How to improve your business with video personalization

As a marketing leader, you know how powerful personalization can be. Maybe you’ve dabbled in video personalization before but think it’s part of some far-off future for marketing. The thing is, personalization isn’t a distant possibility — it’s a present reality for marketers.

Video is the most popular type of content marketing right now, so it just makes sense to blend video with your other personalization efforts. Personalized videos are a surefire way to reach existing and potential customers in a unique way and add value to your business.

Are you taking full advantage of personalized videos, or are they on the back burner because you aren’t sure how to implement them?

Brands can’t afford to be behind the times, and that’s why your marketing team needs personalized videos ASAP. Check out our guide to learn what personalized video is, why it’s so important, and how your brand can add personalized video to its content mix.

In this article, you’ll learn:

• What personalized video is
• Benefits of video personalization
• How to create personalized videos
• Types of personalized videos
• Ways to use personalized video
• How to get started with video personalization

What is personalized video?

A personalized video is video content made for a specific person. It’s usually a one-on-one video that functions like a pre-recorded conversation.

Keep in mind that personalization isn’t just about adding the person’s name to the beginning of the video or the video thumbnail. Sure, using someone’s name is technically personalization — but that’s too simple. A truly personalized video is tailored specifically to the person watching it and speaks to them directly.

In practice, video personalization might look like:

• A screen recording of you going through a client’s website or content
• A review of your client's social media content
• Using a photo or a video of your client in the video

Personalized videos should make it obvious that the content is for the receiver and no one else. If you can copy-paste the video and use it for another client, it isn’t truly a personalized video.

Personalized video is more common in account-based marketing (ABM), where you’re building a personal connection with specific B2B buyers. It’s tough to do personalized video for B2C, but it’s still possible. For example, Cadbury allowed its Facebook followers to create personalized videos for each other — all they needed was the recipient’s name and profile photo to create a magical experience.

Benefits of video personalization

Personalized videos seem like more work, which is why so many brands put them off. But when you invest in video personalization, it makes your brand stand out from others. This isn’t a new-fangled idea, either. Personalized videos have real, measurable results for your brand. Businesses invest in personalized videos for these four reasons.

1. Improved engagement

More than80% of marketers say personalized marketing increases customer engagement. In fact, personalized videos get 16 times higher click-to-open rates and 4.5 times more click-throughs compared to non-personalized videos.

Customers want to feel special, and they’re much more likely to engage with correspondence that’s clearly just for them. In fact, personalized videos can boost email open rates and easily set your marketing content apart from your competitors.

2. Better conversion rates

It’s no surprise that 93% of brands say personalization improves their conversion rates. Personalized videos bring more potential customers into your sales funnel, which sprinkles personalized content into their experience to encourage purchases.

3. Richer customer experience

Customers want to engage with brands through video content. Approximately two-thirds of consumers want to learn about brands through video, and personalized video makes that experience even better. Personalization enriches the customer experience by giving each customer a unique experience meant just for them. In an era where brands bombard shoppers with generic messages, this is a breath of fresh air for your customers.

4. Building relationships and loyalty

Personalized videos show that you care about buyers as individuals. While personalized videos alone might not win you a big contract, they certainly can help you foster a deeper connection with potential customers. That’s a key ingredient for long-term loyalty, so don’t skimp on video personalization.

How to create personalized videos

Personalized videos are cool, but it’s not always clear how to make them. Creating unique videos for every customer can be a challenge for small businesses and enterprises alike. That’s why most companies use a specific solution for personalized videos. There are plenty of video marketing platforms that will help you automate the video personalization process and send personalized correspondence to all of your customers.

You can follow these five steps to start personalizing your videos.

1. Identify your goals and target audience

First, identify what you want to get out of your personalization efforts. Why are you doing this? Who do you want to target?

For example, if you want to nurture leads you’ll need a different strategy than if you chose to deepen loyalty with existing customers. Identifying your target audience helps you know what kind of data you need to collect so you personalize correctly.

2. Choose a solution

If you don’t already have video personalization software, now is the time to select one that best fits your needs. Ideally, go with a solution that allows you to automate the video personalization process. Without this feature, you’ll spend way too much time filming, editing, and adjusting videos for each customer. Adobe Target is a helpful solution for personalizing, testing, and optimizing this content at scale.

