Self Service Trends & Innovations

Hamutal Schieber | August, 2014

Introduction• The following presentation examines trends and best practices in Self Service, with respect to

consumer trends, company strategies, tools and best practices in various industries.• We have reviewed the following types of Self Services:

– Unassisted Self Service - where a customer can complete a transaction / receive the support he/she needs without requiring a human agent’s assistance at all. For example: online booking and ordering, online fund transferring, etc.

– Assisted Self Service - where the customer can access the service at his/her own terms, but does require a human agent on the other side, for example: video tellers / conference calls, live chats with a live agent, email / SMS to an agent, etc.

Image: Oracle

Self service is integrated into each step of the customer journey – pre-sale (including consideration, comparisons, advise seeking, etc.), sale (including choice, payment, errors etc.), and post sale (including retention, support, reviews etc.).

Contents

Background and Market Trends

Consumer Motivations and Trends

Self Service Channels

Self Service Tools

Best Practice and Key Success Factors

Contents

Background and Market Trends

Consumer Motivations and Trends

Self Service Channels

Self Service Tools

Best Practice and Key Success Factors

The Self Service Market Size

• According to Gartner, revenue for web self-service market is expanding by an average of $100m a year. The latest update for 2012 estimated revenue at $1 billion compared to $600 million in 2011.

• Essentially there are two parts to web customer service:– Transactional – letting customers access their accounts, check bills and make bookings

online. Previously these all had to be handled by a customer service representative, so there are obvious advantages for both the customer (greater control and speed) and company (reduced costs).

– Helping customers to find answers to their queries online.

Cost Savings

Apart from costs per transaction, the company must consider the customer’s experience, loyalty and life-time value. Therefore a company should aim to provide the most convenient, time-efficient and satisfying tools per each need.

• Forrester Research estimates that call center support can range from $6 to $12 per call or more, while a web self service interaction can cost a company less than 10 cents to support.

• However, Gartner analyst claims that while web self-service is becoming the first port of call for the majority of customers, if transactions are too complex they will leave the web channel and return to old faithful – customer service via the telephone – which is likely to result in increased cost for the organization.

• An Oracle report states that organizations that are investing in transforming their knowledge and web self service tools achieve customer web self-service success rates of 65.6%. This translates to a 94% intent to repurchase and an average $22 million saved on unnecessary channel escalations.

Self Service as a Transformative Trend

• Self Service models have already radically transformed various industries, including the travel and hospitality industry (e.g., online reservations vs. travel agents), the entertainment industry (e.g., ordering movies from Netflix or iTunes vs. going to a DVD rental shop) and others.

• As demonstrated in this presentation, self services are already offered in many other industries as well – including healthcare, insurance, banking, automotive and retail.

• When implementing a self service strategy, companies stand to benefit from substantial cost-cutting, increased efficiency and customer satisfaction. However, if not executed properly, self service strategy might result in increased expenses and customer frustration. Therefore, it is crucial to develop a customer-centric self service which takes into account best execution practices.

Self Service and Multi-Channel Service• A NICE 2012 survey indicated that almost half of the respondents noted that if they are unable to

accomplish a task on a company website, they will then turn to the contact center to resolve their issue. This is often due to the fact that respondents find complex tasks difficult to complete via the web self-service channel.

• Therefore, self-service channels are more often used for easier tasks, while the contact center continues to evolve to “Tier 2” status, for taking care of escalated service requests.

Dell identifies the customer’s online journey and offers the customer to chat with a representative online.

it is important to note that 40% of respondents want the live representative to already know about their experience before beginning their conversation in order to bring the issue to a quick and successful conclusion.

Self service tools must be designed according to the customer’s journey and provide an “out” ability – to click to speak with a human representative; but in this case customers expect to have the data already delivered online to be available to the representative – not to have to repeat the process or explain the problem again.

Multi-Channel | Devices Used for Self Services

• Zendesk Q2 2013 benchmark research has found that in media & telecommunications, consumers mostly use mobile devices for self service (84%), whereas in travel, hospitality & tourism, only 22% use mobile devices and 77% use computers. The Financial & Insurance services industry is also computer led with 84% of users approaching self-services from their computers.

Industry Trends | Travel & Hospitality

• For years, travelers have been checking in online or at airport kiosks, and more recently, airlines have converted paper boarding passes into electronic ones. Today, according to Wall-Street Journal, US airlines are laying the groundwork for the next big step in the airport experience: an entire trip without interacting with a single airline employee – following European airlines such as Lufthansa.

