Get an A+++ in CX and smarter self-service using AI, automation, and analytics

by Tamsin Dollin

January 14, 2022

Contact centers that offer customer self-service typically measure containment, which—considering the definition of the word—may seem like a strange tactic to take with customers. As it happens, containment is a key measure of self-service effectiveness: it’s the percentage of customers who begin and end in self-service tools without transferring to an agent.

Oxford Languages defines containment as "the action of keeping something harmful under control or within limits.”

Words matter more than you’d think. Unfortunately, too many businesses take the word “containment” too literally, trapping customers in a self-service version of a mandatory, locked-door detention. (Did scenes from The Breakfast Club just run through your head?)

Instead of “containing” customers, organizations should focus on making these customers successful in their self-service journeys by leveraging AI, analytics, and automation. A shift in mindset from trapping customers to empowering them enables businesses to optimize the customer experience and fully realize the benefits of effective self-service.

Customer loyalty may just rely on your ability to help customers avoid contacting live customer service. Your customers actively grade the quality of your self-service—and a mere passing score isn’t enough to keep them coming back for more. The skin in the CX game today is surpassing customer expectations altogether.

We’ll show you how to get an A+++ in your CX and self-service game.

Do customers really want to solve their own problems with self-service?

The short answer: a resounding YES.

In the current age of instant gratification, consumers expect companies to be available 24/7 through self-service channels. They're no longer as willing to wait for a contact center to open to receive help, and most would rather forgo speaking with a live agent altogether.

Most issue resolution journeys begin before a customer reaches out to the contact center. Search engines and the business's website are often the first places people look to for help. In fact, 8 out of 10 consumers try to handle matters themselves before contacting a live service agent.[i]

However…

When it comes to simple tasks such as scheduling an appointment or ordering pizza, over 60% of consumers prefer using self-service over agent assistance.[ii] It can be empowering for people to take care of business themselves, and it's extremely convenient to be able to perform tasks exactly when, where, and how you want.

Consumers also factor self-service into decisions about who to purchase from. Our research found that 84% of consumers are more willing to do business with companies that offer self-service options.[iii]

So, yes—people really do want to solve their own problems. In fact, the demand is so great that, according to Statista, 89% of enterprises today offer at least one self-service application.[iv]

How do businesses win customer loyalty with self-service?

Implementing effective self-service is an escalating priority. It's been discussed within the contact center circuit for years, but more and more businesses now invest in DIY channels. As it stands, 90% of companies are actively planning or in the midst of applying AI and machine learning technology to customer interactions within the next 3 years. The current prediction: by 2023, 40% of all customer interactions will be automated.[v] Companies that don't prioritize self-service implementation risk getting left behind.

But consumer demand and competitive parity aren't the only reasons businesses should implement self-service. DIY channels can also yield significant business benefits. Organizations that offer AI-powered self-service often experience the advantageous results, such as:

Improved customer experience and satisfaction. Given how many customers prefer to solve their own problems and answer their own questions, self-service that's effective will likely result in better experiences and happier customers (assuming businesses don't keep customers unnecessarily contained).

Increased revenue. When self-service can make personalized product recommendations, businesses can see a meaningful increase in revenue. Agents might be hesitant about cross-selling and upselling, but automated self-service tools enthusiastically recommend products 100% of the time. Because of this and other capabilities, Aberdeen estimates that businesses with effective self-service can realize a 4% improvement revenue.[vi]

Decreased service costs through lower agent-assisted volume. The average agent-assisted interaction costs $8.01, while self-service transactions average $0.10.[vii] That's a substantial difference.

As an example of how those savings add up, Coca-Cola realized an 85% reduction in cost per interaction by moving their B2B customers online.[viii] And diverting volume to self-service in the midst of a labor shortage relieves overworked agents and delivers timelier assistance to customers.

Improved agent experience. In addition to relieving agents of overwhelming workloads, self-service also reduces the number of mundane transactions agents must deal with. When customers handle their own simple tasks, agents are left to solve the more challenging and interesting interactions.

