At 5 o’clock, every Wednesday, my team and I enjoy catching up by the coffee machine, usually discussing ideas, plans for the upcoming months, or answering the age-old question of “who ate the last cookie?”
Last week, the topic was this software application that my teammate was facing difficulties with. We recently They kept complaining about how it wasn’t beginner-friendly, and how uncooperative the software’s support team was. Sending screenshots back-and-forth, replying once every two hours, and the phone calls? Don’t even get us started. The wait time? 30 minutes. The signal? Choppy. Voices? Muffled. And the problem? Still unsolved. The miscommunication was constant, incorrect buttons being pressed, and it wasn’t even their fault. Their team couldn’t see what our team was seeing.
So, what do you do when emails and phone calls fail? You enable video conversations.
Why use video calling for customer support?
1. Resolve issues faster with lesser touch-points
Filing a complaint, or needing support- sounds straightforward, right? It should be, but it usually isn't. Customers have to encounter many stops before they get to do so. It starts with going on your website, navigating to the support page, filling out a form, being required to write an email, or making a call.
Undeniably, it can be frustrating if you had to jump between multiple touch-points for getting the right solution for any issue. According to HubSpot research, “33% of customers are most frustrated by having to wait on hold and by having to repeat themselves to multiple support reps.”
Businesses can use video chat for customer service to identify the issue and deliver faster solutions. Agents can identify the root cause of the problem in real-time, without any additional stops.
2. Cut down your customer service costs
Picture this- You're annoyed because you have a malfunctioning product. The last thing you want to do is call a toll free number, only to be put in a loooong queue, and on hold for hours. Well, that's exactly what happens to your customers when you rely solely on IVR systems.
Customers usually hang up because of long queues or out of frustration for not getting an effective solution in a reasonable amount of time. In fact, 34% of customers who hang up never bother to return back again.
So that customer's a goner, thus slashing your revenue. On top of that, long calls stack up. And if you have international clients, the bills are only going to get longer.
Businesses that use live video calling save up to 50% or more on support costs versus other methods. With the help of video calling, you can provide immediate assistance and reduce the number of support requests significantly. It is the best solution to combat challenges such as long queue time, multiple touch-points, and network issues.
When you use video chat to handle customer queries, there are fewer chances of follow-ups. It reduces costs in terms of hiring more agents, infrastructure to manage conversations.
3. Boost customer satisfaction rate
Visual engagement is a widely adopted trend by businesses to raise their customer service standards and improve customer experience. Engaging clients with video chat and co-browsing guides customers through tricky situations in real time, unlike reactive channels.
Live video chat resulting in 73% satisfaction levels – the highest for any customer service channel as compared with 61% for email and 44% for phone, it’s likely to be the service that consumers are drawn to the most.
Video chat being a proactive support channel allows you to:
- Identify issues in the first instance and provide effective responses
- Personalize conversations with customers and build trust.
Hence, using a live video chat software like Engati can empower customers to seek out real time solutions to problems that need urgent assistance. It also helps customers to troubleshoot software issues, transactional queries, complex issues that need professional expertise, thus increasing customer satisfaction.
Note: Measure your customer satisfaction scores (CSAT) with key metrics like NPS and CES. It can be done by asking a simple question “How satisfied were you with your experience?” at the end of every conversation or checkout.
4. Deliver higher brand equity
Brand experience is extremely crucial. Delivering a positive customer experience allows companies to stay competitive and increase customer loyalty. 80% of consumers would pay more for products or services to ensure a superior customer experience.
Businesses that focus on customer engagement strategies are very much focused on the value creation of the brand. They provide end-to-end customer experience via interactive conversations and real time customer support. Video chat for customer service allows friendly conversations that build trust and credibility.
Happy and satisfied customers have a positive impact on brand value. Let’s find out how:
- Happy customers are more likely to be loyal to your brand and make repeat purchases.
- The customers develop trust for your brand and retain for a longer time.
- The satisfied customers’ advocate your brand by sharing their success stories with word of mouth.
