Figure 4.1: Median Cost per Transaction (by channel) $8 $7 $6 $5 $4 $3 $2 $1 $0 IVR Source: Gartner, Fall 2003. $6.98 $5.31 $5.46 $3.28 $1.35 $0.24 Agent Paper Web Chat E-Mail Web Self-Service Adapting Service to Changing Customer Behavior Customers must be allowed to use their channel of choice, even when it is not the preferred medium for the enterprise. For example, the cost of using live agents to respond to basic "What's my balance?" inquiries is prohibitively high, and this is a type of transaction where agents do not add a great deal of value. While companies cannot force customers to use less expensive self-service channels unless they are willing to risk losing them, they absolutely can and should motivate clients to use alternative channels. As an incentive, companies should offer pricing discounts and enhanced service to customers who do make the move. It's essential for an enterprise to deliver on its promises in these alternative channels. So, if you promise additional or speedier service for customers who use self- service, make sure customers feel rewarded for their decision. Otherwise, they'll use the self-service application once and very likely return to the more expensive phone and agent-based service. For example, if you en- tice customers to a self-service web site with promises of less expensive products, be sure to offer discounted items of equal or higher quality than what the customer could obtain through traditional channels. The Power of Speech Recognition for Self-Service > 43