“I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.”
– Henry David Thoreau

Many people are inherently do-it-yourselfers. Whether its in the garage or around the house, nothing beats the immediate satisfaction of having something done yourself instead of waiting for someone else to do it. Self reliance. Thoreau wrote an entire essay on the subject.

Yet, companies force their customers to clog call center phone lines, in the vain attempt to get some help. So why don’t companies provide more effective ways for customers to help themselves?

Self-Service Underperformance

According to the Self-Service and the Multichannel Contact Center report for 2010 from the International Customer Management Institute, 80% of call center survey respondents say their contact centers provide self-service opportunities for customers seeking help. The ICMI also states that the number of contact centers planning to spend $100,000 – $50,000,000 on self-service technology is rising. Yet customers give most of these self-service channels less than spectacular scores, averaging 3 on a scale of 5. With all the investment being made, why aren’t companies improving self-service?

As Blind as a Bat

ICMI research shows that contact centers fail to have a good understanding of customer satisfaction with their self-service channels. Companies are pouring money into these solutions, without even measuring the results. Look at these shocking results from the ICMI study of contact centers:

• 43.6% don’t measure customer satisfaction for self-service
• Almost 20% don’t have measures of success for self-service channels
• Slightly over 20% don’t measure completion rates for IVR (Interactive Voice Response) calls
• 70.7% don’t have an integrated way to report on multichannel contacts

Why is it that almost half the respondents don’t measure satisfaction for self-service? Shouldn’t that be an important measure of how successful the self-service implementations are? Customer satisfaction data is critical to understanding whether a business investment is smart, needs improvement, or should be terminated. Another interesting statistic is that nearly three-fourths of the respondents don’t have an integrated way to report on multichannel contacts. This means the centers are unable to track customer activities throughout the entire customer care chain and thus are unable to see where obstacles arise. They are also unable to understand customer segmentation across the channels.

Evaporating Cost Savings

If self-service channels underperform then they will likely lead to increased costs, obliterating any savings originally intended from system implementation. When customers are dissatisfied with the self-service channels, they are forced to speak to a live representative. This moves the customer from the inexpensive system to the expensive live agent. Also, since the issue hasn’t been resolved after spending a significant amount of time in the customer support system, the customer is likely frustrated. As a result, the agent has a more difficult time dealing with the customer and the call times go up along with costs.

Unacceptable.

Self-service can lead to cost savings, improved service, and increased privacy, but only if it is implemented correctly. Are you paying attention to your self-service system?