The product support lifecycle is often long and laborious, but with the right self-service tools it can be cost-effective and simple for you and your customers. According to recent research from Forrester, self-service has become the most widely used communication channel for customer service. New and innovative technologies now allow product support to be more personalized and proactive, with self-support solutions that make customer service easier and more effective.
Learn how to reduce customer effort and improve brand loyalty with these 9 secrets to great customer self-service.
1: Clean User Interface A clean user interface makes it easy for customers to help themselves.When your self-service portal looks nice and appears easy to use, your customers are more likely to use it.
2: Uncomplicated Tools Your self-service tools need to not only look uncomplicated but also be uncomplicated. This is not just for users, either. The simpler your self-service tools are, the easier they are for you to manage.
3: Straightforward Process Customers will only help themselves if they know how. Returns in general can seem pretty daunting, so why not make the process straightforward? Try using buttons, large text, and supporting graphics.
4: Thorough FAQ’s If you have spent the time to create a self-service model, you should also compile a list of detailed FAQ’s. There is no point to self-service if you still have a ton of customer calls, right?
5: Open Communication Why should you be fielding all of your customers’ questions? Customers who use self-service tools are generally willing to help each other. By starting online forums, you can perpetuate this behavior to save time.
6: Make it Automated Automating pieces of the process, such as confirmation emails and shipping notifications, makes customer service even easier without taking away from the customer experience.
7: Empower Customers Survey customers regularly to ask what they need to have better self-service experience. It saves you time improving aspects of your process and make customers feel heard and appreciated.
8: Rapid Feedback Self-service is a great time saver for you and your customers. When you are required to provide feedback the old fashioned way, however, you need to be available. No waiting, no hassle.
9: Stay Proactive Self-service can worry customers who want to be informed throughout the process. In order to keep satisfaction rates high, you must stay proactive. The more they know, the better.
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