Measuring usability: preference vs. performance
Communications of the ACM
Does information technology lead to smaller firms?
Management Science
Productivity and information technology: the elusive connection
Management Science
Electronic markets and electronic hierarchies
Communications of the ACM
Hedonic and ergonomic quality aspects determine a software's appeal
Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Customers.com: How to Create a Profitable Business Strategy for the Internet and Beyond
Customers.com: How to Create a Profitable Business Strategy for the Internet and Beyond
Behavioral Model of Online Purchasers in E-Commerce Environment
Electronic Commerce Research
An empirical investigation of online consumer purchasing behavior
Communications of the ACM - Mobile computing opportunities and challenges
| Hi-index | 0.00 |
Drives to increase the volume of customers who use self-service channels are a common strategic goal. The promise of significant cost reduction is a tempting carrot. Couple this with the vision of customers benefiting from quick, effective and usable contact channels, avoiding human error (except perhaps their own!) or potential frustration at being passed around to an `appropriate' contact centre advisor is a very worthy vision 驴 but is it as simple as this?In this discussion paper the authors speculate that self-service, while potentially being a revenue-saving opportunity, could also erode customer satisfaction and loyalty. Self-service doubtless appeals to some customers, but is it what all customers want? Do organisations understand enough about customer experience to enable them to build successful self-service channels, i.e. those that are useful, usable and used by customers? Do businesses really want to lose the opportunity to actually talk to customers and gain insight and knowledge about them? What impact will increased levels of self-service have on more traditional channels, such as customer contact centres?This paper also discusses evidence that self-service can actually serve to increase communication between organisations and customers across multiple channels. For many organisations, the Internet has actually resulted in more calls to the contact centre, not less. The seductive promise of self-service to cut costs through reducing call volumes may be an empty one.