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  Help yourself: Effective Self-Service Technologies Can Lower Support Costs, Increase Customer Satisfaction
 
You have Web self-service but have not seen call reduction or a significant return on investment (ROI). Your customers continue to pick up the phone, and even if they go to the Web, more often than not they don't find the answer they're looking for and turn to phone or e-mail.
 
Because so few companies have effective Web self-service, there is skepticism that it can provide the answers' customers are seeking.
 
We have shown, however, that when done right, Web self-service can answer 80 percent to 90 percent of customers' questions with a high degree of satisfaction and at a lower cost than assisted support (phone or e-mail).
 
The potential for cost savings through Web self-service is substantial. Telephone support or even e-mail can be as high as $10 to $33 per session, and costs scale up with volume. Web self-service runs about $1 per session and costs continue to fall as usage rises, according to a Meta Group study.
 
So how do you make Web self-service the primary way for customers to request and receive support?
 
By making Web self-service the most accurate, timely and easy-to-use source of information relating to the product or service you are supporting. Escalation to assisted support channels - e-mail or phone - should be painless, but those channels should also be used to educate the customer on the value of Web self-service.
 
Components of an effective Web self-service environment:

1. Less is more
   A common view among corporations is more information is better, however, in the world of Web self-service, less is more. Providing detailed Web content for a customer looking for a simple answer results in dropped sessions and phone calls to customer support centers and cost savings for you.
    
   The Web self-service environment should have multiple navigation choices, including natural language search, knowledge base browsing functions and user guides and tutorials dedicated to getting started or troubleshooting.
    
   
   There are two golden rules to Web self-service:

   1. The site must navigate the user to the desired answer in as few a clicks as possible
   2. Once the customer lands on the solution page, the answer must be easy to understand


2. Data warehousing and analytics
   One of the keys to building user adoption of Web self-service is a support environment that is always current and relevant. This is where data warehousing and analytics comes in. By tracking every customer interaction within the support environment, from entry, exit and path analysis, to issues that escalate to assisted support, to recommendations on product improvements - this data fuels the process of "continuous optimization," building the user base for Web self-service and driving down support costs.
    
   Through the process of continually optimizing the Web self-service environment, the online experience is far superior to phone support in immediacy, ease-of-use and depth and breadth of knowledge.

 

3. A picture is worth a thousand words
   A Web self-service environment should not be all text. When it comes to communicating "how to" information, a picture (graphic or illustration) is truly worth a thousand words. As much as possible, Web self-service should guide customers through a process using pictures, rather than words. For example, if a customer is looking for information about adding an additional driver to their computer, a diagram is much more effective than the spoken or written word.
    
   Pictures rather than words should also be the rule of thumb when dealing with customers in an assisted support channel. On the phone or via e-mail, customer support staff should offer to provide the customers with links to specific Web self-service pages that show through illustrations the solution to the customer's problem. Encouraging customers to use self-service during an assisted support session will educate the customer on the ease of using Web self-service in the future. And just as important, it can significantly shorten the phone call.

 

4. Integrated with assisted support channels
   When new issues arise or individualized help is needed, customers should be able to easily escalate to assisted support via telephone or e-mail. One-to-one support should be personalized and fully integrated with your Web self-service environment to help users resolve their issues as quickly as possible.