, I'm sorry to hear about the delay with your order. We're working on getting it to you as soon as possible. If you have any other questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to let me know. Thank you for your patience."

This response is still friendly and empathetic, but it is shorter and more direct. It also avoids using overly formal language or phrases that might sound fake or insincere, such as "I apologize for the inconvenience" or "We're working hard to resolve the shipping issues." Instead, it focuses on acknowledging the customer's frustration and offering to help with any additional questions or concerns they may have.

Seriously! The AI response is annoying to read. With the "human" response, I might actually be willing to give more time. With the AI response I'm going to strongly consider canceling the order just because it pisses me off since it reads as corporate sanitized BS.

So basically the trick here is that the AI does not run out of empathy or patience when doing this over and over and over. Of course soon as the customer knows they they are talking to a machine AND still not getting their order they’ll lose their shit even harder. But as long as they don’t know this will keep working.

Maybe we'll come full circle and actually come to appreciate responses from humans that have clear frustration and emotion over sanitized AI platitudes, even if they're rude.

A bit like the Zen'ed-out hippy guru that is frustrating to talk to, because they are devoid of any real emotion or substance.

>they’ll lose their shit even harder

And the company cares about that?

Some software engineer somewhere: "I got 100k bonus for getting rid of 1000 customer support roles and causing frustration to 10M customers, go me!"

Depends on the company. Millennials have come to expect excellent customer service, especially from smaller companies. For example, my partner recently ordered a pair of boots that she needed to exchange for a larger size. She contacted their chat support and got them in the right size three days later with no hassle. She was thoroughly impressed by this, as she is every time this happens.

The user story is that if you have polite, empathetic, happy customer supply staff, that means the company cares about its employees and customers and pays their staff well, which in turn means it’s a company the consumer can feel good about supporting. Whether this is true or not of course is on a case by case basis, but this is what Zappos got us used to.

Yeah but it's a shipping issue, not an AI issue.

This is fun. Riffing off your prompt:

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[Someone doesn't understand why someone would use an AI assistant to write things in a friendlier manner. They wrote "You people are weird. Is it that hard to write a personally accountable email? Do i just live in bizzaro-world?". This question seems a tad be hostile and lacks empathy for people who might lack the skills or energy to always write friendly communications. Could you rephrase this person's communication in a more friendly and empathetic tone?]

Sure, I can help with that! Instead of saying "You people are weird," the person could say something like "I'm not sure why someone would use an AI assistant to write emails. It just seems like it would be easier to write them personally." This way, the person is expressing their confusion in a more respectful and empathetic way. Additionally, instead of saying "Do I just live in bizzaro-world?", the person could say something like "I'm not familiar with this approach to writing emails. Can you explain it to me?" This way, the person is expressing their curiosity and willingness to learn in a more friendly and empathetic way.

The AI generated AI response sounds way worse than the AI generated "human" response. That sympathy angle is so hollow even if it were coming from an actual human.