Where did everybody go?

By an estimate I came across (before the pandemic) Americans had 1/20th of the human interaction that they had at the end of the 20th century.

Three things recently reminded me of that.

First, I was driving through rural Minnesota and stopped to fill up at a local gas station where I couldn’t pay at the pump. I actually had to interact with an attendant to complete my purchase. What made me think about it was that it was so weird.

The second was a recent trip to Florida. I booked my plane ticket, selected my seat, checked in online, used a self-service kiosk at the airport, reserved my rental car and hotel room online, and used a digital key from the app on my phone instead of getting a key from the front desk. Other than giving the stewardess my drink order, the only person I had to interact with was the TSA agent!

The third was an article I came across about Amazon.com, saying that there are more than 600 million products listed on the “Everything Store” and two million active sellers in addition to the company itself. Altogether, they ship 1.6 million packages each day from online orders that are left on our front porches. Every one of those orders represent sales that, at one time, had be made in person while interacting with another human.

Those three things are just the tip of the iceberg.

• We order food online instead of calling for takeout.
• We use telemedicine instead of going to the doctor’s office.
• We interact with chatbots instead of people.
• We tour real estate virtually instead of visiting the home ourselves.
• We attend church and make our donations online.
• We look down at our phones instead of looking up at the person in line.
• We watch Netflix instead of going to the theater.
• And more. And more.

There are thousands of conveniences that have made our lives easier but simultaneously eliminated an opportunity for human contact and connection.

Think about that the next time you interact with a client. The interaction they’re having with you might be the only meaningful human contact they have all day. Or all week! And they’ll be expecting way more from that interaction than just a transaction.

That’s why, like it or not, every business is in the business of experiences. Your clients, customers, guests, members, patients, whatever, want their products and services delivered fast and cheap so that they can spend their time and money on experiences that they value more highly. Businesses that provide those experiences are the ones that will continue to be successful in the future. Will that include you?