A Guide to Personalized Videos: Everything You Need to Know

Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart, famously remarked, "There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else." 

And wouldn’t you put your proverbial best foot forward if you are meeting your boss? Why? To create the best impression, right?

That’s exactly what personalized videos can do for you: create the best impression about you in the customers’ minds. 93% of businesses have recorded an increase in conversions because of personalized video content. So, what are these seemingly silver bullets called personalized videos?

What is a Personalized Video?

Video tailor-made according to a particular viewer’s disposition is called a personalized video. Personalized videos go beyond the surface-level gesture of addressing people by their names.

It means creating videos catering to the needs of a specific customer. For instance, it means creating a personalized thumbnail for a certain viewer using a video title that addresses their problem. The whole video should revolve around the customer.

For instance, you expect a tailor to stitch clothes that fit you the way you want. That’s exactly how you ought to serve your prospective customers through personalized videos.

Why Make Personalized Videos?

Loneliness is increasing with each passing day, especially in this post-pandemic world that has accelerated the digital era. There are so many people who feel isolated. In such a setting, a personalized video makes your customer feel that someone truly cares.

In today’s age, the customer is more well-informed and skeptical of sales tactics than ever. By crafting a personalized video, you will make them feel that you do not view them as merely a source of revenue for your business, and that might mean an awful lot to the viewer.

It makes your customer happy. Didn’t you feel more ecstatic if a teacher singled you out to shower praise on you rather than commending the whole classroom together? That’s the feeling personalized videos instill in your viewer.

6 Benefits of Personalized Videos

Obviously, you are looking to go beyond warming up to the heart of a customer as every business thrives on profits and not on being a charitable centre of happiness! Well, there is good news for you, personalized videos do lead to increased sales and offer other benefits as well. 

1. Standing Out Amongst the Content Clutter

Your viewer receives a barrage of unsolicited content in today’s information era. You need to have a strategy beyond sending generic email newsletters.

Imagine your customers receiving a personalized video email with their name and an email subject line that is designed exclusively to address their problem. It is bound to be opened instantly.

Remember, your customers are sick of bland emails. Make an effort to create compelling personalized videos to ensure that you are not one amongst the crowd.

2. Increased Open Rate

“Remember my name and you add to my feeling of importance.” - Dale Carnegie

People feel important when they are addressed by their names. Period. The introduction of personalized video marketing has led to an 8x increase in the open rate. And as we all know having your video opened is the first step toward getting the ball rolling.

3. Increased Click-Through Rate

How many people receive your emails? And how many of them actually open your emails? You probably feel underwhelmed when these two stats are juxtaposed against each other.

Well, that is going to change with personalized video emails. As it has been recorded that personalized video emails increase your CTR by 16% and unique clicks by 4.5 times.

4. Cultivating Loyalty and a Long-Term Relationship

With a well-made personalized video, you are building a deep connection with your customer. If you remember him/her by your name, the customer will also remember you. Why should the customer remember you if you do not even put the effort to spell their name out?

You will not be one of the many random people the customer acquiesced with. Creating a recall value for yourself in the heads of your customer helps you foster a lasting and loyal relationship with your customers. In fact, Customer satisfaction loyalty and satisfaction improve by a whopping 47% with personalized marketing

5. Increased Conversions

As we looked at above, personalized videos lead to better open rates and click-through rates. And what will that eventually lead to? Better lead generations, engagement rates, and whatever you strive to achieve with your personalized video emails. Your fellow marketers can vouch for the fact that personalized CTAs result in conversion rates increased by a colossal 202%

6. Increased Revenue

What is the ultimate aim of a business? Earn money. Record profits. Generate revenue.  Personalized videos create the ideal domino effect. Ultimately, it all comes down to whether you are laughing all the way to the bank or breaking the bank. Only that determines whether your business thrives or goes bust.

Personalized videos are your best friends when it comes to video sales prospecting. Making videos exclusively for your customers is going to make them feel as if you are rolling down the red carpet to welcome them.

We have already looked at how personalized videos lead to a better engagement rate and conversions. It is only logical that those increased numbers will reflect in your revenue too. 

How to Create Personalized Videos

Knowledge is power. Nope. As the famous speaker and author of, How to Win Friends and Influence People once said, “Knowledge isn’t power until it is applied.”  The quote holds true for personalized video as well. It is time to get down to business and apply your newfound knowledge to personalized videos. Here’s how you can do it.

1. Have the Right Gear Set Up

“If a craftsman wants to do good work, he must first sharpen his tools.”

― Confucius

Similarly, great personalized videos need functional video gear to bring your videos to life. You do not have to fret over spending a bomb on acquiring the required video gear. As the gear would be easily affordable. Just check whether you have the following equipment:

1. A decent-quality webcam or a mobile phone with a competent camera. You do not want your customer to see you blurting out their name in a grainy video. 

