Why Digital Self-Service Matters

Most customers (about 67%) prefer to use self-service options to address concerns instead of speaking to a customer service agent. According to a survey of 2,706 U.S. adult consumers, demand for self-service in telecom is up 21% post-Covid. Almost one-fifth (17%) of telecom customers churned because of ineffective self-service.

Digital self-service is essential for enhancing customer interactions and delivering effortless experiences. Today’s customers want to engage with your products and services on their terms, and digital self-service solutions let them do exactly that. Explore the benefits of digital self-service solutions and discover how your company can supercharge customer experience (CX) below.

What Is Digital Self-Service?

Digital self-service is the practice of using digital channels or systems to allow users to perform tasks, complete transactions and access information on their own. These channels may include:

• Websites (such as frequently asked questions and knowledge bases)
• Payment portals 
• Automated phone solutions (such as interactive voice response, or IVR)
• Mobile apps
• Social media
• Chatbots

Providing digital self-service solutions can significantly streamline your business’ operations. Consumers can independently find the right products or services, pay their bills and get answers to their customer service questions (e.g., how do I return an item or renew my contract)  without contacting your customer service team.

Providing self-service options helps customers enjoy greater convenience and efficiency, ultimately enhancing their overall experience with your business.

The Value of Digital Self-Service for Your Company

Introducing a digital self-service strategy has many values and advantages for your organization.

Enhancing Customer Experiences

Today’s customers expect every interaction with your brand to be quick and easy. Digital self-service solutions enhance CX by helping customers make or return purchases, pay bills, schedule appointments, update account information and get answers to their questions—all without calling your contact center.

By providing 24/7 support, these solutions make your business more accessible. They allow consumers to interact with your company on their terms, reducing common pain points like:

• • Long wait times

• • Limited availability of support agents

• • Repetitive service inquiries

• • Difficulty finding relevant resources

• • Inconvenient processes

Artificial intelligence-powered chatbots use customer data to provide personalized services, solutions and recommendations. Your business can use digital self-service to create more satisfying, convenient experiences for consumers.

Streamlining Processes

Efficient digital self-service:

• • Reduces contact center calls and associated operational costs.

• • Accelerates response times and service delivery.

• • Maximizes operational efficiency by standardizing processes.

• • Reduces your customer service team’s workload, allowing agents to focus on more complex inquiries.

Offering Your Customers Real-Time Availability

Digital self-service solutions provide convenient, around-the-clock support. Customers can get the information they need—and accomplish tasks like paying bills—on their own schedule, whatever time zone they’re in. This convenience goes a long way toward building loyalty.

Increasing Your Data Collection and Analysis

Another key benefit of digital self-service is the valuable data collection and analysis opportunities it presents. Your company can gather the following information as customers interact with self-service tools:

• • Interactions

• • Behaviors

• • Preferences

• • Pain points

You can leverage this data to improve your products, services and CX. As you analyze self-service trends in customer data, you can make data-driven decisions to optimize your processes. Consistently improving CX and self-service strategies enables you to meet evolving customer expectations.

Personalizing Offers and Support

Delivering hyper-personalized experiences is increasingly important to today’s consumers. Through digital self-service, your business can extend tailored recommendations and offers and provide proactive support based on each customer’s needs, preferences and interaction history. Tailored recommendations and promotions that align with a customer’s specific needs and interests can effectively increase the likelihood of conversion. Providing proactive, personalized customer support—such as a digital bill explanation tool that explains monthly charges and reasons for month to month changes in wireless bills—enhance CX and promote brand loyalty.

Boosting Scalability

Digital self-service options are highly scalable. This allows your business to respond to a growing volume of customer interactions without straining your personnel resources. Digital channels—including apps, chatbots and websites—can easily meet increasing demand without requiring your business to hire more people.

• • Scalability helps your company successfully

• • Serve a larger customer base.

• • Handle peak periods.

• • Tackle unexpected spikes in inquiries.

• • Expand into a global marketplace.

Digital self-service platforms are also flexible, which means they can accommodate your business’s changing needs while maintaining excellent service quality that promotes customer satisfaction.

Gaining a Competitive Advantage

Digital self-service solutions can help your business differentiate from competitors by making every interaction with your brand quick, convenient, and effortless—even after the sale. AI-powered chatbots and personalized product recommendations can help your company connect with its customers, drive growth with a competitive edge and establish itself as a leader in the digital age.

Current Digital Self-Service Trends

Digital self-service solutions are constantly evolving to incorporate advanced capabilities and deliver more impactful experiences. Explore some of the top digital self-service trends.

AI-Powered Chatbots

Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly useful for businesses looking to streamline customer service. AI-powered chatbots provide instant, personalized interactions and can execute simple tasks without requiring manual intervention.

Your business can leverage AI-powered chatbots to offer round-the-clock support and handle basic inquiries quickly and efficiently.

Omnichannel Self-Service Environments

By providing consumers with a consistent experience across multiple self-service channels, you can simplify how they interact with your business. Consistent interactions across each digital touchpoint—including your website, app, social media and chatbots—are essential for reducing frustration. Omnichannel self-service environments help consumers get what they want as quickly and easily as possible.

Augmented and Virtual Reality

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Your company can use AR and VR tools to extend the following to consumers:

• Virtual product tours
• Interactive product or service demonstrations
• Troubleshooting guides
• Remote assistance

These capabilities enhance the self-service experience and allow consumers to interact and engage with your offerings. Consumers can gain a deeper understanding of your products or services, ultimately increasing your sales, and diagnose and resolve technical problems (such as an internet outage) without waiting hours for a technician to arrive.