Marketers are no strangers to the concept of customer retention. Studies suggest that increasing your retention by a mere 5% can increase your profits exponentially by 25-95%. One excellent way to do so is by using videos. The appeal of videos is undeniable, which is why the number of businesses using videos as a marketing tool has increased from 81% in 2018 to 87% in 2019, and 83% of marketers admit that videos have a good ROI.
The point being that videos are excellent for engaging your audience and ensuring their continued association and loyalty. If you haven’t already used videos for post-sales activities, this article will provide you with an insight into how to use videos for customer retention and help you refine your own policy for the same using videos.
Using videos to retain customers
The likelihood of selling to an existing customer is 60-70% as against 5-20% to a new one. 64% of the consumers admit to making a purchase after watching a video, making it the most successful of all media types. Hence, using it to retain and engage your customers is a no brainer.
Also, highly engaged customers spend 60% more time on each transaction and purchase 90% more. Thus, targeting your video marketing strategy towards your existing customers will reap rich rewards. In a study conducted by Wyzowl, the types of video content customers like to see the most include explainer videos, product demo videos, vlogs, and tutorials. Keeping these findings in mind, businesses can tweak their strategies to provide more value to existing customers. Here is how you can enhance your customer retention using videos
1. Onboarding Programs
Giving your customer the overall view of your product or services with a welcome message, along with tips and tricks to use the product sets the right tone for your future relationship. The onboarding process helps the customers to use your products with ease. In addition, the onboarding process helps companies to gather valuable customer data, build up a relationship and opens up a channel of communication, eventually building consumer loyalty and confidence.
The types of videos that are best used for the onboarding process are corporate or company onboarding videos which give an overview of the company and its team. Also, product demo videos can help consumers familiarize themselves with the product. A great example of an onboarding video is from Basecamp. The video gives an overview of their software using a mini case study of how a company uses their product.
2. Building Trust
Customer retention is all about trust. It should be the focal point of your customer relationship. To enhance this relationship, you can use the following types of videos:
Product Reviews
Peer and user reviews of products are a wonderful way to build the desired trust. They reassure the client about their association with the company and its product. Reviews with photographs and videos have a greater impact than only text ones. Uploading video reviews from your existing consumers can foster the trust factor and have an impact on your customer retention.
Company Culture Videos
Not only do these videos build brand equity but they also introduce your company and its people to the customers. It gives them insights into the company’s motto and its aims. For authenticity, it is best to use your own employees to create these video introductions to your company and its culture.
CSR Videos
To further enhance your relationship with your customers, show them that you care about the world and specifically about their wellbeing. For this, CSR videos are perfect as they build trust and brand equity, they show a gentler humane side of companies.
Equinox, the US-based fitness company partnered with the Heroes Project to raise money and provide assistance to American War Veterans. This video is poignant, subtle and very effective as it strikes a chord with the viewer. It captures their partnership explaining what Heroes Project does and how Equinox is helping them achieve their goal.
Customer Service
Creating content for after-sales experience goes a long way in customer retention. Help the customers to make the most of the product they have bought by creating video content that helps to educate and inform them. The videos that are most effective should be able to provide valuable information and teach how to use the product or service.
Product Explainer Videos
Explainer videos are very useful for customer loyalty and retention. They explain the product, identify the problem and how the product solves it. They describe the features thus demystifying the product for the customers and encourage them to use it. The Xiaomi AirPOP explainer video is a good example of how a product explainer video should work.
Videos Answering FAQs
Using videos to answer common queries and FAQs is another good practice for customer retention. It is easier and more interesting for the consumer to watch a video that takes care of most of the common problems that a customer may experience while using the product or service.
3. Social Media Outreach
Social media is a powerful and effective tool to create and nurture customer relationships. Posting videos on social media help you to connect with and reach out to your customers while providing them with something that is memorable and worthwhile. For customer retention, using videos that are emotive, interesting and educative are the best. The types of videos you need to use are:
Interactions/Podcast videos on social media
Podcasts and other social media interactions help to promote your business with the viewers. Creating an informative podcast strengthens the relationship with your existing customers.
Client Testimonials
Nothing works like peer recommendation. When your happy customers talk about their experience with your company and its product, it sends a compelling positive message to the customers. Posting a video testimonial is sure to boost the confidence of your customers encouraging them to continue with their relationship with your company.
In this video testimonial from Slack, the online team collaboration software is a good example of what a good testimonial should have. It should highlight the problem that the product solves and then discuss its various features and how they are helpful to the user.
Personalization
Creating personalized videos for your customers sends across the message that they are special and that you care. Using targeted customer outreach, you can improve your customer retention metrics.
One clever example of a personalized video is from Amnesty International, an NGO focused on human rights. Every video being sent to individual donors is personalized with the recipient’s name and duration of association with Amnesty, along with an effective call-to-action. The video is effective in generating customer satisfaction and drives retention.
Conclusion
Customer retention is all about the consumers’ experience with you and your brand. While video does help to foster a stronger bond, the overall experience of the user with you is what determines whether their experience is positive or negative. Each customer comes with different expectations and level for tolerance. This is the reason why customer retention is one of the most difficult tasks that any marketing team faces. So, while the videos help to create a positive experience for your customers, it is your overall interaction that finally seals the deal.
