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Coffee Chat: Building a Self-Service Portal  ☕

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pkleshick
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@dburkit if you don’t mind me asking, what are you using for your ERP?

rashmi.nag
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A1. Self-service when delivered the right way to the end users can be beneficial in a lot of ways - for the business and the users. I have felt self-service which is adopted through mediums that are easily accessible for the end users (mediums that they prefer and more often use) can be beneficial than self-service restricted to just one channel which the end user may not even use or might find difficulty in using.

Cheers, Rashmi || Team Refresh Community
Warden Brown
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Userlevel 2

Q1.  When it comes to my own support needs, I always prefer to use self-service whenever possible so I can find my answer as quickly as possible. Posting a question, either on a message board, or in a service ticket. is always a last resort for me because it means I have to wait for an answer. I’m not that patient. :smile:

epetrutis
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@bex quite inspiring

 

akshara.sruthi
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First question for today is here below. To answer a question, tag the answer with the corresponding number. For example, if you are answering this question Q1, start your answer with A1.


Q1: How many of you use self-service. Why do you use or why don’t you use. 

A1: We use self self-service simply Self-service gives our customers the power to find their own answers –and they can begin resolving their own issues. At the end of the it’s a win-win for us because they find what they want instantly.

akshara.sruthi
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Next question for today is here. 

To answer a question, tag the answer with the corresponding number. For example, if you are answering this question Q2, start your answer with A2.

Q2 What are the challenges you encountered while coming up with a self-service portal
 

vishnu.selvaraj
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Hello, we’re working on our internal knowledge base now. Does anybody have tips on how to drive usage of this?

  • Hey @Sophie Murgatroyd 

    Off the top of my head, I have a few pointers.
    1. Make your KB visually appealing - think GIFs, screenshots and short videos wherever possible.
    2. Make the text content as simple as possible. Use technical terms only when absolutely necessary.
    3. Set up a feedback channel. Place it at the end of each article to enable your customers to let you know if they found the content useful.
    4. The Launch - probably the most important part.
    Cover all bases. Emails are your best bet. Convey the value proposition of your self-service strategy. If possible, work with your marketing team to create a short video on how the self-service portal works. 

    Hope this helps.
Warden Brown
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Userlevel 2

Could you please define “self-service portal?” I tend to think of it as knowledge base articles, chat-bots, message boards, and any other way a user can find their own answers. Is my definition too narrow?

A
Userlevel 5
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Q1. How many of you use self-service. Why do you use or why don’t you use. 
A1. We are using the self service portal for the first time, and the take up has been amazing, in the 1st quarter of the year, we have a 50% of our tickets being via the portal. Which is amazing.

Q2. What are the challenges you encountered while coming up with a self-service portal

A2. Ours is still in its infancy, and we are still working on it.  The service requests were the biggest challenge for us, as before Freshservice incidents and requests were all created via incidents.

Q3. What are the common mistakes you see while people implement self-service

A3. They try to do too much too soon.  It is an iterative process, and making small changes and additions to the self service portal, makes it easier for the customers to adapt to the changes and buy in to what you are trying to do

Q4. How do you measure the effectiveness of your self-service portal

A4. So far we are measuring it via the number of tickets and Service Requests that we receive with the source of portal. As we progress the portal and incorporate the service catalogue we are hoping that this will allow us to make better metrics.

Q5. What do you think is the future of self-service?

A5. I think that this is something that can only get bigger and reach further, with chat bots, instant messaging and solutions access, can only make the customer journey a lot more user friendly and pleasant

@Bex  Thank you; this is very insightful. Particularly loved the asnwer to Q3- trying to do everything at once could be quite counter productive to the entire effort.

manns
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Re self-service challenges...

A2. The elephant in the self-service room has long been the level of uptake. That employees have avoided self-service, for a variety of reasons, in favor of the more traditional telephone and email channels. I’ll come back to those reasons later.

So, it’s important to think about the organizational change management needs – from minimizing the resistance to change to effectively communicating the “What’s in it for me?” It also needs to be a self-service capability that just works for people. After all, who want to use self-service if it’s easier and quicker to simply pick up the phone to call the service desk?

Cheers, Stephen || https://ITSM.tools
akshara.sruthi
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A1. We are implementing the Solutions module in FreshService for self-service. We’re hoping that our customers will be better served when they can find their own answers quickly.

Absolutely. Congratulations on this! It’s great to see people take steps do delight their customers. 

