Since 1995, companies have been strongly focused on using Internet technologies to interact with customers, resulting in an almost irrational adoption of anything related to self-service. While self-service technologies can indeed lower the cost of servicing customers and provide competitive differential, many companies lose sight of the more fundamental business concepts underlying effective customer service strategies, such as customer value, a product's service channel readiness, and customer affinity for different service channels.
Seven Sins to Avoid When Designing Customer Service Solutions
Companies repeatedly make customer service mistakes in seven key areas. One of the primary reasons for these repeat mistakes is the tendency by companies to view customer service technology as a solution for any customer service problem. This approach overlooks fundamental business design principles of customer service solutions, resulting in solutions that are designed more around technology than around customer segment attributes. Both technology and business decision makers should review these seven common customer service mistakes and adjust customer service strategies in all three solution design domains: processual, organizational, and technological.