Why Your Customer Service Strategy Needs the Power of Video

Picture this. You’ve recently subscribed to new software, and now you’re having issues synchronising your data and information to start using it. Unable to find answers online, you pick up the phone to contact customer support, only to be faced with an automated voice menu… or to be put on hold indefinitely… or to be told that an IT specialist will get back to you within three to five working days.

When their problems are more routine than the above example, customers are quick to search for a solution online – contacting customer service is the last resort. But even when a customer searches online for troubleshooting tips, what they usually find is in a long written format that can be hard to follow.

The simple fact is that getting answers to questions, no matter how complex they are, is usually an exercise in frustration – and that’s not a good look for your brand.

Here’s a better way

Customers don't want to waste time with trial-and-error troubleshooting or waiting for attention from a customer service rep. This is where the customer service department can leverage a self-service content strategy to quickly answer customer questions and even reduce the number of inbound calls. At the heart of this strategy is video.

Let me explain with an example. Brightcove worked with Xero, a company that makes innovative cloud-based accounting software, to launch Xero TV, a comprehensive library of video tutorials and explainers that address the most frequent queries and concerns and show how to troubleshoot simple technical problems.

By firmly rooting its customer service strategy in video, the New Zealand company, which has over one million subscribers, has been able to boost conversion rates and bolster customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Xero TV put a lot of effort into ensuring they have engaging and useful content for their customers, wherever they are in the sales funnel, and their efforts have paid off with an increase of 150% in average video viewing time. In addition, they have been able to roll out global initiatives in a precisely tailored manner that ensures every customer gets what they need when they need it.

When customer service is made more accessible, it saves costs by reducing calls for common inquiries while delivering better results for customers with more complex inquiries that require personal intervention.

Don’t guess what’s working – know with data analytics

Once you post a video on your website, how can you demonstrate that it’s generating the results you want?

As a basic rule, determining whether the content is successful depends on how many times the video was watched and the actions your customers then took. When you’re looking at video playback data, views are important, but there’s so much deeper you can go.

With video analytics, it should be a simple matter of tracking performance and following up with relevant communications, depending on which video and how much of the video or video the customer has watched. For example, if you’re prioritising B2B customers for an in-person follow-up, then analysing which videos produce the strongest engagement will allow you to optimise those efforts. And if you keep track of this in an integrated customer database, then you can monitor the performance and effectiveness of your entire communications program.

Video that means business

The return on investment that results from using video content for customer service is potentially immense. Whether you’re a small business, mid-size commercial bank, or large software provider, video enables you to attract and retain customers, reduce overhead, and accurately measure the success of what you’re doing.

If you want to know how we can help you build a video strategy for customer service, marketing automation, and much more, talk to us. We’ll show you why Brightcove is video that means business… for your business.