How much time do you have to spare in a day? Likely not a lot, which means that every minute you do spend is on something productive for your business or your well-being. Now let’s consider this: how much of a time saver is it to have tools like self-service banking, self-check-in options, or electronic contract signings?

Your average customer doesn’t want to take the time to come see your brick-and-mortar location. The standards of today's consumer market have an emphasis on the individual through digital strategizing. This means that the changes needed in companies are primarily motivated by the ease of access and have to be people-oriented.

The majority of businesses today understand the importance of providing a variety of solutions for issues their customers may run into, yet many lack execution of this on all fronts. Take for instance the fact that 75% of people today want live chat for customer service. Yet not even a third of businesses offer it. What does that say about the level of companies' market intelligence today? 

The fact is that self-service can be however big or small you need it to be for the unique service you offer. Creations like ATMs, movie ticket machines, or airport self-check-ins, all were created as an answer to the demand for the convenience of self-service. This goes to show that the principle lives on and offline, but as we know, online is the key to scalability. 

As a starting point to meet these expectations, companies should have implemented on their website a 24/7 accessible self-service portal. This should allow users to communicate with the platform by, for example, being able to input, access, and have personal data secured in the portal. For instance, insurance contracts can be electronically signed with the user's saved signature in the portal.

Self-service is increasingly becoming mainstream, pushing the need for representatives out. Brands that utilize this will be adding value for their customers that the company couldn’t get from anything else. There’s a lot that can be done with digitizing self-service, but most businesses simply need to know where to start to make it viable. 

Here are 4 ways your business can do that:

Understand the importance of self-service for your customers

It’s hard to implement something without completely understanding the need for its implementation. For this reason, you’ll want to look at your self-service product from the perspective of your end user. 

Some businesses make the mistake of thinking that they already know everything about their prospects and can just implement a system. What they fail to recognize is that the self-service journey goes far beyond payment methods. You’ll want to know:

1. Why they’ve come to your website

2. What will keep them engaged online

3. How the process can be as clear & simple as possible

Content navigation and accessibility

A lot of businesses don’t store all relevant information under one section. Typically, the information is broken up among product manuals, silos, support sections, or the intranet. 

The difficult part about this step is creating an interface that connects all these sources into an easy-to-navigate platform.

Consider UX design and how it collaborates with search

The portal you build should allow users to do 3 things: get in, get help, and get out. The design of your portal will dictate how simple it is for the user to navigate. By keeping UX design a top priority for self-service, you’ll be setting your platform up for success.

This can be as simple as having a search bar but with additional features such as text prediction or previewing answers.

Use AI to enhance your product

AI has changed the customer experience especially when it comes to issues in customer service. AI can resolve issues efficiently by analyzing customer data and using it to make predictions about what they’ll want. Sounds great, doesn't it? AI will help your platform build rapport with customers by being custom tailored to the needs of your business.

What’s next?

Self-service is a never-ending project; it will require consistent innovation. Custom software development will help you but it won’t decide to implement itself for you. If you’re going to revolutionize the experience of your platform, you’ll need to make sure you’ve got a clear vision and the right team behind you.

Written By Ben Brown

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ISU Corp is an award-winning software development company, with over 17 years of experience in multiple industries, providing cost-effective custom software development, technology management, and IT outsourcing.

Our unique owners’ mindset reduces development costs and fast-tracks timelines. We help craft the specifications of your project based on your company's needs, to produce the best ROI. Find out why startups, all the way to fortune 500 companies like General Electric, Heinz, and many others have trusted us with their projects. Contact us here.