Google is an excellent resource for finding information. However, when it comes to customer support, Google should not be relied on as the primary source of information. This blog post will discuss why relying on Google can be a disaster for your support organization. We will also provide tips on how you can offer better self-service support for your customers.
Key Statistics to Understand with Customer Service in 2022
- A third of consumers would prefer to switch companies after just one poor customer service experience.
- Across the globe, companies respond to 85% of customer queries.
- 62% of consumers think insight and knowledge are key factors to the quality of a customer service interaction.
If we combine these critical facts about customer service, we can generally see the desire to use a tool like Google to provide quick answers to customer queries. Google is accessible everywhere, and we typically use it daily to find answers or discover products.
However, using it as your support team’s definitive resource for self-service support and directing consumers to simply ‘google’ their questions does not encapsulate the needs of the consumer nor the dedication your company should have toward them.
If you don’t consider all 3 of these statistics, i.e., you ignore two of them and focus on only one, then you’re not providing the expected level of support.
Focusing on answering every question doesn’t mean the quality of the answer is at or above par. Gaining “insight” from fellow users might help relate to consumer difficulties, but it doesn’t provide accurate answers to real problems. Considering a “poor experience” as one that doesn’t get resolved or goes unanswered can leave consumers with responses of low value that only solve your team’s need to meet a quota.
1. Customers prefer going to a company’s site first.
When looking for answers, a customer will prefer to go to that company’s website before performing a search on Google. Google is a broad search engine that will provide a plethora of results, some of which may be irrelevant to the customer’s inquiry. The customer would then have to sift through these results to find the answer they are looking for.
On the other hand, if the customer goes to the company’s website, they can easily navigate to the support page and find the answer. By directing customers to your company’s website first, you can provide them with more accurate and relevant information.
Additionally, if a customer finds an answer on Google, then Google is the brand that gets credit for solving their problem. That sets the precedent in their mind that they should use Google for self-service support instead of you.
2. Google should not be the only resource used by support organizations.
While Google can be a great starting point for information discovery, support organizations should learn to rely on well-structured knowledge bases as their primary source of information and should also consider other sources of information such as customer forums. By relying on Google as the only source of information, support organizations run the risk of missing out on essential details that could help resolve customer issues.
Google is a scraper. Its engine takes information in any form, no matter the quality. So, if a poor solution or non-solution to a problem with your product arrives first on search results, then that’s what your customers will think you’ve approved. Even if the information isn’t coming from you, it’s still a reflection of you.
You cannot risk losing that quality control over the information that circulates around your products and services.
3. Google only supports content in HTML and YouTube formats and can’t look past a login screen.
Support comes in all formats, not just plain HTML and YouTube videos. You have PDFs, videos on other platforms, and information that isn’t online. Google can’t provide the comprehensive support that your customers need and deserve.
Your support needs to be accessible. If your support content is in multiple formats and asks customers to login, then you better have an amazing internal direct-to-answer search engine. One that can provide even better responses to customer queries with results that don’t send customers looking elsewhere for more information.
Support is defined by the value of the answer and the satisfaction of the customer. You can’t leave it up to chance by relying on Google for self-service support.
4. Google makes money off advertising.
This means that Google’s primary motivation is to sell advertising, not to provide accurate and helpful customer support. Google doesn’t care if you find the answer to your question; they only care that you keep using their search engine.
This can lead to some pretty big problems for support organizations who rely on Google for self-service support. Google’s algorithms are constantly changing, which can result in customer support links and articles disappearing overnight. And because Google is motivated by selling advertising, they’re not likely to prioritize customer support content over ads.
This also exposes your valuable customers to your own competition. While they might be able to find an answer to their problem, why take the risk?
Step into the Future of Self-Service Support with a Knowledge Discovery Platform
In order to organize your data, a knowledge discovery platform like Korra is essential. Our technology takes the legwork out of organizing data by pulling any and all information from the sources you provide (e.g., Dropbox, NAS, YouTube) from virtually any format.
Customers can ask their question and Korra finds the answer, displaying it as a simple interactive video that highlights text from PDFs and DOCXs as well as exact timestamps from videos on YouTube or Vimeo. With Korra, customers can browse your support files for unparalleled self-service support. And your support teams can use it, too, to speed up resolutions for customers who call in or chat.
Try out Korra now and discover the future of self-service support.