Self-service customer support for small businesses

Self-service customer support is only for large corporations, myth or truth?   Myth – it is not only critical for small business but also affordable; in fact as a small business you can’t afford to ignore it. To get your business self-service ready, follow these simple steps;

Cover your basics

Before you explore self-service take time to analyze what in your organization customer service in fact “is”. If you are not sure whether you have your basics covered, please read our previous post about shared inbox for customer support. If any problems mentioned in the article are familiar challenges, I recommend you address those fundamentals before you think about self-service.

Pay attention to User Experience

The differentiator in today’s competitive market is customer experience; ensure that you provide obvious value to your customers. Customers tend to adapt self-service easily when they see value for them in the service. It’s all about the customer and ease of use and integration into their busy lives. Experience will affect behaviour. Self service is meant to enhance the customer experience, increase your efficiency and lower your costs.  How many times have you been asked to see the customer service agent while you try to print baggage tag at the airport kiosk? I bet next time you are at the airport you will bypass the kiosk to avoid wasting time, and go straight to the agent.  Not effective, not efficient and no cost saving – Self Service has to be done right and it’s not hard to do it right with the right product and the right application.

Backup plan

Nothing is perfect, so a simple pro-active contingency plan is your insurance when self-service fails. Use the opportunity to go the extra mile to “wow” your customers.

If you are thinking about self-service and would like to get started. Signup for a FREE 30 days trial of Freshdesk.