Using YouTube for Increased Customer Service

This weekend, weather permitting, I am installing a floodlight on the top of my garage. It’s going to be one of the motion sensor type that will probably get set off 5 times a night by the stray cats in the neighborhood, but it’s what the wife wants, and she typically gets what she wants. This may come as a surprise, but I am not an electrician. Marketing, yes. Wiring, not so much. I managed to electrocute myself this past weekend while painting around a light switch, so there’s a good reason for some concern.

For this purchase, I simply picked the closest box off of the shelf at Home Depot. The light I bought came with written instructions. I guess someone could try to read those over and over until it sinks in. I’m not big on reading instructions, so I turned to YouTube, to see what was there. I simply typed, “How to wire a light,” into YouTube’s search bar, and I was on my way.

In a perfect world, I would watch a video on the installation of the exact light that I am about to install. Unfortunately, the light I bought did not have a video online. Instead of watching a video made by the maker of the light I purchased, I watched one of its competitor’s videos. Who do you think will earn my future business?

In order to keep your customers away from your competitors, a part of your marketing strategy (Now we get to the part I’m good at..) should use some video. Overall, your entire strategy should be based on two things:

1. Showing your devotion to positive customer service and experience.
2. Showing your product and company as the best choice, and the expert in your field.

Video can add to your customer satisfaction by increasing the level of usability of your product, and your website. Does your site have a frequently asked questions section? Each question can be asked and answered in individual short videos. Does your product require an instruction manual? Create videos showing proper assembly, usage, etc. Do you have a trouble-shooting section? Create a walkthrough video of the most common errors customers have with your product.

Not only does video help by educating your customers, it also lends credibility to your company and product. Walk into a cell phone store and ask the employee working there how to access email on one of the smartphones. Can that employee answer your question? Then chances are, you would be willing to buy the phone from him. Videos are proof to your customers that you know how to use your own product, and that you can answer all of their questions in the future if there are issues.

A couple of quick suggestions:

• Tutorial videos should be clear and concise, but do not need to be professionally shot. They can be done on a handheld camera.
• Your videos should live on YouTube, and play from your website. You don’t want to send your customers to YouTube, as they may wander to someone else’s video. However, you want people looking on YouTube to be able to wander onto yours.
• Always show your video to someone who has no knowledge of what you do with the featured product or process before uploading. If they don’t understand what they watched, assume your customer won’t. Remember, you’re the expert. You aren’t the best judge whether your video can teach someone foreign to the subject on how to use your product.

Remember, these are videos for customer service, created to help your customers. They are not a direct sales tool. Although they may help to sell a customer that knows you have them, that customer is being sold on your higher level of service. If you are building a video to sell your product or company outright, you need a professional quality video. Do not think the two are interchangeable.