We all want great self-service. Customers like it for convenience; companies like it because it can short-circuit expensive agent support.

Unfortunately, great self-service is hard to find. Often it is a frustrating experience that drives customers back to the phone. Through many years of successful self-service implementations, KANA has developed four simple principles to help you eliminate customer frustration and deliver self-service that focuses on how customers want to do business with you.

PRINCIPLE 1: AVOID DUMB SELF-SERVICE

While this principle seems obvious, it's dumb self-service that customers typically get. There is a simple reason for this. Too often, self-service is equated with Google-like searching where customers see every possible answer related to a search term. Customers are not however, interested in the search-hit smorgasbord-they want a qualified answer.

Self-service must do more than parse language with keyword and natural language searching. Intelligent self-service helps a customer define what is most important and uses this knowledge to recommend solutions tailored to the question. It offers multiple retrieval methodologies for finding appropriate answers in the shortest amount of time, such as clarifying questions, diagnostic scripts that change dynamically depending on response, and results lists presented in an order determined by experts.

For example, intelligent self-service can refine results for a broad search on the word "retirement" with a series of questions: "What age do you want to retire? Is tax deferral important? Do you need guaranteed income?" Based on the answers, intelligent self-service filters the initial list of suggestions to recommend the most appropriate product.

PRINCIPLE 2: ELIMINATE DEAD-END SELF-SERVICE

In theory, self-service is perfect for getting answers to customers quickly and cost-effectively. In practice, self-service alone cannot deliver great customer service. Customers will always need agent assistance when they require further clarification. If self-service is a dead-end with no connection to the contact center, customers will skip it and head straight for the phone.

Self-service must be part of a larger service strategy that offers choice through multiple online channels, such as email and live chat. However not all email and chat solutions are created equal. Those solutions that effectively complement self-service combine streamlined message handling with higher response accuracy and consistency. For example, chat should offer web page cobrowsing so that agents can walk self-service customers through online activities. Email management should provide content analysis to automatically suggest responses and minimize the time agents spend understanding and replying. Agents should be able to include links to self-service solutions in chat or email replies to keep customers within the self-service session and encourage use.

PRINCIPLE 3: DON'T MAKE THE CUSTOMER SAY IT AGAIN

A multi-channel strategy can increase self-service adoption because it offers the security that agent help is just a click away. Unfortunately, multiple channels can exacerbate the one thing we all hate-being asked to repeat information. Everybody's time gets wasted when email and chat messages ping-pong back and forth or customers on the phone labor through the explanation once more.

Multiple channels must offer both choice and seamless interactions. Seamlessness is particularly crucial to self-service, because customers have invested time trying to find an answer. The last thing they want is start over. When a self-service customer escalates an inquiry, the agent needs a complete customer history across all channels, right down to search terms entered, pages visited, solutions viewed, and responses given. When multi-channel service is this seamless, agents can pick up at the exact point where a customer left off, pushing the resolution process forward immediately and eliminating annoying repetition.

PRINCIPLE 4: DO IT RIGHT OR PLAN ON MORE CALLS

It takes only one bad self-service experience to turn a customer into a loyal phone user. You can offer intelligence, choice, and channel seamlessness, but if implementation is wrong, customers will not trust or use it. There are several keys to successful implementation. First, with its proven track record in successful self-service, KANA can help you create and implement a self-service strategy that exceeds the quality of service customers expect. Second, consider implementing self-service in the contact center to fine-tune the experience with agents before offering it to customers. Third, select and tailor retrieval methodologies to support the level of sophistication your customers want. Finally, provide a convenient escalation channel for additional support.

Intelligent, connected, seamless, and well-implemented self-service-it's not just the route to efficiency, but the key to satisfied customers who will reward your company with more business and long-term loyalty.