Observations-on-Operations Interactive: Getting Serious About Self-Serve?

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Observations-on-Operations Interactive: Getting Serious About Self-Serve?

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How many times have you had someone comment on the poor performance of an IVR or other web self-serve function? How often have you heard complaints about how self-serve becomes fend-for-yourself. Do you think the call center industry needs to improve its self-serve performance? We do and we give three experiences where self-serve becomes fend-for-yourself.

Self-Serve Experience 1: A call to a financial institution to update credit card information requires that you speak to an agent. Upon navigating the IVR, which requires you to enter all 14,000 credit card numbers, you are told that the "office is closed".

Self-Serve Experience 2: After an extended time shopping for the perfect piece of recreational equipment on a web site and initiating a shopping-cart, an abrupt message appears indicates that the online store is closed and will reopen in 3 hours and 42 minutes, 3 hours and 41 minutes ... we don't wait the 3 hours and 40 minutes.

Self-Serve Experience 3: A notice is received from the manufacture regarding a product recall. The website URL is included in the recall notice along with the 800 number. Having entered the correct shipping address information and clicking on the final "Enter" button, the order is receipt shows an entirely wrong address. A call into the call center results in the following response by the CSR, "we can't access that information and we do not know how to help you".

Result: Fend for yourself!

Are these just three random experiences that leave us wondering if the call center industry needs to get serious about self-serve? What do you think are the solutions to improve the self-serve experience of customers?
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