Have you ever heard the expression less is more? The idea that having more specialized items versus a smorgasbord creates contentment. A perfect example of this is the food industry.
When it comes to food, opinions and preferences reach almost religious devotion and attention—people like what they like. But discovering new food can feel like an adventure. How do you find those mouthwatering delicacies amid a five-page menu? It is easy to get lost and overwhelmed by the options and information.
That same feeling is shared by customers looking for help and answers to questions.
Today’s digital age breeds information faster than rabbits. Just look at YouTube. About 3.7 million videos are uploaded daily. That’s around 720,000 hours (based on a 4.4-minute video average) of content for those of you counting at home. [1] There is no soul on the planet with the time or patience to sift through that much content.
According to Gartner research, 70% of consumers start their customer journey outside company channels. [2] In other words, if someone is looking to fix a VIZIO TV, they are referencing outside sources and channels rather than the VIZIO website 70% of the time. As these consumers search channels not created by the company at the heart of the issue, frustration can build and boil over.
Like a restaurant with a simple yet detailed menu crafted to make food selection easier, companies have an incredible opportunity to create a streamlined customer journey. But such a seamless customer experience (CX) is only possible if you have intelligent self-service that guides toward resolutions and doesn't lead customers astray.
Self-service that’s not intelligent isn’t worth having
Like an authentic Italian restaurant would not serve cheeseburgers or sweet and sour chicken, self-service offerings that don’t meet customer desires and needs will always fall short of their expectations. Every aspect of self-service should be developed with the customer in mind.
If companies want to deliver excellent service to the growing number of digital consumers, they must find a way to provide an experience that meets customers wherever they are. And they must find a solution that enables them to do so without increasing the cost of service. This is an uphill battle because only 15% of consumers are very satisfied with today’s self-service tools. [3]
Creating your CX menu requires planning the best routes so customers can reach a seamless resolution. But just like every menu, constant evaluation is necessary to ensure that the current offerings continue to meet the required needs.
A common mistake among self-service implementations is the belief that such systems take care of themselves once they are in place. There is extensive planning upfront, but minimal efforts are applied to evaluating the effectiveness of self-service long-term. With proper reporting and customer satisfaction measures, companies will know if their self-service options are user-friendly or functioning as intended.
Customers want to find answers independently but expect it to be fast and easy. The majority of customers (65%) prefer self-service for simple matters. [4] That’s nothing to sneeze at.
CX-leading companies with the best self-service systems intentionally place them at the start of the customer’s journey. Furthermore, they design self-service so the customer can easily connect with a live agent should the need arise. An effective self-service system is built with total consideration for the end user. Artificial intelligence (AI) acts as the backbone of smart self-service, with sophisticated and accessible technologies that support a fully integrated self-service experience.
These technologies allow for unparalleled data collection and customer insights so you can continually refine and improve each process. This allows for a shift in focus from reactive service recovery to proactive journey orchestration.
No more lost time spent on designing effective systems to set up your customer service team for success. Unintelligent self-service creates a vacuum of inefficient and broken processes, employee disengagement, and cost containment.
You need omnichannel capability to meet customers wherever they are
Accessibility is critical to success across any business. When restaurants are able and willing to accommodate the dietary requirements of individuals, they create loyal consumers. Customer service departments face a similar dilemma. Consumers are less likely to engage if companies don’t meet customers on their preferred channels or proactively meet their needs. In fact, 73% of Americans would be willing to go out of their way to a company with better customer service. [5]
To create a competitive experience in the digital age, the customer journey must be non-linear and hybrid, with digital touchpoints and channels incorporated alongside traditional avenues. It must also be a constant work in progress to account for upgrades, new channels, new customer demands, and redundant processes.
Customers expect the ease of switching from one channel to another. Perhaps they are chatting online with a bot while looking for a discount or coupon. Omnichannel capability would allow other digital channels, such as Facebook Messenger, SMS, or email, to distribute the discount via the customer’s channel of choice. That way, the interaction can seamlessly continue into another channel for a more straightforward resolution and delivery.
Real-time data from every customer touchpoint must be collected and analyzed to map and refine a compelling digital journey. With the right analytical tools, companies can see their products and brand through the eyes of the consumer. For the omnichannel organization, this means continued analysis of channel use and customer preferences to tailor communications in line with the personalization demands of customers.
Data-driven organizations create a better overall experience: They can personalize services, promptly resolve stalled journeys, and empower their agents. Omnichannel data is a treasure trove of customer insights waiting to be mined. It can reveal digital dead ends, enhance the employee experience, and better measure overall satisfaction.
Make sure you prepare for escalation
While most restaurant patrons will successfully self-serve from the menu, others may require the server’s assistance for suggestions and clarifications. With this expert assistance from a knowledgeable source, the customer will have greater success placing the correct order, making dinner a delight.
Customer service agents are still the lifeblood of the CX experience. Dana Shalev, head of product marketing for WEM at NICE, states, “A good agent experience will always compensate for a bad digital experience, whereas a good digital experience will not compensate for a bad agent experience. The effect a live agent can have on the customer is priceless.”
While customers prefer self-service, they may hit a point where they would rather speak with an agent. Or in other cases, what they need is so detailed and complicated that they NEED an agent. Your self-service menu should accommodate this—it should be able to escalate a customer from their self-service journey to agent-assisted if necessary.
If you don’t have this option, you’ll lose the customer. Not only should this transition be offered, but it should also be smooth. Agents should have all the necessary information to jump right into helping the customer, with no repetition required. In fact, NICE found 96% of customers expect companies to make the transition without repeating information.
Empowering agents in real-time is an effective way to provide high levels of personalized service and help make the agent experience easier. This is accomplished using tools like Enlighten AI with real-time interaction guidance that actively listens and objectively scores agent behaviors and prompts the agent with what to say or do next during a call if they are struggling.
Other tools, like real-time behavioral prompts, guide them on specific soft-skill behaviors and how to apply them in each interaction. These purpose-built behavioral models have been proven to influence overall customer sentiment—a predictive indicator of customer satisfaction—by showing empathy, building rapport, demonstrating ownership, acknowledging loyalty, active listening, etc.
Companies that implement best-in-class practices for agent engagement and performance management outperform competitors in terms of customer satisfaction by 70%. They drive results with a 2.3x greater annual improvement in agent productivity, a 2.4x annual improvement in customer profit margins, and a 2.3x annual improvement in customer spending over organizations that haven’t implemented these practices. These companies also reduce the time and money spent on recruiting, training, and replacing the agents who serve as the organization's voice.
In a nutshell…
Creating the right self-service menu is an integral part of the customer experience—whether you’re in food service or customer service. A positive CX interaction can form a lasting impression for years to come. On the other hand, 41% of consumers will leave for a competitor after two negative interactions, according to NICE research.
Self-service is more than just an informative, well-placed FAQ page or a bot that guides toward solutions. It is a chance to empower every consumer. This is the stage where companies can shine brightest, showing they know what their customers want and need.
Don’t leave your customer to fend for themselves in the content-saturated world, blindly grasping for answers. Create a self-service menu that allows consumers to pick and choose what they want, when they want it, delivering exceptional CX every time.
For effortless self-service leading to extraordinary results, check out this eBook today.
[1] Oberlo: 10 YouTube stats every marketer should know (2022)
[2] Gartner: The 6 Types of Customer Service Issues and How to Resolve Them (2020)
[3] NICE: Digital First CX Report (2022)
[4] Salesforce State of the Connected Customer (2020)
[5] Shep Hyken: The 2021 ACA Study: Achieving Customer Amazement (2021)