Aflac helps cover the gaps in your health insurance.
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According to my 2026 State of Customer Experience research report, seven out of 10 (68%) U.S. customers still prefer the phone when resolving a customer service issue. Still, companies are rushing to find ways to use artificial intelligence to make customer service faster and more efficient. While the technology is improving and the opportunities are exciting, there is a question that leaders should ask before automating another interaction:
Is this a moment when the customer would rather talk to a human?
That question is especially important when customers are dealing with personal information. Research shows customers are reluctant to give certain types of information to a chatbot, such as a Social Security number or financial information. This is nothing new, and I’ve written this in other Forbes articles focused on the balance between AI and human-to-human support. But what if the information is deeply personal? There is a big difference between letting a company know about a change of address and calling an insurance company with an incredibly personal health issue, such as being diagnosed with cancer.
That’s exactly what Keith Farley, senior vice president and chief customer officer at Aflac, and I talked about on an episode of Amazing Business Radio. Aflac provides supplemental health insurance to help cover expenses that a main health insurance plan doesn’t cover. So, Aflac’s customer support calls are about policyholders’ health issues. Given the sensitive and emotional nature of the reasons policyholders call for help, our conversation focused on when companies (all companies, not just health insurance companies) need to stay away from AI and focus on a human connection.
The Other “A” in AI
While I’ve written that AI-first and human-second is a sound strategy, there are exceptions. Farley said, “The first A in AI is artificial. When you’ve been diagnosed with a dreaded disease, sometimes you don’t want artificial. What you want is another A, and that’s authentic.”
That doesn’t mean Aflac is avoiding technology. Quite the opposite. Customers and policyholders can use digital tools for routine transactions and claims. Automating the interactions that don’t need a human is important as long as you preserve the human connection for the ones that do. Changing a mailing address doesn’t require empathy. Calling after a heart attack does.
So, don’t ask, “Where can we use AI?” Take it a step further to get a more complete answer, and ask, “Where can I improve the experience, and where will a human create a better experience?”
Empathy Is Not Trained
When Farley shared that Aflac’s approach to empathy starts during the hiring process, he meant that employees aren’t trained to be empathetic. They already are.
Companies spend significant money on training people to act friendly and empathetic. But, friendliness and empathy aren’t trainable skills. They are attitudes that employees possess long before they ever apply for the job. Smart companies know how to hire people who naturally have the right attitudes and personalities they want customers to experience. From there, you train them in the knowledge and tools they need to do their jobs effectively.
Play Undercover Boss and “Walk the Process”
As a leader, one of your most important jobs is to understand your customers and how they experience your company. This is more than just looking at reports and survey results.
Farley used three words to describe what every leader must do: “Walk the process.”
Executives know too much about how their companies work. Farley periodically plays “Undercover Boss” and tries to experience exactly what Aflac customers experience. He calls the contact center during busy times, uses the company’s digital self-service tools, uses the app and anything else he can do to feel what his customers experience.
I’ve written about this in my articles and books. Microsoft founder Bill Gates spent time answering customer support calls in the Microsoft contact center. In the 1980s (40 years ago), I learned that Anheuser-Busch executives were required to spend at least one day every quarter in the field with salespeople and drivers to hear first-hand customer feedback.
“Walking the process,” or whatever you want to call it, isn’t new, but continues to be a very important part of any organization’s CX strategy.
Final Words
AI will continue to transform customer service, and companies should continue to invest and take advantage of its capabilities to create faster, easier and more convenient customer experiences. Reading deeper into Farley’s comments, we could easily summarize all of this in one sentence:
Efficiency (AI and automation) shouldn’t come at the expense of humanity.
Automate the routine. Use technology to find patterns and eliminate friction. Give customers self-service options when they’re truly easier to use. And make sure it’s easy to get to a human when the customer needs empathy and reassurance.
Sometimes the smartest use of AI is knowing when to replace “artificial” with “authentic.”
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