Video Chat Support: How to Utilize This New Disruptor in Customer Satisfaction
Grace Lau is the Director of Growth Content at Dialpad, an AI-powered cloud communication platform and small business phone services for better and easier team collaboration. She has over 10 years of experience in content writing and strategy. Currently, she is responsible for leading branded and editorial content strategies, partnering with SEO and Ops teams to build and nurture content. Grace has written for domains such as CBNation and Brightpearl. Here is her LinkedIn.
Digital transformation has changed today’s business landscape. Innovative tech solutions alongside the rise of the internet have changed what customers expect.
Today’s customers don’t have the time or patience to wait around for customer support. 90% of consumers rate an immediate response as important or very important, with 60% of responses defining ‘immediate’ as being within ten minutes.
If you can’t provide efficient customer support, there’ll be competitors that can.
Interestingly, only 19% of customers feel customer service is currently exceeding expectations. So now is the perfect time to boost your customer support options with a video chat strategy. And better still, it’s easy and affordable to implement.
Much like video ads on social media, Video chat is a visual engagement tool that’s live, direct, and the key to increased customer satisfaction rates in the digital era. Telephones are no longer enough. In fact, most virtual business phone service devices now include video chat functionality too.
Providing top customer support doesn’t just help customers though, it’s also one of the best business growth strategies in terms of what improved support and customer satisfaction can bring to you.
So, if you want to provide direct and efficient support to your customers, read on.
What exactly is video chat support?
Video chat support is a feature found often in live chat software, that lets you video call customers for face-to-face support.
Video chat support goes above and beyond for those moments where text isn’t enough to handle a query efficiently.
Let’s say a customer needs to know how to change an ink cartridge on their new printer. A video call will be much more efficient than an email or phone call as you can show them exactly what to do and guide them through it in minutes.
Once the stuff of sci-fi movies, video chat systems have become commonplace in today’s digital world. All that’s required is a capable device, a webcam, and a stable internet connection.
Why is video chat support important?
Video chat support is important for several reasons.
Firstly, take this graph, it shows the average customer service response times for different mediums.
Live chat has significantly quicker response times compared to other support channels.
As you can see, live chat comes out on top for customer satisfaction. Why? It’s fast, it’s efficient, and it’s straight to the point with minimal waiting around.
Video chat goes one further by removing the need to type during live chat sessions – everything is now one-to-one in real-time.
Video chat also lets support agents pick up on contextual information and emotional cues like frustration or satisfaction in a customer’s voice and facial expressions. Agents can then alter their approach in real-time to help the customer in the right way.
Just like real-life conversations, this makes video chat more natural and less rigid than other communication methods. This is what customers need in 2022.
Video chat is important as it covers a range of possible functionalities. Let’s take a look at some of them.
- More complicated support issues
Sometimes text isn’t enough to explain complicated issues or get help solving them.
For example, let’s imagine a customer gets in touch asking for troubleshooting support for software that has developed a bug and won’t start. For these moments, video chat support offers the perfect remedy.
The solution might be quite involved and complicated, but a video call would enable the customer to show you the exact issue and let the support agent walk them through it in real-time to get it fixed.
Video chat support lets more complicated issues get handled efficiently and as though you’re in-store with an agent.
- Product demonstrations
Video chat is a great way to demo new products or services, either in group sessions or to individuals.
New customers should receive links to product demonstrations that teach them how to use the product without needing to contact you individually. Customers are likely to feel satisfied getting an exclusive look into a new product.
You’ll save time by offering group video calls and you’ll prevent a backlog of support queries from piling up.
- Training
Video chat support is also great for training customers and staff.
Perhaps you’ve released a new video call app for business use but you’ve had numerous queries with similar issues. You could invite users to a video training course to get them up to speed. Many businesses have to send reps out to help train customers on new software or with new products, but with video chat support you don’t need to.
- Consultations
Why make a customer drive two hours out of town for a meeting when there’s an easier option? Video chat support lets you organize and conduct consultations in real-time.
Video consultations are ideal for high-end purchases or times when the customer needs a more advisory service.
It’s no surprise to see the rise of video chat support given the range of purposes it serves. If you don’t currently offer this service, there will be competitors that do. And 50% say one bad customer support experience is enough to see them jump ships to a competitor.
What are the benefits of video chat support?
Now that we’ve explored why video chat support is important, let’s take a look at some of the more measurable benefits it can bring to your business and customers.
- Faster resolution times
Customers expect fast resolutions and video chat support allows this.
Faster resolution times could also be the key to acquiring new customers. For example, let’s say a potential client is looking for competitors to docusign as they need a document generator tool to draft some important contracts. Via video, your agent can give them detailed information on what your software does and how it’s the better option within minutes.
Two people having a ‘face-to-face’ chat can achieve much more than messaging or leaving voicemails. Offering customers video chat support makes them more likely to come onboard, especially if your competitors are difficult to get hold of.
Faster resolution times are great for increasing customer satisfaction scores by meeting today’s customers’ expectations.
- Improved sales experience
Take a look online and you’ll see many online stores have product demonstration videos on their sales pages. These are great for giving a general overview
But what if a customer wants to know about the finer details? What if they need a specific question answered? Perhaps they want to know more about your warranty and after-sales?
