Personalized Videos
Personalized videos are a highly effective way for a company to set itself apart from the competition. By adjusting the text and visuals of a video to fit specific customers or groups, you can show prospects how you suit their needs and get their attention with a message that demonstrates a commitment to personal service. And if you’re a company with many sales targets, the latest AI technologies are a powerful way of creating personalized video at scale.
What Is a Personalized Video?
Personalized videos are those created with content that is adapted for each customer or group of customers. The level of personalization can range from superficial to extensive. Superficial customization might include just mentioning the name of the client at the beginning of the video. In contrast, extensive personalization could involve an entire script explicitly written to illustrate how, for instance, your product is an exact match for the client’s needs. This can be the approach of an account-based marketing (ABM) strategy.
Types of personalized video content include:
- Narration and on-screen text that includes the client’s name
- A video thumbnail showing the client’s logo
- A customized call to action (CTA)
- Audio and video delivered by, for example, the manager in charge of that client’s account
- Video that shows product usage examples that are a precise match for the client’s needs
The choice of customization depends on the resources your company is willing to invest in pursuing or supporting a particular client. Obviously, it costs a lot more to produce videos created for only one prospect, but this also increases the chance of a successful relationship. To this end, organizations are using personalized video technology to create such videos in large numbers.
Benefits of Personalized Video Marketing
We live in an era of personalization. A well-known example is Amazon, which provides product suggestions based on past visits and purchases. According to Forbes, 81% of customers will buy from companies that deliver a personalized experience.
Naturally, this preference is relevant to business buyers as well. The reasons for the appeal of personalized videos for business are a mix of psychology and practicality:
- People naturally have a greater response to something that mentions their name.
- Companies that send personalized videos show that they are willing to invest effort in cultivating a relationship, understand the client’s needs, and use innovative business practices.
- Prospects who receive a well-made, detailed, customized video are more likely to be “sold” on purchasing that product because the video answers many of their potential questions.
Here are a few statistics that illustrate the usefulness of personalized video marketing:
Higher Engagement Rates
Personalized videos generate curiosity in viewers because they attract attention. Particularly for short videos, this means a better engagement rate. It is estimated that personalized videos achieve engagement rates (i.e. someone clicking on them) that are 16 times higher than generic videos.
Higher Conversion Rates
Another goal of personalized videos is conversion. There are many conversion measures, but all require action by the target–beyond just watching the video–that moves them further down the sales funnel. Here too, personalized videos deliver results. According to a study by D-ID, personalized video emails result in conversation rates more than 300% greater than standard emails.
Overall Results
Even at the end of the sales process, personalized video marketing generates positive outcomes. For instance, according to McKinsey, companies that use customization enjoy 40% more revenue than other organizations.
Use Cases for Personalized Videos
As personalized video technology becomes more sophisticated, we will see a growing number of applications for this medium, which already include:
Selling Tools
Personalized video is a great way to connect with a prospect at many sales funnel stages. Instead of reading emails or listening to a sales pitch, many business buyers prefer watching a video as an outreach method. Once a prospect converts, videos can be used to increase interest and for nurturing campaigns.
Education
Customized videos are a captivating method of answering pre- and post-purchase questions, supporting product onboarding programs, and enabling training sessions. In many instances, a representative’s physical presence can be replaced with a video customized to address common issues.
Account Management
Once you have established a sales relationship with a company, personalized video can be used to maintain a frequent and personal connection through:
- Announcing new product releases, updates, and special offers
- Probing upselling and cross-selling opportunities
- Addressing customer service issues
- Delivering personal communications such as season’s greetings
Creating Personalized Videos: Best Practices
Until you have a personal connection with a prospect and understand their precise requirements, you’re best off creating videos based on established best practices:
Segment Prospects and Leads
Your sales and marketing teams should have a good idea of who is buying your product and its competitive advantages. Use these to determine what messages appeal to which prospects. To tailor the videos to specific contact types, look at your CRM system and website analytics.
Define Personalization Fields
Decide how to customize each video by tailoring the script and visuals to each customer.Unless you are going to structure every video in a different way, this will provide an easy reference for making numerous versions.
Track Results
Make sure that every video version is set up with analytical tools to determine engagement, conversion, and other important stats. These are essential for knowing how successful your campaign is, and for making changes when needed.
The greatest challenge to generating personalized videos is the resources required for production. Especially when a company has many clients, the time and money needed to build a stream of customized videos can make it impractical.
To address this issue, companies around the world are taking advantage of personalized video technology. These technologies use AI to incorporate the small changes needed to customize every video version, starting with a basic text and video template. The templates themselves can also be generated by AI or based on content provided by the user. The scalability and resource advantages AI provides bring personalized videos into the realm of possibility for companies of all sizes.
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