Business Practices | | Published March 05, 2015

Guest Post: 3 Ways to Use Videos for Customer Service

For businesses that are looking to provide better more comprehensive customer service, or to lower customer service costs, video may be an excellent choice.

Video is a tool that is available for businesses to use for a variety of purposes. For example, marketing is a popular use of video. However, just arbitrarily deciding your brand needs to be using video because it is currently in vogue doesn’t make a lot of sense.

It is never a good plan to choose the tool first and then try to build a strategy based on tools you’ve chosen. Business strategies should be based on business objectives. Tools should be chosen if they help you reach your objectives. In your personal life, you probably wouldn’t purchase a sledgehammer and then decide to build a house using that hammer. You would define your project - building a house - and then choose the best tools for the job.

As it turns out, video is a great tool for delivering excellent customer service. REI is one example of a brand that has been using video effectively for customer service. Video is also a great tool if your objective is lowering customer service costs. AT&T used videos to help make their bills more understandable to customers experiencing “bill shock.” Why they didn’t just make their bills easier to understand seems like an obvious solution, but either way, they had to do something. The volume of calls they were getting was clogging their support centers. Perhaps the video was the easy, stage one solution.

Other uses of video for customer service that are effective for business include step-by-step tutorials for assembling a product, or troubleshooting videos to address a specific problem.

The power of visual

Visual images, moving and still, convey complex information to the human brain at a rate and density of information that is thousands of times faster than any other information delivery medium. This is why every social network that started as a text-based platform is now supporting visual.

 

Not only is visual information faster and richer in terms of information delivery, it is also inherently more interesting than repetitive lines of text. In an age in which much of your customer base always has a device with them that can both record and play video, the opportunities to exchange information, share ideas, and engage in meaningful exchanges with them via video are almost endless.

Every exchange or engagement with a customer or prospect should be seen as an opportunity for customer service. Here are some ideas for additional ways your brand can use video to achieve your customer service objectives both on your primary web presence and in social media.

1. Product/version launches

Giving potential buyers an overview of the potential power, impact, uses, and flexibility of a yet-to-be-released product through video is a great way to convey a wealth of information. If this sounds more like marketing than customer service, think again. Delivering valuable information about your products to potential buyers is the beginning of your relationship with future customers.

These early communications will set the tone for all future communications. It is through these early exchanges that potential customers will decide if your brand is worthy of their business. In short, if you fail in your early attempts to connect with potential customers, customer service is a moot point. Marketing is the beginning of customer service.

2. Answer support questions

A library of video recordings that address the most common problems your customers have will free up valuable support personnel to handle more difficult and uncommon problems.

To get more personal with your customer service, use video in custom answers to support questions – remember that being able to walk a customer through the steps they need to take to solve their issue can be much more efficient and effective than trying to explain it in writing only.

3. Problem descriptions

When thinking about video as an engagement tool, don’t just think of it as an outbound medium. Rather than requiring customers to explain a problem verbally over the phone, encourage them to document the problem with video and send the video to your experts. This will lead to more rapid and accurate problem resolution and more satisfied and loyal customers.

Customer videos are also an excellent resource for product development teams. Reviewing videos of common problems shows engineers the kinds of problems customers are having. This information can in turn be used to prioritize updates and other product features in future releases.

 

In Summary

Video can be a powerful tool for customer service, whether your objective is improving service quality, lowering costs, or both. Delivering better customer service, more economically and more effectively, makes for happier customers. Happier customers make for happier brands.

 

 

About the Author:

Ivan Serrano is a social media, business and finance journalist living in the Bay Area of California. 

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