Video Customer Support and 3 Ways It Is Changing the Customer Service Industry

The year 2020 was crazy — so crazy, in fact, that there's hardly any need to stress the craziness it cultivated. However, it did play a double-edged sword in some cases, especially in the case of customer support. 

When the pandemic hit hard, managers once again revisited the idea of video customer support. Well, it certainly doesn't imply that customer service through video was ever off the table. But, to say that it just didn't [presumptively] fit the bill would be plausible. 

It's more like, "I know that product is much better, but I'd like to stick with what I have. Why waste energy in trying the new thing out when the old is serving well." 

Except, the old didn't serve well this time as the customer service industry found itself floating amidst the hardest-hit departments globally. Covid-19 swept away the steadily built customer satisfaction, and now people were bombarding customer service agents out of fear, anxiety, and stress.

What made matters worse was that customer support professionals worked from home — a first-time experience for almost everyone. This led to a discrepancy in the staff's communication and paved the way for a host of issues, including poor network, only to leave the professionals flat-footed and managers scratching their heads in dismay. 

Knock Knock! Enter Video Customer Support

Video Customer Support is a customer-centric approach that allows the agents to interact with the customers on a video chat using mobile or desktop. Our team at SupportGenie has been working on customer support software for quite a while now. In our experience, visual assistance is certainly the best way to quickly resolve customer issues and exponentiate customer satisfaction levels. 

And the best part about such interaction is that it doesn't take a host of resources to carry it out. Based on the business model, either the customer or the agent can initiate a call and discuss at length about the issues. 

Now, the concept of video customer support is not new as opposed to the common intuitions. For instance, a 2015 Gartner report on customer service solutions talks about video-based chat adoption. It goes on to project that by 2018, one out of every five Fortune 500 companies would be employing basic visual support for addressing customer queries. 

"Video chat provides customers with a richer sense of presence, personalized experience by helped coordination of communication and the support of emotional expression, and the real-timesharing of content" — Brian Manusama, Gartner.

So, it sounds reasonable that video customer support was, indeed, looked upon as a viable intervention to gear up customer service during the pandemic. 

Finally, How Is Video Support Influencing the Customer Service Industry

Not only does video customer support suffice the capability to ward off irregularities in the interactions, but it also works in favor of developing deeper connections with the customers. 

1. More Profound Human Connections

For a second, recall your encounters with customer support. The first thing that comes to mind is a mobile or an email conversation, which is neither hassle-free nor entirely satisfactory. An agent on the other side is bound by certain norms and cannot go beyond to help you resolve your issue. 

Replace this traditional support practice with video support or live visual assistance. Here, a face-to-face interaction drives the process, and the agent is well and truly in pole position to judge the customer's emotions and tailor the support accordingly. The customer, too, feels a sense of gratification towards the agent and exchanges words of appreciation.

All in all, the utterly frustrating customer service domain instantly transforms into the perfect branding experience — a win-win for both parties. 

2. Higher Resolution Rate

How many times has the customer support agent completely resolved the issue? I bet the number is meager. That's precisely due to the level of sophistication that goes into addressing technical issues and also the level of understanding that the agent and the customer exhibits. 

What if the understanding of the issues and the subsequent problem-solving process is made super-easy? Actually, we at SupportGenie did it. Our new video support tool allows the agent to capture images from the live video and annotate them back with the correct explanation of the area and the procedure of problem-solving.

This way, video complements the customer support efforts by increasing the chances of customer queries being resolved. 

3. Remote Working

The most important thing that COVID taught the world was the importance of productive working-from-home practice. Now that the work-from-home culture has become an integral part of the corporate sector, companies are thinking of switching entirely to remote workings. You can't blame them, can you?

With video customer support in your ranks, you can always allow for the development of a remote team. Not only is it beneficial for the business for cutting the costs but also for the employees who are often overwhelmed by their 9-5 routine.

Liked what you read? At SupportGenie, our focus is to add value to our audience through engaging write-ups. Oh, and about that — have you used our live visual assistance tool yet? It's comfortable, it's straightforward, and it's a game-changer. Get started today for free!