Streamlining Customer Information through Video

As we begin to release new episodes of Philly311 TV, I thought I’d write a post about the importance of these videos from a customer service standpoint.

Philly311 TV is the digital engagement effort of the Philadelphia city government’s non-emergency contact center. I serve as the host of the show and interview a diverse range of employees throughout city government. We created the show as part of our multi-channel engagement strategy to provide customers with more information and access to our organization.

After lessons learned from Season 1 (filming 30-minute, talk-show formatted episodes) we decided to move to a more flexible format that would provide more value to our customers. In Season 2, we still film casual conversations in a studio setting, however, we cut these conversations into vignettes in post-production to streamline information for our customers.

With these vignettes, we can provide quick, immediate answers to some of our customers most frequent questions. We can use these videos to populate our social media streams, meaning that customers can see answers to their questions on their newsfeeds before they even ask.

Here’s a great example:

Another benefit to using video to answer customer questions is that it humanizes your organization. If customers can see that real people, who care, are behind your organization, they will be more likely to engage. It’s always better to have an explanation come from a person (or a video of a person) than from a word document, FAQ list, or an instruction manual.

Providing quick, engaging video answers to our customers has been a relatively easy process, and could be for your organization too. What are your thoughts on the using video for customer engagement?

Rosetta Carrington Lue is the Chief Customer Service Officer and Senior Advisor to the City of Philadelphia’s Managing Director. Follow Rosetta on Twitter @Rosettalue or visit her blog at www.rosettacarringtonlue.com