What is customer self-service?

An increasingly critical component of the customer experience, self-service options are designed to provide convenience, reduce wait times and improve customer satisfaction. Where early iterations of customer self-service involved one-way communications such as knowledge bases and FAQs, more sophisticated technologies today are revolutionizing the self-service field. As a subset of a company’s help desk, these tools are useful given the high volumes of customer requests, each requiring personalized attention.

Successful self-service options provide consistent experiences across channels and provide intuitive, rapid support. Virtual assistants and interactive voice response (IOVP) systems powered by artificial intelligence (AI) provide real-time assistance at scale. Meanwhile, virtual agents frequently deploy automation tools to fulfill routine customer requests such as password changes or simple technical assistance. Customer self-service can take place across various support channels, including email, chatbots, support websites, apps and over the phone.

The increase in self-service support options correlates to both increased consumer satisfaction and lower costs for the businesses that use them, whether the organization is consumer-facing or B2B. (For instance, only around 20% of B2B buyers say they ever want to interact with a sales rep in person again.¹) According to McKinsey, two-thirds of millennials expect real-time service and 3 quarters of all customers expect consistent omnichannel service experiences.²

AI and automation technologies are particularly adept at creating these on-demand, multi-channel self-service options. According to a report from the IBM Institute for Business Value, 97% of communication service providers using virtual agent technology to address routine requests saw an increase in customer satisfaction. Moreover, according to recent research from Salesforce, self-service resources resolve an estimated 54% of customer issues, significantly reducing support costs.

As these tools have become more popular, they have changed the nature of customer support work. Organizations today often prioritize the integration of self-service tools with human customer service teams and carefully map the customer journey. These practices help ensure a positive user experience and identify critical touchpoints for elevating issues to a human agent. 

Self-service solutions span channels and deploy several technologies to provide instant, relevant support. Over time, these tools have become increasingly interactive. Where a customer might once have visited a frequently asked question site to troubleshoot a common problem, now they might chat with a purpose-built AI tool providing personalized help in natural language.

Additionally, kiosks and self-checkout technologies have become nearly ubiquitous in settings such as grocery stores, providing self-service experiences in brick-and-mortar stores. Some of the most common forms of customer self-service tools include:

These AI-powered tools trained on vast amounts of customer interaction data provide instant, real-time responses to inquiries. A virtual agent, for instance, might automatically generate an internal support ticket based on a user’s troubleshooting query. A virtual assistant might lead them through the purchasing or issue resolution process in conversational language, providing relevant information based on a customer’s input. With the additional power of generative AI, virtual assistants have become more proficient in assisting customers with complex requests.

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Interactive voice response (IVR) systems are automated telephone systems that interact with customers over the phone. Customers navigate options by speaking or pressing keys on their phones. These systems can handle repetitive inquiries such as account balances, pricing and order tracking, as well as routine calls to the correct department or resource should live support become necessary. IVR reduces wait times and frees up customer support agents for more complex inquiries, providing customers with consistent responses for standard issues.

One of the simplest venues for customer self-service, these platforms provide a repository of product information and answers to common questions or problems, usually on a website or app. This type of self-service content might include knowledge-based articles, tutorials or frequently asked questions.

Increasingly, businesses use AI tools to identify potential pieces of FAQ page content using customer interaction data. For more technical products, such as software, organizations might provide in-depth tutorials or other learning opportunities and certifications. To guarantee that customers can find these pages easily, an organization might turn to search engine optimization (SEO) to help their pages rank higher when a customer types a company name into a search bar.

Self-service portals are online platforms that function as a central repository where customers manage their accounts, place orders or track deliveries. They provide a single-entry point through which customers can view status updates, request changes or view their account histories. 

As a form of indirect customer self-service, forums have historically allowed consumers to troubleshoot collectively or receive answers to customer questions from an organization’s support agents. These forums can be a useful tool for consumers to share information and experiences and are often moderated by company representatives or dedicated community members. These peer-to-peer support models can act as a repository of information, where past discussions can help future users. They also build a sense of community and loyalty among customers, encouraging collaboration and user-driven information. 

Kiosks are physical, self-service stations placed in locations such as retail stores, airports or grocery stores. They allow customers to perform specific tasks without interacting with staff. These stations work independently, reducing the need for onsite staff, and speed up transactions to reduce lines. 