A common misstep: automating the wrong tasks

Not all self-service initiatives are successful. It can prove difficult to design effective self-service solutions. Common reasons self-service tools fail include poorly designed navigation, lack of contextual help, and, of course, excessive "containment."

One of the top reasons self-service initiatives fail is because organizations try to automate the wrong tasks. Not every interaction type is a good candidate for self-service, and choosing the wrong ones can be a recipe for DIY disaster.

The best transactions to automate with self-service technology are simple, repetitive, and predictable. For example, resetting a password has specific rules that don't vary, and that's why most websites have self-service password reset functionality. The same goes for ordering products, checking delivery status, requesting a product return or refund, and finding out when your utility bill is due.

Companies head down the wrong path when they try automating tasks that need human judgment and problem-solving skills. For example, requesting an exception to a payment policy or troubleshooting why a mysterious charge appeared on a customer’s bill aren't good self-service tasks. They require delving a layer deeper to resolve the issue.

The processes that organizations use to select self-service tasks are frequently manual and therefore prone to error. Choosing self-service transactions from a high-level rollup of contact types doesn't always provide the information needed to make good decisions.

How to make self-service effective using AI, analytics, and automation

The first key to self-service effectiveness is to change the mindset from trapping your customers to helping fulfill their needs successfully. When you focus on customer success, the results follow naturally.

Next, use modern technology to design your self-service solutions and enhance the customer experience.

Analytics can help businesses avoid the trap of automating the wrong tasks. Unfortunately, according to McKinsey, most organizations "are not applying advanced analytics in ways that truly put the customer first."[ix] An effective way to achieve a customer-first approach is to identify the right DIY tasks and then design and implement the best tools to help customers reach their goals.

Advanced analytics can help businesses better understand the customer journey, what they want and how they feel as they try to transact with the company, and why they contact customer service—all of which can help organizations identify self-service opportunities. By automating the best tasks right out of the gate, businesses accelerate benefits and avoid costly, repetitive cycles of trial and error.

Leveraging agent-assisted interactions can help businesses pinpoint the "best tasks," but manual analysis and using high-level reporting data isn't enough. A job this important requires AI-powered analytics tools.

Interaction analytics software analyzes every interaction from all channels and provides a multitude of insights regarding what customers say and feel. Interaction analytics tools zero in on common keywords to identify contact drivers at a very detailed level. This improves the speed and accuracy of identifying appropriate self-service tasks.

Artificial intelligence also enhances the self-service tools themselves. For example, when online virtual agents use AI and natural language processing (NLP), they provide a more dynamic scope of transaction options than static menu-driven bots, and can even understand the intent of what customers say they're trying to do.

Similarly, conversational IVRs that use AI and NLP allows callers to say what they want to do in everyday language. This provides a more natural customer experience and enables callers to avoid the endless detention of poorly designed phone menus.

We’d definitely call that an A+++ in CX.

Self-service solutions are also made more effective by automation. Automating backend processes allows businesses to expand the number of tasks that customers complete through self-service. For example, for customers to activate a new debit card or file a new insurance claim through self-service, there need to be backend processes that support those tasks. Using end-to-end automation streamlines the whole self-service process and experience and also increases accuracy.

Finally, design DIY solutions so that it's easy and frictionless for customers to take a path to agent assistance. Don't contain them so well that they become frustrated and head to a competitor who claims to offer better CX. Half of customers that begin their resolution journey in self-service end with an agent,[x] so businesses should plan for and design the path of least resistance to resolution. Consumers expect omnichannel customer experiences, which means when a self-service customer transfers to an agent, the agent should have access to details of the conversations and interactions that took place in the previous channel.

Ultimately, self-service will be effective when it's designed with the customer in mind. Focusing on empowering them to successfully accomplish their goals and "graduate" summa cum laude from the school of self-service will earn businesses an A+++ in CX.

Learn more

A half-baked digital platform isn’t enough to keep up with the demands of a digital world. Often, what’s really required is a system that keeps up with thousands of simultaneous interactions and can meet customer needs and match the complexity of every exchange.

Check out these short videos to learn how you can implement a knowledge management platform to upscale your self-service and deliver impactful customer experiences 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.