Self-service solutions are often preferred by call centers as a means to provide communication channels that are inexpensive to maintain and meet the demands of the customer base. Now, a recent inContact survey has found that call centers are accelerating their spending on such solutions to reduce operating costs and increase customer satisfaction.

This survey also determined that a number of call centers have had low success rates with their self-service solutions. As a result, many of these call centers are still searching for optimal strategies that will help to drive success in self-service channels.

It is important for call center leaders to keep in mind that self-service options are often the first point of contact between the customer and the company, which demands that the self-service options be executed properly.

Robust self-service platforms enable customers to resolve their own issues with the channel they prefer. At the same time, the call center can reduce costs and deliver a differentiated service experience. The challenge is to implement the right solution to achieve the right balance.

In commenting on the survey, inContact’s Chief Marketing Officer, Mariann McDonagh highlighted that the key is to effectively balance self-service and agent-managed options. Self-service makes sense for the simple tasks, but they have to be robust and deliver on customer expectations or they can lower satisfaction across the board.

Of the 400 call centers interviewed for this survey, more than 75 percent currently offer self-service channels and plan to spend more on such technologies in the next few years. For those call centers with implementation plans, 83 percent want to reduce costs and 74 percent want to meet customer demand or service options.