Bex
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Userlevel 3
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Q1.  When it comes to my own support needs, I always prefer to use self-service whenever possible so I can find my answer as quickly as possible. Posting a question, either on a message board, or in a service ticket. is always a last resort for me because it means I have to wait for an answer. I’m not that patient. :smile:

Warden I completely agree, I am impatient so if I can be happy with what we deliver as a portal, then it has to be beneficial to our customers.  I love Freshservice for its ease of use, and the positive responses we have had regarding the portal is marvellous

D
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Userlevel 1

Great questions, Akshara! Here are my thoughts on a few.

A1. We use a self-service portal for the same reasons that research says customers do: to make support and help more streamlined and free up time for agents to work on more complex support issues proactively.

A3. I think one thing that could improve the self-portal experience is definitely organizing all the assets in a way that’s easy for the customer to use. Having clear, demarcated sections for the FAQs, the knowledge base of support articles, blog articles, and chat/contacts would be great. It’d also be ideal to have a search bar with optimized search results, in case there are a lot of articles on the product.

A5. I believe that self-service will absolutely play a crucial role in reaching customers where they are, more and more. I think immediacy, urgency and quick gratification will be important factors for customers to consider in interacting with support. A well-made self-service portal would tick all these boxes and make for considerably quick, streamlined and successful customer support interactions.

akshara.sruthi
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Userlevel 7
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We are almost half-way folks :custard:

To answer this question, tag the answer with the corresponding number. For example, if you are answering this question Q3, start your answer with A3 and use the Quote option.


Q3. What are the common mistakes you see while people implement self-service

Warden Brown
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Userlevel 2

 

Q2 What are the challenges you encountered while coming up with a self-service portal
 

It’s been challenging to create a consistent format for knowledge base articles that can be applied whether it’s a how-to article, an informative article, or a link to external documentation. I wish we could create templates for each type of article, which could be used by all article writers. 

It’s also a challenge to include screenshots, videos, etc. and then keep them current. As various programs get updated, their screen layout changes, as does the method of accomplishing certain tasks. Every time there’s an update, the screenshots have to be updated.

 

rashmi.nag
Userlevel 7
Badge +9

Could you please define “self-service portal?” I tend to think of it as knowledge base articles, chat-bots, message boards, and any other way a user can find their own answers. Is my definition too narrow?

Hey @Warden Brown. You’re right! Self-service is nothing but offering end users (customers or employees) all the tools/ information that may help them find answers to their problems and questions and have a better experience with your product or service.

A self-service portal is one place that allows users to visit and get answers to their questions. This portal can consist of knowledge base articles, blogs, community forums, videos, etc. 

Cheers, Rashmi || Team Refresh Community
manns
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Userlevel 7
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Could you please define “self-service portal?” I tend to think of it as knowledge base articles, chat-bots, message boards, and any other way a user can find their own answers. Is my definition too narrow?

The term portal is generally used to denote a digital place that you go to access the capabilities - self-service capabilities in this case. So, it will include some or all of the things you mentioned plus potentially others. Perhaps the ability to book a walk-up support appointment, say.

Cheers, Stephen || https://ITSM.tools
D
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Userlevel 1

 

Q1. How many of you use self-service. Why do you use or why don’t you use. 

 

Q2. What are the challenges you encountered while coming up with a self-service portal

Q3. What are the common mistakes you see while people implement self-service

Q4. How do you measure the effectiveness of your self-service portal

Q5. What do you think is the future of self-service?

 

Great questions, Akshara! Here are my thoughts on a few.

A1. We use a self-service portal for the same reasons that research says customers do: to make support and help more streamlined and free up time for agents to work on more complex support issues proactively.

A3. I think one thing that could improve the self-portal experience is definitely organizing all the assets in a way that’s easy for the customer to use. Having clear, demarcated sections for the FAQs, the knowledge base of support articles, blog articles, and chat/contacts would be great. It’d also be ideal to have a search bar with optimized search results, in case there are a lot of articles on the product.

A5. I believe that self-service will absolutely play a crucial role in reaching customers where they are, more and more. I think immediacy, urgency and quick gratification will be important factors for customers to consider in interacting with support. A well-made self-service portal would tick all these boxes and make for considerably quick, streamlined and successful customer support interactions.

 ​

 

D
Rank
Userlevel 1

Q1. How many of you use self-service. Why do you use or why don’t you use.  

Q3. What are the common mistakes you see while people implement self-service

Q5. What do you think is the future of self-service?Great questions, Akshara! Here are my thoughts on a few.

Great questions, Akshara! Here are my thoughts on a few.

A1. We use a self-service portal for the same reasons that research says customers do: to make support and help more streamlined and free up time for agents to work on more complex support issues proactively.

