Customers prefer online self-service but the numbers for self-service success and deflection are dropping, shared Judith Platz, VP Research, Customer Success and Support Services, TSIA, during a webinar about overcoming roadblocks to self-service success.
This is cause for concern for companies… the decreasing ROI makes it harder to justify additional investments in improving these self-service channels. But if your customers are disappointed with the self-service options you offer, their satisfaction with your company may decrease, and they could jump ship to a competitor.
According to KCS expert, Jennifer, MacIntosh, the biggest reason for a low ROI is a lack of a strong self-service vision, which results in these five major roadblocks to delivering a great experience.
Information Silos
Knowledge is everywhere and your customers don’t always head to the most relevant location for their problem first. They simply want to address their issue as quickly as possible and expect that your self-service resources can serve their needs. If your self-service site doesn’t provide access to useful information from other repositories, your customers may be unable to find the information they need.
Lack of Context
If your customer comes to your website looking for a software update, but only gets information on hardware problems, they’re not going to solve the problem on their own. When your online self-service options don’t consider the context of your customers’ requests and the help they require, it leads to a less satisfactory experience.
Content Gaps
Customers may already be frustrated when they seek out your online self-service portal for assistance, so they want a user-friendly experience that guides them to the information they need quickly. And search analytics can help by giving you insight into the most common information customers search for and information that should be in your self-service resources. If you did not incorporate analytics into your portal and don’t know how customers use your site, you might miss the mark on what they need to solve their problems.
Lack of Sustained Effort
Your self-service portal needs to be maintained, and underestimating the level of effort required to do so can lead to a subpar customer experience. Instead of doing everything manually, leverage technology, such as machine learning, to automate key processes and keep your self-service site healthy and your customers happy.
ROI Concerns
A great online self-service resource empowers customers to handle issues before contacting your company directly, improves customer satisfaction, and reduces customer support costs. However, you may find it difficult to make further investments if you have to contend with several failed implementations and the challenges of previous technologies. Incorporating search analytics in your self-service portal helps you measure the performance of your self-service portal and gives you the data you need to improve it.
Set aside 30 minutes and watch this on-demand webinar, Overcoming the Roadblocks to Self-Service Success, hosted by Judith Platz and Jennifer MacIntosh, to learn how to address these self-service obstacles.
If you want to learn about the latest technology solutions that are available to help you deliver great self-service, come to the Technology Services World conference on May 2-4, 2016 in San Diego. When you’re there, join John Ragsdale, Vice President of Technology and Social Research at TSIA, for a guided tour of the TSW | EXPO to find out which exhibiting partners align with your technology initiatives.
