It doesn't matter whether you're a B2B or B2C marketer - personalization is one of the most powerful weapons you have access to in the modern era.
Keep in mind that according to one recent study, about 75% of people say that they are more likely to buy from a brand that either recognizes them by name or recommends options based on certain elements of their past relationships. Believe it or not, that's just the start. There are a number of ways that you can boost email conversions in particular with personalized video content that you'll absolutely want to be aware of moving forward.
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Step 1: Gain the Best Possible Understanding of Your Sales Funnel
Maybe the most important thing about all of this for you to understand is that while engaging video content is always an asset, it is not the silver bullet you may think it is. As is true with so many other parts of marketing, it is possible to get this one "wrong." Not only that, but it's unfortunately quite easy to do so.
You could have what is objectively the most compelling video on planet Earth and still not hit your targets if you're sending the wrong message to the wrong person at the wrong time. At that point, using someone's name at the start of a video isn't going to help you in the way you hope.
To really take your personalization efforts to the next level, you need to create compelling, catchy, personalized videos targeting A) your unique audience, and B) the very precise part of the journey they happen to be on. Create unique, shorter content for people who are still at the top of the funnel and then craft longer videos for people as they move farther down the line. In those early days, you'll want to stay under 60 seconds or so in length. As your relationship builds, you can explore videos that are between two and even 10 minutes in length.
Again, you must understand that "personalization" is about more than just using someone's name in a video. People want to know that you understand their specific wants or the individual pain points that they have. All of that is going to change depending on where in the funnel they currently are, so to create the most effective collateral possible YOU need to understand their journey even better than THEY do themselves.
Step 2: Acknowledge That It's Never Too Early to Personalize
It's equally essential to understand that when it comes to personalized VOD content, you can never do it too much or too early. Some people make the mistake of assuming that personalization is something they need to save for the video itself, for example. Thankfully, this is not the case.
Not only does using the word "video" in an email subject line boost your open rates by an impressive 19%, but it can also dramatically reduce your unsubscribes by about 26%, as well. All of this is BEFORE that video you spent so much time on has a chance to get to work.
Likewise, emails with personalized subject lines are about 26% more likely to be opened than ones that are more generic. A personalized email body can improve click-through rates by about 14% and conversions by at least 10%.
So to contextualize all of this a little bit, consider the following example of a subject line:
- "[BUSINESS NAME] has a new product coming up that we want to tell you about!"
It conveys essential information like who you are and why you're writing, so from that perspective, it's "fine." But the problem is it's just fine - and it absolutely has room for improvement.
However, with just a few basic modifications, you can really start to leverage personalization to your advantage:
- "[FIRST NAME], our new product video on the [PRODUCT NAME] is here!"
You're conveying a lot of the same information, but you're doing so in a much more hyper-personalized way. You're using someone's first name, which immediately gets their attention. They know that the email has a video inside, making them much more likely to open it. They even know what the product is.
All of this is in service of getting people to pay attention and getting them to open the message... at which point, the email essentially "hands-off" the customer to the video to continue on with the rest of the work to be done.
Step 3: Shooting That Personalized Collateral
When it comes to actually shoot those personalized videos, you also need to be aware of the fairly delicate tightrope act you're trying to walk. You don't necessarily want to overdo it - that can be off-putting in a cold email in particular. But you don't want to underdo it, either.
For the sake of example, let's say you're not actually pitching a product or service at all right now - your business has just completed a research report on OTT service trends that is very relevant to select individuals in your target audience.
You still want the "meat" of the video to be about the report itself - what it is, why you did it and what someone can learn are all things that aren't going to change, regardless of who you're sending that email to.
However, there are still some subtle-yet-effective opportunities for personalization that you should absolutely employ. Open with the individual's name and invite them, specifically, to download that report. Devote some time to explaining precisely how it relates back to their business - be sure to include their company name, too. You're still presenting largely the exact same information, but you're now doing so in a much more personalized and intimate way. Never underestimate the difference that this type of effort can make.
In an era where more and more marketers and business owners are relying on video all the time, simply shooting video content is no longer enough to stand out and make an impression. These days, you need to go deeper than that when you reach out and establish a relationship with a member of your target audience and personalization is absolutely how you to it.
Yes, it will require a bit of additional effort beyond a generic video that you can send out to every member of your email list at the exact same time. But when you see just how far you've been able to boost your conversions (not to mention all of the other benefits that the tactic brings with it), it will soon become clear that it was all more than worth it.
For example, after the rep identifies one pain point, he could ask, “If you do nothing, what will the consequences be in [X period of time]?”
Once the buyer responds, the rep might follow up with, “Is [outcome] the most critical negative outcome you’re potentially dealing with?”
To give you an idea of how this might look, here’s some sample dialogue:
Rep: “If you don’t streamline your supply chain, what will the consequences be a year from now?”
Prospect: “Well, our current system really slows us down. Our component costs are fairly low, but we almost never beat the competition. If history repeats itself, we’ll probably have lost first-mover advantage for another two products.”
Rep: “Is missing out on that market share the most damaging outcome you might face?”
Prospect: “Actually, I’d say risk management is bigger. A couple of months ago, two of our supply centers were impacted by a huge tropical storm. A responsive supply chain would hugely minimize the impact of disasters like that.”
In this example, the rep could easily have followed up on the “competition” angle and never learned the prospect was far more concerned with avoiding risk. By investigating the consequences, she was able to uncover his true priority.
Sales isn’t a game of whack-a-mole. If salespeople jump on every need they hear, they’ll usually miss their prospect’s most pressing priorities.
Curious what your cost per lead would be with direct mail? Check out our interactive calculator to find out!
