Self Service Overview
Self-service options empower your customers to find answers and resolve issues independently. The self-service portal is customer facing widget where they can check on their orders, look at frequently asked questions, and talk to the support team. This article will help you learn about some important ideas that will help you make a really good customer service experience.
Prerequisites
Step-by-Step Guide
Topics:
Topics are the main parts of the self-service portal. They are like super-powered FAQs.
To make a topic, you need a title and a description.
Title: This is what customers see as the option on the self-service portal.
Description: This is what they read when they pick that option. You can make the answers more personal by using things like the customer's name, order number, tracking URL, etc. These will be changed to the real information when shown to the customer.
Default action: You can choose what you want the customer to do after they read the answer.
There are two kinds of topics:
- General topics: These are topics that everyone who visits the website can see. You should use this section to talk about your policies, FAQs, user-generated content, and product recommendations.
- Order topics: Order topics are connected to orders and can only be seen by customers who have bought something. Use this section to make ways to solve problems related to orders, like "where is my order," "I want to return some items," "make changes to an order," and so on.
- Tree like structure: Topics are set up like a tree, so you can create a path and lead users through the steps they need to solve their problem.
- Quick Links: Place your most popular topics in the 'Quick Links' section for immediate visibility from Self Service > Configure your module. These will be the first things customers see when they open the widget.
- Implement Conditions: You can set some topics to be seen only by certain groups of users. For example, you can create two topics about returns. 1) One topic could be set to show up if the order was delivered less than 14 days ago, and you can guide the customer to start a return. 2) Another topic might appear if the order was delivered more than 14 days ago, and in this case, you would explain the return policy to the customer.
- Incorporate Forms: If customers get to a main topic and want to talk to an agent, you can put in a form for them to fill out important details before they connect with the agent.
- Conversation fields: These are details that matter for this specific support request. Examples include the order number and coupon code.
- Customer fields: These are details that are about the customer and stay the same for every conversation. Examples include their dog's breed and their age.
- Other Actions: Besides conditions and forms, you can make a topic do more with these options:
- Assign: Give the conversation to a certain team or agent when a customer chooses a specific topic.
- Tag: Automatically label the conversation with a tag when they pick a certain topic.
- Links: Use links to connect to other topics, a website, or for choices like “Click to call” or “Send a text”.
The way topics are organized is like branches of a tree. This helps you make a path that guides users step-by-step to find a solution. An example of this tree-like setup would look like this:
You can make fields for either the conversation or the customer. Use the explanations below to decide which kind to choose when making the fields.
Understanding Your Self-Service Dashboard
Our self-service dashboard offers a comprehensive overview of customer interactions, enabling you to measure the effectiveness of your automated support features.
You can view this dashboard by navigating to Analytics → Self-service performance
Dashboard Components:
- Self-Serviced Conversations Pie Chart:
- Displays the proportion of inquiries resolved autonomously.
- Outcomes:
- Resolved, customer closed: Customer found a solution and closed the query.
- Resolved, customer left: Customer got the answer but did not explicitly click the confirmation dialog “Okay, thanks”.
- Routed to support: Queries that required direct support intervention.
- Conversation Breakdown Bar Graph:
- Visualizes daily interaction volumes, categorized by resolution method.
- Use this to identify peaks in self-service usage and support needs over time.
- Revenue from Self-Service:
- This figure reflects the direct income generated from self-service resolutions.
- Flow That Converted & Median Time to Convert:
- Flow That Converted: Percentage of self-service interactions leading to a conversion.
- Median Time to Convert: Average duration from the start of a self-service interaction to a conversion.
- Self-Service Breakdown:
- Differentiates between Order FAQs and General FAQs.
- The length of the bars indicates the success rate of self-service for specific queries.
Using the Dashboard:
- Utilize the Filters to tailor the dashboard view to specific Brands or Stores.
- The Download feature allows you to export data for a more detailed analysis.
- Analyze the Conversation Breakdown to manage and allocate your support resources effectively.
- Monitor Revenue from Self-Service to understand the financial impact of your self-service channels.
- Ticket Creation Follow-Up: If a customer initiates a new ticket within 6 hours following a 'Resolved, customer closed' or 'Resolved, customer left' outcome, this is reclassified as 'Contacted Support'. The reason is that the issue may not have been fully resolved if the customer felt the need to follow up.
- Multiple Resolutions in One Session: Should a customer receive answers to several queries in one session, we record this as a single resolution. This approach prevents inflating resolution statistics and maintains the integrity of the data.
These checks are in place to guarantee merchants receive a fair and accurate representation of the self-service portal’s effectiveness.
Conclusion
By implementing a self-service portal in Richpanel, you'll provide customers with immediate, around-the-clock support while freeing up your team to handle more complex inquiries. Use the data from your self-service dashboard to continuously refine your topics and improve the customer experience. If you encounter any difficulties or have questions, Richpanel’s support team is readily available to assist you.