Keeping the Self-Service Portal Relevant
TeleworkPH
Published: May 3, 2022
The self-service portal is a tool that you’ll want your customers to use. But what is it and why is it so important to make sure that it stays updated and kept relevant? And how can you do it economically and effectively?
Obviously, one of the fastest ways to get to resolution is by removing certain layers that stand in the way. For instance, when a customer gets the agent on the phone. Before reaching a resolution, one must always answer several preliminary questions. The customer must provide their information to access their account, including their name, account number, and other required details. This is common practice in order to document the support interaction and there is really no way around it.
Unless the customer opts to use a self-service portal or knowledge base.
The self-service portal on your website enables customers to browse articles and search using keywords for simple problem-solving. They can quickly access the FAQ, get their answer and then go on about their day.
These self-service knowledge bases benefit not just the customer but also the support team. They can filter out easier questions, saving valuable support resources in the real estate queue. A self-service knowledge base boosts team efficiency by serving as a resource for reference. It reduces tickets in the queue, enabling support agents to focus on complex customer questions.
In short, you’ll want your customers to use the self-service portal as much as possible. As well as the agents. There’s no better place to store all of the documentation and resolutions than in one place accessible across the board.
But how can you ensure the self-service portal stays updated?
Who Is In Charge Of The Self-Service Portal?
The support director should delegate the care and upkeep of the self-service portal to one or two individuals. Ideally, high performing agents or those with the most knowledge. This is the perfect side task for Subject Matter Experts and Quality Analysts. It wouldn’t be a full time position. However, the leader in charge of the portal expects the entire team to collectively make efforts to alert him or her about new content that they can add.
The individuals responsible for the self-service portal should regularly seek consultation from the agents for any new material that they can add. Additionally, they should have the task of ensuring the articles are easily readable, easily accessible, and free from industry jargon. The instructions on the resolutions should be clear and in plain language that the customer can understand. Keep in mind that the goal of the self-service portal is for fast and reliable information.
Agents Document Solutions
Agents should implement and streamline a process where they document and submit articles when they encounter a new FAQ or issue. Now, let’s stress again to the agents that when they write these articles, they need to keep them as simplified as possible. If an agent observes an influx of specific questions or issues coming through the queue but doesn’t find any resolution in the self-service portal or knowledge base, they need to evaluate it. A simple write-up, explaining the situation and how we resolved it, should suffice, for example, detailing the steps we took.
Another scenario for the agents to document are simple one off solutions. These are the very rare issues that arise. However, it would involve an agent having to perform time consuming research. By documenting and publishing the solution, if that rare issue should arise again, say even a year down the road, what took an hour of research at first, can now just take mere seconds.
Remove Irrelevant Solutions
Keep the self-service portal relevant. We cannot stress enough that companies often update or upgrade products over time. As we release new versions, the old resolutions may no longer remain relevant. For instance, in situations where perhaps we have changed or modified the user interface. It could be equivalent to trying to fix a 2022 Lamborghini with a 1929 Studebaker Presidential manual.
emember, the entire goal of the self-service portal is to enhance the customer experience. Customers can easily log in, type a few keywords, and quickly find the solution they need. If the articles in the self-service portal aren’t relevant to the current version of the product then its entire existence is pointless. Customers will get frustrated, end up in the queue, and feel as if they have already wasted their time.
Releasing our new version is important whenever we update the product.. And even if there are no replacement articles, remove the irrelevant information immediately.
Also, any contact information or process for getting to a live agent should be visible and current. Yes, the self-service portal is there to take the pressure off the queue, however, there should always be an option to be able to contact the support team from the portal itself.
Track Most Frequently Searched Self-Service Searches
In the pursuit to always cultivate a culture of improvement, data is essential. Creating a dashboard that informs the support leaders about the most frequently searched keywords or articles can help them understand which areas in the product need improvement. Also, tracking keyword searches can all help determine which articles may be missing. Support agents can also receive information about the most frequently occurring issues. For those customers who choose not to use the self-service portal and go through the support queue, the support agents will prepare with the correct solution.
Also, have the customers and agents log into the self-service portal when asking their questions. This can be beneficial in many areas. Primarily, the experience can then be personalized. When they log in, the system can identify them by name. Also, by having the information linked to the CRM, a follow up can be made to ask the customer if the issue has been resolved. And then send a feedback survey.
Keep Costs Down And Improve The Customer Experience
If you’re building your self-service portal from scratch, you’ll definitely see the difference once it’s up and running. It may take some time for customers to get used to using it. So don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t set the world on fire right away. However, once they do you’ll see that the pressure is taken off of the support floor. Which means agents will be able to focus on the more complex and difficult conversations. Thus improving the overall customer experience. Both for those who use the portal and those who have deeper issues to resolve.
Then if you haven’t already, you’ll be able to add layers of floor walkers and QA’s to assist the frontline agents. Easiest and most effective way to do this is to promote in-house agents to higher level positions and then partner with a BPO like Telework PH. Building an offshore team of high performing agents who have a passion for the customer experience will not just keep overhead low, but it will impact the experience for your customers in a positive way. Also, these agents can help document and write articles for the self-service portal. Keeping it forever fresh and updated.
This strategy is especially effective for companies who may have been affected by the post pandemic Great Resignation or Big Quit. Unfortunately, as executives are finding it harder now to meet the demand of rising labor costs, a lot of profitability has been compromised. Coupled with the current rise in energy costs, building an offshore outsourced team can definitely be the solution they’ve been searching for.
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