Today’s customers don’t want to waste their time on the phone with support reps or go back and forth in an email chain. They want to resolve their issues immediately.

That’s why you need to let customers help themselves by providing effortless self-service options. In this day and age, tech-savvy customers expect to be able to find answers by perusing your website or navigating through your app, and are willing to put in a little effort, if it means side-stepping an interaction with a brand entirely. Plus, deploying a self-service software can help you significantly improve your customer experience and  reduce support costs. It’s a win-win!

What is self-service software?

Self-service software is any tool or application that lets your customers find information about the product or service, answers to their questions and resolutions to their issues in real time without the assistance of a human agent. 

Research shows 88% of customers expect brands to offer an online self-service portal. And this number is likely to grow as customers increasingly prefer digital methods of researching a brand, making purchases and looking for support.

Customers don’t want to wait to speak to your reps; if they can help themselves, most will. And the vast majority expect your brand to help them to do so.

You can provide self-service support through several mediums, including your website, app, text, and live chat software.

What are the benefits of self-service software?

The right self-service software will provide a ton of benefits to businesses. These include:

 What are the key types of self-service software?

Self-service software comes in many forms and can be used by companies in all kinds of industries, including hospitality, finance, and retail

#1. AI Chatbot

 Smart chatbots are one of the most advanced forms of self-service software, allowing you to provide 24/7 support to customers. Use AI-powered chatbots that understand user intent and can personalize support to each customer’s needs. AI chatbots can also be used to provide proactive self-service, offering up links to knowledge bases and forums as well as answers to the most common user questions.

#2. Onboarding documentation and tutorials

 A collection of text and video-based guides can guide users on how to set up your product and get started quickly. There are also in-app self-service software that allow you to set up an onboarding journey so users can be directed on how to set up and start using a product, without requiring an onboarding specialist or dedicated account manager.

#3. Knowledge base

A knowledge base is basically a help center for customers. It’s much more comprehensive than just supporting documentation and other guides, acting as a one-stop self-service page for all of a customer’s questions. Combine written articles with videos to provide the best self-support possible, and continue to add to the knowledge base every time your support team receives a new request. 

#4. Forums

Typically powered and moderated by customers, a forum is a relatively low-tech form of a self-service center. Customers help each other as well as themselves, reducing the number of questions your reps have to deal with.

#5. FAQ pages

Even something as simple as an FAQ page can be a key component of self-service. These pages provide short answers to the most common questions.

Why pick Freshchat?
 

Provide self-service customer support with Freshchat

Don’t wait for customers to overwhelm your customer support reps. Take a proactive approach and provide them with self-service software. Not only will you significantly improve the customer experience, but you’ll also be able to scale support at a fraction of the cost.

FAQ

Try Freshchat for self-service