There are five common myths in web self-service that often lead to poor business results, negative customer experiences and eventually, customer defections. Based on over a decade of experience in implementing self-service at world-class companies, eGain has developed best practices that businesses can leverage to get past these myths and maximize the business value from self-service, while enabling memorable customer experiences.

MYTH 1: "ONE SIZE FITS ALL" ONE WEB SELF-SERVICE METHOD FITS ALL CUSTOMERS

Believe this one and you're really in trouble. The truth is users prefer multiple ways to access information through self-service. There are pros and cons to each access method, and different situations warrant different approaches.

BEST PRACTICE: A multimodal approach to self-service dramatically improves self-service adoption. This entails providing the right access method, depending on customer preferences and skill level based on demographics and psychographics, problem type, and the customer lifecycle. Some of our leading clients have used the following approach to maximize self-service effectiveness: