How Do I… Make Video Chat the Channel of Choice?

Our panel of experts explain how to showcase video chat as an easy-to-use channel your customers will want to use again and again.

Show your customers how much quicker and more convenient it is

Video chat enables businesses to reduce costs and resolve queries quickly during the initial interaction. A customer that uses video to show an engineer their faulty fridge and highlight the precise nature of their problem stands a better chance of a fast resolution.

A financial services company that gives customers mortgage advice by video rather than at the branch, potentially at a time that’s convenient to the customer after normal working hours, can save time and money while driving up customer satisfaction.

Maintain high standards with quality monitoring

Don’t forget about quality monitoring. Tools like video chat are great for supporting more personalised interactions, but businesses must never forget the need for regulatory and procedural compliance.

Video chat may be better for building rapport, empathy and a closer relationship with the customer, but organisations need to back up the approach with quality monitoring and speech analytics systems that help ensure agents are using the right words, phrases and approach from a procedural point of view.

Jeremy Payne

Be aware of storage demands

While the benefits of screening calls and monitoring video chat interactions are significant, companies need to be aware of the storage demands.

The bandwidth required to record a Skype or FaceTime call is significantly more than with a voice call. The volume of stored data is also greater.

With thanks to Jeremy Payne at Enghouse Interactive

Your IT systems need to be kept up to date

We’ve all experienced contact centres where the systems are ‘running slow today’.

These are easier to mask on a voice call, much less so with video. Organisations will need a robust technology platform to support video chat activities.

Maintain high quality with shorter shifts

When it comes to video chat shift patterns, don’t forget that projected video channel volumes can place an increased burden on the agent to perform visually and always appear positive.

You should plan for shift lengths to be shorter than for voice calls.

You also need to understand and plan for the impact on productivity. Professional video chats prevent agents from blending activity with other channels and tasks – which can impact on overall AHT levels.

Your presentation needs to match your brand

Your agents need to present a professional image when speaking to your customers via video chat, as the channel operates as a brand extension.

You’ll need a defined dress code that matches attire with your brand aspirations.

You’ll also need to ensure that your video chat backgrounds are professional, communicating a brand-specific and clean workspace.

Your Human Resources (HR) team also needs to understand the wider impact of running a video chat channel, and will need to have policies for agent security and privacy.