I had two support experiences this week—both with WordPress tools I use that were a fascinating juxtaposition—and the contrast made me think a bit about how organizations are approaching being more efficient with AI.
Hint: most are injecting some AI into their support but I do wonder how thoughtful is it being done?
Let’s start with FacetWP
I was working on a “Find a Therapist” page but to add in alphabetical section breaks (A–Z pager style).
Turns out they suggested I shift from “visual mode” to “dev mode” for more control—they replied with real code examples adapted to adding these section breaks. It gave me exactly what I needed to move forward. Thoughtful and succinct. They totally may have used AI to help me but it was a catalyst. Cool deal.
Then came Elementor
I was curious if I could get a popup to display on a custom post type (a leadership page). I’d already done some homework but wanted final clarification from the people that built the tool. Makes sense, right?
Five or so rounds of AI-driven emails on possible solutions, some that would have led me down a path of unnecessary technical complexity.
Only after all that did I get the actual reply:
“That functionality is not supported. Unfortunately, it’s currently not possible to dynamically pull content from the Loop Grid widget into the Popup widget.”
Would have been nice to be told that straightaway. Or I could have engaged with AI to do the same. Instead, email responses that are slightly delay (to make me somehow think it was a real person) just frustrated me. To keep the theme, I was sent a survey now “How did we do for you today?” It’s tiresome that everyone things needs a survey now, isn’t it?
FacetWP focused on a solution and was direct.
Elementor gave me more of an AI run around.
Here’s the deal:
AI has its place, no doubt—it can definitely help augment support. But when the whole experience is just AI chat or trying to keep you from real human contact, it’s not adding value. And it can be a real plus to have someone that actually cares about finding a solution, not just feeding you slightly better auto-replies.
That’s the difference between real human help and an organization essentially not wanting you to consume human time.