What do we mean by self-service support?

Episode Transcript

Moderator:  Hi welcome to One Question with UpTop Health and today’s article is “UX puts customer support in the users’ hands”. After reading this article, the question I have is “What do you guys mean by self service support?” Craig, could you start off please?

Craig: Thanks. When you think self service support, it’s thinking from your perspective or the user’s perspective – think of yourself as an individual, who has bought a product or wants to buy product, is using a product or service and needs support on that. Self-service is where you’re able to, at the lowest level, go in and troubleshoot your problem. It could be text-based FAQ’s that then walk you through instructions on how to fix or troubleshoot your problem. At a more advanced level it could be a wizard to help you identify the right configuration or identify the right product to select. It could also be a self-service chatbot or knowledge base.

The goal or the connecting point for all of them are that you as the user get to interact with that solution or that support/service when you want, how you want, and on the device that you want, if you will, without having to adhere to an 8 to 5 schedule that the call center might require, and without having to send an email and wait for a response, and without having to talk to somebody. That’s what I think about when I think of self-service from a UX and end-user perspective, Mike?

Michael: Yeah, I like to use the cable company as an example because I’ve had so many bad experiences, more bad experiences than good. Pretend it’s 9 p.m. on a Friday and the TV programming stops and it flashes an error code on the screen. It’s typical to want to pick up the phone, especially the older generation, and engage with a customer rep. I’ve had this issue before and really wanted to resolve it instantly. For me, I like to just hop online and Google that error code to figure out what it is. But for the traditional person who likes to call in, it’s 9 p.m. and the call center is closed. What do they do?

Self-service methods help provide multiple ways to get that self-support; whether it’s phone, as you mentioned Craig, or the email option, an in-depth support knowledge base, and a lot of companies now offer 24/7 chat. Having the flexibility for different types of users to really solve their issue, depending on the situation regardless of the time is really helpful and provides a great user experience. I’ve been in work meetings before, on the phone, while I’m chatting with my cable company trying to figure something out. So, it’s all dependent on the situation and that’s what I think it means by putting customer support in the users hands.

The last thing I’d like to add is the primary objective is to reduce the effort for that customer. If you can focus on that as the goal, then you can start thinking through how you want to achieve that based on what the customers’ needs are, who they are, and how they want to interact with you on an ongoing basis.

Moderator: Thanks guys.

Craig/Michael: Thank you.