3. Collect data

You’ll need customer data to accurately personalize your videos. The more involved the level of personalization, the more data you’ll need. If you already have the data, figure out what you need to collect — or how to get the data if you don’t have it.

For example, if you want to personalize messages to a lead, you might need to know their:

• Name
• Title
• Company

In some cases, it’s a good idea to make sure you’re using the right data before sending it to the customer. The last thing you want to do is mess up someone’s name or company, so conduct a quick Google search before you click “send.”

4. Plan out videos

Producing a video on the fly can lead to errors — and it could even cause you to mix up different contacts. Instead, plan out the entire video so you know what you’re going to say to the recipient.

When in doubt, plan a script or outline for each call. You don’t want to sound robotic or over-rehearsed. If you fall into the trap of sounding scripted, go with a bullet-point outline instead.

5. Record, edit, and send

The final step is to produce the video. The specifics of the production depend on the type of video you create, the solution you use, and the goal of the video.

Types of personalized videos

Setting up your video personalization process is just the beginning. You can create so many types of personalized videos for your customers. They’re all a little different, so here’s a breakdown of the most common video types and how to film them.

Selfie-style

This is a video where the subject talks directly into their phone or laptop camera. It’s a quick, easy way to film dozens of authentic-looking videos in a day.

Traditional video

You can produce these videos using a professional camera like a DSLR. Use traditional filmmaking techniques to make incredibly impressive personalized videos that will wow an important client or customer. It’s tough to do these at scale, but it’s possible if you include snippets that can be easily personalized, like a screen where you add the customer or company name.

Screen share

This is a recording of your computer screen with audio recorded on top of it. It’s simple to do and great for explainers, presentations, and customer support.

Template video

For template videos, you use a stock background or image and combine it with personalized text. This is a common type of personalized video that’s easy to generate at scale. You can make it even more personalized by using photos from the customer or images that are more relevant to them, such as their company logo.

Hybrid

Sometimes the most effective video combines multiple types in one. For example, a popular hybrid is a mix of selfie video and screen-share explainer video.

Besides different types of personalized videos, there are also varying levels of personalization that you can create in videos:

• Hyper-personalized. This is a video made specifically for one person, where your employee speaks directly to the camera. You can use this for outreach, technical support, or any other situation where a one-to-one response is appropriate.
• Segmented personalization. This is a level above one-to-one conversations. Segmented personalization allows you to create a personalized experience for a larger group of people. If you have a group of customers who all bought the same product, you can send them a personalized video about that product. Or if they joined your email list, you can send everyone a welcome message.
• Personalized recommendations. This is a great workaround that allows even small businesses to create personalized videos. With personalized recommendations, you can recommend a playlist of non-personalized videos that you put together for a specific user. To make this even more effective, you can always film a short personalized introduction video for the playlist.

Ways to use personalized video

Once you’ve put in the effort to start personalizing video, your team will need to decide how to use and share your personalized videos. You’re free to be as creative as you want, but these five examples are common ways to use personalized video.

1. Video emails

You can immediately increase the appeal of an email by adding a personalized video to the message body. This is great for company updates, sales offers, or lead nurturing.

2. Brand loyalty videos

Use your customer data to help people celebrate their birthday or anniversary with your company. You can also send “year in review” videos to customers every December to thank them for their loyalty.

3. Invitations

If you want more people to attend your next event, send a personalized video inviting them to it personally. Potential attendees are more likely to respond to a personalized event invitation, so put in the time to invite people by name if you can.

4. Social media campaign

You can create an entire social media campaign with personalized videos. Produce videos highlighting your most loyal customers or generate funny videos with memes for your followers.

5. Personalized customer support

If a customer has a complicated issue, you can send them a screen-share explainer video that solves their problem directly. This personal approach to customer service is a great way to boost customer satisfaction and show that you really care.

Getting started with video personalization

Personalized videos increase engagement and enrich the customer experience. When you’re ready to get started, identify your goals first. From there, your team needs to choose a personalization solution, collect customer data, plan your videos, and share them with customers.

You don’t have to do this on your own. Adobe Target and Adobe Audience Manager make video personalization possible at scale.

Watch the Adobe Target overview video or take the two-minute Adobe Audience Manager product tour.