A3. I think one thing that could improve the self-portal experience is definitely organizing all the assets in a way that’s easy for the customer to use. Having clear, demarcated sections for the FAQs, the knowledge base of support articles, blog articles, and chat/contacts would be great. It’d also be ideal to have a search bar with optimized search results, in case there are a lot of articles on the product.

A5. I believe that self-service will absolutely play a crucial role in reaching customers where they are, more and more. I think immediacy, urgency and quick gratification will be important factors for customers to consider in interacting with support. A well-made self-service portal would tick all these boxes and make for considerably quick, streamlined and successful customer support interactions.

Bex
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Userlevel 3
Badge +1

Re self-service challenges...

A2. The elephant in the self-service room has long been the level of uptake. That employees have avoided self-service, for a variety of reasons, in favor of the more traditional telephone and email channels. I’ll come back to those reasons later.

So, it’s important to think about the organizational change management needs – from minimizing the resistance to change to effectively communicating the “What’s in it for me?” It also needs to be a self-service capability that just works for people. After all, who want to use self-service if it’s easier and quicker to simply pick up the phone to call the service desk?

Spot on, so very true.  Managing how the customers deal with the change is very important.  We have smaller groups of teams that use our system separately, and they will only accept their requests via the Portal, this is a useful tip, as the 3 different departments  include the whole workforce, so they are getting used to using the portal without being scared into using it 

akshara.sruthi
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Userlevel 7
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We are almost half-way folks :custard:

To answer this question, tag the answer with the corresponding number. For example, if you are answering this question Q3, start your answer with A3 and use the Quote option.


Q3. What are the common mistakes you see while people implement self-service

A3: I personally made the mistake of not organizing articles well. Every tiny feature was meant to be an article. IRL it should be this way: Features that are similar should be covered/addressed in one article. I also wish I spoke to my support team to know what those FAQ are. 

 

A
Userlevel 5
Badge +6

Great questions, Akshara! Here are my thoughts on a few.

A1. We use a self-service portal for the same reasons that research says customers do: to make support and help more streamlined and free up time for agents to work on more complex support issues proactively.

A3. I think one thing that could improve the self-portal experience is definitely organizing all the assets in a way that’s easy for the customer to use. Having clear, demarcated sections for the FAQs, the knowledge base of support articles, blog articles, and chat/contacts would be great. It’d also be ideal to have a search bar with optimized search results, in case there are a lot of articles on the product.

A5. I believe that self-service will absolutely play a crucial role in reaching customers where they are, more and more. I think immediacy, urgency and quick gratification will be important factors for customers to consider in interacting with support. A well-made self-service portal would tick all these boxes and make for considerably quick, streamlined and successful customer support interactions.


Thank you so much for your inputs, @Divya Murthy - Coudln’t agree more re: A3. Often times, I’ve found myself being overloaded with links and information that’s all over the place, which, as a user, leaves me questioning if I’m looking in the right place. A clear and demarcated FAQ section with all relevant information in one place goes a long way in refining user experience on the portal!

manns
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Userlevel 7
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We are almost half-way folks :custard:

To answer this question, tag the answer with the corresponding number. For example, if you are answering this question Q3, start your answer with A3 and use the Quote option.


Q3. What are the common mistakes you see while people implement self-service

A3. There are sadly so many, most of which relate to people (which is often the case with the introduction of technology). I’ve stolen this from something I’ve written previously:

  • Implementing the technology without the aforementioned investment in the OCM tools and techniques need to gain employee buy-in
  • Delivering capabilities that fall shy of their consumer-world equivalents and their associated rate of change/improvement
  • Incorrectly focusing on cost reduction as the primary driver or motivation for the self-service portal
  • Failing to focus on demand, including the fact that consumer views of portal benefits differ from those of the supplier, resulting in supply-based decisions
  • Not designing and delivering the self-service portal capabilities with the employee, and improved employee experience, at the heart (this is covered in more detail in the next section)
  • The misguided assumption that employees will automatically use corporate self-service portals because they use them in their personal lives.
Cheers, Stephen || https://ITSM.tools
Warden Brown
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Userlevel 2


Q3. What are the common mistakes you see while people implement self-service

In my own organization, I see article writers use lots of acronyms and jargon, which isn’t helpful to the end user. I always tell people to write with language they’d use to communicate something technical to their grandmother.

akshara.sruthi
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Userlevel 7
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Fourth question is up :coffee:

To answer a question, tag the answer with the corresponding number. For example, if you are answering this question Q4, start your answer with A4 and use the Quote option :) 

Q4 How do you measure the effectiveness of your self-service portal

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