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With emails companies can reduce their cost per contact by up to 75-80 percent compared to phone interactions as emails are said to be one of the fastest growing customer service channels. Although Web self service,  Web chat and communities receive more ink and visibility, email response continues to grow steadily and while customers want to use email, the reliability and quality of this channel has have not always been dependable, thus leading to growing customer frustration and higher service costs. Therefore managing the email conversation with customers requires processes that ensure speed, quality and consistency of response at all times.

How email can be a part of the self service strategy

Although self-service options may not always be successful, it is important to make it easy for customers to continue to do business with the company, and do your best to minimize more costly telephone contacts. Many companies still do not incorporate email within the self-service experience though email should be a basic, seamless, escalation channel for self-service.

Integrating email into self service

There are various elements that are required for integrating email into self-service, and that includes an approach for when and where to offer email escalation, a flawless transition from self-service to agent assistance, the use of Web forms, De-escalation during the escalation process, tuning and optimizing the self-service knowledgebase.

The most vital facet of the email escalation strategy is to make sure escalation from self-service is uncomplicated and simple. Self-service customers need to recognize the transition to assisted service as seamless and hence the self-service activities need to be clear to the agent to do away with unnecessary problem discovery, prevent the agent from suggesting solutions the customer has already tried and diminish average handle time. It is important for an agent to have the same view of knowledge as customers, and by deploying a single knowledgebase across all customer and agent channels, it is possible to create a view of solution content that ensures more consistent service. De-escalation also is a way to proactively resolve inquiries before they are escalated to an agent. By incorporating a passive de-escalation strategy into of the inquiry process, it is possible to convey the right answer to customers while averting inbound inquiries before they reach an agent. Also using a feedback mechanism allows customers to rate or comment on self-service content. This feedback can help to flag ineffective content so that it can be revised to meet customer needs.

As most consumers increasingly prefer to “help themselves” while demanding instant access to information, product data and online support, it is important to integrate the right technology, business processes, and user adoption strategies, to be successful. The right knowledge management software assistance can help enhance the customer service experience.