According to Liferay, 85% of all customer service interactions will begin on self-service by 2022. In a world where busy customers are looking for faster resolutions, available anytime and from anywhere, digital self-service is a growing priority for every contact centre.
But from simple online FAQs to intelligent, AI-powered chatbots, self-service strategy is a comprehensive field. How can contact centres adopt self-service in a way that makes sense for their goals, agents and customers – and use that as a platform for growth?
Four common self-service touchpoints
When customers are looking for self-service, they’re often looking for:
- Information to help them make decisions
- Ways to perform simple tasks like placing orders or changing account details
Given these different objectives, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for self-service. The most successful implementations include several tools that work together and serve distinct purposes.
1. Online knowledgeable and FAQ
According to Accenture, 66% of customer use search engines to find self-service answers. FAQs and knowledgebase articles meet this behaviour by offering detailed information, visible to search engine crawlers.
2. Customer account portals
Once customers have the information they need, a self-service portal can give them the tools to handle routine tasks themselves. This could be anything from paying an invoice to tracking an order.
3. Virtual agents and chatbots
From simple rule-based chatbots to sophisticated AI-powered agents, chatbots allow customers to get help that feels natural and personal, without the need for actual agent interaction.
4. Mobile self-service
Mobile apps are another effective way to equip customers with the tools they need for day-to-day interactions. This is also a good opportunity to integrate knowledgebases and FAQs, providing the information customers need right alongside tools to put it into practice.
Maximising the impact of self-service
Individually, each self-service channel can help your customers get a great experience, while you reduce contact centre volumes and increase first time resolution rates. But their true potential is unlocked when they’re combined – both with each other and your human agents.
In part, you can maximise the impact of self-service by presenting every channel, everywhere you can. This could include referencing your FAQ on your IVR or adding chat links to your website.
However, it can also be helpful to think about customer journeys outside of siloed channels. Maybe a customer starts their search online, asks for help from a chatbot, then speaks to an agent for more help. The more you can integrate these events, seamlessly transitioning customers from one to the next, with all relevant information passed along the chain, the better.
Continually refining your self-service
Finally, an impactful self-service strategy is one where you continually measure, learn and improve. As well as empowering customers in the here and now, self-service is a prime opportunity to capture insights on what people are looking for and what customer journeys really look like.
As a result, you can tweak and adjust your self-service over time, shifting to suit what your customers need – and pre-empting their expectations wherever you can.