A wide range of businesses from brokerage firms and banks, to hospitals and HMOs, to online retailers and big box stores are launching video-enabled customer services embedded in portals and websites via ATMs, kiosks and mobile apps. Today Verint® Systems Inc, a leader in work force optimization, announced it was using the VidyoWorksplatform to enable video interactions between customers and service employees as part of its Verint Engagement Managementsolution. SEE THE PRESS RELEASE

The more video is used, the more these newly launched customer services face a challenge that is far from technical. Put simply, their customers are camera shy. Will camera-phobic consumers scuttle your plans to add video enabled customer engagement to your business? Not if you do your homework before rolling out the service.

Here are a few tips to ensure your video enabled service is well received by your customers:

  1. Know your customer demographics. Studies show that millennials are significantly more comfortable using text chat, video chat and learning via on-demand video. If the customer base you are targeting has a high percentage of millennials, you can launch new communication channels with confidence. If you serve a mix of demographics, make sure you continue to offer more traditional channels in addition to text and video. 
  1. Is a high degree of intimacy and trust critical to your customers? Deployments of video enabled customer care in highly personalized industries such as healthcare and wealth management have demonstrated that when intimacy and trust are an essential part of the customer relationship, customers of all ages are more open to using video. If trust and intimacy are key, your customers are much more likely to embrace a video experience. 
  1. Do your customers interact with the same account rep or relationship manager each time they interact with your company? Consumers may not be comfortable conversing with a complete stranger over video, but are much more at ease when conversing with someone with whom they are familiar. To this end, if your customers interact with the same person or group of people on a regular basis, they will be more open to adopting video as a tool.
  1. Let them opt out. Your best strategy to alleviate camera shyness may be to open every call with one way video. The customer can see the agent’s video and have a conversation, but the customer’s camera is not activated.  If the customer is comfortable using video, they can opt to turn their video on by clicking a button on the screen. If not, they can still benefit from seeing the agent demonstrate a product or technique, share documents or educational videos, and provide non-verbal communication through facial expression and gestures.

For more on customer engagement for the modern enterprise, check out these related blog posts, this customer engagement infographic and more from the Vidyo website. Ready for more? Access a 21 Day FREE Trial of Vidyo today!

 

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