Categories of Customer Service Software Built for Consumers

This is Part 3 of a 4-part series about what is wrong with the customer service software industry and what we can do about it.

1. The Customer Service Software Industry is Fundamentally Broken
2. Customer Service Software Economics
3. Categories of Customer Service Software Built for Consumers
4. Un-breaking Customer Service

Part 1 of this blog post series provided an overview of why The Customer Service Software Industry is Fundamentally Broken. Part 2 explained how the economic incentives for customer service software makes it difficult at times to do what’s in the best interest of the consumer. The conclusion in that article was that consumer software is more capable of doing what is right for the consumer than commercial software.

So, let’s dive into the 4 different categories of customer service software available today for consumers. To be clear, nothing is perfect. If there were, then customer service would not be broken. The goal of here is to learn from what works and what doesn’t with existing software so we can start to envision a new bigger, better, more bad*ss solution in the future.

Category: Content Website

• Example — GetHuman
• Customer service need addressed — Information/troubleshooting
• Business model — Ads/Referrals
• Relationship to companies — Content curated by website and/or website community (i.e. so company usually not involved)
• Advantages — Can give information that the company doesn’t want to reveal (ex. explaining how to cancel). Also, can provide cross-company and cross-product information (ex. comparing product features).
• Challenges — Can be hard to keep information in sync with changes at each company. Incorrect and/or out of date information is often even worse than no information. FYI, GetHuman does a great job of this, but it takes a pretty massive effort behind the scenes.

Category: Dispute Management

• Example — Better Business Bureau
• Customer service need addressed — Resolving dissatisfaction with the service provided by a company
• Business model — Selling data and/or accreditation to companies
• Relationship to companies — Often companies can get more favorable ratings/access if they pay more
• Advantages — As trusted 3rd party, has leverage to demand more from companies for the customer.
• Challenges — Since revenue comes from companies, dispute managers often need to walk a fine line. This can lead to more favorability on companies than they deserve in some cases.

Category: Service Optimizer

• Examples — BillShark, Trim
• Customer service need addressed — Monitoring service usage and facilitating changes that are most favorable to consumer (ex. canceling service, switching service, lowering rate)
• Business model — Charging customer (typically either flat fee or percentage of money saved)
• Relationship to companies — Contacts company on your behalf, so usually no direct relationship to the company. There is always a fear, however, the company will make it harder for them to work on the customer’s behalf. That fear can at times indirectly push the company’s interest ahead of the consumer.
• Advantages — Usually able to do what is best for the customer. In many cases, these services also help customer plan ahead of time to prevent potential issues in the future.
• Challenges — Companies make it just as hard for these service providers as they do for the customer (if not harder). These services almost always involve manual, resource intensive work that is difficult to scale and optimize. Also, many consumers don’t like to pay for this type of service.

Category: Customer Service “Insurance”

• Examples — Service, Lola
• Customer service need addressed — Top tier concierge customer service that you get before you have any issues (i.e. just in case something happens down the road).
• Business model — Charging customer (typically either monthly service fee or percentage of money saved)
• Relationship to companies — Similar to Service Optimizers, these services often work on behalf of the customer when they contact a company.
• Advantages — Regardless of how bad customer service is at the companies you deal with, you will always be treated like a rock star.
• Challenges — All the same downsides as Service Optimizers. Also, it’s nearly impossible to provide top tier customer service for every company in every industry. That is why these service providers more often than not focus on just one industry or niche (ex. Travel).

Up Next…

Now that we have a lay of the land, the last installment of this blog post series will lay out some guidelines for what it will take to create a solution that can help un-break customer service and make life better for all of us.

1. The Customer Service Software Industry is Fundamentally Broken
2. Customer Service Software Economics
3. Categories of Customer Service Software Built for Consumers
4. Un-breaking Customer Service