I stood in the customer service line this past weekend at Home Depot to pick up a web order. I was mildly annoyed that I couldn’t just grab my bag of liquid graphite to fix a lock at home. The guy in front of me had a full-size refrigerator on a dolly to return. He informed the customer service representative that this was not the first time he’d had to put a refrigerator on a dolly to bring it back to the Home Depot. He said:
"This is the second one I've returned."
That experience stayed with me. The other day, the trigger for my visit to Home Depot was a broken deadbolt where the key wouldn't turn, and the first thing I did was not call customer service or visit their website. I went to YouTube and looked up how to fix it. Consider what a simple troubleshooting video could have done to get Mr. Faulty Refrigerator out of the predicament--time, money, and much frustration avoided.
This attitudinal shift isn't exclusive to me; it's being seen across the board. Customers aren't just embracing self-service; they're embracing it and rejecting traditional customer care whenever possible – and that usually means when it’s more hassle and time than it takes to just look it up yourself.
YouTube and Google are the new call center (for certain things, at least)
Remember the last time you had to debug. Did you
INSTANTLY contact customer care?
Go to the company's website to locate a help article?
Jump on YouTube and search, "How to fix my [insert problem]?"
If you chose #3, you're not alone. Whether repairing a deadbolt, troubleshooting a new technology device, or assembling a drum set (which I just did with my son), YouTube is where millions of users initially turn to find answers.
It's fast, it's free, and generally more informative than sifting through a clunky manual or conversing with a bot.
That's why companies should start treating YouTube as a part of customer-service strategy—and not an afterthought.
A business gets it wrong when it still thinks that the website is still the perfect place to put help materials.
It isn't.
More and more, customers don't visit a company's support site if something is going wrong. They go to YouTube because it's something that's known. It's a site filled with actual individuals demonstrating solutions in a visual way that's easy to understand, and (most importantly) with authority.
The other day a colleague shared with me some industry reports advising companies to host all their support videos on the company's website. I could not disagree more.
The habit is clear: people search first on YouTube.
What smart companies do differently
Smart brands aren’t just becoming YouTube partners, they’re owning the conversation and driving the narrative. They’re not letting undefined third-party producers set the agenda. Here’s what they’re doing instead:
Making their own how-to videos and search-optimizing them
Distributing these videos on their owned channels and on YouTube so that their solutions are available from all angles
Working with influencers customers already trust to demonstrate product solutions
Having the content ranked on YouTube so that they own the messaging and troubleshooting
Good businesses realize that if not you, then somebody else is going to do it.
Here’s why it’s not death to the call center
I am not suggesting that call centers are a relic of the past.
Many issues still can't be addressed with a YouTube video.
For example:
Resetting your bank password can’t be done through YouTube.
You can’t dispute a false charge on YouTube.
You can't modify a loan or update your account information on YouTube.
You can’t get help with your health insurance on YouTube.
Security first. As a rule of thumb, when credentials, payment, privacy or technical troubleshooting come into play, customers must log in to an account or contact a person. That isn't going to change in the near future.
What is transforming is the type of calls that do make it to the call center.
The easiest, most repetitive questions? Those should already be addressed by self-service mechanisms, whether they’re company-owned or third party.
The toughest, most sensitive calls? They will still require the touch of a human., and those you want handled by your own trusted associates.
When done well, self-service actually improves call centers. Getting products and services to work, no matter the vehicle, helps consumers and the companies that provide products. It’s one more step in the evolution toward meeting customers where they are, when they want.
And that's what most firms tend to ignore. Instead of begrudging the trend towards self-service, brands and their call centers should be embracing it. Agents aren't stuck answering the same mundane questions over and over. Instead, they're working on higher-value calls that require expertise.
Where video-based customer service comes in
There's a second evolution off YouTube, and that's live video-based customer support.
We had one client recently that is a home furnishings business. Their biggest issue?
Customers were returning products not because they were faulty, but because they didn't understand how to install them.
So, what did they do?
They introduced video-based support calls, in which customers were able to point out the issue using their phone cameras.
Instead of sending it back or having to wait until a technician came, a remote support technician could see the issue in the moment and guide them through a solution.
It saved the business millions of dollars’ worth of associated expenses, warranty claims, and unwanted, expensive technician calls.
Does this imply that every company should invest in live-video support? No.
But for businesses selling physical products that need setup or upkeep, this type of business model is certainly worth investigating.
The bottom line: Accept the change, don’t resist it
The business lesson? This is not a matter of either-or.
Companies don't have to choose between:
Call centers or YouTube and Google
Live support or chatbots
Great brands use all of these channels deliberately to:
Keep easy self-service easy
Provide live video assistance when needed
Keep high-value interactions on the phone
For customer service and business operation executives, the message is clear:
Customers are already reinventing the way they seek assistance. The question is, is your business reinventing itself too?
If your business isn't staying ahead of this change—or if you're not quite certain how to get self-service, video, and live support to coexist—then let's talk.
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Blue Orbit Consulting helps companies develop customer care strategies that work.
