Screencasts can make the life of a customer support agent a breeze. Well, almost. The most common customer support call by far is the forgotten login credentials. Almost all websites that require a login have an automatic but safe way for the user to get their login credentials. Screencasts will help you with another common customer support task: Teaching your customers how to use what they bought.
One of The Most Common Customer Support needs.
As a customer support agent, I often get messages or calls like this: “RJ, I love the site, and especially the [name of feature]. But how do I ____________”? Much of customer support is teaching people how to use what they’ve bought. Sometimes their message is very direct like this one. But as a customer service agent have you noticed that a lot of support communication goes something like this below?
Customer: “Your website is broke”
Agent: “I can help you with that. Tell me what’s going on.”
Customer: “I’m trying to do X and the Y isn’t showing up.”
Agent (In his or her private thoughts): “Ah ha! This customer doesn’t know that they need to activate the W for X to show the Y.”
I bet if this happens to you, you simply help the customer step-by-step to activate W. Sometimes they realize they forgot a step or didn’t know one. Other times they think you fixed what was broken. Either way, if the customer is happy and continues to be a customer, your goal is reached. Sometimes you can do this live without any screencasts or screen-sharing software. What if I showed you how to create a video that shows your customer how to do the things they ask you to teach? I can help you with that: Screencasts. How Can Screencasts Improve My Bottom Line?
Imagine a customer support event that lasts a fraction of the time as your average? And it not only helps your customer, it WOWs them? Do a better job in less time, and you’ll have savings and increased revenue. That’s the idea anyay. Create screencasts of the tasks you most commonly teach your customers. Then when you realize the customer needs to learn how to activate W, you can quickly send them the link to watch your screencast. Some customers will still want their hands held, but they will be fewer than the total who need the learning.
How Does Screen Sharing Help?
Remember when Windows was new and you often helped people find the Start button? How often do you need a customer to click an icon in their system tray but they say they don’t see it? I can help you with that: Screen Sharing.
If you have a customer with a problem (most important customer-right?), and you just plain need to see their screen, have them share their screen with you. You immediately see what they don’t know is right in front of them. You tactfully tell them where to look. “See the spot where it shows the time? Next to that is a blue icon with a happy face. Click that with your rigt mouse button.”
Or better yet, some screen-sharing software lets you take control of their mouse or draw on their screen. It is very effective to say on the phone, “Click here,” and draw a circle over the spot. Customers will love you … and come back.
If you have a high customer support load, screen-sharing and screencasts will make a significant difference.
My Recommended Screencasting and Screen-Sharing Tools
http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/
Screencast-O-Matic will capture screen video and your audio. It’s free and it just works from your browser. Easy and free, a great combination.
http://camstudio.org/
CamStudio is an open-source screen capturing software. CamStudio is able to record all screen and audio activity on your computer and create industry-standard AVI video files and using its built-in SWF Producer can turn those AVIs into lean, mean, bandwidth-friendly Streaming Flash videos (SWFs)
http://www.adobe.com/products/captivate/
Adobe Captivate is the screen capturing leading software. It is specifically taylored to creating educational screencasts. If you are doing high-volume profesional instructional design, you’ll need this one.
http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp
TechSmith Camtasia creates videos that train, teach, sell, and more. It is one of the most well-known screencapture software programs.
https://www.gotomypc.com
GoToMyPC is primarily to access your PC from anywhere. I include it here because some of my customers have it and use it to invite me to view their screen.
http://www.gotoassist.com
GoToAssist is the easiest and most secure customer support screen-sharing software I have found so far. Your customer calls you on the phone, and you easily connect to view their screen without any vulnerablility to them. If security is a common concern in your customer base, this one will do the trick.
Some of the popular instant messangers support screen sharing. If that works for you that’s great, but again consider whether your customers will be comfortable with that. Make your life easier by reaching out to your customers either by giving them a video to learn what they need (Screencasts) or by helping them while you view their screen (Screen Sharing).
