subject: A Web Self-service Tool [print this page] These days, since businesses are expected to provide personal service and form relationships with thousands of customers, self-service tools are a blessing.
No matter how great your customer care is, if youre not offering support on the Web, your customers are left wondering why. Many experts agree that having self-service is one of the cornerstones of establishing an e-business presence.
The Self-Service model is founded on the principal of enabling customers, partners and employees to obtain information or conduct transactions directly over the Internet, avoiding time-consuming and costly traditional processes involving multiple verbal or written interactions.
Self-service provides control, performance, convenience and efficiency. This is because customers can perform tasks themselves when they want to through a secure, customized self-service web site. This 247 coverage provides convenience to customers while reducing customer service costs to businesses.
Although it has been known for some time that a good self-service program can increase financial returns and maximize customer satisfaction, some businesses have even discovered self-service can have a positive impact on their businesses in areas beyond customer care, in particular marketing, product management and customer information access.
Self-Service clearly has become the norm these days for businesses to remain competitive. Companies that dont provide consistently high quality service in all channels will find their customers returning to the faithful and expensive telephone or defecting to the competition. Interestingly, although a phone call can be as much as 22 times more expensive than a self-service transaction, an even bigger long-term issue is the lost revenue opportunity from customers that never return at all.
