Biden's "Time is Money" Initiative: What Does It Mean for the CX ...

As Biden prepares to leave the White House, the US president recently came up with the “Time is Money” initiative. This regulatory move is meant to address issues like excessive paperwork and long wait times that “pad the profits of big business at the expense of everyday Americans.” While public opinion about it is mixed, Time is Money is extremely relevant for us in the world of CX.

“Biden is saying businesses put these obstacles in consumers’ way deliberately, which we in the CX industry would obviously question,” says Martin Taylor, Co-Founder and Deputy CEO of Content Guru.

In fact, the growing ease with which customers have been switching brands since the pandemic has driven business in the opposite direction: focusing intensely on customer experiences. But while we may disagree with the deliberateness assumption, Biden’s initiative is still a red flag:

“If general public sentiment is that service is poor – that is to be taken seriously,” Taylor suggests.

“Therefore, while many businesses are already going to great lengths to deliver great CX, this might indicate a need to communicate these efforts better,” he says.

Two CX Forces Converged

The Biden initiative marks a new government layer being thrown to the customer service mix in America, which quite interestingly brings the United States and Europe views on CX closer together.

“The US believes in the market to sort things out but has a tradition of intervening when noticing impending market failure – which we’re now seeing an example of,” Taylor notes.

With Time is Money on the one hand and the EU AI Act and “the right to speak to a human” on the other, both now promote regulatory initiatives to protect consumers from corporate interests and ensure a decent level of service.

“The CX industry can definitely get on board with this, being well aware that a tightening of regulations can result in much better service,” he says.

The Rise of the Customer Effort Score

The pandemic has been a major contributor to the crowning of the Customer Effort Score as the new king of CX quality measurements, as customers are likely to leave brands after as little as one bad experience.

However, some businesses continue to repeat common customer service mistakes. Whether it’s forcing customers onto cheaper support channels, making it hard for them to cancel, or failing to reduce wait times – there’s plenty of room for improvement.

How Does This Relate to AI?

By adopting AI-powered solutions, businesses can drive a huge improvement in their Customer Effort Scores while reducing their own efforts. Here’s how:

Reducing Wait Times: Traditionally, customers spend roughly 10% of a call on hold while information is being searched. With AI, this is reduced significantly.

“By relying on information from previous interactions across different channels, we can allow a more informed dialogue with the agent,” Taylor explains.

By listening in on the conversation and referring to approved knowledge resources, AI can also place the relevant information in front of the agent to answer queries much more quickly.

Removing Unnecessary Steps: Many people refrain from taking on free trials out of fear of ending up with a long-term plan due to difficulty canceling. Here, too, AI can be of help.

“We can utilize NLP at the top of the interaction to better identify those looking to cancel, or even create a fully automated cancellation process,” Taylor notes.

Counterintuitively, if businesses make it easier for customers to cancel, more of them will sign up in the first place, knowing that they’re free to leave.

Sentiment Analysis: Traditionally, sentiment analysis was done in retrospect by asking customers to rate their experience, which isn’t very efficient. By using AI for live sentiment measurement, businesses can both score all interactions and avoid escalations, helping agents address customer frustration in real time.

“This often means avoiding a repeat call or getting the management involved, which also reduces cost, as their time is even more money,” Taylor explains.

The True Essence of Time is Money

Ultimately, respecting customers’ time equals paying close attention to customer effort.

“To me, that’s what Biden’s Time is Money initiative is aimed at,” Taylor conclude.

“It’s a nudge rather than a threat: reminding businesses they need to act responsibly towards their customers. Otherwise – they’ll vote with their feet.”

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