Last Updated on April 13, 2022
When it comes to online business, leads, customers and sales are the three fundamental pillars that make the holy trinity of global eCommerce. Each and every entrepreneur centers their goals and objectives around the leads and sales. But improving customer retention and customer loyalty still holds the most value for online marketers.
The Changing Landscape of Online Marketing
But guess what? The recent landscape of online marketing has skyrocketed. Every customer is different. Their preferences and wants are different. Marketers are more focused on the user behavior, purchase decisions and interests of their leads/target audience.
At the same time, customers have grown smarter to smartest now. They are served with thousands of content and Big Data everyday, making it challenging for brands to stand out and impress them. If we talk about online business, the difference between customer loyalty and customer retention is not much. When asked how to enhance brand value and recognition, businesses worldwide will have the same answer. They want to revive and survive in the present dynamic market. And thus want to engage their prospects and gain their loyalty.
Customer Retention and Customer Loyalty – Two Crucial Pillars of Business
It’s pretty understood nowadays that the relationship between a brand and its leads doesn’t end with a purchase; instead, it just starts. And here lies the significance of building a relationship entirely upon loyalty.
Creating an emotional bond between you and your audience can bring you repeat business and indefinite brand loyalty. And studies say that even a meager 5% increase in your customer retention can bring 25%-95% profit. Such decisive are the benefits of customer retention program.
But as you know, customer retention doesn’t happen within a night; you win your prospects over with exceptional customer service, support, commitment and with your empathy. Because after all, your customers need reassurance from the beginning of their buyer journey.
Video Marketing – An Integral Element in Customer Service
However, the million-dollar question still remains as to how one would augment brand loyalty, as well as retain the customers for repeat business. The answer is, through marketing videos! As long as you make the right kind of videos for your audience, video content can be the most potent tool for customer retention and loyalty. They keep your existing clientele loyal to your brand.
An animated explainer video has an undeniable appeal that hits straight to your audience’s psyche and impresses them. Utilizing videos for your marketing pitches can well be deemed as a versatile practice along with other known content marketing forms.
From banking, IT, telecom, healthcare to consumer goods, retail – in every sector, brand videos are excellent tools for customer engagement. And that’s the reason more than 83% of online marketers suggest that marketing videos have great ROI.
How does Video Content help in Building Customer Loyalty and Retain Existing Clientele?
But how do videos enhance brand loyalty and customer retention?
When it comes to brand loyalty, ‘customer perception’ plays a big role. Whatever a consumer perceives or senses about a brand, that creates a reflection of that brand in their mind. Once this perception is engraved, there’s no looking back.
Videos capture that attention, thus catapulting ‘brand awareness‘, stay in the prospect’s mind for a long time, enhancing ‘brand recall‘. And finally, help the onlooker perceive the brand’s quality and trustworthiness, which constitutes ‘brand association‘.
So without further ado, let’s dig into integrating videos within your customer retention and loyalty-building strategy. And the myriad benefits of animated explainer videos to increase your customers’ lifetime value.
Videos Enhance Customer Engagement Quotient
Your prospects want to see more of your products and services in action, to be precise, in motion. A short explainer video ‘shows’ your brand and your products/services to the viewers, instead of just ‘telling’ them about it.
And since the human brain is hardwired for motion, any movement triggers our sensory receptors and increases our attention span. And this is what makes videos so efficient in brand advertisements and in generating customer engagement.
Videos help in Building Trust Factor
Loyalty and retention are based primarily on trust; the focal point for any relationship. The trust factor is one of the biggest elements contributing to prospects choosing your brand, and coming back for your service again and again. Marketing videos connect your brand with your audience and increase product credibility.
Content like About Us videos tell a lot about the company culture and how it aspires to deliver better customer service. Testimonial videos on the homepage facilitate a sense of confidence among the onlookers, thereby guaranteeing a purchase.
Videos Present Valuable Information in an Entertaining Way
Conveying the right information to your audience is a powerful selling hack. You can create brand-focused content that simplifies the complex information and data and convey it in an entertaining, engaging manner to your audience. Such is the effectiveness of animation that even a layperson gets to understand what is being said or showed.
For e.g., if you want to launch a new brand or a service and want your prospects to have a clear idea of how the product can solve their problems, a 30-second product explainer or a demo video can be ideal. If you are looking for an effective customer marketing strategy, switch to animated videos.
