In a time when thousands of new products and services are launched every day, customer service is extremely important. The quality of your customer service is what gives you an edge over other competing businesses. Organisations are, therefore, constantly in search of innovative methods to keep their customers satisfied. A self-service customer service desk is rapidly becoming the most popular customer service form. 

What is Self-service Customer Service?

When customers need some service, they usually approach the customer service team through phone calls, e-mail, or by directly visiting a service centre. This takes them a lot of time to get connected to the calls and hold or wait for an e-mail response. Remember the good old days when people used to refer to manuals that came with a product to find answers? A self-service customer service desk is an advanced and digitised version of “referring to the manual”. It could mean any method with which customers can find answers by themselves.

Some Amazing Self-service Customer Service Desks

It would be best to implement more than one self-service customer service desk. Here are some options.

Knowledge Base

A knowledge base, as the name suggests, is a collection of all possible content relating to your product/service. This archive can be continuously updated based on the queries that come in from the customer and when the product is modified or updated. Most customers call only if they don’t find an answer in the knowledge base.

FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions contain short answers to the queries raised more often. These have lesser information than a knowledge base but are easily discoverable on a website. The FAQs should also guide the customers to the knowledge base wherever necessary.

Training videos

Adding a video to your portal regarding your product can help your customers serve themselves. For example, if the product needs installation, a video showing the procedure can go a long way in helping the customer. Visual representation is anyhow self-explanatory.

AI Chatbots

Chatbot Messaging on websites, mobile apps, social media, WhatsApp, etc., is very common now. AI-powered would make them constantly “learn” and respond to the customer's varying needs. Chatbots are usually proactive and interact with customers before initiating a conversation.

• Mobile apps and automated call centres can also be very effective for self-service.

Top 5 Considerations when Choosing a Self-service Customer Service Desk

Certain qualities need to be kept in mind while making your choice. It could depend on the product or service you offer your clients. Here are the top 5 considerations.

1. Let the Customers Know

The most common reason why customers do not opt for self-service is that they do not know that it exists. It should be made clear to the customers, sooner than later, that they can find answers on their own. You may use search engine optimisation so that customers are directed to your knowledge base when they search on google. In addition, you can make it easily visible in your web portal.

2. Keep it Simple

The customer service desk should have simple language that any common customer can understand. Unnecessary information or technical details can overwhelm the customer, and they would call an agent.

3. Be Accessible to Everyone

The content you give out for self-service should be accessible to all customers. For instance, if you have a global product/service, you may have to provide the content in various languages. Some people would be able to access only your videos, and others might only be able to use an app. 

4. Initiate the Conversation

Customers will find it easier to approach you if you make contact first. Ask them if they are satisfied with your service/product before they come up with a complaint. The customer is happy to see concern from your side. It gives them confidence in finding solutions before approaching you to resolve their issues. This is usually done by sending SMS, WhatsApp messages, e-mails, or a chatbot.

5. Stay Updated

Business and technology always keep growing, and so do customers’ expectations. Your methods of offering self-service to the customers might need updating every now. Find new ways and always look out for the new options that are coming up in the market.

Benefits of Self-service Customer Service

The concept of self-service in the customer service scene is constantly being reformed and revitalised to improve the customer’s experience. The added advantage is to the business. Here are some of these benefits

1. Time-saving- This benefit applies to the customer and the customer service executive. For the customer, it takes much less time to find solutions to their problems. For instance, they can refer to the FAQ section or Knowledge center to find answers rather than waiting for an email or phone response. Similarly, for the customer service team, it is immensely profitable not to spend time answering redundant questions every day.
2. The customer gets control over his situation and feels more content in handling the issue himself.
3. The customer service team gets time to help customers with more complex issues, which are also more challenging and satisfying as a job for the team. This helps keep them motivated.
4. Based on the complex issues that the customer approaches the customer service desk, the company can plan to modify its product/service.
5. The business can save a lot of resources apart from time by not spending them responding to repeated questions frequently.
6. The knowledge base can also be used to train new employees in the company.
7. The company’s web portal would receive more traffic since more and more customers resort to the knowledge centre or FAQ or bot for their problems.

Bottom Line

Customer service is the make-or-break deal for any company: the more satisfied customers, the better the brand value. More than wanting a product or service with no issues, a customer values it when the issue is resolved promptly—they are now more than willing to find their solutions. As a business, you must provide them with good options for self-service customer service.