It is not a secret that these days customers prefer to uncover their own answers, in their own time, and most would preferably find these answers on a self-service website portal compared to making a phone call. As a matter of fact, nearly 70% of consumers favour self-service instead of talking to an organisation. Providing a self-service support website can enrich customer satisfaction in a significant way.
There is moreover a tremendous negative aspect to not providing a self-service website portal. Clients are disappointed when they are unable to get what they want when they want it. Almost 80% of consumers have abandoned a transaction or not made a planned purchase due to a poor service experience. That will have an unfavourable effect on a small business.
So how do you build a self-service support website where visitors can effortlessly find answers?
If you've got the correct tools and processes, creating a support centre can be a simple and affordable way of supporting customers. Here are 4 steps to offering a self-service support experience that consumers will shout about enthusiastically.
1 Point Visitors to Your Support Page
This might seem like an obvious thing to say, but if your support site is likely to be effective, consumers must know where it is. Direct them there! The simplest way to get clients to begin using your site is to include self-service calls-to-action.
This may be more challenging for well established businesses that are starting a new support portal and must transition clients over. Start by incorporating links to your support centre on your company website, or by introducing links within your product or service pages.
You might also want to think about using a customer support or helpdesk apps that features a case deflection component, and whenever an individual submits a question, it immediately recommends appropriate support articles dependent on the words used in their question.
2 Ensure That You Incorporate the Most Appropriate Support Content
Your support hub is only beneficial if it has the solutions to problems your customers have. To use the most pertinent content, ensure that you tag related cases in your customer service dashboard, so you are aware when several customers are searching for the same information. Keep track of what people look for most often. If you do not currently monitor site searches, get it set up in Google Analytics.
Generally utilised self-service support resources include things like FAQs, a knowledge base with comprehensive product insight, community news, and step-by-step guidelines for solving problems. Establish what content will best help your clients resolve their problems, and then build it.
3 Make It Very Easy for Consumers To Obtain The Answers They Need
Once your visitors are making use of your support site, and you have produced the related content, you still must make it easy for them to find precisely what they need. Make sure each subject and article have a meaningful name that reflects the essential elements of the article and is tagged with the correct category so clients can find it regardless of whether they are just browsing or searching the database.
It is also vital that your content is crawlable, so consumers can find solutions through a Google search. A great way to make sure Google is searching your self-service content is to copy a string of words and do a Google search for it in quotes marks.
4 Keep your content relevant and up to date.
The content in your support website is never truly “complete.” it's essential to continually improve your articles to ensure that your support site is performing as hard as it can for your clients. Monitor what content is seen most frequently so you understand which articles you need to prioritise. It is best to plan scheduled, routine reviews of all your content and set expiry dates so you are compelled to revisit everything that you produce.
When 90% of consumers believe an organisation should provide a self-service customer support website portal, it is advisable to begin working on your self-service strategy. This is an easy way to reduce costs and enhance customer satisfaction.