– Alaska Air Group recently introduced self-tagging of baggage in several airports in the US, using kiosks that direct travelers to tag their own checked bags.

– JetBlue Airways became the first U.S. airline to officially implement self-boarding gates, where fliers scan their own tickets to board the plane.

Industry Trends | Banking

• Multi-Channel in the banking industriy: Typical self service channels in the industry include online, telephone, cellphone, and kiosks / ATMs.

• Today’s banks provide options for online account opening, so that the consumer doesn’t have to visit the branch.

Industry Trends | Banking• Simple is an online-only channel of The Bancorp Bank, providing all

self-service options: Credit card application, locating ATMs through the app, analysis tools, photo check deposit, money transferring, bill payments and check mailing.

Barclay’s (Britain's third-largest bank) announced new self-service initiatives with the deployment of iPads for customers wishing to make transactions inside the institution.

Industry Trends | Retail

• The retail industry can benefit from self service in several ways, including vending - offering Cashless payment, Video and touchscreen communication, Mobile and facial recognition and Remote experts.

Industry Trends | Insurance• Capgemini 2013 report on the

insurance industry identifies the following self service tools as a must: policy changes, claims services and policy renewals. Further down the road are account management and fund management tracking.

Industry Trends | Automotive

The auto industry‘s self services mainly concern:• online model

comparison• personal configuration

and price quotes• Calculators and

payment estimation tools

• Post sale self service is mostly with respect to billing and payments.

Contents

Background and Market Trends

Consumer Motivations and Trends

Self Service Channels

Self Service Tools

Best Practice and Key Success Factors

Self Service Consumer Motivations

• Access to multiple choices that the customer can choose from• More decision supporting tools, including independent sites

• The customer sometimes determines the level of service• DIY – engages and empowers the customer

Empowerment

• My time, my place• No wait / linesConvenience

• Interactive tools• Multi channel experience

• Assistance and involvement of other users through social networks and forums

Engagement

Consumer Motivations | Empowerment• We believe that Self Service stems from –

and affects - a wider macro trend of DIY on one hand, and Collaboration on the other hand: consumers are taking the lead for services they require, and often make up their own collaborative platforms. Companies who have recognized this trend are cleverly offering their own platforms for this kind of communication, such as joint-driving (Lyft) or apartment sharing (AirBNB).

• The key is to offer the customer empowerment and control over the process.

Social network

advise and Online

comparison aggregators

Empowerment through decision supporting tools

Collaboration platforms

such as joint-driving, apartment

sharing

Empowerment by taking initiatives

DIY platforms

Empowerment through determining the level of service required

https://www.lyft.com

Consumer Motivations | Empowerment | DIY• In order to enable customers to assert control over the service process, new models are offering the

customer to choose the level of services they would like to engage in, leaving the customer the choice to complete part of the service by themselves, thus affecting the overall experience as well as the price.

The US DIY Auto Repair Shops chain, offers customers to choose the level of service they would like to receive – from assisted DIY to full service.

• PODS disrupted the house moving industry by offering to handle the actual moving, but giving customers control over the process and packing by themselves.

Consumer Trends

• Consumers want the freedom to be able to contact organizations through a whole variety of channels – the web, email, phone, social media, chat and letter, with respect to the required interaction.

• The benefits for consumers of web self-service are obvious – they can get fast access to the information they need without having to email or call a contact center. It doesn’t break the customer journey and is seamless part of their browsing experience.

• According to Forrester, 78% of US online consumers prefer to get answers via a company's website versus telephone or email.

Consumer Trends | Self Service Retailing

• A Cisco Study (2013) shows 61% of global consumers are willing to shop in an omni-channel, self-service, completely automated store, with vending machines and kiosk stations offering a virtual customer service. 

• 52% prefer self-check-out stations in order to avoid waiting in line to make purchases. 

• The younger consumers were the most accepting of this shopping experience: 57% of Generation Y (aged 18-29) and 55% of Generation X shoppers (aged 30 to 49) prefer self-check-out, while baby boomers (50+) represent only 45%.  

Consumer Trends | Government Self Service• A BCG survey of 12,450 users in 12 countries

(June 2014) about their experiences with, and opinions of, 37 different types of services, found that the public sector has made good progress in digital service delivery, but most countries are not moving nearly as quickly as users would like.

• Almost 95% of the respondents have used at least one online government service in the past two years. An average of 32% use online government services more than once a week. Already, at least half of users in most of the countries surveyed want digital channels to play a greater role in the delivery of key services.