Videos help Attract New Customers and Leads
One terrific benefit video marketing has, acquiring new leads and clients. In today’s modern marketing era, being salesy and pitchy is a strict no-no; being helpful and fun rather makes your job easier. These days people prefer an informal demeanor in both professional and personal spheres.
And with that said, think of coming up with short animated commercials for advertising and promotional purpose on social media channels. This is a way better idea of acquiring new leads and strengthening customer retention and customer loyalty.
With a unique animation style, a clear brand message, and a compelling brand story- you can trigger your sales and kindle your prospects’ interest in visiting your website, every time they require assistance.
Videos Bolster your Brand Image
Why have videos become the most preferred format for users today? Because of its capability to build a strong emotional connection with the viewers. It helps a brand solidify its position in the niche market and appear as an industry expert, thanks to the social media platforms. It’s sure to say that animation and video content certainly help foster a strong bond with customers, owing to their simple and immersive approach.
Streaming a live video of your office, sharing somelight-hearted behind-the-scenes content, or a company outing/picnic is a great way to uphold your company image and values. Product reveal videos, product unboxing videos are also instrumental in improving your brand image, which give a firsthand look at how does your product looks.
Take advantage of YouTube to offer valuable content to your prospects, this will also help your brand in SEO ranking, gaining you more visibility and thus reinforcing your brand image in a short while.
And creating such fun-filled behind-the-scenes videos are extremely easy to make.You can get hundreds of free online video makers at your disposal to edit and compile a lot of such short video content for your audience.
Well, so these were a few benefits that videos shower upon online businesses these days, connecting with their audiences in the right manner, and motivating them to make the right purchase decision. These are the reasons why videos must surely be included in your customer loyalty and retention strategy.
Now, let’s discuss the forms and types of videos ideal for your video marketing roadmap that will bring you the maximum customer retention, and inspire them to stay loyal to your brand.
1. Introductory/Explainer Videos
Think of introducing your newly launched product to your target audience, who have absolutely no hunch of it. Seems a tough job for your customer service team, who must explain the nitty-gritties of the product to your audience via long explanations.
Quit the old-school, and switch to the easiest mode of communication. With a professionally created animated explainer video, you can not only explain your products and services to your audience in the most meaningful way, but can also support your customer support team. Such videos are proved to increase customer satisfaction and retention.
2. Tutorial Videos
These videos are essential for your business, as users prefer a tutorial or a training video 3X than reading a lengthy product description and manual. They instead prefer watching a 2 minutes long tutorial video wherein all the technical aspects are showcased in simpler terms.
With custom graphics and visuals, a viewer can also understand what the insides of the product look like. After all, tutorial videos help the viewers accomplish a task easily and understand how exactly a product works physically.
Throughout YouTube, users check for various tutorial videos to get an answer as to how does their new Smartphone or microwave or even a software works step by step. The more you make it easy for your users to understand your product’s workings, the more smooth their experience becomes. And when they find such exceptional customer service, they will likely stick with you for the long term.
3. App Demo Videos
If you are upto launching a new mobile app, first, you must make your audience aware of it. Animated mobile app demos keep the buzz alive around a new app yet to be launched.
Marketers can experiment with short animated demo videos during the pre and post app launch. Reach out to a professional team who can create a crisp script around your app’s features and functionalities, and how it can solve the problems of your audience. A stylish and funky mobile app demo video has the potential to skyrocket your app download rate.
4. Thank You Videos
Thank You videos work at a different emotional level, as in these kinds of videos, the brand owners express their gratitude to their consumers. Well, people love being appreciated, valued and thanked.
But, most of the time, the relation between a buyer and a brand stays limited within the purchase journey, and no emotional bonding gets made. Also, customers do not get a chance to look at the human face behind a brand they adore.
However, when a known brand creates a thoughtful and genuine thank you video for their customers, that hits a more inner psychological chord. And keep your existing clientele loyal to your brand.
You can be creative with your thank you videos, especially during the festive times, and wish them a short and simple “Happy Thanksgiving”, or a”Merry Christmas” or a “Happy New Year”. A warm and welcoming thank you video for new customers will please them and help you to improve customer loyalty and retention.
5. Testimonial Videos
Considering that almost 93% of consumers check customer testimonials and online reviews to determine the quality of a product, having a customer testimonial video enhancing your website homepage is a wise act.
