Mitchell Peels
Can personal contact be replaced by a digital relationship?
News & awards
Nov 13, 2025
No. If one thing is clear, it's that personal contact with your organization is valuable. But where is the cutoff point? No organization has an unlimited budget for employing service staff. And that means making choices. In conversations with managers from companies such as IKEA, Feyenoord, Mercedes-Benz, and Vesteda, we look for the answer to this question.
During EDAY 2025, our colleague Rens has been invited as an expert to discuss this topic with several large organizations in the Netherlands. This article outlines the key points of the conversation. There are no universal truths. For every industry, target audience, and organization, it varies where personal contact ends and automation begins. Researching, testing, and analyzing the results is the only real way to be sure what works for your organization.
Personal contact is always important
We also hear this from a director at McDonald’s. Everyone recognizes the biggest change in the restaurant: you no longer order at the counter, but at a digital kiosk. The chain is testing many more ways to automate. For example, there is a largely automated branch in Texas. Ultimately, the company consciously chooses not to roll out this concept further. Every interaction is carefully considered, says the director.
Some target groups and segments clearly prefer personal contact. For example, older customers or customers dealing with a high-involvement product. The participants from ANWB, Van Lanschot Kempen, and Mercedes-Benz agree on this. Trust and emotion are extremely important in those situations.
A simple rule of thumb is to look at for whom the interaction is valuable, says a manager at IKEA. If the contact moment is important for you and your customer, choose personal contact. Is the contact important to neither of you? Then you can digitize and automate it. A no-brainer. Most participants in the roundtable discussion recognize that.
Self-service makes you stand out
That both parties find a contact moment valuable does not mean that personal contact is always necessary. Digital relationships are available 24/7 and scalable. And this is exactly where an organization can create a unique experience by offering self-service solutions. With the advantage that you distinguish yourself from the competition and can deploy employees for other important contact moments.
An excellent example comes from Vesteda, a mid-segment housing rental company. Undoubtedly a high-involvement offer. The most important contact moment is the viewing. They have put this to the test. They offer home seekers the opportunity to do this themselves, without guidance.
Just like with a target audience in the higher segment. The men's fashion store OGÉR relies heavily on personal contact with their customers in the stores. Trying on clothes and personal advice are valuable to them. Recently, customers can also fit clothes digitally. By taking a photo of themselves, they see with the help of AI how the garment suits them.
Unique new opportunities
In other situations, digital solutions are utilized to create new opportunities for contact. Feyenoord, for example, wants to also engage fans who cannot attend a match every weekend. With their member platform, they maintain the connection.
There isn’t really an answer to the question “Can personal contact be replaced by a digital relationship?” Digital is, in any case, an extension of your personal contact. Those who are open to trying innovative solutions can find ways to strengthen their relationships in a scalable way.