Here’s a fact: Customers today are not just aware of self-service support; instead, they prefer it over assisted services.
Surprising, right?
With technology evolving at the speed of light, several newer and more diverse self-service options have emerged in the market and continue to be on the rise.
In fact, according to research, 67% of participants preferred self-service support compared to having to speak to a company representative.
In another study put out by Coleman Parkes, 40% of the respondents said that they tried finding answers to their questions on their own before reaching out to a call centre.
Put simply, self-service is booming into a consistently evolving medium that helps customers address their issues.
Self-service Support at a Glance
In simple terms, the core idea behind self-service support is to create happy customers. And equip them with resources that help them find solutions to their queries without the assistance of a support representative.
Self-service is an approach to cultivate a quick and seamless experience—for you, your customers, and your employees. Here’s how:
- Your customers feel more competent and empowered by addressing their own problems
- You save up on precious resources such as time, money, and workforce
- Your employees feel relaxed as self-service support saves them the stress of handling multiple mundane queries every day
Leverage self-service support to deliver flawless customer experiences. Here’s how:
Did you know—one of the most critical factors of customer experience is a fast response time?
In fact, instant answers are the key to happy and satisfied customers.
According to a survey conducted by Jeff Toister and Superoffice, nearly half of the surveyed customers (46%) expect companies to respond faster than four hours.
While 12% expect a response within 15 minutes or less, else they move on to other businesses.
So, in such a scenario, how can you respond faster and successfully retain your customers?
It’s simple—offer self-service solutions and let customers seek answers on their own.
Here are a few ways that can help you enhance your self-support services and, in turn, deliver a better customer experience:
- Offer a multitude of options: Modern-day customers want an array of channels and tools to connect with you as it adds to their freedom of making choices.
Moreover, multiple channels help you gain a better understanding of your customer’s preferences.
- Customer satisfaction is king: In addition to satisfied customers adding to the brand’s positive publicity, self-service support tools help increase the website’s traction. Moreover, improved customer experience also leads to an increase in repeat buys.
- Time and flexibility: As we’ve discussed, self-service support gives a better leeway to everyone in terms of time as well as flexibility. Chances of issues being addressed much faster without any waiting times significantly add to an improved customer experience.
- Too many cooks spoil the broth: Self-service support systems organically cut down a significant chunk of human involvement. By introducing alternative options like an easy-to-navigate website, an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system, and easy-to-understand self-help guidelines, you can reduce the number of your customer-support agents and allow them to focus on other critical tasks.
- Timeless customer service: Automated self-service support systems such as an IVR will help you deliver round-the-clock service irrespective of your or your customer’s location.
In fact, leading IVR service providers like Servetel offer customer support services like never before, thereby paving the way for seamless assistance anytime and anywhere.
The Solutions to Self-service Support Systems
A laggy, inactive customer support service can drastically affect a company’s customer experience.
At times, out of annoyance, customers simply stop subscribing to an organisation’s services and products. If a robust, intuitive, easy-to-use self-support system is absent from a company, it can nudge the customers to switch to a competitor.
A KISSmetrics study from 2013 concludes that a website visitor spends no more than 59 seconds looking for a product of their preference before switching to another website.
Below are different approaches that you can use to offer a reliable self-service support system and an elevated customer experience.
- Chatbots: Chatbots are designed to let customers access information through chat options such as WhatsApp, SMSes, or on the company’s website, etc.
Usually, they are fed a predefined set of questions, and answers are made with the examples of Artificial Intelligence (AI) which enables chatbots to instantly respond to customer queries with the help of previous interactions.
- Online forums: An online forum is a platform that enables two-way communication between support agents and customer bases.
A well managed online forum helps build a loyal online customer community and paves the way to a stellar customer experience.
- Interactive Voice Response (IVR): IVR systems are an increasingly popular technology that smoothens and further enhance the pillars of a sound customer experience.
- Service providers help companies design easy-to-use IVR maps. This leads to customers getting access only to the information that they are looking for.
At present, there are many emerging IVR service providers that help companies improve their customer experiences.
The Pioneering Potential of IVR in Today’s self-support Service Systems
Self-service IVR goes hand-in-hand with enhanced customer experiences.
It enables the customer to enjoy freedom by looking for resolutions themselves and allows you to deliver enhanced customer experiences without burning a hole in your pocket.
A win-win for you and your customers, indeed!
Furthermore, IVR enables more efficient call routing than human operators who may accidentally misdirect calls and leave customers dissatisfied.
Some leading IVR service providers like Servetel offer a system that reduces the efforts required by customer support agents. This allows your agents to use their time in fixing problems that demand more interpersonal attention.
Below are some quick do’s and don’ts that can help you improve your IVR service:
Do
- Make only a few options available to choose from at every stage. Too many options may confuse the customer, leading to them feeling confused and disconnecting the call
- Regularly test the IVR menu and make improvements and updates, when necessary
- Offer the option to directly connect to a service agent
- Keep option introductions brief and easy-to-understand
Don’t
- Give too many or too similar options to choose from. Lack of clear distinctions can lead to customers getting lost in the middle of their call
- Forget to update and test the IVR menu regularly
- Restrict IVR calls to only automated instructions. Always keep the option of getting in touch with a service agent open
- Convey too many promotional messages during a call. Doing so is a guaranteed cause of caller frustration
As companies become increasingly reliant on IVR and intelligent automation methods to strengthen their customer self-service support system, IVR service providers are on the rise.
Customer Self-service Support: What is the Way Forward?
It is cardinal to know your customers and decode their expectations to make their experiences smoother. Only then will you be able to make the best use of self-service options and enhance their journey with you.
Furthermore, some quick things to keep in mind while moving ahead are
- How easily accessible the system is
- How much space it provides for employee email communication
- How effective are the solutions you’re offering
In a Nutshell
An intelligent customer self-support service system is sensible to invest in, from both perspectives—yours and your customers’.
It gives customers a way to find answers to their questions much more efficiently and quickly. After all, fast-paced, foolproof services lead to happier customers.
And to a company, what matters more than happy customers?
To get more information about self-service options, you can search on Google.
Authors Bio
Kritik Verma is a marketing enthusiast with a specialization in digital marketing. He is currently working at Servetel, leading cloud telephony providers offering IVR Services to boost business success.
