When was the last time that you conscientiously chose not to use a self-checkout counter? Come on, be honest. When faced with the possibility of independently handling a task, we just go for it, no matter where - if it’s McDonald’s, a clothing store or an airport. And there is no shame in that - according to Harvard Business Review, 81% of customers polled attempt to take care of the matter on their own, before contacting someone for help. So we cannot deny it, the era of self-service is upon us and we should be embracing it. But what exactly is it? And how can it be improved?
Self-service is a company's way of giving the customers all necessary tools they may need to solve their issues. When implemented correctly - it benefits both parties at play, the clients and the company. For the customers it is a way of immediately resolving their issues, with close-to-none waiting time. Not only does it bring them greater satisfaction from solving the problem on their own terms (after all, each of us has a little-miss-do-it-yourself hiding inside), but also they don’t feel any guilt about bothering somebody else. From the businesses perspective, they avoid miscommunication issues between clients and support teams, which could stain a company's image. By providing an excellent service, they can also expect a return in form of brand loyalty and higher sales. We also have to mention the obvious - it could also benefit them by saving the resources spent on the support team. It’s not just self-checkout counters - think bigger: knowledge bases filled with FAQs, how-to articles, community forums and all sorts of chatbots. All of these count as self-service and are offered by a variety of industries.
The rule of ‘better done than perfect’ does not necessarily apply in the realm of customer support. Clients don’t want just any source of knowledge - over 40% admit that they have to contact the support center, as they could not find sufficient information. Of course, provided that they even can contact anyone - as 30% of respondents disclosed that the most frustrating aspect of self-service is not being able to have any additional support, once they failed to solve their issues. So nowadays, the customers expect a meaningful self-service platform with a possibility of all-rounded support. Data shows that knowledge bases win amongst clients as a type of self service, but it is only true when they are paired with an immaculate help desk and professional support team. In such a situation, the support team is tasked with more complex issues, and small queries stay in the hands of a customer. So ideally, a hybrid approach in a form of service desk with e. g. knowledge base, should work wonders.
Creation of service desk portals in IT branches is offered by a variety of companies, based on different environments. We are going to be focusing on Atlassian, which can supply us with the Jira Service Management (JSM) platform. Although JSM was made with IT in mind, it also extends to different departments - for example HR, Facilities or Marketing. JSM allows the hybrid approach - it offers creation of a service desk, which also can be connected to a Confluence database. However, while JSM’s default features provide a strong foundation, some essential elements that improve communication and customer satisfaction are missing or require further refinement.
This is where our extension - the Feature Bundle comes in. Designed to enhance JSM’s functionality, it provides features like additional fields, customer actions and request steps, which bridge the gap between client and an agent. The offered features may even be deemed essential, as they allow for streamlined communication on client - support team lines.
Let’s kick off with something simple, yet effective - adding fields to the customer portal. After creating a ticket in the JSM customer portal, as a part of the native environment, the client can only see the information they provided in a request form, the status of the ticket, request type and who it is shared with. Sometimes it is not enough, the clients demand more and they are not afraid to contact the support team. What if you could anticipate the client’s needs by granting them access to additional fields, which were not visible during the creation of the request? The feature of ‘additional fields’ allows you to do just that. You can add fields you desire and predict what the client might find useful - priority of the project, subtask list or assignee fields are just a tip of the iceberg.
Share with your clients nuance information they didn’t know they wished for
- all possible with 'Additional Fields'.
It has been proven that finding answers to our questions brings us as much joy as eating ice cream. So before you supply your clients with pints of Ben and Jerry’s while they await their issues to be resolved, why not allow them to solve some of the problems independently with ‘customer actions’ feature? From drafting a ticket, through editing the request, to its escalation - the customer holds the power.
Giving the possibility of drafting a ticket allows the client to gather all the insights for the agent and ensures that the support team is submitted with a cohesive ticket. But clients are humans too, so giving them an opportunity to fix their mistakes by editing the request is the least we can do. Whether it's a mistake or forgotten information in the form, they can solve this issue by themselves and modify the ticket accordingly.
If by any chance, the priority of the issue should move higher in the hierarchy, the customer may be able to escalate the ticket. On the agent’s side, they can react quicker and adjust their workflow to meet the clients needs. Such an opportunity reduces the back-and-forth messages between the agent and the client, not to mention it saves both of them the time and effort in gaining the same, desired outcome.
Everybody likes to be active once in a while - why not give your customers that possibility
with 'Customer Actions' feature?
Honestly, there may be nothing worse than sending your ticket into oblivion and not knowing what is currently happening with it. In order to assure the client that their ticket is not just floating somewhere in the universe, we suggest adding ‘request steps’ in your service desk portal. This feature allows you to share with a client the progress of issues and what is waiting ahead. By adding description to the steps, the customer can clearly understand each stage of the ticket. You can also simplify the issue’s workflow to the client as the steps are mapped to JQL. This way, it becomes even more powerful as the steps become dependent on any issue’s field. We also are aware that appearances do in fact matter, so go ahead and adjust this feature to your portal’s color scheme!
Share the ticket's journey by adding Request Steps and gain more understanding from your users.
Imagine you’re a service agent and suddenly you notice an influx of tickets, but to your surprise they are all regarding one issue. You probably suspect even more copy-cat requests coming in, so why not stay ahead and inform all your customers at once? Incident and announcement banners are a perfect solution in such situations. By creating a banner, you notify your clients right on the customer portal. It is a simple clarification, which gives you a chance to keep the users well-informed and instructed. Not to mention, you are also preventing the support team from drowning in ticket duplicates. Have we also said that the banners can be shown on the portal depending on configuration conditions? This level of personalization gives you the possibility to share relevant information based on the type of situation and the client.
Transparency goes a long way in self-service - make sure you and your users are on the same page, made possible with 'Banners' feature.
As more and more companies admit that growing in the direction of self-service for customers is a productive direction, we cannot ignore this idea of an independent client. What is also worth keeping in mind is the fact that only the businesses following best practices will stay afloat in this trend. And with the Feature Bundle extension, it could not get easier to get ahead in the game. At the end of the day, it allows you to equip the customer with all the necessary information and be transparent about it. As the clients rely less on the support team to gain answers, the service agents may focus on more complex issues. In the end, not only the support system’s productivity levels rise, but also customer satisfaction. Jira Service Management may have a lot of room for improvement, but it does not mean we have to settle for less.
🔎 Would you like to learn more about technical aspects of the app?
🍧Or maybe you want to try it out?
👀Or perhaps we can interest you with our other extensions?