Putting the Customer Service Pieces Together with Self-Service

Self-service customer service isn’t a tactic to offload customer service volume, but a real contact channel that is critical to a new generation of customers today.

Engaging with customers is a vital part of running a business. All types of customers. All demographics of customers. All generations of customers. People are more likely to buy your product when they are emotionally invested in it.

Engaging customers is actually considered a part of the marketing strategy. This is because the best way to have your message sent to potential buyers is to have them become aware of what it is you are selling.

The idea of engagement might bring to mind a face-to-face interaction or speaking with a customer over the phone, but this is not always the case. Things are always changing in the business world, and one must take a look into what customers in this generation really want from a company. New sales and marketing tactics need to be used in every new era.

Winning over customers with self-service

You may or may not think about self-service when it comes to winning over customers. More recently, self-service has become very useful and it has often been the main form of engagement used for customers. You may wonder why this is so effective in drawing customers in. A key way to ensure customer satisfaction is to have a service available that allows them to pay, change or add services whenever they wish.

People often like taking care of things on their own. In an automated society, people like to be able to serve themselves while using their product. Customers also like to feel important. Self-service allows them to feel like the tools are built just for them.

People generally prefer not to call a contact center unless their problem is complicated. They would normally rather handle things without the hassle of waiting on hold or having someone do something for them.

A great thing about self-service is that people are driven to use a company’s website. Another great way for a company to offer their clients or customers more services or let them know about special promotions is by running ads on self-service webpages. While the customer is waiting to pay a bill or adjust their plan, for example, an attractive or engaging ad will draw their attention to what else is available to them.

Self-service helps your customers help themselves online

Research has shown that customers will find all the answers to their questions by visiting the company website. People also prefer simplicity and quick service, which is why more and more people are helping themselves online.

The simpler you make the search box, the more success your self-service website will have. Use a single search box that can expand into a wide variety of help topics, including payment and changing services. It is also a good idea to have live chat available in case people want quick assistance if they are not able to find all of the answers to their questions.

Another great way you can tailor self-service too customers is to have translation services to make them feel more comfortable if English is not their second language. Forums are also a great idea so that customers can browse through and discuss common problems or questions with other customers. It is a very interactive and simple approach while ensuring that are engaging in your company.

A great tool that has some of the qualities is WalkMe. Also known as the GPS of the web, this interactive guidance system helps users self-manage simple tasks, in real time. The multi-language support means that the self-service tools can help a wide range of customers while saving costs and alleviating the agents time. They can manage bigger issues in a relaxed manner.

How can you make your self-service stand apart from the others?

• Have a keyword search.
• Match self-service templates with the rest of the website.
• Widgets that make it easy to find what product or service a customer needs help with.
• Make use of topic tree browsing.
• Organize search results in order of relevance.

There is no single way to engage customers. It is a combination of several things that a company makes an effort to put in place in order to draw the attention of new and existing buyers. Self-service is just one piece of the puzzle.