A Guide to Effective Video Conferencing with Customers
Video calls add a personal connection to customer relationships. Learn 5 tips for effective video conferencing with customers, from agendas to camera etiquette.
TL;DR
- Video conferencing gives remote customer calls a much-needed element of personal connection, letting CSMs put faces with names and engage more deeply than over a blank screen or phone.
- Five tips for effective customer video calls: treat the call like an in-person meeting (look professional, clean background), have a clear agenda, take an all-or-nothing approach to cameras while staying consistent as a team, always introduce new team members on video, and remember your camera is on.
- New team members joining an account should introduce themselves on video, because it makes the handoff more personal and helps customers feel comfortable.
For most CSMs – and SaaS organizations in general –the work from home era is officially here, and has been for a while. As more companies announce they will continue remote operations indefinitely, customer success teams are either auditing their existing remote communications strategy or looking for ways to keep things running smoothly long-term. This is because, for customer success teams, there are more than just internal conversations to think about.
Video conferencing with customers
It’s interesting to think that just a year ago video conferencing was much less common, even in meetings with external clients or remote employees. Today, however, a year into our‘new normal’, video conferencing provides a much-needed element of personal connection and humanity to online calls. While CSMs don’t need to be on-site with customers or even have a need to meet them in person, video calls have become a new way to connect and engage with customers for those big moments.
Here, we’ll look at a some of the key things to keep in mind when video conferencing with customers:
1. Treat a video call like an in-person meeting.
Video calls with customers are a chance to put faces with names and engage on a deeper level than just speaking to a blank screen. But, like an in-person meeting, remember that people can see your face. Make sure you look professional on screen, that your background (if not virtual) is clean, and that you are in the right place to engage with customers.
2. Have a clear agenda in place.
This goes for any virtual meeting, but especially video calls. Review the meeting agenda at the start of the meeting and then keep people on track to stay on time. Having an agenda in place also eliminates the risk of attendees sitting there looking at each other, wondering what to talk about.
3. You don’t always have to turn your video on, but make sure your team is consistent.
Try to take an all-or-nothing approach to turning your video on. Also, it is understandable if customers do not feel comfortable turning their videos on at first, but hopefully the more your team does it the more they will join in.
4. Always introduce new team members via video.
If a new team member joins the account team, always have them introduce themselves to the customer with their video on. This makes things much more personal and helps customers feel comfortable with the new business analyst or implementation manager joining the team.
5. Remember, your video is on!
We’ve all seen the video call fails and bloopers making the rounds this past year as people figured out exactly how this technology works. If you do have to leave your desk or deal with an off-screen issue, it’s okay to mute and turn your video off for a second or two. Just make sure to un-mute yourself if you do have a comment!
How is your team currently running video calls with customers? You can learn more about managing customer relationships in the work from home era with here:
- Webinar: Cultivating Customer Relationships Through Crisis
- Webinar: The Handoff: Sales to Customer Success
- eBook: Customer Success as a Culture: Marketing Leaders Edition
Frequently Asked Questions
How can you run effective video calls with customers?
Why is video conferencing valuable for customer success teams?
See how ClientSuccess scales the playbook you've built.
Walk through it with a CS-led demo and see how it'd fit your team.