Improving User Experience to drive Self-Service

Improving User Experience to drive Self-Service

Operational efficiency is one among the key business drivers for any enterprise with profit motive. In a recession hit economy this theme becomes the agenda of all board rooms. Self-Service is a positive approach to achieve this as it empowers the customer to adopt the Do-It-Yourself model and at the same time saves the company on cost intensive call centers and paper handling tasks. Service is a long-term differentiator for a successful enterprise. Businesses are judged all the time by overall experience they provide to the user which is more encompassing than good service. Adopting from hospitality industry, a company can demand premium for the enjoyable experience.

In majority of the interaction transformational projects including web enabling, web (re)design, it is observed that clients mistake improving interaction experience as a point solution or as a knee jerk reaction to a beaten analyst rating or with me-too attitude. While these give temporary facelifts, real benefits are farfetched and remain questionable.

This paper explores the enablers to build self-service capabilities for all customer centric enterprises. Customer experience being a key enabler is chosen as the focus attribute of this paper and a strategy to improve it is discussed in detail. TCS dipstick study methodology and many best practices published as web design guidelines spanning web 2.0, rich UI are detailed. Finally, various techniques to make self-service initiatives successful are also discussed.

Introduction

In a recession hit market, where the retail consumer spend has fallen by 3.5% (Source: Reuters U.S. 3Q 2008) the chance for increasing top line become bleak. Hence, the natural outcome happens to be operational cost reduction and improving customer retention. Self-Service is an approach to achieve cost reduction as it saves companies on cost intensive call centers and paper handling tasks. Users can avoid repetitive calls, call-waiting time and conduct business at their own convenience. An enjoyable experience to prospect will improve the odds of sale and at the same time charge a premium price.

When it comes to user experience, there are takeaways from Retail and Hospitality industry. Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. (BBW), one of the leading retailers of stuffed animals, allows you to choose, stuff and dress your own toy. A restaurant attracts customers by creating better ambience and charges them creating a profitable business model. People are ready to pay a premium for the attention and personalized treatment.

Surveys have proven that customer satisfaction is measure of overall experience. Customer satisfaction is an outcome of meeting customer expectations and smooth service. In today’s competition satisfied customer doesn’t mean a loyal customer. Customer retention, affinity, loyalty are interrelated and driven by catering to the latent needs of customer. Customer delight is a result of deep understanding of interests, anticipating needs, exceeding expectations of customer. Overall, the customer should feel it a joy to interact with the enterprise. On a long term view, insurers need to focus on customer delight resulting in loyal customers who in turn become brand ambassadors for the company. Customer service is a great opportunity to build it. Self-Service enablement is a positive approach to achieve it as it empowers the customer to adopt the Do-It-Yourself model.

Insurers started realizing the importance of self-service enabled portals. There are compelling reasons to make considerable investment in self-service portals A survey conducted by Frost & Sullivan, sponsored by Amdocs, found that 28% of insurance companies now offer self-service portals to customers. Top 3 reasons for moving to enable self-service are Convenience & less time taking to customers (41%), Reduction in operational costs (17%), Demanding customers (14%).

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