5. Better remote technical support
Imagine the difficulty of explaining to a customer service rep exactly how damaged the package you received was or describing the discoloration of your new bed sheets using only words. Video solves that service problem, even if customers didn’t realize it was something that needed solving in the first place.
Remote technical support is a win-win situation for both you and your customers.
When you empower customer service reps to have remote access with video chat technology or co-browsing, the support process becomes faster, easier and cost effective. The root cause is diagnosed faster and the right solution is offered in the first contact.
Visual interaction helps in learning the complexity of the problem and remotely guiding with the stepwise solutions to fix the issue effectively.
The remote technical support process hastens when the issue is viewed practically by the agent.
The magic of video calling with Engati
Omnichannel experience
Your agents can initiate video conversations on Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Telegram and all the other channels supported by Engati.
Know how when you use the WhatsApp Business API, your business can’t use WhatsApp video calls? Well, Engati offers you a way around that, allowing you to use WhatsApp chatbots and to interact with your customers via video calls whenever you need to.
Convenient native calling
You don’t need to use third-party applications to set-up video calls, schedule them in your calendar, create links, and then share them with your customers. Engati makes things easier. Just have your live chat conversation with your customer, and whenever the need arises, tap the video call button directly in the Engati portal.
Agents get eyes on everything
Want your agents to keep an eye on customer conversations even while participating in video calls? We’ve got your back, they won’t even need to shift across screens.
With picture-in-picture mode, your customer service agents can monitor the OneView inbox while interacting with your customers on video calls. Need to deal with another conversations? Sure. Want to check past conversations from the same customer while on video call? Easy.
Our picture-in-picture mode makes it a breeze.
Screen-sharing
Possibly the biggest reason for you to engage in video calls with your customers. Screen-sharing allows you to see what your customers are doing so that you can pinpoint the issue and fix it. It also allows you to walk your customers through the solution in the clearest, most visual way possible.
How to get started with using video conversations for customer support
If you’re already registered with Engati, enabling video conversations will be a breeze.
If not, here’s how to get started. First, register with Engati and sign up for Live Chat. Then you’ll be greeted by the home screen. If you have a customer support team, you can onboard them simply by going to the Configure menu in the sidebar. Select Team, and click on the Add a Team member button. A pop-up window will appear where you can add your team members’ email address, their name, and what channel and categories you want to assign them. As for the role, give them the agent or supervisor role to give them access to video calling.
When you click on the Invite Member button, they should get an email immediately to get onboarded.
Video conversations are available in the OneView Inbox. When the conversation begins, and it gets to complicated, all your team member has to do is click on video icon in the top right corner. A pop-up will appear confirming that you want to start a video conversation with the customer. All your customer has to do is join. Your agents can share their screen recording, cutting resolution time by 30%.
Tips to remember when video calling customers
Accessibility Across Platforms is Key
In order to ensure the video chat itself is easy to use, it should also be accessible across all the platforms your customers use to experience your product. These may include your app, mobile website, and the desktop version of your website. Amazon’s suite of Kindle tablets famously familiarised this in 2013 by offering a “mayday” support button on new Kindles that customers could push to instantly connect to a live support person via video. The support person could see the user’s screen, which was the most effective way to help the customer resolve the issue.
Use Screenshare for Customer Support
One of the best ways to use video chat is when a customer is trying to navigate the company website, use software, or access an online product or service. With video chat, your customer support team can see the customer’s screen and know exactly what the customer is looking at. This saves time and allows the support team member to understand the customer better, explain a solution more fully, and improve the customer experience in the process.
Problems are Solved Faster
Your customers may appreciate the ability to instantly talk to a real person they can see, instead of waiting for an answer via email or connecting to a support person through live website chat. This instant connection means problems are often solved faster and in a more personal manner, which helps customers feel like your company cares about them. Furthermore, being able to go through support tickets faster also helps your customer support team see higher close numbers and handle a larger volume of problems during each business day.
Do check out this blog about movie quotes that perfectly represents the life of a customer service agent.
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