Who Should Be Responsible For Managing Self-Service Customer Support Strategy?
Who Should Be Responsible For Managing Self-Service Customer Support Strategy?
The teams typically responsible for managing self-service support experiences are not those you might expect
In an era where self-service options are the front line of customer support, the question of who should guide the creation of these essential resources is more critical than ever.
At the ConVEx 2024 conference in Minneapolis, I shared findings from the 2024 Heretto State of Self-Service Support Survey. While the survey uncovered a variety of interesting data points, I zeroed in on the discovery I found most surprising:
The teams most frequently responsible for owning self-service customer support strategy are not typically those you might expect.
It may seem counterintuitive, but the teams most often tasked with overseeing self-service customer support strategy are not content professionals like technical writers.
Which Teams Are Most Likely To Be Responsible For Self-Service Customer Support Strategy?
According to the 2024 Heretto State of Self-Service Support Survey, the task of overseeing self-service customer support strategy is most often not led by content professionals.
Instead, these responsibilities typically fall under the:
Customer Experience (CX) Department — 38% of the time, CX leads the charge, tasked with ensuring the overall satisfaction and engagement of customers. While they may excel at mapping customer journeys and understanding user needs, they may lack the specialized skills to create the detailed, helpful content that users require when they seek help.
IT Department — 21% of the time, IT teams handle the technical backend of self-service platforms, such as maintaining the knowledge base software and ensuring data security. However, their focus is usually more on the technology behind self-service support rather than on crafting user-friendly self-service support content.
Customer Support Department — 12% of the time, customer support leads self-service strategy. While they are typically directly engaged with resolving customer issues, support teams are usually more focused on direct interaction than on developing extensive documentation strategies allowing customers to help themselves. They sometimes are responsible for creating knowledge base articles and other content to provide to consumers who contact the support team for help.
Curiously, technical writers, the professionals most skilled at creating clear, useful documentation, are only responsible for these tasks 8% of the time. This mismatch between content strategy skill sets and responsibilities may lead to suboptimal self-service experiences.
Request a copy of the 2024 Heretto State of Self-Service Support Survey report.
The Case for Technical Writers
Technical writers specialize in communicating complex information clearly and effectively. They are trained to write instructional content that helps users understand and solve problems on their own; the essence of self-service. They are also no strangers to content strategy — with the discipline producing some of the world’s most sought-after content strategy experts.
Here are a few reasons why technical writers might be the best fit for leading self-service content initiatives:
Clear Communication: Technical writers have the expertise to create content that is easily understandable, reducing the cognitive load on users and helping them resolve issues more quickly.
User-Centered Design: Tech writers are adept at designing information strategically so it aligns with how users search for and process information. This is crucial in self-service environments where the goal is to enable users to quickly find answers.
Content Management Skills: Technical writers are also skilled in managing the content lifecycle, ensuring that information is up-to-date, relevant, and easy to navigate.
Integrating Technical Writers into Self-Service Strategies
To leverage the full benefits of technical writers in creating self-service content, organizations might consider the following strategies:
Empower Technical Writers as Project Leads: Giving technical writers the authority to lead self-service content projects can help ensure that the content meets high standards of clarity and utility.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Establish a workflow that involves customer experience, IT, and customer support departments collaborating with technical writers. Each team can contribute their unique insights and strengths, while technical writers ensure the content is well-crafted, structured, and effective.
Continuous Feedback and Improvement: Implement systems to gather user feedback specifically on self-service content, and use this data to continually refine the content experience, with technical writers playing a key role in this process.
While the customer experience, IT, and customer support departments play significant roles in the management of self-service platforms, entrusting technical writers with the responsibility of creating self-service content strategies could greatly enhance the quality and effectiveness of these resources.
As companies look to improve their self-service offerings, reevaluating the role of technical writers could be a key step in developing truly exceptional customer experiences.
Request a copy of the 2024 Heretto State of Self-Service Support Survey report.
My role is that of a technical writer, but as a *part* of the support department (and with an extensive background in support). I actually do support - hopping into the queue and answering emails - about 10-15% of any week.
I'd argue that anyone creating the end user self service materials, no matter who ultimately owns it, should be at least very closely working with the support team if not embedded in it, as these are the people that are directly answering the questions that your self service content isn't answering, and are the most directly affected by lacking or ineffective content.
Also, knowing how customers think about our product by interacting with them as a support person absolutely informs how I approach the documentation for those customers -- being in support is one of the most effective methods to truly know your audience that I've ever encountered.
Not only that, having the documentation be a part of support creates a smooth career path for a support person who still wants to help people, but maybe wants to move on from being all front line all the time. Technical writing is often just an extension of talking to customers, or I think it should be at any rate.