Matthew Yeoman
Using video for online customer service helps you take something that’s traditionally a marketing channel and turns it into something that truly gives back to your customers. Not only will you be helping your current customers better understand your brand and products, but the right kind of video content will bring in new conversions.
Maximizing personal customer support should be every business’ goal. Videos help by quickly conveying information in a way that traditional methods can’t. Your support agents still need to be there to explain further, point customers towards other content, or answer questions on the videos the customer just watched. However, with the right videos they’ll be able to do it faster, and with greater accuracy.
Product demonstrations
One of the most effective ways of using videos is by taking your products and showing customers exactly what they do. These, easy to create, videos are not going to be the stars of your YouTube channel, but they are going to be evergreen content that show up in organic searches. The team over at Nest have a daunting task ahead of them – teaching customers how to use new tech. Tech companies have been using video to help people learn new tech ever since Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Perry teamed up for that awful Windows 95 tutorial.
Zopim has a much better handle on product demonstrations with their simple to follow guides and friendly tone:
No 90s sarcasm – just an easy way to explain what the product does.
It’s friendly, the language is simple, and the focus is on real human interaction rather than what goes on behind the scenes. To take your video support further you can create videos on specific aspects of your product:
These short videos keep your customers from becoming too overwhelmed all at once. Remember when you’d pull an all-nighter studying for a test? How well did that cramming session work compared to breaking your studying up into separate chunks? These short videos can help your customers learn in digestible amounts, instead of inundating them with information.
Addressing specific questions and creating marketing funnels
Many people who use live chat and social media to engage with a brand are looking for an answer to a specific question. Having ready made answers that can easily fit in a chat window or a single Twitter tweet can be hard.
YouTube can be the solution for this, by creating videos that answer frequently asked questions that aren’t easy. You don’t need a long explanation, just provide the video URL to share via live chat, or let your customers find the solution on their own.
To give you an example, I went to Google and searched for “Which Macbook is best for me.” A video that came up and caught my eye was this one from TechCentury.
TechCentury is a small-time computer sales company. They’re crushing it with their video support by having a video that helps their customers make purchasing decisions and is an easy share on customer support channels
I’m betting that video cost him next to nothing to make. Anyone can do that with a little bit of editing and some creative commons licensed music.
Let me explain how these videos help you create marketing funnels now. Every video =is a chance to link to a product. If you host your videos on YouTube, use YouTube Annotations and include links in your description to send traffic from the video to your website. The video for each answer is another funnel taking people from YouTube to your landing page.
Since these videos are specific to people who are interested in what you offer, don’t be afraid to use some tactics that will get you more YouTube subscribers. Every video is an opportunity to increase your subscriber numbers. Focusing on the videos where you intimately connect with customer needs will be important as you move forward with your content plan.
How to videos: A handy person’s best friend
Creating ‘How to’ support videos that help your customers understand your products is a must. These videos can help your support agents explain complex concepts (like installing tile backsplashes) with a simple link.
Can you imagine trying to explain that in plain text? It can be done, but it would take more time than most people are willing to invest.The Home Depot knows this, so they’ve created dozens of how to videos to help their customers.
Home Depot also goes one step further in adding a section in their video description that explains where all the required materials can be found.
Imagine your customer support team with a tool that’s always available for sharing and keeps customers happy.
YouTube: Marketing and online customer service in one
Establishing a section of your YouTube channel for customer service can do wonders for your overall online visibility. Not only are you creating videos, but you’re also giving your support staff the best possible chance of conveying information to consumers who want help.
Not every live chat support agent will be an expert in every facet of your business. But, with the right videos at their fingertips for sharing, they will be well equipped in helping to solve customer problems.
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