Skills CX operations
Channel strategy
The usual failure mode is adding channels because customers ask for them, without a migration plan, a cost model, or a reason the existing channels failed. You end up with five ways to reach support, the same backlog, and higher cost — because each new channel is staffed, instrumented, and trained separately while demand never moved.
npx rulebase-skills install cx-channel-strategyWhen to use it
Reach for this when someone says any of these — they are the phrases the skill itself triggers on:
- “should we add chat”
- “which channels should we offer”
How it works
The method, in the order the skill runs it. The full procedure — tables, worked examples and the edge cases — is in the skill itself.
Start with demand, not preference surveys
A "customers want WhatsApp" survey without why they want it often means chat wait times are bad or the help centre failed — not that WhatsApp is the right fix.
Cost to serve by channel
Use marginal cost per contact — variable agent time and vendor per-contact fees — not fully loaded cost that includes fixed overhead. Savings are realised only when capacity or headcount changes.
Accessibility and reachability obligations
This is not legal advice. It is an operations checklist for whether support is actually reachable by people with access needs.
When to add a channel
Add only when all of these are true: Documented failure of existing routes for a specific driver segment, Migration plan, Staffing and SLA model, Instrumentation, Content parity.
When NOT to open a channel
Retiring a channel is valid when volume is low, cost is high, and an accessible alternative exists — with a communicated migration period, not a overnight redirect.
Channel-role matrix
Assign each channel a primary job. Overlap is expensive; gaps are worse.
Traps
Channel switching as success. Chat "containment" rises while phone volume rises. Measure total contacts per customer per issue, not per-channel metrics.
Related skills
Free and open source, and vendor-neutral — it reads the conversations from whichever helpdesk you already run. Browse all 149 skills · connect your helpdesk over MCP · source on GitHub