Online customer reviews and testimonials play a crucial role in a consumer’s purchase decision-72% of consumers won’t buy a product or opt for a service unless they have read a testimonial and are satisfied with it. Therefore, augment your customer retention and customer loyalty by having a nicely edited customer testimonial video.
Create smart testimonial ads, showcasing the successful experiences of your past clients. When prospects see your past/present customers are pleased with your service and confessing it themselves, that increases their trust in your business. Consult a professional video production agency, get some credible testimonial videos for you and convert your leads into paying customers.
6. Upsell Videos
As per definition, upsell is initiating a purchase of anything additional along with the primary purchase that would make it more expensive, within the same selling interaction. Upselling efforts are made in a bid to accelerate the ROI for every transaction made.
This is a winning provision for the buyer as well since he/she gets a better solution to accomplish their desired objectives faster. Although, ensure that the upsell product is relevant to your customers and adds valueto their shopping experience. Else it has got no meaning.
Let us know if you need a revenue-boosting upsell video for your business, today!
7. Customer Onboarding Videos
Customer onboarding videos significantly increase customer loyalty and give them a big welcome to your brand. Basically, these video content set the right tone for future business liaisons. As well as generate actionable customer data for creating a definite buyer persona.
These videos are fun to look at and are excellent in delivering information quickly. These are the two key attributes of customer onboarding. And already, several brands are leveraging such onboarding videos to their benefit. And more than 69% of consumers believe that more videos and animations should be used in the onboarding process.
8. Referral Videos
You might have come up with an exciting referral or an affiliate program that is a win-win for both your clients and their customers. Or maybe for you and your clients. Honestly, whatever be the case, you need to spread the word about your referral scheme amongst your target audience.
Also, make them understand how it works. Videos that explain the referral process, as well as promote them, are of great significance for any online marketer. Promoting your referrals can efficiently turn your existing customers into your brand ambassadors. Referral videos usually cover all the aspects right from the incentive structure, to generating a viable ROI.
Share such videos via your email marketing campaigns. This way, you can let more people know about the benefits of your program and what their benefits are for participating.
9. Interview Videos
Not talking about Video Interviews for online assessment and pre-hiring procedures. Marketing videos can be made in the form of Interview videos too.
These are super easy to make, and you can do one within the premise of your office space only. And now that the world has shifted to the ‘new normal’, you can conduct an online interview and film/record the whole thing.
Interview videos can be made in two ways. First, interviewing your clients and asking for their experiences with your company and service. Second, interviewing each member of your team and create a ‘Meet the Team’ marketing campaign.
In both forms, your connection with your consumers and new prospects increase and open up new business opportunities for you. On top of that, footage from the interview can be repurposed and turned into short clips for social media usage, case studies, testimonial videos, etc.
10. Animated Commercials
Animated commercial videos are short videos of 15-20 seconds duration, promoting a company’s products or services, just like a live-action commercial does.
High-end animated commercials play a pivotal role in the modern-day marketing scenario. As they possess a visual storytelling feature, look engaging than other forms of advertisement and are more fun.
They can breathe life into your marketing campaigns and represent an exclusivity of your company amidst your competitors. Moreover, they are much less expensive than a live-action TVC.
Besides, animated commercials are more memorable and make a longer-lasting impression on the audience’s mind. If you are an entrepreneur or own a start-up, think of creating animated commercials for your branding efforts.
Over to you now!
Customer retention and customer loyalty are all about their experience with your brand. The more you make their experience worthy and value their support, the higher is the chance for them wanting to be around you. Providing glimpses of your business and brand value to your customers through videos, is a clever way to foster retention.
And customers do love innovative, interactive and helpful tutorials and intros that give them a better idea of the brand they choose to move forward with. And not just start-ups and SMEs, even the globally renowned big brands are now leveraging animated videos for their marketing campaigns. For e.g., Microsoft. So now it’s your turn. Your 2021 marketing strategy must have a dedicated place for video production, aimed towards your customer and prospects.
At the same time, we understand the financial pressure of having your own in-house video creation team; and that’s the reason why you may reach out to us and schedule a creative consultation with us. Also, reach out if you want to know more on how to create customer loyalty and retention program. Leverage the magic of video marketing and let your brand acquire an unique voice and trusted loyalty!
