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How complete self-service models improve CX, boost revenue per customer and deliver on personalization
With over 130 million live answers served and counting, Zoomin is trusted by many accomplished brands worldwide to deliver stellar product content experiences
Customer service and the customer experience are some of the most important parts of keeping your customers satisfied. If your customers have a good experience and have their needs met, they are going to be more likely to continue supporting your business.
However, that is often easier said than done. Customer service and the customer experience can be hard things to manage. Thankfully, technology like Zoomin Software has enabled customer self-service, which has numerous advantages for customers and businesses alike.
One of the many benefits of self-service is by empowering the customer, allowing them to resolve their questions independently. With a service like Zoomin, your complex product information library can be transformed into something that’s easily accessible and can be accessed via a customer self-service portal. Instead of having to deal with call centers and hold music or a confusing collection of information on various products, your customers can easily and quickly get the information they need on their own terms.
Another benefit is that it’s simply more efficient for everyone involved. From the customer’s perspective, it allows them to get better answers faster and more conveniently. Instead of browsing through a massive collection of product guides or dealing with a phone rep, they can directly access a well-organized collection of the information they need. From the business perspective, they can streamline their customer service, save time, save money, and provide a better customer experience all at the same time.
All that said, there are advantages and disadvantages of self-service. The main disadvantage is that sometimes self-service is simply not enough. For more complex or involved customer issues, speaking with someone on the phone or in person may be necessary. In those situations, customer self-service can struggle to provide the customer with the answers they need. However, that is relatively easy to counteract by still having a customer service team for more involved issues.
Besides the numerous benefits, self-service is something that modern consumers expect, and there are many customer self-service statistics that show that to be true. According to a recent Statista poll, 88% of consumers say they expect a brand or organization to have an online self-service support portal. In this modern world, customers want more control over their experience and want to be able to avoid in-person visits or phone calls for customer service. If they can get their answers quicker and more directly via a customer service portal, they likely will.
With all that talk about the benefits of self-service, it’s a good idea to spend some time looking at what self-service is. Simply put, the customer self-service meaning is when customers access information and resources independently without the help of a customer service representative. However, that can play out in a variety of different ways since there are many self-service options for customers.
For example, a customer might go on the company’s website, download the product manual, and get the answers they need from that. That would be an example of self-service since the customer found the answers they need without a customer service representative. They also might go on an online forum and get answers from other customers. That would also be considered self-service since they didn’t receive help from customer service.
One of the better forms of self-service includes the use of a self-service portal. A self-service portal is a website that houses information and resources for customers so they can resolve their issues on their own. What makes self-service portals a good option for self-service is that they streamline the process for everyone.
Customers don’t have to worry about browsing various websites, going to forums, searching long PDFs, and more. They can simply go to the company’s service portal, quickly find the information they need, and resolve their issue quickly. This also often means that businesses can meet their customers’ needs quicker and more efficiently, all while simultaneously minimizing the need for more traditional customer service like call centers. Customer self-service portals have huge benefits for all parties involved and are quickly becoming a standard for customer service in general.
Self-service is a relatively simple concept overall, but it can get more complicated as you look at the various different methods of providing self-service. However, the basic point is that customer self-service enables customers to find the answers and information they need on their own.
Customer self-service is best understood by looking at how it works in the real world, so let’s take a look at some customer self-service examples and how they work. These self-service customer relationship examples can be found in tons of industries and companies, and they are a great way to get a better understanding of customer self-service benefits.
One of the most popular and common examples of customer self-service is AI chatbots. These can be found on countless websites, such as American Express, H&M, and Sephora. Though the technology behind them may be complicated, the way they work is pretty simple. The customer opens the chat and then can converse with the bot, which provides them with the answers and information they need. These bots can do things like show nearby locations, offer common solutions, and more. While these conversations may occasionally end with the chatbot not being able to resolve the customer’s problem and a customer service representative stepping in, chatbots can often resolve simpler issues, thus freeing up customer service representatives’ time to quickly handle more complex issues.
Another very common example of customer self-service in CRM is having a customer forum. Apple’s support community forum is a great example of how these forums can work. On the forum, customers can ask questions and raise concerns about issues they are experiencing. Then, other customers can respond to help them with their issues. This allows customers to solve their issues without a customer support representative.
One last example of customer self-service is a self-service portal. As mentioned previously, a customer self-service portal is a digital portal customers can access directly that has information and resources relevant to the business's products and services. A self-service portal like Zoomin enables customers to quickly and easily get the answers and solutions they need. Apple, besides having its customer forum, has a self-service portal that allows customers to search and find information and resources relevant to the issue they are experiencing. Portals like these are a great way to enable and empower customers to solve their own issues.
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Focusing on customer self-service software, it’s important to know exactly how it should work and how it can benefit your business. Zoomin is a great example of self-service software that can help your business improve customer relations and provide better customer service.
Zoomin’s platform enables you to publish consistent information about your products or services, even as that information changes or if that information is complex. Their platform allows that information to be distilled into an easily accessible form for your customers. Customers can then utilize that information to quickly and confidently resolve their own issues and answer their own questions.
From the customer's perspective, their experience is simple and effective. They just go into the portal, search for the relevant section with the information they need, access that information, and then use it to resolve the issue they are having. With a customer self-service portal like Zoomin, that is even easier for the customer to do. Zoomin’s platform makes the information easily accessible and organized, so it’s easy for customers to access it and find what they need. Zoomin also makes it easy for businesses to quickly update the information for their products, ensuring that customers are always getting the most up-to-date and accurate information possible.
On top of being a great option for customer self-service software, Zoomin’s self-service software also allows you to analyze vital data and create data-driven intuitive product content experiences. Zoomin’s data analysis tools can help you make better decisions about customer service software and provide a better customer service experience.
Though self-service technology is a great resource for businesses and consumers alike, even the best self-service technology has disadvantages. There are numerous advantages and disadvantages of self-service technology, just like most other forms of technology.
For example, self-service technology in the healthcare industry can help alleviate staffing issues by allowing patients to schedule their own appointments, access their own files, and answer simple questions without needing a medical professional. However, one of the disadvantages of self-service technology in healthcare is that sometimes customers need urgent help, and self-service doesn’t suffice.
Looking at another industry, there are advantages and disadvantages of self-service in restaurant environments. A disadvantage is that customers may feel ignored or not cared for if they have to do things like order drinks and food via a self-service portal. At the same time, customers may like not having to rely on waitstaff to come to their table, and it can also help alleviate issues with short staffing.
The advantages of customer self-service are evident by the statistics that show it is an efficient way for businesses to deliver support. In fact, there are many customer self-service statistics that demonstrate the value of this type of service. Whether you’re looking for customer service statistics to get an idea of what good customer service looks like, or you’re conducting self-service research of your own, there are many different resources that prove the effectiveness of customer self-service.
For instance, Zoomin notes that 52% of support cases can be avoided through great content experiences, 90% would recommend a product after a good content experience, and 70% of traffic goes to product content. If you don’t work to fix and enhance your product content experience, the customer journey will remain perpetually broken. This is why it’s critical to dig into the customer experience statistics for yourself, see the value of self-service firsthand, and look for ways to implement these tools and resources into your business.
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