Explainer videos in the self-service portal provide customers with necessary usage information about a product. Find out how you can not only meet customer demands, but also strengthen your brand loyalty with video.
No desire to read? Listen to the whole article here:Changes in customer service.
Product purchased, unpacked, and intuitively put into operation – this is, after all, the ideal case of a successful product design and what today’s customers expect.
Often, operation manuals and instructions no longer come with a product. The industry reacts to the increasing digitalization of all content and its effects on the usage behavior of a customer. The same applies to the service sector.
Note:
Today's customers expect a purchased product or service to function immediately and intuitively. If this is not the case, they want the appropriate information to be immediately available and accessible from anywhere.
Fast communication.
Today, these are so-called "Instant Customer Service Options,” i.e. immediate services for the customer, such as a live chat on the website or a chatbot in direct customer service, a callback guarantee within a few minutes or quick contact via social media.
Today, the focus is on direct and fast customer communication across all platforms. Digital communication via websites and social media has become particularly important in customer support.
If future trends are to be believed, integrated automation and artificial intelligence (AI) will noticeably change communication in customer support. It will become more automated, but more individualized, technical, and interactive, and incorporate various media such as text, video, or screen sharing within an application.
Even if authentic AI is still a dream of the future in customer service, companies should already be laying the foundations. Companies are faced with the challenge of rethinking their customer service and adapting their customer support to the needs of their target group.
Pro-active customers.
No consumer wants to call a hotline where they are stuck in a seemingly endless queue after trying to communicate their problem to an automated voice—just to explain it all over again in the end.
The modern customer wants to solve the problem himself, and companies have to provide the right tools to allow for this. A study by Microsoft shows that more than 90% of customers expect a FAQ area or something similar from a company or organization.
The information and instructions for the product requested by the customer must be prepared in advance and made available intuitively in such a way that customers can solve the problem independently, quickly, and completely.
Note:
Part of a successful product experience is both the buying experience, the commissioning, and use of a product, as well as the complete service experience in all phases of the customer journey.
The solution: self-service portals.
The difference to the classic one-to-one service.
The aim is to offer your customers the best possible service and make them really happy in the long term - from anywhere and at any time of the day.
The days when customer support was waiting for customer inquiries are over. Rather, it is important for companies to proactively approach customers in their problem solving so that customers find the solutions themselves.
Both forms of customer service are not mutually exclusive but can complement each other productively. With a sophisticated self-help portal, you offer a way to solve customer issues immediately.
Note:
Excellent customer service offers a comprehensive service via many different contact points: Via the self-service portal, as well as direct communication via a chat (or chatbot) and the classic telephone conversation.
Such self-service supports are very worthwhile, both for customers and for companies: Once set up, they not only save costs, but also relieve your customer support, which can then devote itself to the real problems of your customers.
There are many different providers for the integration of self-service support: here is just one example.
More success with videos.
Today’s consumers don’t take the time to search out difficult answers and read manuals. That’s why it’s so important for companies to proactively address potential client issues with less text and more video.
Videos are best suited for a self-help portal for customer inquiries. They enable customers to learn about a product or service quickly and efficiently. In addition, video is the medium that today's consumers consume the most and prefer the most.
Video creates even more for your brand:
- Your corporate identity (CI for short) comes into its own and achieves a coherent image of your company.
- Video conveys the right tonality and emotionality for your brand.
- Complex topics are explained clearly and simply - probably the most important goal for your self-service support.
A study shows that 68% of customers prefer to watch a video rather than contact support. Customers expect video in a self-service portal.
Note:
Videos are the core element in user-centric and targeted self-service support.
Our 4 tips for successful videos in the customer portal.
#1 Solve an immediate problem in your video.
Perhaps the most important thing about your customer support videos is that they solve a problem before a customer contacts support. Most often, these are basic, frequently asked questions, such as:
- How do I change my credentials?
- How do I delete my account?
- How do I register multiple users?
Customers usually search here for short, targeted, and structured video snippets, which can be found by keywords via search engines or your own search field. For the video content, the problem must be clearly defined and the solution must be quickly demonstrated in the video.
Short and concise video snippets on concrete customer enquiries in the company's own CI – using DKB as an example.
#2 Work in your video with text and screen capture.
Especially for explainer videos used in the self-service portal, it is important that your video is understandable immediately and at first glance. With the use of text elements and illustrative symbols, you create important bases for the understanding of your topic, product, or service.
Learn why you should add subtitles to your videos »
Your videos will become even more understandable with professional storytelling. In our Storytelling Guide, you can find comprehensive information and tips.
If you have a digital product, such as a website, an app, or a program, Screen Capture helps you to answer your specific customer inquiry clearly.
Whether serious, with characters, or as a classic screenshot - Mynd produces Screen Capture videos for your customer support.
#3 Offer videos for every touchpoint.
A sophisticated self-service platform includes not only videos about possible problems and their solutions, but also onboarding videos. These are short videos for new customers who need an introduction to the product or service.
At the same time, depending on the type of your product or service, master videos are interesting for those users who have been using your product for some time and want to be experts.
If your video answers a more general question or is a real tip for a wider audience, users may want to share this hack with their community.
At the same time, you will also be perceived as an industry expert, which has positive effects on the perception of your company.
The difference between master videos in customer portals and how-to videos is fluid - both answer a specific question.
Depending on the product or service, it can therefore be advantageous if you develop a comprehensive video strategy, whether without or with the help of a professional video company. Build a kind of video library that picks up the customer at each of their contact points with your product.
#4 Use Interactive Videos.
Interactive videos are videos in which interactive elements are integrated and the selection or action of a user thus determines the further content of the video. The customer gets the information he is looking for without leaving the video: more value in less time.
The individual video fragments can be used, for example, to provide step-by-step instructions, enabling the customer to learn more about your product or service and how to use it. The commitment of the customer increases automatically.
However, interactive videos also make it possible to sort complex information and correlate it directly - using different media and everything in one video.
With Mynd Interactive, you can depict complex relationships in a single video.
Create an unmistakable user experience by integrating videos into your customer support – we are happy to advise you and are your partner for the video production of your explainer video. »
