Self-Service Deflection

Self-service deflection is defined as the rate that self-service resources and/or content eliminates a customer’s need for live assistance.  While there is general agreement about the definition of deflection, there is currently no consistent industry approach to measuring self-service success nor is there a standard methodology for calculating self-service deflection.  The ability to accurately measure the impact of self-service initiatives requires a comprehensive methodology to calculate deflection.

Industry Average Success and Deflection Rates

Source: ServiceXRG

Research Highlights

• Today nearly half (46.3%) of all companies with self-service initiatives do not have formal measurement processes in place.
  
  
• The majority (62.1%) of service organizations track two or more self-service indicators.  The more indicators you track, the more insight you can gain into the use and effectiveness of self-services.
  
  
• The industry average self-service success rate is 48.1% while the average deflection rate is only 23.4%
  
  

Related Research

ServiceXRG has conducted extensive research to understand the ways that companies define and measure self-service effectiveness.  ServiceXRG has published a number of articles, reports and presentations that offer definitions, metrics, performance benchmarks and best practices related to this topic in detail.

Articles

• Creating and Managing Effective Self-Service Content
  
  
• The Most Effective Web Support Services
  
  
• Imperatives for Getting Customers to Use Web Based Self-Service
  
  
• Measuring Self-Service Deflection
  
  

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