Here is what we learned from 3,000+ users about interactive & personalized video marketing.

Industry Guide 3 min read , June 9, 2022

Here are a few things that can help you define a personalized video marketing strategy based on those learnings and how to make the most of it.

In this article, we’ll be covering the following insights ...

Personalization within the first few seconds of the video can significantly increase video completion rates

Establishing that the video is just for you at the beginning of the video will boost your video completion rates. We’ve seen over two-thirds of 90-second videos being seen till the end because we used the customer’s first name in the first five seconds of the video, along with a personalized thumbnail for the video.

Hyper-personalization of images, GIFs & videos at scale

Adding interactive elements or branching within your video can offer a game-like experience

It’s a fact that videos engage better than textual content. But there is a reason why games (or interactive content) have an even higher engagement. Make use of interactive elements to turn your content from a ‘lean-back’ experience to a ‘lean-forward & take control’ experience, maybe with different outcomes based on the selection of the viewer. This works especially well for long videos where the viewer gets to view it as a catalog to select what they wish to see rather than watching the entire video.

Remember Bandersnatch?

Personalized Interactive Videos with Branching

Personalization needs to go beyond the first name to create a pattern interrupt.

First-name personalization is turning into a hygiene element for most communication avenues. It's probably not as yet for videos since it carries an essence of novelty, at least until now. But it would certainly be better if the personalization isn’t just restricted to the first name, especially if this is part of your long-term personalization strategy. Check how far you are along the customer journey and what kind of data points are available to offer a data-driven video experience that’s more than just an initial pattern interrupt.

Here is an example of an Individualized Customer Experience with the logo, company name & website screenshot across connected touch-points.

Accuracy of data & selection of the right triggers around key events are critical t0 the success of personalization strategy

Having clear and measurable goals always help, and personalized video marketing is no different. Understand if the brand’s objectives are to drive sales, brand advocacy, retention, referrals, upsells, customer service, self-serve tours, etc.

Another critical element is the timeframe of the campaigns & the accuracy of data. Incorrect data can hurt you more than no personalization at all. Imagine someone receiving a video with the wrong name or inaccurate data in the video on a special occasion like their birthday or anniversary.

Greetings for different occasions based on configured triggers and personalization variables.

Omni-channel personalization is effective, but many struggle to get it right.

Personalized videos can be deployed across your customer journeys with omnichannel distribution using SMS, MMS, RCS, Linkedin Messages, WhatsApp, emails, websites, etc.

Delivering hyper-personalization across channels to create Individualized Customer Experiences

Depending on the communication channels that you've selected, make sure that you're cognizant of the time it would take to load the assets. For example, if you're using an image/GIF with your emails, try and keep them under 100KB so that they load quickly on weaker internet lines while someone is on the move.

In the latest edition of the State of Marketing study by Salesforce, over 90% of CMOs from 8,200 companies across the world have acknowledged that videos are the star element of their engagement suite. Moreover, videos can now be personalized, turned into evergreen formats (with triggers based on data and events), and be interactive. But at the end of the day, these are tools that need the right strategy and discipline to be effective. We’ve witnessed upto 15X improvements in metrics in some cases so we know there is potential!

If you have not tried it yet, 2022 isn’t too late to begin! Join our community here - https://www.facebook.com/groups/mediapersonalisation and discover some interesting ways of using personalization across your customer journeys! Our 1500+ customers have shared some examples that threw us off our chairs too!