Self-service business strategy has leveled up customer services in the last years. With the right tools at the right moment, self-service can become a solution that customers need, not what companies think that customers need.
Technology advancement has enabled self-service to be widely practiced in various industrial sectors inventively. This type of service allows business to save cost and energy in the long run while, at the same time, it maintains customer service experience at an exemplary level.
Its wide popularity and revolutionary way to do things have put itself among one of the business and customer services trends in the upcoming years. Automatically, it potentially becomes one among the deciding factors of successful sales and engagement.
That said, self-service business is actually a double-edged sword. While it can work like a charm, it can also result in the opposite. Accordingly, here’s why self-service works and why it doesn’t.
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Why Self-Service Business Works
While in the past we had people pumped our gas, brought food to our tables, and helped us in money transactions, such services are getting fewer nowadays. In the current time, companies give options for customers to serve themselves, allowing efficiency, privacy, and autonomy.
From business perspective, organizations can reduce their live interaction and cost. This allows them to be more efficient in terms of time and money. Besides, today’s trend indicates that customers are more eager to accomplish things on their own first before asking for help.
In 2017, Harvard Business Review published a survey stating that 81% of customers attempt to troubleshoot themselves before reaching out to a live representative.
Why It Doesn’t Work
Besides being one of the potentials of future customer services, there is also a huge possibility that self-service would backfire. Rather than improving customer experience, it will do the opposite.
Accordingly, the most dominant reason why it doesn’t work is that companies tend to exploit self-service too much. Additionally, it is worth noting that there will always be situations where customers need the assistance of experts in the field.
Gartner’s 2019 study reported that 70% of customers implement self-service to solve difficulties they encountered. Of the figures, only 9% is able to do so.
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