Customer service is the final part of your marketing funnel. It’s also incredibly important. Increasing customer retention by just 5%, which means keeping those customers happy, can boost your profits by anywhere from 25%-95%.

Clearly, you must get this right if you want your business to grow.

There are many different elements to customer service. This guide will discuss how to create customer service videos and some of the benefits of these types of videos over a traditional manual. Let’s jump right into the guide.

Benefits of creating customer service videos

Customer service videos are a great way to deliver important information to customers about the products you sell or the services you provide. Of course, you’re probably already aware of that!

Here are just a few of the many advantages of creating a customer service video:

• We are visual learners: growing up, most of us learn through imitation. We watch someone doing a task, and then we imitate. While written guides are good, most people find it easier to learn by watching a video.
• Generates credibility: Being able to hear and watch a product expert explain how to get the most out of that product brings instant credibility gains. It also provides a more personal touch than endless streams of text.
• Reduce customer service inquiries: A great customer service video can help reduce customer inquiries. That can be a big cost saving for companies and a time saver for customers.

Naturally, many businesses recognize these facts and invest time and energy into producing helpful videos for customers. Here’s a nice example of a customer service video.

O’Reilly Auto Parts shows its customers how to install a new windscreen wiper with a slick, professional video. Customers can order a new wiper blade from their online store and then watch the video tutorial to do the work.

It’s more than just an instructional video, though. A video like this, which isn’t company-specific, can be a valuable sales and marketing tool. For example, I’m sure a few people watched the video who weren’t originally O’Reilly customers.

Watching the video might have been the impetus that turned a prospect into a customer.

That happens often. An impressive 84% of customers have reported that watching a video has resulted in them buying a product.

How to Create Effective Customer Service Videos: 5 Tips

A good video has to look good, sound great, engage your audience, and educate them. That can seem like a challenge. However, as long as you approach video creation with the right strategy, your content will be excellent every time. 

Your customer service video must also contain relevant and actionable information. Here’s how to achieve that:

1. Know the topics customers ask about frequently

Your first step is to work out which kinds of videos your customers want from you. Start by looking at your FAQs page. That’s usually a goldmine of information about what your customers want to know.

Image source

Content suggestions can come from all of your communication and marketing channels. Look at the most frequent questions you get on your social media pages. That has the added benefit of helping to drive engagement. Thank commenters for their question, and make sure that they are tagged if possible once your video has been made.

If you’re a marketer that’s always thinking about SEO, then another good way to get inspiration for your video content is to look at your keyword database. 

2. Write a simple script

Now that you have your list of topics to make a video about, you have to write your script. Don’t try to improvise when the camera is running. Instead, use a question and answer format that’s sequential and straightforward.

Example of a script. Source

When you’re writing the script, avoid being overly technical. If you get too technical, then the average customer may start to get lost. That just means they’ll head somewhere else. Try to implement the ‘explain like I’m 5’ technique. Of course, you don’t want to talk to your customers as if they were five! Always avoid:

• Buzzwords
• Technical jargon
• Current trend references

If you’re not used to being on camera, have plenty of practice runs. The goal is to make it feel to the customer that you’re talking to them one-on-one. Be conversational and natural. That will make your content more accessible and will also humanize your brand.

Also, make sure your videos are short and sweet. Consumers want answers. They don’t want to watch a 30-minute video that strays off-topic. Don’t try and cross-sell or promote additional products. 

3. Invest in a good video tool

Some business owners are resistant to video because it takes time and resources to create. Although it takes time to create a video, it doesn’t have to be overly expensive. 

If you’re only just starting with video content, the key is to start small. You don’t have to invest in professional and costly video creation tools like AfterEffects or Adobe Premiere. You won’t need most of the functions that these tools provide.

Wave.video Online Video Maker

Once you have an idea of what you want your videos to include, look at some of the best video creation tools available. There are plenty that offer the features that you’ll need, and many are free to use.

4. Edit the video

You can’t just upload your video after filming. You still need to sit down and get rid of any unnecessary parts. If you’ve needed multiple takes to get your lines right, edit the video to cut out the waste sections. You should always shoot more video than you’ll need. 

You can also tinker with the audio levels so that they become clearer. Play around with the color balance, and ensure that no factual errors are remaining. Take a look at the following example of a well-edited customer service video: 

You should now have a good-looking and informational video. You can then decide if you want to add any finishing touches, such as music, your branding, or captions.

Once you’re happy that the video is perfect, get some second opinions. Gather your team and get them all to watch it. Get opinions and update your video if needed. 

Once you’re done and everyone is happy, hit the ‘render’ button and wait. 

5. Ensure the video is easily visible to customers

You’ve got your video, and it’s ready to upload. The question is, where do you upload it to? The answer is everywhere. Make sure you build an audience on those chosen platforms, though.

A common piece of advice is to post your video on YouTube and then embed it from YouTube onto your website. That is a common mistake simply because so many marketers do this. If you only have your video on YouTube, then you’re driving your customers there. That means YouTube can then promote your competitors.

While you want your video on YouTube, you also want to load it directly onto your website. That can boost your SEO. There are other video-sharing platforms available, too. 

Assuming you’re uploading your content to Youtube, SEO is important. Stay far away from clickbait-style titles and stick to your industry keywords. Always include well-written descriptions of the video content.

If you’re getting into the nitty-gritty of SEO, add your keywords to the video file name. Then, create a great-looking video thumbnail.

If you’re posting on an external site like YouTube, add hashtags, including localized keywords, to your descriptions. That can have a spectacular effect on your discoverability. 

You can now share your video on all of your marketing channels. Your social media pages and your email newsletters are the perfect places to use your video content. 

Conclusion

Customer service videos can help your business in many ways. They don’t just delight your customers. They can also help build your website authority. Customer service videos help turn you and your brand into a source of information that customers reward.

For that to happen, though, your customer service videos need to be effective in the first place. In this article, we looked at five tips you should follow. Determine your customers’ frequently asked questions, write a simple script, and invest in a video tool. After editing your video, upload it to your chosen platforms. 

The benefits of a well-made customer service video are clear and provable. Empower your customers and your workforce by using these videos. They can quickly become the key to easier discoverability and brand growth.

About the author: Allie Decker is the Head of Content at Omniscient, a marketing agency that works with SaaS brands. Before working with Omniscient, she spent 5 years as a freelance writer and then joined the content team at HubSpot where she worked for nearly 3 years. She has contributed to more than 100 high-converting articles for HubSpot and collaborated with the folks at Entrepreneur, Hotjar, and Foundr. Her words are bookmarked by entrepreneurs, small business owners, and digital marketers worldwide.