2. A good mic to get your message across clearly. Always remember that it is an audio-visual medium and you cannot bank on visuals alone. 

3. Research: Know about your prospective customers down to a T. Glean through their LinkedIn profile. Read as much as possible about them. Extensive research is imperative to your personalized videos.
   
   For instance, if your prospect is a fan of a football club, it would not hurt to slide in a wisecrack about football. Make sure it blends in perfectly in your videos though. 

4. A script: Do not rely too much on your spontaneity. Plan and rehearse what is going to be on your video. Your script is the spine of your video. In fact, improvising a well-written script is going to pay you richer dividends rather than trying to record an impromptu video.
   
   If you have a well-charted strategy for your marketing, sales, and so on. It only makes sense to have a bound script for personalized videos, doesn’t it?

Different Types of Personalized Videos

One size does not fit all. But what fits at every stage of your marketing funnel and beyond is personalized videos. Be it spreading awareness about your product, generating leads, nurturing leads, acquiring a customer, customer support, and customer retention. It is up to you to decide the kind of personalized videos you want.

Strengthen your arsenal with a feature-rich video hosting platform, and a dynamic video maker that enables you to capture screen recordings, screen share, selfie-style videos, and so on to help you craft your personalized video.

To help you zero in on the kind of personalized video you want, here is a list to help you out:

1. Hyper-Personalized Videos

It is personalized for a single person based on how the product can help the potential customer. You are basically going to have a one-on-one with your prospect. It is tailored based on in-depth research on a person. It serves all the use cases: outreach programs, customer support, sales prospecting, etc. 

2. Account-Based Personalized Videos
   

With account-based personalized videos, you will be servicing customers who share a similar interest. All the customers with shared common interests will be grouped as a single account. Mostly, an account belongs to the same organization and hence, you will personalize the videos based on their wants and needs. 

How to Use Personalized Videos?

As we explored before, there are no rules that are carved in stone when it comes to personalized videos. It is going to act as an accelerator across all the use cases. If you want help to kickstart your personalized videos journey; the list given below will definitely be of help to you.

1. Personalized Video Email

We have already discussed at length, the fact that personalized video email improves your open rate and click-through rate in comparison to text email has been established in this article before.

Apart from the boost in numbers, they also make your customer important. Personalized videos should be a staple component of your video email marketing strategy.

2. Linkedin Direct Video Email

LinkedIn deserves a pat on its back for facilitating video email. It has really opened a new dimension for recruitment. Video resumes have become a part and parcel of the hiring process. This feature can also be used to send personalized video emails to prospects and tend relationships with them. 

3. Account-Based Marketing

Personalized videos for account-based marketing(ABM) strategies are far more scalable compared to hyper-personalized videos, as you are going to be addressing multiple people with mutual interests. Although they might not be as incisive as the latter, if made well, they will produce commendable results.

A personalized video for ABM is akin to a football manager laying out his tactics in front of his team before a match so that all of them are on the same page. 

4. Customer Service and Support

Welcome your customers with open arms through personalized videos and make them feel at home. Each and every customer is unique. Similarly, they are bound to have different problems as well. It is crucial to cater to each of them with personalized customer service and support.

One customer might have a problem with the video optimization feature in your product, while another one might find it difficult to generate analytical reports. Both of them deserve personalized customer support.

You can make your connection more profound by making personalized videos when your customer completes a year with your organization. Personalized videos can be used for upselling your as well.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What is the difference between personalized videos and customized videos?

Answer: Both personalized videos and customized videos are made to meet certain needs. However, the fundamental difference is the viewpoint through which both are made.

Personalized videos are created to suit the customer’s wants and needs. They are centred around the customers to make them feel as if they are being placed on a pedestal.

While customized videos are built around the product’s features and benefits. The value proposition of a product takes precedence over anything else in the case of a customized video.

The fundamental difference is that a customized video exposits the features and benefits of a product, while a personalized video aims to be specific to the customer’s requirements.

2. How to add a personal touch to a non-personalized video?

Answer: You might have already curated a generic playlist of videos for your prospects. Do not panic if you regret doing that instead of creating a personalized set of videos. You can make it personal by creating a personalized video and adding it at the beginning of the playlist.

If you have more time on your hands, you can choose to stitch a personalized clip at the beginning of every video. A little tinkering can do wonders by adding a personalized touch to your videos.

Conclusion 

Personalized videos are bound to be great additions to your video marketing strategy. To add to their long list of benefits, they are dynamic and fit into every use case. Increase their efficacy by combining them with a competent video prospecting service and a video maker to complete the terrific trio.