by Ethan Beute

Transform Your Customer Experience With Video Messaging

“When I’m asking ‘What’s right for the customer?’ – that’s the game changer.” 

Jeff Shore recently shared these words on a recent episode of The Customer Experience Podcast. And he did it in a specific context: to explain why homebuilders aren’t sending video messages – and why they should. 

Too often, we do what’s easy or what’s comfortable rather than what’s right or what’s effective.

It’s part of the human experience. It’s part of our deep, evolutionary psychology. This instinct prevents us from doing things that would help us communicate, connect, and convert better – including sending video messages. Our nature is part of why we should and why we’re not using more video. 

But let’s back up. What is meant by “video messages?” 

We mean are simple, casual, conversational videos recorded with your smartphone or laptop webcam. We mean a clearer, warmer, and more human message than another three paragraphs of faceless, typed-out text. We mean a convenient, digital message that’s richly infused with all the subtlety, nuance, and emotion missing from most emails, text messages, and social DMs. We mean being there in person when we can’t be there in person! 

Here in this post, a series of video clips from Episode 254 of BombBomb’s podcast, titled “Embracing a Psychology-Based Sales Approach,” gives insight into:

• Why you’re not sending video messages 
• What benefits doing so would provide you and your homebuyers 
• How to break through discomfort and get started 
• How others are using video messaging to improve customer experience  

Story: Video Message from a Home Site

In this podcast highlight clip, Jeff shares a client story about trust, likeability, emotional connection, differentiation, and competitive advantage. Give it a play to learn how Blake connected with Sheila before he ever met her – and completely differentiated himself in the process … 

Click here for more about the 4.8-star rated BombBomb app for iPhone. 

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 Notice in that clip above Jeff’s point that the key to success isn’t the lot or homesite. It isn’t the woods. They help but they’re not the main point. The success is in the trust and likeability built between people through a real, raw, authentic, and perfectly imperfect video. This is something a photo and a typed-up email just can’t deliver. 

Misused and Underused Technology 

Here in this clip, Jeff addresses a question about up-and-coming technology to benefit homebuilders and to improve customer experience. With a brief nod to all the progress in and excitement for AR (augmented reality), he doubles back into more fundamental tools and tech. 

Spoiler: he identifies email as misused and video as underused.  

“The underutilization of video floors me,” Jeff says. “It’s crazy that it’s not being used … still!” Prospecting, updates, client communication – there are so many opportunities for our teams to send video messages. 

Notice the important message here about our tendency to default to what’s easy rather than thinking about what’s right or what’s effective. When we repeatedly and exclusively rely on typed-out messages in emails and texts, we open ourselves up to misunderstandings, missed opportunities, and negative experiences. We’ve all been on both sides of that problem – as the sender and as the receiver. “It’s not what the customer wants,” Jeff says, “And it’s not what the customer needs.”  

To improve customer experience, he advocates finding the right spots to add videos. Not time-consuming, expensive videos with lights, scripts, drones, green screens, and other production elements, but rather simple, casual, and conversational videos that explain things more clearly and connect people more effectively. 

Your point of comparison isn’t a television commercial, a movie preview, or even a homepage video. That’s not the bar for a “good enough” video message. Instead, it’s as simple as asking yourself “would this be better if I just said it or explained it, rather than typing it out?” So often, the answer is “yes!” And you’ll save time doing it. 

Why You Don’t Send Video Messages (and How to Get Started) 

In this video highlight from the podcast, Jeff reiterates the benefits of video messages, acknowledges the main reason you don’t send them, and offers an important tip to get started. 

“It’s very difficult to communicate emotion in an email,” he says, offering one of the key limitations to traditional email communication. From excitement and appreciation to bad news and apologies, a video message “makes so much sense.” 

As Jeff explains in the clip above, we don’t send video because we’re uncomfortable with it. And we’re uncomfortable with it because of our lack of familiarity. It’s new. It’s a little different. We feel a little vulnerable. 

From that logic, we know that the only way to get comfortable is to get familiar. And the best way to get familiar is simply to practice. Practice makes the difference. Record and send video messages, even if it’s a little uncomfortable. “Just lean into it. It’s too valuable not to,” Jeff says. 

Practice builds confidence. Confidence builds success. Consider starting with simple “thank you,” “good job,” or “congratulations” messages to people you know and who know you. Build from there. It’s just like anything else you’re starting and that you want to get proficient at – start, practice, and keep going. 

We’ve seen this as the path to success for salespeople, service providers, project managers, managers, and leaders of all kinds – in all kinds of industries – including yours! 

“Your Survival Instinct is Killing You”

In this clip, Jeff bridges back into the customer experience, reminding us to ask “What’s best for the customer experience?” as we make choices and decisions. 
 
“It’s not a question when it comes to communication of whether it’s easy, it’s a question of whether it’s right,” he says. “It’s not a question of whether it’s a comfortable thing do, it’s a question of whether it’s the right thing to do.” 
 
None of this is about you and your comfort or convenience. It’s about the convenience and confidence of our customers. 

Click here to learn more about Your Survival Instinct is Killing You by Marc Shoen.
Click here to learn more about Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. 

 Marc Schoen teaches us that discomfort activates our primitive fight-or-flight nature, which doesn’t serve us well sometimes. Daniel Kahneman teaches us about the law of least effort. And Jeff Shore teaches us to fight the natural, human urge to do what’s easiest and layers in the cautionary reminder that we create reasons and excuses to make us feel good about doing that easy, comfortable thing. 

Video to Help Customers Envision the Experience – and Their Feelings 

In this final clip, Jeff draws on the work of Martin Seligman to teach us that our clients and future clients are not as often tapping wisdom as they are seeing, imagining, envisioning, and predicting.   

Video messages can help people imagine what it’ll like to work with us and to envision what it’ll be like to build their new home with us. Absent our willingness and ability to share this experience with them through video communication, all we can do is hope for the best. 

Our job is to help the customers envision what it’ll feel like along the journey with us. Breaking through our own discomfort to manage expectations and imaginations with the human-to-human quality of video messages helps dramatically.

To illustrate, he shares a video messaging example from a mortgage loan officer. 

The loan qualification process is akin to an IRS audit. The stage does need to be set with customers to preempt negative emotions and states of mind.

“What a gift to a customer to let them know in advance what will happen and how we expect them to feel about that,” observes Jeff. “That’s really powerful.” 

Rehumanize the Experience

The customer experience is more digital and virtual than ever before. And it’ll only become more so.

The digital channels we rely on to connect and communicate with people are noisier and more polluted than ever before. And they’ll only become more so – especially as adoption of generative AI climbs. 

Noise makes attention harder to get. Pollution makes trust harder to build. And you obviously need both attention and trust to build healthy relationships and build a successful business. 

Look for ways to rehumanize the increasingly faceless, digital experience. Earn attention. Build trust. Create connection. Increase conversion. Provide differentiation. Even if it’s a little uncomfortable at first.

If You Enjoyed This Post…

Click here to see and hear more from Jeff Shore on The Customer Experience Podcast 

Click here to browse more episodes of The Customer Experience Podcast 

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