What are customer service videos?

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It will happen to all of us at least once. 

We have finally bought it: the ideal appliance, the one that will make our lives easier for good. The brand-new precision tool, essential for that DIY project we’ve been thinking about for months. We carefully followed the instructions, inserted the battery, kept it on charge for as long as possible, and….it doesn’t work!!!!  Having overcome our initial frustration, we start looking for help. We don’t want to waste any more time, and before we resort to a phone call to our knowledgeable friend or customer service operator, a phone call that—as we well know—could be very long and fruitless, we start surfing the web in hopes of coming across the fastest solution to our problem. And a small miracle happens: we find a video, made by the manufacturer, that explains exactly what to do! 

Regardless of the final outcome, that customer service video, especially if it’s well done, will likely have produced a positive consequence: it will have reassured us of the brand’s good faith, its actual willingness to help us, its willingness to accommodate our request to be informed. To some extent, we will feel seen, welcomed, and our needs acknowledged. 

So, what’s the deal with customer service videos? To understand, we need to shed some light on what customer service videos are and what they are used for.

Let’s start by saying that customer service videos can be divided into two broad categories, depending on the target audience:

• Customer service videos that target customers (already acquired or prospects)
• Video training for customer service operators

Customer service videos that target customers 

From support tickets to informative, in-depth content (which serves to build a knowledge base) to onboarding communications for customers, video customer services help make the problem-solving process faster, easier, and more convenient. If customer service videos are the most powerful way to provide quick and effective solutions to customer problems (because they speed up the resolution process itself), the real reason why they are essential within any marketing strategy is that they are able to establish a more immediate connection with customers by taking concrete charge of their needs.

What are they for?

In general, most customers appreciate self-service modes. But these modes are only possible if there is a solid knowledge base that users can access on their own. The first step a company must take to improve its customer service is then to record in a kind of internal thesaurus of the most frequently asked questions that arrive on the various touchpoints and their answers. By drawing on the company’s continuously updated information assets, customer service videos (in-depth pills, tutorials, how-tos, and so on) can provide numerous benefits:

• Reduced problem resolution time (providing answers faster)
• Redirecting support tickets to the user (helping customers help themselves)
• Replace cumbersome documents, such as PDFs and manuals that are often still paper-based (video is undoubtedly faster to watch and more engaging)
• Reduced support costs (tickets are closed more quickly)
• Increased customer satisfaction (the support process is turned into a positive experience)
• A boost for loyalty (video provides personalized connections and more attentive support)

The best customer service videos create individual connections between customers and support workers, which succeed in making users feel heard and cared for. They must incorporate elements of interactivity and personalization.

Customer service video for operator training 

Using customer service videos to conduct customer service operator training is a great idea for a number of reasons: 

• Customer service videos tend to be inexpensive to make. This is because the initial expense of creating the content is incurred only once. You can then distribute the video over and over again.
• They can be watched in the viewer’s free time and paused when needed. It’s impossible for the human brain to absorb every piece of information provided in a session, and it is inevitable that some information will be forgotten, lost, or misunderstood. The fact that videos are repeatable whenever you need them makes it possible for the viewer to return to the content to better understand or even memorize it.
• The viewer doesn’t have to move to another location to enjoy the video. 
• They convey a consistent message that doesn’t vary depending on the person conducting the training. 
• They are extremely suitable for learning. The mix of audiovisual elements and moving sequences make them highly effective tools for knowledge transfer and memorization. 
• They enable the target audience to understand and visualize the answers to key questions: how should a customer act in this scenario? What solution can I offer him in a given situation? How can you best respond when a dissatisfied customer acts rudely or aggressively?

So far we have provided some basic definitions. It’s even more interesting to look at the context where customer service videos are embedded and highlight the extent of the transformation produced on customer service by personalization.

Video customer service: pillar of the new normal of customer services

The mere presence of a customer service video, which can be found more or less easily on the company’s social channels or retrieved through keywords on the Internet, is an important signal of the way an organization positions itself toward its target audience. Simon Sinek says it masterfully, “Customer service isn’t about the customer always being right, it’s about the customer feeling heard.”

