Self-service: do customers want to help themselves?

Studies of customer feedback tell us that more and more customers prefer self-service over contacting a support agent; and as our infographic illustrates, a whopping 91% say they would use a knowledge base if it met their needs. This is great news for businesses; self-service is the fastest and most cost-effective way to customer support.

Thankfully, companies that want to capitalize on this trend have plenty of examples of other businesses that have knocked customer self-service out of the park. How did these companies optimize the information available to customers? Simply put, they follow clear self-service best practices that focus on removing barriers to the kind of information customers need, such as making site navigation a snap via logical content categories and creating eminently searchable content that features clear, accurate headlines.

But here’s the kicker: companies that fail to meet expectations for robust customer self-service will end up paying for larger support teams, since data shows that customers who can’t access the answers they need will pick up their mobile phones to talk with an agent. So while creating an easy-to-use customer self-service portal isn’t free, doing so will drive customer engagement at a fraction of the cost. And in an ultra-competitive marketplace where the company with the best customer self-service information will likely come out on top, can your business afford to ignore this trend?