Customer Self-Service: What It Is & How to Do It Right

即使我是前客户支持代表，当我是客户时，我实际上不得不与客户服务团队合作。这不是我认为代表无济于事，或者他们不会创造积极的服务体验，而是我是一个自然的问题解决者，喜欢自己弄清楚事情。我更喜欢提出自己的解决方案的挑战，并且不会伸出援手寻求客户支持，除非我真正相信自己不能自己解决问题。

I'm not alone, either. In fact, according toNuance Enterprise, 67% of customers prefer to use self-service options instead of speaking with a company representative. But if your customers don't want to talk to your customer service reps, how do you provide effective support for their problems?

This is where self-service options come in handy for your business. These resources make it easier for customers, like me, to find solutions to issues in a manner that we prefer. In this post, we'll break down what customer self-service is as well as how you can implement it on your company's website.

What is self-service?

自助服务仅意味着客户必须在没有公司员工的帮助的情况下自行完成诉讼或任务。raybet电子竞技除非你住在新泽西州, think about a gas station. Most U.S. gas stations will offer self-service options where you must pump your own gas. Gas stations offer this option because it's relatively easy and simple for people to operate the pumps. The gas station saves money by not hiring extra employees, and the customer is happier because getting gas is a lot quicker.

It's important to note that self-service options aren't isolated to just gas stations. Grocery stores, retail outlets, and even movie theaters now offer self-service options that reduce customer roadblocks and improve brand experience. Customer service has quickly become the next field to be affected by this trend as businesses are now offering customer self-service options that help people resolve product or service issues on their own.

为什么你应该提供客户自助服务

客户自助服务正迅速成为参照erred method for customer service. That's because self-service options provide customers with faster solutions that they can find on their own time. Rather than having to pick up a phone and wait on hold, customers can use your company's resources to look up answers to simple support questions.

On the opposite end, your customer service team benefits from not having to field repetitive or similar cases. This reduces the stress on your incoming request queues and clears up more time for reps to solve complex or unique customer problems. Customers who have bigger problems and more immediate needs can now get the attention they require because your reps don't have to spend time answering simple questions.

Customer self-service is fairly easy to adopt as well as integrate into your customer service offer. If you don't offer any self-service options at the moment, one of the best places that any business can start is with its website.

Best Examples of Website Self-Service

有很多方法可以添加到您的业务中的客户自助服务。如果您坚持想提出想法，请查看以下示例，以获取一些可以在组织的网站上使用的自助服务选项。

1. Add a knowledge base.

Aknowledge baseis a section of your website that helps customers solve common product issues and answer simple service questions. It includes organized documentation of your products and services and provides customers with articles that can help them troubleshoot their problems. This way, your team can record detailed troubleshooting steps for common customer roadblocks and share them with every user.

一家具有raybet电子竞技直观知识基础的公司是Campaign Monitor。Its knowledge base is easy to find and helps customers navigate to the answer that they're looking for. If you take a look at the picture below, you can see that its main page includes a search bar as well as a list of color-coded categories that each link to related support documents. Additionally, Campaign Monitor's knowledge base has an "app status" feature that will connect users to a status page if there's a widespread issue with the software.

来源：帮助侦察

2. Create product training for customers.

Your customer service reps benefit immensely from the training they undergo when they're learning about your products and services. They get a detailed explanation about how your products work, the common roadblocks they can expect, and how to best optimize a product for the customer's workflow. This helps them become certified product experts for your company.

But if this works so well for your customer service reps, how come your customers aren't offered the same training? Your company can offer them training on your products and services which will not only improve their customer experience but will also demonstrate a dedication tocustomer success。

HubSpot通过其HubSpot Academy课程和认证计划来实现这一目标。这些免费培训提供作为录像的录制HubSpot Academy homepage。HubSpot用户可以观看这些视频并完成与之相关的任务，以更加熟悉HubSpot的产品和营销意识形态。一旦完成所有视频和任务，用户就可以进行在线测试，如果通过，将通过2年的认证奖励他们。

What makes these courses great is the gamification aspect that comes along with taking them. When I worked in HubSpot Support, I spoke with countless customers who were so proud to talk about the certifications they had received as well as the ones they were hoping to earn in the future. Even though the certifications were just badges that were displayed on one page next to their username, users loved receiving these certificates as it symbolized the hard work they put into mastering HubSpot tools.

3.提供灵活的自动化功能。

自动化在客户服务方面非常出色，因为它可以节省客户和代表的时间。客户可以使用诸如聊天机器人之类的自动化功能来帮助他们快速找到信息，而无需拿起电话或给团队发送电子邮件。另一方面，销售代表可以设置工作流，以自动向客户发送电子邮件，并提醒他们跟进开放式案例。

When it comes to customer-facing automation, it's important to make sure that these features are flexible and intuitive. Customers should be able to ask questions in different ways and receive consistent answers for every inquiry.

TakeBlue Diamond, for example. Blue Diamond offers a chatbot that provides unique responses based on the conversation it has with the customer. It begins with letting the customer select the product they have a question about, then presents a list of potential subtopics that may be related to the customer's needs.

While most chatbots will stop there, Blue Diamond's has the ability to field direct questions as well. For example, if I were to ask, "Is almond milk gluten-free?" the majority of chatbots would provide me with a few potential documents based on the keywords that it finds in my question. Blue Diamond's chatbot, however, doesn't provide you with page links but instead a simple, direct answer to your question, like in the example below (if you were wondering, yes, almond milk is gluten-free).

来源：Blue Diamond

4. Include escalation options.

Forresterbelieves that in 2019 customers will start to demonstrate a backlash against chatbot support. This is because 60% of chatbots don't offer escalation options during the chat. Instead, customers have to call into the support line directly if they wish to escalate their issue to a live rep. This can ruin your customers' workflow, especially if they're just looking for a quick clarification on one or two details in the chatbot's response.

包括升级raybet电子竞技选项的一家公司是Omega Market。Omega Market uses a messenger tool that fields incoming services requests as chats. If the customer wants to escalate the issue, they can simply request to speak with a live rep at any point during the chat. The rep then asks the customer for their preferred contact method and reaches out directly to continue the conversation in a live environment. While you hope they aren't used often, escalation options are crucial to providing a seamlessomni-channel experiencefor your customers.

来源：精明的解决方案

These examples can be integrated into almost any business's customer service team. If your team is stuck coming up with new ideas, consider adopting a few of these methods to improve customer self-service at your company.

如果您正在寻找有关客户自助服务的更多信息，请查看以下信息图。

For more ways to help your customers reach their goals, read about the most effectivecustomer service strategies。