The point is that stories like the one recounted at the beginning of the article now represent the new normal of customer service, and customer service videos stand as a real, now indispensable pillar of the brand-customer communication system. This is because they allow the bar to be raised a little higher still, opening up new spaces for dialogue. Today’s consumers not only expect to quickly overcome obstacles to a smooth and serene experience of the product or service, but they also want to take part in a conversation with the brand in which every interaction constitutes an opportunity for deeper and more authentic engagement. From this perspective, companies, and marketing first and foremost, cannot miss the opportunity to employ such a powerful and flexible asset, which is capable far more than other content of enriching and enhancing the relationship with the company.

Customer service is the main differentiator for consumers and companies

While customers want an effective and timely solution to their problems—preferably administered through accessible, comprehensive, and easy-to-understand content—most of them abandon a brand in the face of a poor customer experience, especially in cases where communication has not been courteous, timely, and decisive, for example.

Every day the number of people buying online increases, and customer service is increasingly emerging as a key differentiator for both consumers and businesses. 

According to a recent Zendesk report, 60% of brands say they set higher customer service standards in 2022 after the 2021 crisis. The trend looks set to continue, with 73% of business leaders reporting a direct link between customer service and business performance.

On the other hand, consumers consider quick, frictionless, and effective service a minimum condition for granting their trust. If they don’t get it, they are increasingly likely to seek it elsewhere, and they are willing to spend more to get it. Customers will accept higher costs if companies save them time and if they can create targeted messages tailored to their specific needs:

• 3% will spend more if they can access customer service through different options 
• 92% will spend more if they don’t have to repeat the same information each time
• 90% will spend more if the company develops personalized initiatives
• 89% will spend more if they can get the answers they need without having to talk to a physical operator

Common to all these statistics is a major trend that digitization has made possible: personalization. What is the actual weight of the connection that binds personalization and customer service together? To find out, let’s look at some data.

Personalization and customer service: it all starts with data

Companies of all industries and sizes have been betting heavily on customer service personalization for several years now. This is not new: consumers expect brands to create and distribute content based on their preferences and behaviors. The customer support service is no exception, given that it has become the centerpiece of corporate communication.

New technologies (artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning) are raising the level of personalization of communications each year, going far beyond the inclusion of the individual customer’s name within messages. In fact, hyperpersonalization is now often talked about as a goal that is now within reach. This is the mythical frontier of one-to-one marketing, where, through the analysis of data (online and offline behaviors, search history, lifestyle, buying patterns, preferences, and so on) it becomes possible to engineer the optimal product and identify the most suitable options for a unique consumer.

According to BCG, companies with the best personalization strategies can count on more efficient marketing processes, increase digital sales, and more easily cultivate relationships that prove to be lasting. And their growth rates point from as low as 6% to an incredible 10%. 

Need further confirmation? Let’s take a look at the following statistics:

• 75% of consumers want to buy from brands that offer personalized digital experiences. (Yeldify)
• 52% of consumers expect all offers or messages they receive from the company to be personalized. (Salesforce)
• 63% of marketers noted that personalization increases customer interactions and ultimately improves conversion rates. (Statista)
• 70% of brands achieved 200% ROI (or more) by relying on advanced personalization. (KO Marketing)

What underlies the effectiveness of personalization strategies? Here you must always rely on systems for data analysis. The knowledge extracted from the flow of data that reaches companies is the fuel necessary for implementing personalized actions. Thanks to personalization, customers can move more quickly to the purchase stage or, in the case of customer service, to the resolution of a problem, through minimal interactions. The advantage of shorter, more streamlined processes translates into time savings for the customer, and it is precisely their time—the most valuable resource we have—that is finally given its due value. After all, the mission of customer care is all here: to put the consumer, no longer conceived as a generic and undefined segment but as a person with his or her own individuality, at the top of marketing concerns. 

We said this before in a previous post: in recent years, customer care services have begun to coincide with marketing itself. In increasingly crowded and competitive markets where customers are elusive and demanding, digital transformation has redefined the logic and reference points of the system of relationships between brands and consumers, assigning a position of undisputed centrality to the customer experience, which is understood as an inevitable test of customer loyalty. Put another way: if customers are satisfied with the support experience, it also increases loyalty. In this sense, customer service videos are now indispensable, because they enrich and enhance this personalized support experience to a degree that is difficult to match by other formats.