Question: We have an automated password reset feature that works. Since this has been implemented, we receive *more* phone calls with people requesting us to walk them through the password reset process which is automated.

Our customers literally ask us "should I click the 'I forgot my password' button?". When we say, "Yes", they then ask what they should type in for email...

Once they get the password reset link, they'll ask what they should change their password to.

Do companies with automated password resets even answer/return these calls?

How do we handle this increased workload? 

We literally have to GoToMeeting with customers to see what they are doing that could make it so confusing - this is a 20-30 minute process. This is not sustainable and we are looking for other options.

Any help is much appreciated!

Answer: 
If adding the automated tool has ***increased*** the need for hand-holding, then the customer interface of the automated tool is not user friendly and is poorly designed.

You, in customer service, have to be the data collection point. You can identify and quantify the problem ("The tool is confusing the customers, they call to get help on how to use the automated tool"), and you can record, very easily, what they are struggling with and their feedback on why it isn't clear to them. Once you've recorded the actual data on the problem, those in charge of design can make changes that will directly impact the problem.

Your continued data collection can validate that their solutions have improved, made worse, or had no impact on the problems.

The tool is supposed to reduce the amount of interaction you have to do on this specific issue, it is clearly having the opposite effect. Instead of my just advising you on how to handle the callers, you can be crucial in focusing in on and addressing the problem.

Taking this approach will turn heads. You are looking at a personal work issue from a larger, strategic perspective, you are finding ways to identify specific problems in a way that others can see it is an actual problem, and in a way that they can address the problems. All of that should lead to better service for the customers and reduce non-value-added service time, helping your company's bottom line.

Holding seminars that teach the customers to figure out the interface, instead of changing the interface itself is, you are correct, a band-aid solution that will never end, unless you don't have future customers.
I worked at a help desk in a place where they got an automatic password reset software tool. Unfortunately the top management wasn't behind the change so the help desk was left to manage this new process. There was no training and no communication that the software was being rolled out for end users, it was just rolled out. 

However I came up with a step-by-stop job aid in MS Word that I converted into a pdf file and that my supervisor and department manager approved of. Whenever we got a call for help with using the password reset software, we emailed the directions to that person and told them to follow the basic directions. We encouraged the other person on the end of the phone to print out the directions and share it with others, in the hopes that they would learn how to do this themselves. 

For the most part it reduced calls to the help desk for that type of call.