The first choice for many consumers is now self-service. Studies have shown that almost 90% of clients anticipate a brand having its own service portal – and they prefer knowledge base enabled self-service channels such as FAQs.
Managing knowledge is critical to successful self-service, but it’s difficult to achieve it. However, it can be done, and the payoffs can be huge. Relevant research supports the idea that people prefer to help themselves rather than seeking help; it is therefore essential to offer exceptional self-service. This means that you can collect and quickly reach the answers to questions from your customers. Once objectives are established, a company needs to develop a process and the right instruments to collect and store the information and knowledge. Regardless of how this happens, critical knowledge must be stored in a user-friendly location and format.
The advantages of self-service:
A self-service customer portal is one of the most powerful applications for knowledge management. Customers receive quick answers, and call center agents can handle more complex queries and tickets free of charge. If agents can concentrate on more valuable cases, your business increases, and scales. Few other solutions offer a win-win situation.
The only way to get support from some organizations is to hang on the phone for long periods. With a self-service mindset, when customers have a problem with a product or service, their first idea is to go online and to find the necessary answers with FAQs, articles, manuals, videos, chatbots, and virtual assistants.
How can customer relationships be improved with knowledge management?
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is an integral element of the sales and service process. By managing knowledge, a business can track the number of calls, emails, questions asked and resolved, and the issues discussed most often. This will allow a company to see how customers usually interact with their products and services, allowing it to make any improvements necessary. The management of knowledge also increases customer satisfaction through self-service. For example, a FAQ page and personal account information can be entered on a website, removing the need to talk directly to an agent to help customers get their desired answers quickly. Customer feedback tools further optimize knowledge management. Feedback forms can be strategically placed on a website or included in an email, such as online surveys or opinion polls. If clients see a simple survey with the option to answer or not and are also able to see how others respond, they may be more likely to talk and share experiences.
Benefits of Knowledge Management in Customer Service:
- Fast and detailed responses to questions often asked.
- A personalized experience for customers. You can track past purchases and interactions, make custom suggestions, address customers by name, and create portal content addressing new issues using customized data.
- The possibility of building an online community where clients share information and support employees from your organization.
Adding Knowledge Management makes Customer Self Service easier
Customer self-service is a simple and effective way to build customer relationships and satisfaction. Unfortunately, over half of the customers find self-service portals difficult to use. If your self-service portal isn’t easy to use, the effort put into creating it is all for nothing because your customers won’t use it. Most clients can solve their own difficulties, but only if they know where to find information. The exceptional experience of customers can be achieved through a knowledge base software that provides simpler, easy-to-understand solutions to common issues. Customers have agreed on the fact that they would like to explore knowledge management tools if it is faster and convenient. Choosing a knowledge management system with self-service abilities that makes the flow much easier for customers is important.
A knowledge base for self-service also:
- Helps customers to carry out typical tasks with their live agents.
- Provides 24-hour support from whatever device you use on any channel, including chat, voice, e-mail, and social messaging applications, to anyone seeking assistance from where they are.
- The knowledge base of self-service is convenient and also carries complex functions.
Self-service in a modern contact center has become a requirement for success. You will not only meet your customers’ expectations, but you will also reduce costs to support your organization and improve your brand’s reputation.
Many measures can be used to measure the performance of your self-service portal. The most frequently used are:
- The proportion of contacts for live support compared to self-service options.
- How many times do customers go and visit a solution without requesting live support?
- The results of customer satisfaction are the main measure and are usually measured by surveys.
- When customers find what they need through self-service, they should lower their call volume trend or the number of customers per day.
Finally, your company should measure the savings from self-service. And, while monetary savings alone are of great value, the additional value should be seen in employee satisfaction and retention, driving additional savings.
Knowledge management for self-service changes the customer experience altogether. New-age customers want quick solutions to their queries and knowledge management tools to add pace to that method. Your knowledge management tool for self-service is not a substitute for great customer service. It is a great tool to help both your customers and their agents to add value and save you time and money in the short term. Regardless of how far you are at this stage, it is never too early (or too late) to begin strategically approaching your organization. An effective system of knowledge management assists clients in obtaining the right type of support and faster. Knowledge Management initiatives focus on achieving well-defined, achievable, and best practice goals that provide a competitive advantage over the long term in terms of improving customer experience overall. Incorporating Knowledge Management for Self Service in Customer Service is a huge step up for improving the customer experience. Which KM tools would you prefer for your business?