• BCG concluded that governments need to design services to work across different platforms and devices. More users are accessing services on laptops, smartphones, and tablets. Future usage will trend toward more tablets and Internet-enabled TVs.

Contents

Background and Market Trends

Consumer Motivations and Trends

Self Service Channels

Self Service Tools

Best Practice and Key Success Factors

Channel Preferences

• NICE 2012 Consumer Channel Preference survey (industries: financial services, telecommunications, travel/hospitality, insurance and healthcare) confirmed that consumers are more empowered than ever before as they are communicating more often and using multiple channels to contact an enterprise.

• Consumers indicate that on average they are using six different channels for contacting service providers, while 86% note that on average, they are communicating more often, or at the same level, with businesses over all channels.

• The most popular and growing self-service channel in 2012 was the web.

•

Smartphone applications and social networks have grown in popularity with more than 40% of respondents noting that they have increased their use of these channels in 2012.

Channel Preferences

• The web is the first choice for all customers seeking help from service providers. Already in 2012, the web was nearly as successful in enabling customers to accomplish tasks as was consulting a live rep (65% vs. 71%, respectively).

Channel Preferences

• Channel preference depends on the action a customer wishes to perform, as demonstrated by an Accenture study of customers’ preferred methods of interactions with electric companies.

• Yet, for most actions, web-enabled channels lead the way.

Channel Preferences• Also for outbound notifications, the

customer’s channel preference is subject to context.

Ovum, Maximizing Customer Value With Proactive Outbound Contact

Channel Preferences

• A Forrester 2013 study shows that web self-service still has room for improvement when benchmarking consumers’ satisfaction ratings across channels:– Live assist interactions have high satisfaction ratings: Voice has the highest satisfaction rating

(69%), which is closely followed by chat (63%). This is easily explained as once a customer is able to connect with an agent, the customer's question or interaction is most often fully addressed.

– Web self-service interactions have lower satisfaction ratings (58%) and virtual agents have even lower ratings (55%). These ratings are not a reflection of technology, but rather the lack of attention around content maintenance. Even though mature content maintenance processes exist to keep content in-line with customer demand, most organizations have not had the discipline to adopt them. The result is content - answer to customer questions - that does not match customer expectations.

– Newer communication channels such as Twitter have low ratings (56%). This because these channels do not have established business processes that are widely adopted.

Channel Preferences in Self Service

• A PwC / Booz & Company study demonstrates that Mobile and Social Networking experienced the highest growth in self service channels between 2007 and 2011 in the US.

• Almost all self service channels experienced growth over the period of 2007-2011 (excluding portals).

Channels | Mobile

• As mobile phones are becoming an inseparable part of the consumers lives, companies are exploiting this channel in order to provide the required omni-channel experience.

• Ovum predicts that 50% of support inquiries will be from mobile devices by 2016, and 50% of smartphone users preferring to use a mobile customer service app versus calling a contact center according to Echo Research.Leumi Israel: Cash transfer via SMS

• According to a 2012 survey conducted by NICE, The use of smartphone apps and SMS is on the rise (34%), with the strongest growth in the financial services sector (46%) and the travel sector (38%).

• Financial Services and insurance customers are substantially more successful (52%) and satisfied with smart phone apps than users in other industries (34% use this channel successfully).

Channels | Mobile | Travel & Hospitality

• Hotels use mobile technology to create a personalized self-service experience: smart phone as a key, self-service check-in and booking available 24/7.

Channels | Mobile | Travel & Hospitality

• According to Hospitality Industry Self Service Tech Trends study, check-in / check-out & room selection applications lead the way for hotel self-service kiosks.

Channels | Social Media

• Customer support on Facebook and within social communities enables peer-to-peer information sharing, contributing to crowd-sourced wisdom.

• A Nielsen 2012 research found that on average, 47% of social media users engage in social care: customer service via social media.

• 1 in 3 social media users prefer social care to phone support.

• The leading channel: a company’s Facebook page.

Contents

Background and Market Trends

Consumer Motivations and Trends

Self Service Channels

Self Service Tools

Best Practice and Key Success Factors

Self Service Tools

• Completely transactional / unassisted

• Content based unassisted self service

• Community Based Self Service

• Assisted Self-Service

Online payment, ordering, billing

information

FAQ, product / service

information and instructions

(e.g., videos), IVR, Virtual Assistants

Peer to peer platforms,

aggregators

Online Chat / video chat,

Email / instant messaging /

SMS response systems, Social

Customer Service

Tools | IVR

• Interactive voice response (IVR) is a technology that allows a computer to interact with humans through the use of voice and DTMF tones input via keypad.

