Designing self-

service experiences

Maish Nichani (@maish)

Agenda

I want to turn your attention to a growing industry that has big

implications for business and society—self-service.

Although the industry is growing, it lacks in direction and execution.

Self-service embodies everything we do as UX designers and

more.

I call on you, UX designers, to grab this opportunity and bring

about positive change to this industry.

About

self-service

Long time ago

Today

Tomorrow

Websites

Chatbots

Emma - Mortgage chatbot DoNotPay - Robot lawyer

Why self-service?

Why now?

Scalable customer value

proposition

Digital technologies

Business operations

Scalable support services

DIGITAL

TRANSFORMATION

It’s business reality

I need to...

Get more info

Get stuff done

Solve problems

Always a need for services

Demand drivers

The reasons people reach

out to your company.

Self-service

Websites

Apps

Virtual assistants

Help centre

IVR

Kiosks

...

Assisted service

Walk-in

Snail mail

Phone

Email

Social

Live chat

...

Shifting left is good for business

Self-service Level 1

(simple)

Level 2

(complex)

Level 3

(troubleshooting)

Shift left

$4 $10+$0.5 $6

Customers want it

“90 percent of all consumers expect

a brand or organization to offer a

self-service support portal or

frequently asked questions (FAQ)

page.”

- Microsoft: Global State of Multichannel

Customer Service Report, January

2016.

“Use of help or FAQs on a

company’s website increased from

67% in 2012 to 81% in 2015 among

US online adults.”

- Forrester Research, January 2016.

We have a long way to go

Gerry McGovern’s 2016 Confab presentation

Designers can help

Customer

experience

Business

operations

5 design

principles

The wager!

“Using design to

solve service

problems, humph!

Prove it. Show me a

7% reduction in call

volumes in 3

months.”Contact centre

manager at a bank

Framework

No longer useful?

Retire it.

Product

developmentKnowledge

base

Create,

optimise,

or reuse

5 design principles

Know the

customer

Aim to resolve

effortlessly

Don’t close

doors

Keep

improving

Mirror demand

efficiently

Know the customer

“I cannot withdraw money

from ATM card even

when I have money in my

account. It tells me that I

exceeded the withdrawal

limit but I did not

withdraw any money

today.”

Distance yourself from the

marketing people.

They will:

● Tell you about happy

customers

● Focus on loyalty opportunities

● Try to cross-sell and upsell

● Focus on delighting ALL

customers (oh my!)

To know your self-service customer

Hangout with folks from the

contact centre.

They will:

● Tell you about unhappy

customers

● Describe the real problems

people face

● Tell you about shortcuts and

undocumented answers

● Focus on resolving TOP

TASKS

Who Banking account holders

Thoughts “Why is this happening to me? Did I

do something wrong? What will

happen to my other payments?”

Feelings Anxious, scared and a bit angry.

Expectation

s

“You are the expert. Surely, you can

help me out here. I want an answer.

NOW.”

Think about their expectations

First contact resolution

(FCR)

Solving the issue the first

time around.

Think about their digital savviness

Mirror demand

efficiently

Kathy Sierra: Making Users Awesome

Business reality

The demand curve

Dem

an

d

Time

Campaigns, new

product

launches...

Knowledge

base

Which requests?

Get more info

Get stuff done

Solve problems

Knowledge

base

Aim to resolve

effortlessly

Effortless resolution > delight

Effortless resolution is...

Easy to find

and access

Simple and quick

to understand

Gets the job done,

completely

Resolution journey

Trigger Google Homepage Support site Agent

What is DBS swift code?

What is DBS swift code?

What is DBS swift code?

What is DBS swift code?

NOT like this

How to redirect mail to new address

Don’t close

doors

Resolution journey

Trigger Google Homepage Support site Agent

Escalation

Handing off to an agent.

Escalation

Escalation workflow

Gather case

history

Call in

Call

back

Visit

Chat

Email

Create,

update,

optimise

Knowledge

base

Call back

Keep improving

Systems

approach to

measurement

Knowlege

base

Customer

Contact

centre

Content

creator

Content

quality

Use and

satisfactio

n

Improvement

opportunities

Knowledge

gapAwareness

Goals, signals, metrics

5 design principles

Know the

customer

Aim to resolve

effortlessly

Don’t close

doors

Keep

improving

Mirror demand

efficiently

Summary

● The big mantra today is “digital transformation”.

● Self-service is a natural requirement in this change.

● However, self-service is not living up to its promise.

● UX designers can help turns this around by addressing both

sides of the challenge: customer experience and business

operations.

Thank you