Customer self-service has become an essential strategy for businesses to enhance customer experiences while optimizing their own operations. Some of the key benefits of customer self-service include: 

Self-service options provide customers with the freedom to resolve issues or obtain information at their own pace without waiting for assistance. These tools facilitate 24-hour support and eliminate the need to wait on hold or for an email response. Also, many self-service offerings, such as virtual assistants and knowledge bases, can be configured to tailor responses based on individual needs, providing a more personalized experience. 

Customer self-service tools significantly enhance the accuracy of information and transactions. By eliminating human error, these systems ensure consistent data input and reduce mistakes caused by manual processing or miscommunication. 

Customer self-service reduces wait times by empowering users to handle their own needs. These systems streamline several processes across the customer journey, enabling quick support for customers and reducing support team workload. This enables faster issue resolution and allows support staff to focus on more complex issues, improving overall productivity. 

Providing customer self-service options creates a better customer experience, which can draw in new customers. By enabling customers to help themselves, businesses can meet consumer demand for instant solutions, boosting customer satisfaction and loyalty. 

Self-service solutions can significantly reduce operational expenses while maintaining or improving service quality. This results in lower labor costs as automated systems handle repetitive tasks, minimizing the need for large support teams. Also, performing analysis on existing self-service processes is often optimized as a business across the board. According to the IBM Institute for Business Value, a communication service provider estimated it saved USD 5 million on operations by extracting relevant data from its service calls.

Self-service tools can handle large volumes of inquiries with minimal additional resources, allowing organizations to scale on an as-needed basis. These automated systems can manage large numbers of requests simultaneously and serve customers worldwide without the need for additional infrastructure. 

Customer self-service builds loyalty by providing customers with a range of relevant options and meeting their expectations for rapid, personalized service. According to a recent report from Salesforce, for instance, 61% of consumers prefer to use self-service options for simple requests, while 54% of issues can be resolved without interaction with a human agent.³

The integration of automation technologies and AI functionality into customer self-service has made these systems more adaptive and user-friendly. AI’s ability to process and analyze large datasets in real-time enhances personalization and problem resolution for complex issues, which translates into a superior customer experience.

Organizations using these innovations can provide 24-hour support and reduce operational costs while continuously improving their self-service experience. Purpose-built AI tools, such as virtual assistants trained on a company’s own data, offer round-the-clock support and step-by-step troubleshooting, while AI-assisted knowledge bases can use natural language processing to interpret customer queries and surface contextually relevant training.

Critically, AI also facilitates predictive and proactive assistance rather than reactive processes. AI tools can analyze previous customer interactions and suggest next steps based on historical data, notify customers of maintenance updates before they become a problem or alert customer service teams of issues with a product or service. 

Customer self-service options can empower customers to solve their own issues quickly and efficiently. With thoughtful design, they enhance customer experience while reducing the burden on customer service representatives. Some key best practices for an effective self-service strategy include: 

Over the last decades, and particularly since 2020, customers have evolved to expect personalization in their interactions with the businesses they rely on. As many as 80% desire personalization in their retail experiences.⁴ Research suggests organizations that personalize their customer experiences at scale stand to significantly increase both customer loyalty, which increases retention, and share-of-wallet across the board.

Using AI, organizations can provide this kind of personalization in real-time, tailoring recommendations and communication based on customer history and preferences. This also allows them to scale their self-service options without radically reorganizing workflows. 

Proactive organizations will use analytics to identify commonly used search engine terms or gaps in their knowledge bases, refreshing and updating content regularly to address emerging customer needs. For example, a company might notice an uptick in troubleshooting requests from a chatbot related to a new product rollout and write a series of new tutorials to address a common issue, ensuring that whether a customer is using an AI agent or searching the internet for an answer, they can quickly find the relevant information they need. 

If self-service fails, it’s critical that a customer has quick and easy access to a live customer service agent. A seamless transition to human support ensures customers don’t get stuck or frustrated. This might involve clearly displaying options to chat with a live agent or using automated systems to route users through the escalation process.

Proactively identifying customer needs through analytics ensures self-service tools address common issues effectively. This might mean using data from customer interactions, such as search queries or support tickets, to identify frequently asked questions or recurring issues. By using predictive analytics, organizations can anticipate customer needs based on historical patterns and optimize content to reflect current customer concerns. 

Regularly evaluating the effectiveness of self-service tools helps ensure they meet customer expectations and improve over time. This might include measuring metrics such as resolution rate, customer satisfaction scores, average handling time and customer retention after using self-service tools. Successful organizations will also solicit feedback through surveys, ratings and comment sections to understand customer satisfaction and identify areas for improvement.