6 Ways to Use Personalised Videos to Wow Your Customers

In an era where more and more competitors are cropping up all the time, eCommerce businesses and retailers need to do absolutely anything they can to stand out in a crowd. After all, eCommerce sites are a dime a dozen on the Internet. There are probably many other businesses out there who sell products and services that are very similar to your own. Therefore, the basis of your competitive advantage has less to do with what you do and is more about how you do it. That special quality – the thing that makes you unique – is what you need to be broadcasting to the widest possible audience via your marketing campaign…

… and personalised videos are a big, big part of how you can do it. Personalised content work because not only will they capture your customer’s attention, they will also make them feel like they’re the only customer you care about.

Personalised content is also inherently engaging, and it helps brands connect in a far more emotional way with their customers. That in and of itself helps create brand loyalty and if you can do that, people will think twice before running into the arms of a competitor. They’re also likely to increase their customer lifetime value the more loyal they are.

In the era of the video content revolution and iOS and Android video streaming apps, personalised videos make a great deal of sense because this is the format that will get people’s attention more often than not. People want videos and they want lots of them – if you can give them to your customers in a compelling, engaging and personal way, you’ll come out all the better for it. With that in mind, here are the six effective ways that you can use personalised videos to wow your customers:

Personalised Thank You Videos

Personalised thank you videos are effective because you’re A) going out of your way to acknowledge one of your customers, and B) you’re doing so in a way that doesn’t get you anything in return. At least, not anything obvious.

Say one of your customers makes a particularly large purchase. Send them a personalised video message to express your gratitude. Or maybe they sent you a particularly nice email after a previous positive experience. Make a good video and send it to them, letting them know that their comments didn’t go unnoticed.

It’s a small step to take – but it’s one that can make a big, big impact. In the fast-paced Internet age, that level of personalisation can easily get lost. Personalised thank you videos can help make sure that doesn’t happen. A great example of this type of personalised video comes from YMCA. YMCA were looking for a way to thank their donors personally on a mass scale, so they created the following video campaign:

Personalised Onboarding Videos

Personalised onboarding videos are great because they help enhance the customer experience soon after your relationship with someone begins. Think about it like this: someone signs up for a new account on your site and you immediately send them a video to explain the finer points of how you operate in greater detail. You let them know how they can get the most out of their experience, and you do so in a way that puts the focus on them in a specific, real way. It’s a great way to show them that you care right away – and oftentimes that can more than make the difference between a one-time customer and a repeat one.Here is a great example to illustrate what we’re talking about:

Personalised Support Videos

No online experience will be perfect 100% of the time. Sometimes your customers are going to run into trouble, and that’s okay. You can’t control whether or not an issue happens. But you can control your response to that issue, which is where personalised support videos come in handy.

If one of your customers runs into a problem with an order or with their account, send them a video and walk them towards a resolution in greater detail. Again, this approach is something of a twofer. Not only do you get to leverage personalised content to your advantage, but you’re also doing so in a way that shows the customer that you care about their experience and you’re willing to go above and beyond to make it as positive as possible. 

This is true even if it means stopping what you’re doing to create a personalised video and that extra effort will absolutely not go unnoticed. Check out this brilliant example of this type of personalised videos from the great team at VidYard:

Personalised Holiday Messages

If your e-commerce business is like most, your customer base is probably as diverse as it is large. This means that there are probably dozens of different holidays that your customers are celebrating throughout the year, and each one represents yet another terrific opportunity to leverage personalised video content to your advantage.

Assuming that you know enough about your customers to know which holidays they celebrate, don’t be afraid to take some time out of your day to record personalised messages for Christmas, New Year and similar types of events. Use people’s names, wish them well, and again – don’t even think about trying to sell something. Just send a nice, timely message of “from our family to yours, we hope you have an incredible season.”

That sentiment is something that a lot of larger brands, in particular, don’t bother with, and oftentimes this is a great way to inject a bit of much-needed intimacy into the cold, calculated world of the Internet. Here’s another great example coming from the team at VidYard:

Personalised Calls to Action

Calls to action are already effective because their short, direct and to the point. You have a step that you want your prospects to take, so you come right out and tell them what you want them to do. Whether it’s “click here to place your next order” or “go to this site to sign up for your account,” the CTA is how you can direct your users through your marketing and sales funnel.

Personalised video calls to actions are a perfect opportunity to take all of those effects to the next level. A lot of non-profit organizations in particular often have great success with the technique when it comes to asking for donations. Ask yourself which is more compelling – “Dear Sir or Madam, would you please consider doing X, Y or Z” or “Hey Kevin, hope you’re doing well. I just wanted to take a moment to…”

Obviously, it’s the latter. Once again, the personalised video CTA immediately gets someone’s attention in an intimate way, and it allows you to play to their emotions at the exact same time. That one-two punch is the perfect way to drive home a particular point via a technique that a more generalised approach can never match. Here’s an awesome example of a personalised video that drives action:

Personalised Invitations

Last but not least we arrive at personalised invitations – yet another way to really sell your point and drum up both excitement and anticipation in one fell swoop. Whether your a local fitness business looking to sell fitness programs online or you’re an eCommerce store looking to increase your sales, personalised invitation videos generate a great deal of buzz around your offering.

Let’s say your eCommerce business has a big sale coming up that you want people to mark on their calendars. Rather than sending out a generalised email to your entire list that reads like little more than a commercial, really step things up a notch and send out personalised videos to as many people as you can instead.

“Hey, Jim! I hope you’re doing well. I know that you’ve bought X, Y, and Z products before so I just wanted to take a minute to let you know that we’re about to be running some specials on related products I think you’re really going to like.” Yes, this approach requires more time and effort – but if it also yields more sales in return, that effort was more than worth it.

You could even take the same approach if your business is going to be participating in an in-person event in a particular area. Send out personalised videos to the people who actually live there to get the word out before you arrive. Check out this fun personalised event invite for Advocamp:

Wrapping this up…

At the end of the day, it’s important to remember that the Internet is only as cold and as distant as we choose to treat it. With personalised videos, you’ll do more than just wow your customers – you’ll create the type of loyal army of followers that will empower your brand for years to come. We hope that this guide has inspired you to leverage personalised videos in your marketing and sales processes. Remember that you don’t need to invest a big budget for creating personalised videos, a webcam, and a short personalised message will take you a long way.