Self-Service
Channels that let customers resolve issues on their own — help centres, FAQs, portals, communities.
Self-service is any path where the customer finds and applies the answer without a live agent: a documentation site, an in-product help widget, a status page, a community forum. Done well, it is the cheapest and often fastest resolution because customers frequently prefer it for simple, common problems.
Success is usually inferred from search success, article usefulness ratings, and reduced contacts for covered topics.
What it hides: usage metrics (pageviews, sessions) are not success metrics. A well-trafficked article that doesn't answer the question generates frustration and a follow-up ticket, so the cost lands twice. Measure whether the visit ended the problem, not whether it happened.