Four ways video is changing the customer support landscape

Ask most people to describe a customer service interaction, and they’ll likely give examples of telephone calls, emails, or maybe even text-based chat. The image of call centers staffed with cheerful agents wearing headsets while multi-tasking between chats, emails, and phone calls have come to symbolize a typical customer service program for many. Not surprisingly – these technologies have dominated the field for decades.

Video technology is changing the way customers interact with support

The traditional support model discussed above is changing rapidly, thanks to the rise in efficient and cost-effective cloud-based video technology. More businesses are using video platforms to enhance customer support interactions and to build deeper connections with customers. This will inevitably reduce churn and increase customer satisfaction while allowing support teams to focus on resolving advanced cases. 

Video technology is influencing customer support in four broad areas:

• Mobile support improvements

• Live video support and screen sharing

• Proactive webinars and training content

• Remote team expansions

Read on to learn more about the ways companies are leveraging video technology to power up support programs, as well as what the future holds for video support capabilities.

Satisfy mobile support customers with video solutions

Customers, today, do not like to wait for hours or days to get their support queries resolved. They prefer finding answers to questions on their own while simultaneously completing other tasks. That means more and more customers are using their phones for support – but not by dialing up call centers. Instead, they’re looking for self-service options that provide no-nonsense answers to their questions, whether through a mobile-optimized knowledge base article, a video tutorial, or a brief FAQ. And if they do decide to reach out, they expect quick action, with clear guidance arriving via SMS or social media.

Simplify mobile support workflows with video tutorials

Consider what happens when a customer sends an SMS or a social media message asking for help with a product feature or a service process. The agent has to read the message (possibly writing back to ask for clarification), review internal resources and identify a solution, then draft a template response to ensure a quality answer. And, following that, customers often realize they need to know more about the answers provided in order to feel satisfied, meaning one or more rounds of follow-ups are required to complete the process. Even a concise support response is often too long for effective SMS or social media support, leading to many cases where customers are redirected away from these channels to other forms of communication that are less convenient for them. 

Enter a video solution, optimized to deliver fast and effective resolution for mobile customers. A video capture platform that integrates seamlessly with your helpdesk allows agents to quickly create a custom tutorial video that automatically saves to cloud storage, providing a handy link that can be sent back to the customer in a friendly text message or tweet. The same process works for frequently asked questions as well. A growing trend towards video FAQs means support teams with access to a bank of high-quality video FAQs and demos can quickly share a link with a customer, allowing them to open and view a video directly from their mobile device without needing to log in to a different channel for assistance. 

Bonus: this is also incredibly handy for support teams that are also working on-the-fly through mobile devices.

Build customer loyalty through live video connections

Of course, not all customers are looking for a mobile-optimized solution. Whether they simply prefer to work with a support agent directly or have complex product support needs, some customers want to have a meaningful connection with your support team as they work towards a resolution. While live text chat or phone support can be a great option for customers in this category, live video chat represents a powerful evolution of these channels with the potential to build lasting bonds between your company and your customers. 

What’s the reason? Simple: when customers need in-depth assistance from your team, they expect undivided attention. After years of interactions with phone banks and live chat systems, they know that support agents are often trying to solve multiple cases at the same time. That leaves customers with the feeling that their issue isn’t important to your company or that your main interest is in speed over accuracy. No matter if this isn’t the case – your agent may actually be focused on working with this customer exclusively for the duration of the contact – it’s the customer’s perception that counts, and once they feel slighted, it’s hard to win them back. 

When customers connect directly with an agent and see them on screen, they have no doubt that the agent is there to work with them and them alone. That not only delivers a clear message that the customer really is important to your company, it also allows agents and customers to build a rapport through important visual cues, putting the customer at ease and strongly influencing them to feel positive about their experience.

Scale premium customer experience with video chat

Live video chat is also rapidly becoming a critical solution for companies that provide premium or concierge support as they scale up with expanding customer bases. For example, when a customer needs specialized assistance in the form of advanced technical troubleshooting, it’s very likely that they will have an issue outside the scope of Tier 1 support or knowledge base articles. That could mean multiple rounds of hour-long phone calls where the customer will work with your agent to test and review product settings or features. But by combining live video chat with a screen sharing tool, agents can build a relationship with the customer while simultaneously reviewing the problem in real-time and testing solutions on-the-go. The result is a deeply personalized experience that eliminates the inefficient back-and-forth aspects of text chat or phone support while convincing the customer that you really care about solving their issue.

Deliver proactive support through webinars

Webinars have become increasingly popular in recent years, and for good reason. The format combines live streaming video with product demonstrations and process walkthroughs, allowing companies to showcase their talented team members while interacting directly with customers, sometimes hundreds or more at a time. Best of all, thanks to seamless recording tools, a well-designed webinar provides evergreen content, becoming a resource that stays relevant to your core customers, prospective customers and prospects alike for years to come. 

Support teams play a key role in developing webinars. The data generated through customer queries easily translates into webinar content, combining customer assistance with sales engagement campaigns and customer success journey mapping. That’s a major win for support teams, who get to flex their status as the voice of the customer to influence webinar content that will improve overall customer experience and give support teams a stake in boosting revenue and retention. 

Successful webinar programs can stack up as well, meaning that a page dedicated to webinars and in-depth tutorials increases the self-service power of your company’s knowledge base. That means a reduction in contact requests for basic assistance, giving your agents more time to troubleshoot advanced cases and resolve them efficiently.

Expand support coverage hours with remote teams

In the 24/7 world of global business, customers expect support to be accessible when it’s convenient for them – and that may not always be during the 9-5 workday in the time zone where your headquarters or hub is stationed. That can represent a difficulty for small to medium-sized businesses in particular, who may find it costly to staff contact centers across multiple time zones.

But thanks to video conferencing platforms, it’s easier than ever for teams or individuals to work remotely and stay in-sync with a core team or head office. The same technology that powers live video chats and screen shares enable support agents to work almost anywhere on the globe while connecting with customers and managers alike. While remote teams aren’t the ideal solution for every business, they offer unparalleled flexibility in expanding support coverage hours and enabling temporary staffing updates to tackle seasonal fluctuations. Managers can quickly provide remote helpdesk access to temporary or part-time workers, train them through video chat and screen sharing sessions, and conference with them remotely for team meetings. As a result, it’s suddenly a lot simpler to expand your program’s coverage hours to reduce response rates and keep your queues flowing smoothly during peak contact hours.

Conclusion

The video revolution in customer support is really just beginning. Just as advances in mobile technology have made it easier for companies to leverage cloud-based video applications to deliver high-quality video solutions to customers on the go, the continued development of AI and VR platforms will bring new benefits for support programs. But while practical applications of those technologies are still on the horizon, investing in a video platform now will help your company keep pace with changing customer demands and deliver a delightful support experience.