Each day, the average office-goer (and possibly your prospect) receives 121 emails. We send 102.6 trillion emails every year. And the numbers keep going up, with 126.7 trillion expected to be sent by 2022.
But in the middle of all the noise and clutter of your inbox, it does make playing the email game, especially cold emails, a lot more challenging. As a marketing or a sales professional, you have to be innovative in terms of content, format, and subject lines to simply get a prospect to open that email and respond to you (hallelujah!).
Enter video emails.
Why don’t you take a second to scroll through your social handles? Here are some mind-boggling facts about videos on social media. Users view an average of 8 billion videos daily on Facebook. 1.5 billion users play 1 billion hours of videos each day on YouTube. LinkedIn users are 20 times more likely to share a video than a post.
The point is, 78% of online users watch videos every week. In fact, as per Cisco, 82 percent of internet traffic will be video by 2022. Let that sink in.
So why have you not yet included videos into your email strategy?
Building trust and credibility: from arctic cold to the tropics
There are reams of paper out there that talk about how to get a potential customer to respond to your cold email. From optimizing subject lines to mentioning the right call to action. While most of it is great advice, the times call on us to take that knowledge and apply it to a new format.
Video emails can be a great way to turn that cold mail into something warmer. Video simulates real life and creates trust between you and the viewer. Don’t believe us? Think about the vast number of social media influencers who have built a huge following over the last few years.
Obviously they offer great content, but they’ve also managed to create trust and a huge follower base by leveraging the power of video.
According to a recent survey*, 96% of people say they’ve watched an explainer video to learn more about a product or service. 84% of people say a brand’s video has convinced them to buy a piece of software or app.
*State of video marketing 2020 by Wyzowl
Cut the noise and stand out
Video is the new way to cut the noise, grab a prospect’s attention – not just as a cold email, but throughout the funnel. Sales reps who use video in their emails see an 8x higher open-to-reply rate!
Even for marketers, using video in emails leads to higher recall value and engagement. Simply adding the word ‘video’ in the subject line can improve open rates by as much as 19%.
So now we know that there is a real benefit in adding that video element to your emails. Great. Now what are the steps you can take to ensure it leads to a higher response rate?
After all, the devil is in the details.
Lights, camera, action, sale:
Personalization:
The right video integration tool, can help you not only create but also personalize the content of each video as per your requirement. From using merge tags to say the name of your prospect, to customizing proposals and landing pages, believe it or not, this Hubspot video tool can help you personalize everything.
Maybe you’re talking to a prospect and want them to receive a video testimonial of a past client in the same line of business. With this tool, you can stay relevant to each and every one of your leads. As a result, you not only create a great first impression, you also close and convert faster.
If you’re a marketer, you don’t need to be convinced about the power of video. You already know. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve mastered its use for lead generation or even brand awareness. Video is a challenge for many reasons, primarily because it’s expensive to create and tough to journey from views to action.
However, this simple Hubspot video integration can allow marketers to collect feedback or even generate leads, in an inexpensive manner by adding forms and polls within the video.
Pro-tip: Include “Video” in Your Subject Line
Why tell them when you can show them:
Imagine you’ve chased a lead for a demo of your product for a while. You’ve been trying to set up the perfect time for a call with him – it’s been tough because you’re both in different parts of the world and the right time just doesn’t seem to be working out. How about sending across a quick demo on video.
How about using the power of sight and sound to overcome the obstacles of time and distance? This unique integration allows you to use video in emails across the entire customer lifecycle.
From the proposal to explainer videos and demos, to relevant testimonials and FAQs – whichever stage you find your prospect in, there is a unique piece of content that you can already have as a backup, or create from scratch with very little effort.
Remember, production is important, but the content and your personality as a rep is what a customer buys into. Make sure you are friendly and likable as you add value to your prospect’s business with your service or product.
Pro-tip: Think about how you can get your message across in 30-90 seconds and still engage your audience to take action in that time.
Continuous improvement:
Technology & businesses are constantly evolving – so why shouldn’t your communication? This magical integration to your emails can empower you – whether you’re a sales rep struggling to get an appointment from the prospect or a marketer trying to measure responses from an expensive piece of video content that you’ve worked hard to create.
The advanced analytics linked to this Hubspot video integration will tell you at what point a viewer lost interest. So if a viewer has watched up to 80% of your video, you know he is really interested in your product and you can trigger a follow-up email or video to close fast. If not – you can explore ways to rework your messaging and improve your pitch and try again.
Pro-tip: Consider using a static image and a link that auto-plays the video on your landing page. This way you only require one click from your audience
Call-to-action:
Add a button that says “book a meeting” at any given point of a video, allowing users to schedule a demo meeting easily. Or a poll that asks you whether the viewer found this video helpful or not. Adding a simple CTA can help you engage with your prospects in an easy and effective manner. Imagine doing that from within a video email?
Pro-tip: Only around 25% of recipients tend to watch until the end of the video, so if your CTA is at the end – most people won’t even see it.
So if you’re someone who’s been thinking about including videos in your sales strategy you’re already late to the party. It’s time to leverage video and transform your sales and marketing, irrespective of the industry you are in.
Focus on building trust, being authentic and adding value as the core of your video strategy and measure the impact.
Start recording now!