• According to a 2012 survey conducted by NICE, the role of IVR remains unclear; survey results indicate a failure to contain interactions and a significant negative impact on customer satisfaction and loyalty.

• One of the biggest motivators to use IVR is to get to a live representative who is aware of their IVR journey, or to use the callback option.

• Regardless of the vertical, around 60% of the respondents indicated that they try to bypass the IVR to get to a live representative.

Tools | Virtual Agents• Virtual Agents / Assistants put a human face on the digital experience,

guiding customers to relevant content and answers through natural sounding conversation.

• Gartner estimates that by 2015, 50% of online customer self-service search activities will be via a virtual assistant for at least 1,500 large enterprises. The results range from profound cost savings (5% reduction in service costs) and increased customer loyalty to simply the entertainment of having a robotic presence on a website.

• The number of organizations adding this capability is growing by 20% per year, especially in travel, consumer goods, telecommunications and banking. A challenge is that computer-generated characters have limited ability to maintain an interesting dialogue with users; they need a well-structured and extensive knowledge management engine to become efficient, self-service productivity tools.

Analysts recommend making virtual assistants more pro-active, in order to increase sales through this channel.

Athens International Airport launched a Virtual Assistant Holographic Announcer, which provides travel information through projected videos, using the illusion of a human agent’s hologram, and next-generation solutions are being deployed airport-wide.

Tools | Virtual Agents

• Virtual Agents answer common questions, providing support through a dynamic and logic-driven information environment.

• Executed correctly, an automated agent is usually capable of supplying immediate answers in various languages, provide confidentiality, and complete basic transactions while ensuring compliance with applicable laws.

• On the downside, an automated agent lacks empathy; is usually unable to solve problems in an unstructured pre-determined manner; and is usually unable to solve complex problems (which is why live assistance, backed with a database of the information already fed by the user, is a must).

American health insurance company Aetna launched its virtual agent “Ann” in 2010, and within 5 months decreased the number of calls to the customer service technical help desk by 29%. “Ann” provides personalized answers on the status of insurance claims, clinical information, medical procedures etc.

Tools | Smart Web Forms

• Smart web forms enable companies to embed policies right in their forms so customers can do things like apply for a driver’s license or a financial loan online.

• The Australian Government has developed SmartForms, aiming to significantly reduce the costs and administrative overhead associated with paper forms, including: illegible writing, inaccurate data, double handling of information, manual data entry processes, and slow service delivery.

• ROI: 10.5/1

Tools | Online Comparison Tools

• Companies enable customers to compare product features and prices online – without going to the store or consulting a representative

Tools | Proactive Notifications• According to Ovum, proactive

outbound has been widely used by companies in the healthcare, financial services, and travel and tourism industries. These sectors thrive on close contact between customers and companies, and in each of them the relationship is based on transactions and interactions that require urgency and constant fine-tuning.

• Forrester's Forrsights Networks And Telecommunications Survey 2013 showed that 29% of enterprises were planning to invest in proactive outbound communications in 2014.

Ovum, Maximizing Customer Value With Proactive Outbound Contact

Tools | Kiosks | Banking

• By using a smartphone or a tablet, a user can connect wirelessly to a bank’s ATM, authenticate herself / himself and transfer or withdraw funds, without using a debit card or a credit card.

• The smartphone-enabled ATM can be particularly useful for people with accessibility issues and elders. According to InfoSys, a mobile phone that is well known by the user can go a long way in removing the barrier for ATM transactions for persons with visual impairment and limited mobility.

La Caixa Bank Spain operated in 2012, 548 contactless ATMs in the region of Barcelona and the Balearic Islands. More than 340,000 contactless transactions have been recorded at ATMs in 2012 so far, close to 200,000 of which were cash withdrawals.

The bank has won recognition from the international ATM industry association, ATMIA, and Cards & Payment magazine for developing the first contactless ATM.

Tools | Kiosks | Healthcare• Siemens & QuadraMed offers customers innovative self-service

solutions designed to streamline patient interactions throughout the healthcare process. MediKiosk: Patient Check-in, Consent Forms, Co-Pay Collection, Wayfinder Hospital Kiosks, Positive Patient Identification, Secure Enrollment (additions and updates), Scheduling, Pre-registration (complete all necessary forms online).

