We recently created a feature in Intercom that none of our customers were asking for – video replies. This new feature allows users to respond to messages with a recorded video, which is then displayed in the conversation thread. The development of this feature was driven by a desire to bring face-to-face interactions to the web, and to create a more personal medium for businesses to communicate with their customers. To build this feature, we started by asking ourselves how we could make internet communication more personal, and then experimented with different prototypes until we found one that worked. We encountered several technical roadblocks along the way, including issues with video transcoding, but were able to overcome these challenges through a combination of innovation and pragmatism. The final product is a feature that allows users to record and send videos in real-time, which we believe has the potential to become a new standard for business communication.