Conversions, conversions, conversions. Call it what you want – the prize, the golden goose eggs, KPIs – conversions are what every marketer is after.
That said, the rate of conversions is relatively low across the spectrum of the digital customer experience, regardless of industry or device. Whether a lack of conclusive data, poorly drawn insights or misguided marketing strategies, mapping a consumer journey is often left to guesswork and, as a result, few clients are converting in digital channels.
Thankfully, video is one medium that continues to show promise at converting.
Landing page videos can increase conversion rates by 80%, with up to 90% of customers asserting that videos influence their purchasing decisions.
While we know that video marketing works – 93% of brands got a new customer because of a video on social media – simply producing any old marketing video rarely guarantees its success at converting. Here are some great tips to incorporate into your video marketing strategy to take your videos to the next level and drive conversions.
Use your data to tell your story
A key factor in a successful video marketing strategy is first understanding and then aligning with the goals and needs of your intended customer, and marketers have a wealth of data at their disposal that they can analyze to build their video strategy.
To begin with, look at your current data and decide what consumers have in common and where you can find them engaging with content. For example, context and location are important factors to consider, including: what device are they consuming content on, what social media platform are they spending their time on, when and where are they engaging with content the most, and what kinds of content are most relevant to them.
Armed with the content habits of your customers, you can begin to plan your strategy around more specific content and the culture of a specific platform.
People want personalization
As you start producing video content, keep in mind the distinct needs of your individual customers. While it is tempting to follow a one-size-fits-all approach, what you’re likely to end up producing are generic videos that try to please everyone and end up pleasing no one.
Consumers have increasingly come to expect a more personalized customer experience that is tailored to their current and unique circumstances, turning away from the traditional corporate efforts that try to cast as wide a net as possible. And they are not afraid to voice their displeasure:
In a recent survey, 43% of consumers said they’ve stopped doing business with companies that did a poor job personalizing the customer experience, up from 25% who said the same in 2019.
Marketers can also dig into their data and segment their customers accordingly, with the aim of pushing content to smaller cohorts, but this often can’t drill down far enough to earn the attention of customers who want to be spoken to directly. There are, however, that help marketers create personalized videos that are tailored to each individual customer’s needs, and that can be scaled efficiently.
Authenticity
Having watched online video marketing efforts for years and witnessed both viral successes and viral fails, consumers are not just savvier about marketing, but also more wary. They are increasingly sensitive to the blatant overreach of rapacious marketing and refusing to align themselves with brands that have profit as their only goal. People prefer to give their money to those companies that care about people and that can provide them with a positive and “real” digital customer experience. In a word, people want authenticity.
Taking heed of this means marketers must ensure their video content goes beyond simply voicing their expertise, but to also be an authentic voice. People want to be talked to in a language they understand and about issues that they can immediately relate to. Again, personalized videos can cater to these expectations, where you can earn authenticity by tailoring content to a customer’s unique pain points and buying journeys.
Information is conversion
Once you’ve analyzed your data, started to build your content strategy and are investing in producing video content, one of the most important things to keep in mind is the power of information.
Among the top-performing videos for ROI are “how-to” or instructional videos, product demonstration videos, explainer videos and interviews with experts.
All of these have a common thread of giving your customer more and better information, allowing them to feel comfortable enough to purchase, and converting leads to customers.
When people are given information, they feel that not only that they have learned something useful or positive, but they feel empowered to make a decision. And, having just been informed of all the benefits of your offerings, are primed to convert.
Lights, cameras, calls to action
Never underestimate the importance of a clear call to action in any of your marketing, and that certainly includes video content.
When 84% of people say that they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video, we already know that video can work – now you just have to stick the landing.
When deciding on call to action, you should first know what the point of your video is and exactly what you want a viewer to do. Is it to go to landing page? Book a demo? Go to a product page? Questioning your intent will make it easier to decide what call to action to use for what use case.
Once you know what you want viewers to do, use one clear, concise call to action. The point of the call to action is to give viewers the precise next step so that they aren’t forced to find out what that is on their own.
Optimize, iterate, convert
Once produced and launched, a video yields even more data about content and consumption. And not just about a singular performance – this data can be analyzed to draw insights on which to optimize and build future content iterations.
For example, analyzing video-specific user behavior data like average watch time will give you insights into exactly what kinds of content appeals to your customers. And when you use tools like personalized video platforms, you can harness this data to continually refine your strategy according to what consumers want – which is video personalized to their needs.
Over time, a disciplined approach to optimizing and iterating will help you learn more about your audience’s behaviors and preferences, so you can grow your marketing strategy effectively to increase conversions over time.
Personalized video converts
The end goal in any customer acquisition strategy is, of course, conversion. By the end of your brand’s story, you want the viewer to buy-in to the product, service, or idea that you are selling.
What seems clear is that videos at the conversion stage need to focus on what the customer really wants and deliver quickly on promises made to them by the brand, and one way to cross the finish line and shift those leads into customer conversions is by using personalized interactive video.
By adding personalized interactive video into your marketing strategy, you can use visual storytelling to connect with your potential customers in an engaging way and bridge the gap between leads and conversions. Personalized video is the ideal medium to produce the authentic, personalized content your customers now expect, all the while supplying you with a steady stream of better data to optimize and iterate your marketing strategy so that you are always driving conversions up.