Going back to years ago, we all know that someone is behind any online customer support interaction. While there are businesses that use chatbot to acknowledge a message, only a human being can resolve a customer’s problem.
Fast forward to the present, the nature of online customer support began to change. From the traditional way of connecting to a live non-voice customer support representative, the number of customers who utilize online forums, FAQs, and knowledge base starts to grow. This shift resulted in what we call today as customer self-service.
A recent consumer survey revealed that 67 percent of respondents prefer self-service over speaking to a company representative. In the fast-changing business landscape, self-service is not a privilege anymore; it is a necessity. As a matter of fact, 70 percent of customers expect businesses to include a self-service portal on their website. Additionally, 91 percent of survey respondents answered that they would use an online knowledge base if it were available and tailored to their needs, according to Coleman Parkes.
Truth be told, convenience is the main reason why self-service online customer support receives positive feedback to a whopping number of online users. Self-service online customer support offers ease of access, simplified processes, and time freedom — online users can look for answers anytime, anywhere. Take note that these elements are the most important attributes of customer experience, a key differentiator in achieving business success.
Changing the way online customer support works
No, self-service will not replace customer support representatives in doing their job. Rather, self-service aims to assist them by taking care of simple issues, therefore, eliminating the need to deal with repetitive tasks. With a self-service portal in their disposal, customer support representatives will deal with tougher issues that customers can’t solve on their own.
Self-service online customer support, therefore, is a win-win-win situation for the online users, the company, and their agents. The process becomes more convenient to customers. The company will save more by reducing their point of contact while driving more traffic and value to their websites. Finally, it can leverage the customer service skills and knowledge of customer support representatives.
Elements of a good self-service online customer support
Not all self-service options are the same. Not all self-service portals impress customers. And not all self-service portals bring tremendous benefits to an organization.
The difference lies in how businesses make use of their self-service portals.
Developing a self-service portal is a meticulous process. It should be based entirely on data which is analyzed and combined together to deliver essential information about the common issues that customers experience.
A good self-service online customer support should also allow customers to easily access the answers and information they need. What’s the point of a self-service portal if customers will exert a lot of effort for it, anyway? It should also let the customers control their experience by providing option buttons.
Another crucial element that businesses need to remember is the type of technology they are using. As much as possible, they need to use something that would simplify the entire process to make the experience more convenient.
As mentioned before, self-service does not eliminate live assistance. Businesses should always be on the watch to answer complex questions not available in the knowledge base.
Is self-service the new online customer support?
Partly, yes.
Self-service is not entirely the new online customer support yet because the need for a human assistance is still essential.
But with the right approach of integrating self-service options to the online customer support, a business will eventually succeed in their efforts to improve their customer experience ratings.
