Whoever said a picture is worth a thousand words was certainly right as regards customer service. Video customer service can be an incredibly powerful means of enhancing the user experience. Research shows that about seven out of ten people are visual learners — individuals who process and retain information more effectively with visual stimuli. Further, digital media have conditioned people to seek out video content for learning, advice, and instructions. A couple of statistics in support of this:
- In a recent survey, fifty-nine percent of consumers said they prefer watching a short video compared to reading text descriptions to understand a product or service.
- Almost 80% of brands said that video marketing shows positive ROI
- 68% of marketers said the ROI on videos is better than PPC
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the shift to video content so that it is quickly becoming one of the most popular means of delivering great customer service. Virtual meetings and webinars have replaced a large portion of previously in-person brand experiences. For example, data on the usage of the leading video conferencing platform, Zoom, show the dramatic impact of the pandemic on the prevalence of video-based meetings and customer communications.
Alternative to Unsatisfying Text and Audio
Understanding the power of video is important because so much customer experience and support are delivered via text and audio. We believe that this is a key reason why satisfaction with customer support calls is far lower than any CX leader wants. Ineffective communication is the leading complaint that customers have about customer service interactions. It follows that finding ways to incorporate relevant video content into the customer support and customer service experience can be very beneficial.
There are a variety of ways that companies can incorporate video into customer service and customer experience. The most pleasing and effective approaches include:
1. Live Video Chat
Well-equipped contact centers can engage customers in live video meetings via computers and smartphones. Android and iOS devices are game-changing tech for companies looking to engage with customers via video. We all take them everywhere — which creates 24 potential hours of video engagement every day.
Live Video Chat is very popular in certain industries that involve high involvement decisions, including:
- Digital CX for Banking
- Digital CX for Healthcare
- Digital CX for Lending
- Digital CX for Telecom
- Digital CX for Insurance
Text Links and Video Customer Service
Delivering live video chart is straightforward in 2022. Customers can call a contact center as usual and opt-in to receive a link via text or app notification. By clicking on the link, the user can be immediately connected to live video of the representative via a Facetime or video phone call. Like text-based live chat, live video chat is growing rapidly as a contact center tool to ensure a great customer experience and even enduring brand loyalty.
Face-to-face video call conversations can break down the barriers and simulate the personal experience that in the past could only be facilitated in a retail location. For many customers, video support and video chat feel more like a real conversation, and the support agent more of a real person.
The value of face-to-face video calling naturally varies by circumstance. For high involvement and potentially confusing products and services, face-to-face video can help customers overcome fear and dissonance. For physical products, such video can facilitate live demonstrations or personalize suggestions and recommendations. It certainly offers a more satisfying customer experience than filing a support ticket.
Team Training is Essential
Customer service training is very important here, so that the video chat support truly capitalizes on the power and richness of the medium. Executed successfully by an adept customer service agent, video chat support can drive customer retention and customer loyalty.
2. Co-Browsing
Often, live video interaction can be even more powerful when it serves a productive purpose beyond human connection. Co-browsing can be just such a use case. When a customer service rep and consumer can browse a site or app together, or when the representative can guide a customer through a complex process, video can play a powerful role in reducing average handle time (AHT) and boost first-call resolution (FCR). While such technology used to be uncommon, now vendors like Callvu offer straightforward integrations with contact center call management and other systems.
Today’s progressive customer service team can make every customer interaction more productive with purposeful co-browsing and document sharing. It can also help shorten the customer journey to purchase, increase conversions and reduce the time-to-close for the sales organization.
3. Recorded Video Content
A growing number of companies are developing robust collections of training and support videos to reduce live-caller interactions and better enable 24-7 access to assistance. Such “training video” can serve as a valuable option for customers.
Some great examples come when companies replace hundreds of pages of user manuals with a brief training library. Instead of speaking to a real person in real time, video recording provides scalable access to information. Software walkthroughs, product repair demonstrations, and even how-to tips all fall into this category. Each of these forms of video customer support drives customer engagement and customer satisfaction from new and existing customers alike.
Cost and Time Savings
Naturally, recorded video offers significant cost advantages over live support if users can be guided to the experiences efficiently. Interoperability is important here — when the customer can engage with recorded content in all potential touchpoints — on the web, in-app, in distributed locations, and at retail — you maximize its utility and its impact on the bottom line.
One of the most popular use cases for recorded customer support videos is in helping customers resolve a technical issue or issues. FAQ video content can be similarly valuable, extending the reach and power of a contact center knowledge base.
The ubiquity of crowdsourced support videos and video social media online has also changed customer expectations about production values. A customer support team can create simple screen capture videos that are quite satisfying to customers. Users don’t want slick — they want quick access to information and ideas so they can get on with their lives.
Video Customer Service Conclusions
Whatever form it takes, customer service video is both popular and fast-growing as an option for consumers. A well-crafted video customer service strategy can deliver many different benefits to a company, from more satisfied users to greater contact efficiency.
About Callvu for Video Customer Service Experiences
If you are considering video options for your customer service channels, the Callvu Low-Code CX Automation Platform makes it incredibly easy to craft and deliver experiences across all customer touchpoints. With Callvu, anyone can create great last-mile customer experiences without knowing code. Whether you choose to use native Callvu video tools or bring-your-own third-party solutions Callvu can help dramatically reduce costs and time to value Visit our website and request a demo for more information.