Tools | Live Chats

• Online live chats and click-to-call options enable the customer to stay on the website and complete the transactions, while receiving assistance from a live person. The agent is then able to respond to several customers simultaneously.

• Best in class companies such as HSBC are proactively touting the “click to call” option when the customer pauses for a certain time, or wishes to leave the page after searching for information. Other companies also offer live chat support 24/7.

Tools | Video

• Video conferencing and video enabled kiosks, are offering personalized service, while eliminating the need to go to the service provider’s branch, such as bank or government.

• A Personal Teller Machine looks like an ATM, the difference is that you can interact real-time with a teller who can remotely control the machine and guide you through most branch transactions.

Dollar Bank: Using video cameras, a customer’s image is transmitted to the Personal Teller located at the Customer Service Center in Pittsburgh, PA.

Tools | Mobile Apps / QR Codes

• Customers of German health insurer DKV can submit their invoices over iPhone, iPodTouch or iPad by simply scanning the square QR code printed on the document into their device. The scanned data is encoded and sent to DKV. The only requirement is that the correct barcode is printed on the doctor’s invoice.

Contents

Background and Market Trends

Consumer Motivations and Trends

Self Service Channels

Self Service Tools

Best Practice and Key Success Factors

Best Practice | Social Media• Walgreen’s Drugstore.com offers Web self-

service on Facebook and Twitter, where customers can interact with each other and receive support. Customers searching and shopping online can chat with an agent to find products, resolve issues, and learn about promotions.

• With this strategy, Walgreen’s drugstore.com has increased chat conversion rates to 30%, raised order sizes by 20%, and saved $350,000 through call deflection.

Best Practice | Telecommunication• Swisscom found that less than half of customers who first sought support

online indeed found what they were looking for; and the rest called the call center. in response, Swisscom modified its online content to meet customers’ needs, added missing information and improved the site navigation. Within a year, the company increased the number of support requests handled online by 65%.

• Savings: $ 3.2 million within a year. • Channels include: online assistant, click-to-call available throughout the

website, and social support. A self service application was also launched.

Best Practice | Healthcare• The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) had invested in self services.

Among other services, NHS launched a health and symptoms checker, including a mobile app.

• The investment resulted in shorter wait lines, reduced congestion in emergency rooms, and cost avoidance from patients not visiting hospitals. Estimated benefits: £ 25 – 50 million annually.

Deloitte data

Best Practice | Travel & Hospitality• Booking.com masters the art of offering self-service with a personal safety net to fall back on if necessary. The

entire purchase process is automated and this also goes for the changing of bookings. In case of unexpected changes, Booking.com staff will sometimes call customers. In many cases these are proactive outbound calls to inform customers of changes made to a booking. Incidentally, the self-service process works perfectly on mobile devices. Data integration is obviously available. The different channels are interconnected so the complete customer history stays available

• Mobile bookings went from 1 billion in 2012 to 3 billion in 2013.

Source: Smart Company

Key Success Factors

Unassisted Self Service

• Should be based on vast, personal, information

• Multi-channel availability• User-centric design of the

tools, based on the customer’s journey and logical process

• Easy and efficient process – paper-free

• Optimized content on the website / app

Assisted Self Service

• Ability to access live agents at any point while retaining the information already delivered by the customer

• Knowledgeable and skillful agents – as they might be required to attend to the more complex issues, unresolved online

• Provide social based platforms such as forums, availability on social networks

• Timely answers

User Experience

• Omni-Channel – provide the customer with various choices and make the transition seamless by making customer-fed data available through all channels

• Push notifications – only if they add value to the customer: empowerment, convenience, choice

• Personalization of service• Customization of channels /

service according to the specific need

• Proactive assistance based on the consumer mission / need

Key Success Factors | Self Service Maturity Framework

• Cognizant 2014 report on online self service, suggests the following Online Self-Service Portal Maturity Framework, according to which a website should: – deliver proactive suggestions

and guidance to consumers; – offer a seamless experience

through mobile, chat, context-sensitive help, etc.

• The report further stipulates key success factors in self-service portals: content, user experience, performance measurement, personalization, social community building and omnichannel customer experience.– .

Thank You

The research was conducted by: Hamutal SchieberSchieber Research | Market Research & Competitive Intelligence www.researchci.com | hamutal@researchci.com Executive Summary. For the full research - please contact Carmelon Digital Marketinghttp://www.carmelon-digital.com