Nothing beats face-to-face. But even if it’s not in person, digital customer contact can still be personal. Video calling is a great way to talk to your customers personally via a digital channel - especially now.
The COVID-19 pandemic is greatly impacting the demand for video calling technology, with organisations of all types being forced to work remotely. Those businesses whose service depends on direct customer contact are now looking for new ways to stay connected with customers - so they can in turn protect business continuity. CX video calling offer clear value across industries and business departments. These past weeks, we’ve seen an increase by factor 4 in the number of video calls being made by 24sessions clients.
How are other companies using video calling to keep in touch with their customers? What can you learn from their use cases - about where to offer video calling in the customer journey? And how do you prepare perfectly for a client video call? We discussed it all in our webinar on how to keep servicing customers during the corona crisis. Here are 4 key learnings.
4 key learnings from our webinar 'How to use video calls to continue servicing clients during the pandemic'
1. Picking a use case: How other businesses are using video calls to engage with their customers
What use cases are other companies implementing for CX video calls? Video calling for customer interaction is used across business departments, divisions and industries.
There are 6 main use cases for CX video calling:
- Sales
- Customer support
- Advice & Consulting
- Visual inspections
- Account management
- Interviews & Recruitment
Each use case and business division also sets its own Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and goals. That way, they can keep track of the success of CX video calling, and of the business value for their organisation.
One thing all organisations starting with client video meetings currently have in common, regardless of the use case they are deploying: video calling supports their business continuity.
2. Creating maximum value from CX video calls: it all depends on the customer journey
So if you offer a service which is dependant on meeting with clients, video calling with customers helps sustain your business continuity. But how do you create maximum value out of video calls for your customers? It all starts with HOW you offer video calling in the customer journey and WHERE clients can book a video meeting with you.
4 examples of touch points in the customer journey where you can offer video calls to your clients:
- Integrated booking form
Add a booking form integrated with your video calling software (and your agents’ availability) directly to your website or landing page.
- Online contact form
Offer video calling as one of the options for clients to get in touch with you on an online contact form.
- Booking link
Share a link to your booking form with clients, for example in your company’s email signature, or on the general contact page of your website.
- Website
On a landing page or dedicated page of your website, explain how video calling works and how/where customers can schedule a video meeting with you.
3. Impressing your customer: 10 tips for guaranteed success on your next video call
Great, your customer has booked a video call with you. How do you prepare for the call, from your home office? And how do you create the best possible experience for your customer during the video call?
10 tips to impress customers on your next video call
Before the video call starts
#1. Test your internet connection
Is your internet connection at home not as strong as the one you used to have in the office? Or do you have a housemate who might be on the same network? Make sure to check and adjust your network settings before you start the video meeting.
Make sure you’re positioned in front of a neutral background. There can be some decoration in the background, like a subtle logo, a company banner, or flowers, but remove personal items like posters or paintings.
Also be sure to check that the source of lighting is coming from in front of you, not behind, so the customer will be seeing more than just your contours. And position your webcam or camera at eye-level.
#3. Test your hardware
Join the call 5 minutes before the scheduled time of the video call. However, before your customer also enters the online meeting room, check if your audio/microphone and webcam/camera all work properly.
During the call
#4. Share your screen
Prepare professional visual content to share with your customer, like a Powerpoint presentation or a PDF document. Then share your screen, so you can increase customer engagement.
And don’t forget to close all unnecessary tabs, windows, applications or programs you might have opened on your desktop!
Look in the camera when the customer speaks. That way you’ll establish maximum visual communication.
Also, take notes on a paper note pad!
> Why? To hear tips 6-10, watch our on-demand webinar! Download the recording here >
4. Make video calling part of your internal processes: tips for managers
Video calling is here to stay, that’s the one thing we’re sure of amid all the uncertainty of this pandemic. If you’re planning to start with CX video calls, or already have started a roll-out, you need to make sure that video calling will be fully adopted by your business department.
To speed up adoption of video calling, it’s essential that you integrate video into your internal, organisational processes.
How to create the right internal processes for full adoption of video calling as a new channel?
#1. Set clear goals & KPIs - add video calling to your team’s KPIs
You need to make the value of video clear to the whole business - not just your team or department but all stakeholders, i.e. both employees and the board or management. So set well-defined goals or KPIs to determine the success of video calling, and make sure to choose KPIs that match the wider company goals.
Examples of KPIs for CX video calls:
- Number of contact moments via video per employee
- Number of video calls made per employee/month
#2. Choose the right meeting type - make that the default for video calling
Not every type of customer conversation is suitable for video calling.
- Choose the complex type of client meetings, where screen sharing really adds value. Examples: a conversation for mortgage advice or handling an insurance claim.
- Then, make video calls the default channel for these types of meetings.
#3. Keep learning: measure and track as much data as you can
Collect customer reviews, user feedback and metrics on meeting duration, then analyse these data. That way, you can keep optimising the value of video calls for your organisation.
Hungry for more tips for Customer Contact?
Like to hear all our tips on video calling with customers? Download the webinar recording here >
