How to Combine Video Marketing with Personalization

Consumers are viewing more videos than ever before. Not only that, but video conversion rates are at an all-time high of 12.7%. With videos performing better than ever, it would be foolish not to incorporate them into your marketing strategy. However, in a world where customers demand personalized service, generic videos get lost in the crowd.

Here are some top tips on personalizing your video marketing campaigns to drive engagement and foster conversions.

Why is Personalization So Important?

Personalization is no longer a quirky option. It’s a must.

Not only do 63% of consumers expect personalized service as standard, but 37% also say that they won’t purchase from brands that don’t offer personalization.

But it’s not just customer loyalty that suffers if you’re not personalizing your messaging. You’ll also run the risk of seeing low engagement rates. According to a recent study, 72% of buyers claimed that they only engage with personalized messaging. If your marketing messaging isn’t customized to your clients, they simply won’t take notice. Plus, personalization boosts revenue. Of the brands using personalization, 78% say they’re experiencing revenue growth.

In regards to your video campaigns, the results are no different. Personalized videos win over the audience. Adding the user’s name into a video increases email open rates, click-through rates, and engagement. In this sense, personalization isn’t just important. It’s a vital tool for grabbing your audience’s attention and showing them your dedication to their needs. 

It takes time to develop a new skill, like with anything. But hopefully, after reading this article, you will feel more confident when it comes to the personalization of your video marketing efforts. 

What is a Personalized Video?

In general, video is a highly successful marketing medium, with 87% of video marketers agreeing that it gives them a good return on investment (ROI).

The problem is that while 85% of people say they’d like to see more videos from brands, soaring popularity has meant that this space has quickly become saturated. It can be tough to stand out from the crowd. This is why many marketers have focused on improving video personalization over the past year.

Customized to include customer information, personalized videos are tailored specifically to the viewer. Videos should always offer solutions that meet the specific customer’s needs. The idea of personalized videos is to show the customer that you recognize them individually and identify their specific requirements. 

6 Ways to Combine Video Marketing with Personalization

Personalizing your video marketing campaigns helps to boost engagement and drive profits. But how exactly should you incorporate personalization tactics into your videos?

Here are six top ways to combine video marketing with personalization.

1. Sales Emails

Not only do 84% of video marketers agree that video has helped them capture more leads, but 78% also say that video has been a direct help in increasing sales.

Now, combine this knowledge with the fact that personalization is the top tactic marketers use to improve email performance.

With personalized videos in your sales emails, you’ll boost email performance and increase sales. To create effective personalized sales videos, collect data at the lead capture stage. You may simply incorporate basic data into your videos, like the customer, brand name, or how long they have been using your service. 

You may even take it a step further.

When a customer signs up for your mailing list, ask them about their specific needs and address them in the video.  For return customers, you could use data based on previous purchases to personalize email videos.

Take this hotel video, for example.

Using previous customer data, this video puts together a relevant offer that shows ‘The Robins’ family what deals exist for families with a baby.

2. Onboarding / Welcome Videos 

Remember, in certain industries, customers expect personalized service as a standard feature nowadays. Personalizing the onboarding experience is a great way to meet those expectations.

Personalized onboarding videos are a highly effective method of educating your customers on using your product or service. 69% of customers said they’d prefer to watch a video to learn about a product or service over any other form of content.

Look at this travel agency, for example. Each time a customer books a vacation, this travel agency sends personalized onboarding videos that include booking details and instructions to help orient the customer around the resort, they’ll be visiting. They even try and upgrade the customer through the video’s messaging. 

3. Use Case Videos

Use Case videos help to illustrate the ways customers can use your product or service. 

Personalized use case videos are especially helpful when explaining a complex product or service. That’s because they use the ‘show-don’t-tell’ method to exemplify all the ways your company meets customer needs.

A top choice for B2B videos, try creating personalized use case videos that show how similar companies in a particular sector use your product.  Alternatively, when capturing lead data, ask about the customer’s needs. Create use case videos that speak directly to these needs.

4. Event Invites

When you personalize event invitations, you give potential attendees the feeling that it’s important for them to be there. While you can always add their name to an email invite, a personalized video is far more engaging.

Marketing firm Marketo managed to increase its click-through rate by 144% with a personalized event invite video.

The humorous video suggests that the major marketing event can’t start until the specific viewer has registered. Customer names are added to the video to personalize it for each recipient.

5. Social Media Ads 

One in five marketers says video posts get the most success on social media.

This is because 84% of buyers are convinced to purchase a product or service after watching a brand video. People are also twice as likely to share video content on social media.

In this sense, it’s wise to personalize social media video ads to your target segments. Project management software monday.com does this with how-to videos that offer personalized solutions targeted at customer-specific problems.

Customers who work or have interests within the logistics and warehousing sector will see the ‘how-to video’ for logistics and warehouses. Architects will see the video about managing an architecture firm.

6. Explainer Videos

Explainer videos are extremely popular for consumers to research new products and learn how they work. 96% of people admit they’ve watched an explainer video to educate themselves about something they’ve purchased.

To personalize your explainer videos, offer walk-throughs directly relevant to the customer’s needs or industry.

What You Need for a Successful Personalized Video Marketing Campaign

If you’re looking to build a personalized video marketing campaign that works, follow these five top tips.

1. Establish a Budget

Video marketing can be pricey upfront, especially if you’re adding personalization. However, you can create videos for a much more scalable rate.

For example, if you use Promo’s online video maker, you can create unlimited videos for just $348 a year – media music and design included. Say you decide to make 3 videos a month – that’s $9 a video.

2. Collect Customer Data

The more data you collect, the more you’ll be able to personalize your videos.

For example, use lead magnets as an opportunity to find out about your customers. Ask them their names, company names, roles, and needs.

You can also use previous buying behavior or social media analytics to help personalize your videos.

3. Add Music to Your Videos

Marketers say that videos are more successful when they have music. We agree. Background music helps set the tone and mode and often increases engagement. When looking to add music to video, keep in mind that the music you are using is pre-approved for social media use. 

4. Add Captions

When you’re scrolling through your social media feed while commuting to work, there’s nothing worse than a video blaring out by accident. Create clear and correct English captions so your customers can absorb your video content without having to turn on the sound if they don’t want to. Adding text to video is simple with the right online video software and should be a main part of any video you create. 

That way, customers can engage wherever they are, even if they’re hiding in the toilet while they skive from work.

5.  Use Call-to-Action 

It’s important to insert a clear, obvious call-to-action (CTA)  in your video, so customers know what to do next. This makes them more likely to convert.

Interestingly, a new study by Wistia finds that it is best to add a CTA to the beginning of your videos as opposed to the end. 

While previously, CTA links worked better at the end of videos, all this has changed. Call-to-action captions at the beginning of videos are now 186% more successful than CTAs at the end.

The Takeaway

Nowadays, customers expect personalized messaging from brands. Your video marketing messages should be no exception. From sales emails to event invites, there are plenty of opportunities to personalize your brand messaging in videos to fuel engagement and drive conversions.

If you’re looking for an easy and scalable way to create personalized videos for your marketing campaigns, try Promo, the number one online video maker.

Hailey is a content marketing consultant and writer for B2B SaaS companies, focusing on sales platforms and the tools that integrate with them. Before becoming a content marketer, Hailey spent close to a decade in a successful sales career in almost every sales role imaginable. To learn more, check out haileylucas.com or connect with her on LinkedIn or Twitter.