Help Yourself

Web self-service promises better CRM and big savings for companies

As Customers Become more Internet-savvy, they look to the Web to simplify their lives. A perfect case in point is Web self-service CRM. Customers want to solve customer service problems quickly over the Web at any time. Web self-service not only pleases customers but also saves companies money. Recent products from Support.com Inc., eGain Communications Corp., and Computer Associates (CA) look to make Web self-service a reality.

"Self-service technology has become increasingly appealing to companies seeking to take advantage of the fact that a larger percentage of their customers are connected to the Internet and are comfortable using the Web to find answers to their own questions," says Kris Brittain, research director at Gartner Inc.

Web self-service refers to online applications that let customers solve problems or answer questions by navigating to the right solutions on the Web site, whether it be through a frequently asked questions page, email inquiries, or online chat with customer service representatives.

Companies are hoping that as customers find that they can take care of their customer service problems over the Web, they won't call the company's call center. Web self-service has the potential to save companies millions of dollars in call-center customer service. According to Forrester Research Inc., Web self-service solutions have an estimated average total deployment cost of $1.17 per customer response compared to an estimated average call-center cost of $32.74 per response.

Some also believe that by steering clear of the call center customers may avoid multiple levels of service, some of which may be unsatisfactory.

"A reactive approach to service desk staffing is expensive and can lead to inconsistent service levels," says Harry Butler, support-center manager at EFW Inc., an electronics supplier. Butler and EFW are trying their hand at Web self-service with a product from CA called Unicenter Service Plus. CA designed the solution to use predictive and knowledge tools to "deliver accurate and consistent answers derived from a common information base via integrated knowledge-building and retrieval tools."

Web self-service solution providers, such as RightNow Technologies Inc., offer technology that not only gives customers the tools they need to navigate customer service but also provides the companies with the ability to track user information. By monitoring customers using the self-service functionalities, companies can see which information is being used and which is the most important to customers. This information can then be used to build better customer relationships.

Other solutions, such as Support.com's Satisfaction Suite, are proactive by offering services specific to what the customer is doing on the site. In addition to basic self-service features, the solution, which Support.com is mainly marketing to financial services, lets companies configure the software to automatically suggest answers or resources after customers view pages for so many minutes.

Web self-services have the potential to save companies large amounts of money and at the same time build stronger customer relationships. But success depends on strategy.

"Implementing Web self-service for customer service can yield reduced costs for customer maintenance," according to the Gartner report "The Six Steps for Web Self-Service in Customer Service" (March 2002). "However, it has to be properly implemented and this starts with proper planning. Planning for Web self-service systems in conjunction with the customer service strategy, while ensuring that the system will be utilized, yields the benefits organizations seek."

— Jeanette Perez

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