How 3 Different Industries Use Live Video Chat For Better Customer Experiences And More Profits
Live Video Chat Changing Healthcare, Finance, And Retail
Go where the customers are, right? In today’s digital age, companies need to move with the evolving customer communications landscape or be replaced by more progressive companies. Some innovative and profitable business models have arisen to take advantage of the new possibilities of live video chat technologies.
Here are 3 industries that have embraced consumer-to-business video technology as not just a trend but a differentiator and competitive advantage.
Health Care Reconfiguration
Remote medical care? Imagine seeing a doctor over a video chat and getting diagnosed without ever stepping into a doctor’s office. Because of Covid-19 outbreaks over the last few years placing strain on the world’s healthcare infrastructure, remote medical care has become a necessity, not a fantasy. Digital technologies allowed doctors and patients to interact from a distance and a new medical care model called telehealth or telemedicine became mainstream. From minor sickness to chronic and other severe conditions, live video chat became one of the solutions needed to make virtual healthcare possible.
The potential of this emerging industry is huge, with estimated market size of 636 billion by the year 2028. For example, companies are helping individual practitioners to take their practice online like Doxy.me, SnapMD, and Simple Practice. For the mass market consumer, we have large companies in this space who service millions of patents daily, including companies like Amwell, MDLive, and Doctor on Demand.
Healthcare is a huge opportunity to leapfrog into everyone’s home on-demand and virtually. Telehealth can provide personalized care over video conferencing while being more affordable, accessible, and customizable. In a few years, we may see mass adoption, where services in telehealth will become a new normal. Virtual health care is eating into traditional brick-and-mortar medical services such as medical education, patient monitoring, and annual check-ups.
Banking And Finance For Millennials
When was the last time you went into a brick-and-mortar bank for financial services? Today’s banking services have moved online, including payments, transfers, management, and support. From an app, you can do almost everything you used to have to wait in line for at a physical bank. With the digital banking market expected to reach 8.6 billion by 2025, this industry is quickly replacing much of what traditional banking used to be.
Many younger, tech-savvy customers prefer online and mobile banking over visiting a branch or using ATMs. With this shift in customer behavior came a transition from traditional banks like CitiGroup and Bank of America to online. In addition, new banks like Acorns, Ant Group, and BankMobile Vibe are slowly adding their twist to banking.
With so many customers moving their finances to their mobile devices, live video chat helps to maintain a human touch in digital banking. Live video chat adds more personal customer interactions and trust that only real-person communication can bring an experience almost devoid of human-to-human interactions. There are a few areas of banking where live video chat is beneficial, such as when needing to talk to a wealth management advisor, discussing a mortgage, or taking out a business loan.
Providers like online customer onboarding powered by InfoCert platforms to live video customer support enabled by Unblu can help digital banks build more holistic customer experiences.
Retail Not Impenetrable
Insider Intelligence found that brands and merchants are developing creative ways to increase discoverability, consideration, and purchases from a distance using methods including remote video. Live video chats have emerged as both an opportunity for sales associates to provide personalized service and to better connect with customers when they can not be there in person. As a result, there has been a considerable increase in retailers launching live video chats for their brick-and-mortar and e-commerce stores.
E-commerce alone gets almost 5 trillion dollars of sales yearly so any slight improvement may mean big dollars for an online retailer. However, the most significant difference live video chat makes to virtual shopping experiences is the human touch it adds. Live video chat mimics the in-store sales experience while being available at any time of the day from anywhere. The additional chat services designed specifically for e-commerce include Uptok and Reve Chat.
For customers who visit physical stores, live video chats augment the shopping experience by providing more chances for interaction, service, and flexibility. In addition, it is part of many retailers’ strategies of trying to adopt omnichannel sales services where customers may start online or in the store and finish their shopping experience where they feel most comfortable.
New Applications For New Possibilities
Live video chat is increasingly present in many of our customers’ lives. Within the 3 industries above, it has helped some stay relevant and created new business opportunities for others. This technology traveled a long way to get to where it is today.
There are many new possibilities for innovation within businesses currently using it and massive potential for businesses who have not yet seen its potential. Companies that see its value early on can be more than just another customer service communication channel. It can also be a way to add value to their customer experience at many different points in the customer journey.
Related Links: 9 Steps To Building A Customer Journey Map and 3 Tips To Make It Great
In healthcare, telehealth uses live video as the main customer-to-business communication channel. For banking, digital banks use it to provide a more human touch to a mainly self-service business model. And lastly, for retail, live video chat enhances and expands the online and in-store shopping experience for customers.
Where next will video technology go? That’s up to the next set of entrepreneurs and forward-thinking business leaders to dream up.