Happy customers buy more. They come back for more, write nice reviews, and refer you to their friends.
If you’re one of the lucky online retailers who has seen sales increase over the last year, you probably have more than ever, which is great.
But new customers bring new challenges. For example, your customer support team may be overwhelmed by new customer requests.
With more customers, it may be difficult to provide the personalized service your company values. Keeping customers happy is difficult when your customer support team is overwhelmed!
So, how do you keep great customer service without hiring a new team? Get customers to help themselves. That is, self-service help.
What is self-service support?
It’s like going shopping. Customers can self-checkout and pick and choose what they need.
Customer service has come a long way since the days of a simple helpdesk. New technology has opened up new channels for connecting with consumers.
Customers should be able to find information on your website without having to contact you.
Self-service support is popular because it alleviates one of today’s major customer annoyances: Most don’t want to wait in line or on hold. They expect immediate service and response.
In fact, according to a Forbes survey, more than half of customers expect a response within an hour, even on weekends.
It’s not just about speed. Informed customers prefer self-service to aided. They want to learn and discover. They don’t want to have to explain their situation to your support staff. They’d rather solve it themselves.
Self-service is also great for businesses, allowing smaller support teams to help more customers.
Now is the time to use this smart and efficient technology. Ensure your customer service team knows how to leave a pre-recorded voicemail, for example.
How to create a successful self-service portal?
Before we look at how to create a self-service portal, consider what makes great customer service. It’s all about the basics. Effective customer service includes: ease of access, effective resolution and great communication.
Know your customer and what they want, whether it’s an omnichannel customer experience or video tutorials. Determine your target audience’s needs. What are their demographics, skill levels, and preferred methods of communication?
1. Identify recurrent needs
Support teams spend a lot of time repeating themselves because common requests are cancellations, address changes, returns, etc.
A personalized dashboard, whether a widget or a page on your website, can eliminate repetitive requests. Customized workflows enable customers to solve their own issues.
2. Create a custom help desk
Each business is unique, so create your own support panel with a Q&A format for customers.
Amazon and WordPress have used self-service support for years. Their websites have entire pages of frequently asked questions and answers.
3. Use the latest technology
Intelligent OCR allows for 24/7 unstaffed customer support. If your live chat team is out of the office, you can call them back or respond later with this bot.
All support channels should have one shared inbox. Be sure your phone system is responsive, whether you’re debating between traditional PBX and VoIP or have already chosen the best option for your company.
Tips for seamless customer self-service
Update your content frequently. Learn from how-to videos, screenshots, and tutorials. Make your products as simple to understand as possible. Show them where to click to update, edit, or change their settings.
Make a good search field. Use keywords to tag pages and tags so that when a customer searches for help resetting their password, the right information comes up.
Adapt self-service to mobile and desktop. Providing consistent service across all channels is critical. Make it simple for customers using a smartphone.
Customers today, especially those who used to shop in stores, expect self-service capabilities at every stage of the purchasing process. It’s important to have reliable communication systems that work around the clock. No call goes unanswered.
In Conclusion
It not only meets customer expectations but also saves you money. Automation and self-service reduce the need for new hires, according to The Service Desk Institute.
This reduces the number of calls, emails, and support tickets your staff has to deal with.
Unhappy customers will not hesitate to vent their ire on Twitter or Facebook. So they can solve problems without using social media.
In the end, it’s all about keeping your customers happy!