Video chat support offers the perfect solution by giving customers a more personalized and inclusive experience when it comes to purchasing new products. Aligning sales and support is key to boosting satisfaction rates.
- Help build an Omnichannel experience
Omnichannel customer support allows for a seamless experience across all touchpoints and communication channels.
The idea of omnichannel support is to provide help to customers no matter how they reach you, and for this help to be easily redirected to another medium if required.
Video chat support is crucial for building a seamless customer experience. If live chat, emailing, or phone calls fall short, video chat support could be the answer.
- Decrease customer support costs
Larger businesses with a global audience spend a lot of money on providing customer support. Running call centers in multiple international locations to assist customers with their problems and queries isn’t cheap.
But video chat support optimizes the whole process by enabling fast, one-to-one support that could save the hassle of long phone calls and a backlog of customers on hold.
With greater optimization comes cheaper customer support costs. Not only will staff have more free time for other tasks, but your video chat efforts will give you deeper insights for better informed decisions.
- Offer more specific technical support
There’s only so much an agent can handle over the phone, through email, or via live chat. Video calls enable more specific advice.
Let’s imagine a customer orders a replacement part for their washing machine but isn’t quite sure how to install it. Over the phone, it might be impossible to help the customer, but by transferring this interaction to a video call, the agent can guide them specifically and advise them if anything else seems at fault.
In combination with screen sharing and other helpful support tools, the level of support available over video trumps other communication methods.
- Boost customer satisfaction
Video chat support is fast, efficient, and provides human interaction. This is ideal as 75% of consumers said they prefer an authentic human voice over generic brand messages.
It’s all well and good having chatbots and forms to complete to help customers, but there’s no replacement for speaking to a real person and getting a query handled with real advice.
A video call that serves its purpose is going to leave a longer-lasting positive effect on a customer than a phone call, especially given that 70% of customers get irritated with being transferred between agents or departments on the phone.
You can track how customers feel the next time you measure CSAT scores.
How to implement video chat support to boost customer satisfaction?
There are plenty of options when it comes to video chat software. Surfly’s video chat tool could be a great option for all your business needs. Once you’re settled on a customer engagement tool for your business, it’s time to implement video chat into your support options to boost customer satisfaction.
Here are five steps to implement video chat support.
- Plan
While it may be tempting to just implement video chat and hope for the best, you need a solid plan in place.
You’ll need to consider your rollout schedule (to prevent overwhelming your agents), which pages your video chat service will appear on, and how you’re going to track the performance of your strategy.
Remember, you’re providing video chat support as it’s fast and direct. If you can’t guarantee an agent is available immediately, you’ll need to hire more staff or rethink your plan.
- Be patient and perform tests
Putting your video chat system through testing is crucial.
Whether it’s mock chats between staff, real chats with volunteers, or checking functionality across different devices like desktop or through a mobile video call app, testing your video chat and the agents who operate it cannot be skipped.
Testing also includes monitoring staff performance, checking all equipment works as it should, and ensuring chat logs or video recordings are stored correctly.
- Train staff
Video chat support is an emerging trend, there’s a chance even agents with 20+ years of experience haven’t used it daily before.
If staff are under-trained they won’t be able to support your customers. If they already know the main live chat best practices, much of this strategy will be the same. But to keep staff on the top of their game, you should:
- Having a proper staffing schedule based on support requirements.
- Have an in-depth training course for the required software and how to conduct oneself professionally via video chat.
- Produce a script containing best practices, the order of workflow, and how to escalate cases.
- Let customers know what to expect
Only got time to offer video calls for a maximum of ten minutes? Are your agents unavailable after 8pm?
When you set up video chat support, your customers need to know what to expect. Remember, the whole point of improving your support options is to satisfy customers.
- Continue tracking performance levels
Now that you’ve implemented video chat support, it’s not time to rest. You must continue to track the performance of your efforts over time to make sure they’re working.
Set KPIs and make sure you’re hitting those targets to keep customers satisfied and your support operations optimized.
Don’t forget, managing app store ratings and reviews is also a good way to check on performance levels from the perspective of customers.
When shouldn’t you use video chat support?
For all its benefits, there are some situations where video chat support might not be the best option. Let’s take a look at three now.
- Answering common questions
Quite often, businesses will experience common customer pain points. It wouldn’t make sense to reply to each individual with the same answer via video call.
In these situations, it’s better to have a FAQ page or chatbot support. Just think, if these two methods can handle a query, video chat is probably unnecessary.
- Initial interactions
While video chat is great for complex or ongoing support, it may seem invasive for initial interactions.
For example, if a potential customer has visited your website to enquire about your latest software, it’s better to let them download a free ebook or watch a recorded video. This way, they can soak it in at their own pace without being overwhelmed by an impending video call.
Using video chat for initial interactions could also be a waste of valuable time for your agents. Without knowing what the interaction is going to be about, it’s impossible to know whether video chat will be the most appropriate and efficient communication method.
- General chat
If a customer wants to ask some general questions or have a chat, point them in the direction of your FAQ page or tell them to phone the helpline. This can save advisors countless hours in the long run.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, this guide on how to utilize video chat support to increase customer satisfaction has got you thinking about how you can adopt this strategy for your business.
In the digital era where customers expect top customer service, settling for less won’t do. If your competitors are using video calls to assist customers at all points of their journey, you should offer the same.
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