Self-service is in one of a strategy in customer experience development and you certainly knowing that why it’s popular. From google search for word formatting or formula of excel to traveling through Blablacar or enjoying coffee at Starbucks. It’s everywhere.
Why not, as you know that it Increase firm productivity while reducing the cost of service delivery. For example, one research stated that 2.5 employees replaced by one kiosk in grocery store, in banking cost can reduce 1.5 € to .2 cent by onsite banking to online banking.
Other than productivity, there are numerous advantages of self-service channels for customers, such as an increased convenience (i.e., through greater accessibility and availability) and improved control during the service process etc. So here I am going to illustrate some important points which may help you, in your mission self-service 2016.
Fundamental of Service Channel
Fundamental of Service Channel
Background understanding
Necessary element of successful self-service
Drawback of Self Service
Recommendation for effective Self Service Channel
Fundamental of Service Channel
Fundamental understanding of service channel is very important for service channel design, so generally speaking you can categories your service channel as
Fundamental understanding of service channel is very important for service channel design, so generally speaking you can categories your service channel as
· Personal assistance/service
· Remote Service
· Self-Service
And every category can be sub categories base on marketing strategy such as push channel or pull channel, and different medium you can use for every service channel such as
· Web
· Telephone
· Billboard
· Print
· Post
· Physical Help Desk/Branch
And the different medium of communication can be further classified but I am not going to explain it further as I trust your knowledge and geeking skills! J
Background understanding is important
Some theoretical knowledge may help you to choose better service channel according to your own circumstances;
· Media richness theory
· Media synchronicity theory
· Channel expansion theory
Necessary element of successful self-service
There are certain important factors to consider before stablishing or analyzing your self-service. This factor can be explained as
· Customer Need and Firm objective
· Technological Efficiency
· Technological Efficiency
· Easy to use Interface
· Customer context and life
· Customer Ability and culture
Efficient use of technological and customer understanding is the key factor in the development of an effective self-service hence lack of any of this element may lead to failure of a project.
Firm-provided resources such as the unique capabilities of the utilized channel, and privately accessed resources such as the consumers’ unique knowledge, skills, and abilities to use this channel effectively in a particular situation
You can classify your self-service channel as per your need and customer back ground
· Web base Self-service channel such as FAQ
· Technology based self-service channels such as IVR
There are two focal aspects characterize a technology-based self-service channel. First and foremost, technology-based self-service channels entail a mere interaction between customer and technology.
Second, self-service channels require customers to become increasingly involved in the service process and deliver the service through the mere interaction with the firm’s automatic system. Customers are not only cocreators of value in self-service channels, but also active coproducers of the core offering itself.
Drawback of Self Service
Self-service channels are lean, highly standardized, and do not include personalized attention to customer needs. For Example, FAQ allow customers to get an answer to common problems encountered by customers.
As these FAQs are very standardized, they do not allow customers to interpret any other cues (e.g., trustworthy behavior, comforting voice, etc.) than the ones provided by the firm’s Web site. Moreover, this Web-based self-service does not allow personalized attention to the individual question at hand and does not (necessarily) offer immediate feedback to the specific problem.
Most often self-service is not an interactive mode of communication where a customer can discuss their problem and find detail and immediate solution, which offer high personalization, familiarity, personal recognition, friendship and social support in real-time, observational & easy to determine conclusions.
The more equivocal a message, the more cues and data needed to interpret it correctly. For example, a simple message intended to arrange a meeting time or feedback could be communicated in a short email, but a more detailed message such as complaints would be better communicated through personal assistance channel or face-to-face interaction.
A research on Channel preference on customer dissatisfaction level, researchers found that highly dissatisfied customer prefer to meet a representative of a firm rather using remote or web base service.
A research on Channel preference on customer dissatisfaction level, researchers found that highly dissatisfied customer prefer to meet a representative of a firm rather using remote or web base service.
Research on complex industrial (business-to-business) service settings has shown that an appropriate match of service and service type results in improved customer loyalty, as an appropriate use of rich media can create personal linkages through the rich interaction and socialization of customer and provider and vice versa.
Research shows that (kumar and telang 2012) Self-service channel should be most appropriate for simple, unambiguous tasks, as too complex and ambiguous tasks confuse self-service customers and consequently also increase the additional use of the call center.
Recommendation for effective Self Service Channel
With my own experience, I observe that customers who rarely use self-service offerings and customers who mostly use self-service offerings within the same time-span are more likely to defect in fact same proved by some researcher also.
Customers should be able to derive the most value from self-service channels when these lean and highly standardized channels are used for easy and repetitive tasks.
Using service channels for such an easy task would not only decrease customers’ contact beliefs (i.e., inappropriate duration, too much information, unnecessary intimacy), but also deprive them of the benefits self-service channels offer.
Match the desired of level of customer involvement with the self-service channel. Keep the individual characteristics and resources of a customer, the resource requirements of a task, and the unique capabilities of a service channel in mind
You should complement technology-based self-service channels with (personal) service relationships to offset the possibly detrimental effects of arm’s-length relationships. Customers can derive from different service channels over the duration of their relationship to a provider instead of merely pushing customers toward potentially more cost-efficient self-service channels.
Some customer groups are inherently more frail than others. You should investigate the frailty levels of your customer segments by making full use of information on customers’ characteristics and usage history.
Second, you should ensure that each customer segment is addressed appropriately. That is, you should pay close attention to what type of tasks different customer segments are willing to perform by themselves.
New customers, who merely display interest in self-service channels and share a high risk to defect, for instance, could be encouraged to experience personal service channels as well.
Long-term customers, who merely show interest in personal service channels, on the other hand, should be informed about the benefits of self-service channels and also be familiarized with their use.
However, given that customers’ unique capabilities play a central role in the value they can derive from a particular channel, it is important to note that you also need to learn how to unlock these capabilities and actively foster customer learning for resource integration
To conclude;
1) You should clear about firm objective while designing self service
2) You should investigate the frailty levels of your customer segments by making full use of information on customers’ characteristics and usage history
3) You should ensure that each customer segment is addressed appropriately
4) You should ensure that your service channel fit with customer need
5) “Two is better than one” Channel Mix strategy always perform better so try to complement self-service channels with (personal) service relationships to offset the possibly detrimental effects of arm’s-length relationships
And If you are stuck anywhere in your mission or need any assistance than please don’t hesitate to contact me. I would love to help you.
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