1. Self Service Trends & Innovations
Hamutal Schieber | August, 2014

2. 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.).

3. Contents
Background and Market Trends
Consumer Motivations and Trends
Self Service Channels
Self Service Tools
Best Practice and Key Success Factors

4. Contents
Background and Market Trends
Consumer Motivations and Trends
Self Service Channels
Self Service Tools
Best Practice and Key Success Factors

5. 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.

6. Cost Savings
• 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.
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.

7. 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.

8. 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.
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.
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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. Contents
Background and Market Trends
Consumer Motivations and Trends
Self Service Channels
Self Service Tools
Best Practice and Key Success Factors

17. 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
Convenience • No wait / lines
• Interactive tools
• Multi channel experience
• Assistance and involvement of other users through social
networks and forums
Engagement

18. 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

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. 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%.

22. 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.

23. Contents
Background and Market Trends
Consumer Motivations and Trends
Self Service Channels
Self Service Tools
Best Practice and Key Success Factors

24. 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.

25. 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).

26. 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.

27. Channel Preferences
• Also for outbound notifications, the
customer’s channel preference is
subject to context.
Ovum, Maximizing Customer Value With Proactive Outbound Contact

28. 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.

29. 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).

30. 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
Leumi Israel: Cash transfer via SMS calling a contact center according to Echo Research.
• 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).

31. 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.

32. 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.

33. 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.

34. Contents
Background and Market Trends
Consumer Motivations and Trends
Self Service Channels
Self Service Tools
Best Practice and Key Success Factors

35. Self Service Tools
• Community
Based Self
Service
• Assisted Self-
Service
• Content
based
unassisted
self service
• Completely
transactional /
unassisted
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

36. 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.

37. 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.

38. 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.

39. 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

40. Tools | Online Comparison Tools
• Companies enable customers to compare product features and prices online – without going
to the store or consulting a representative

41. 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

42. 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.

43. 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).

44. 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.

45. 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.

46. 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.

47. Contents
Background and Market Trends
Consumer Motivations and Trends
Self Service Channels
Self Service Tools
Best Practice and Key Success Factors

48. 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.

49. 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.

50. 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

51. 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

52. 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

53. 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.
– .

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