Creating a loyal, die-hard customer base that sticks with you through thick and thin is the dream for any company. Customers are difficult and expensive to acquire, so making sure the ones you have stick around is incredibly important.
Luckily, videos are an excellent way for companies to engage with and inform their audience about their brand, products, and services. Statistics show that over 80% of marketers agree that video marketing increases traffic, sales, and, most importantly, loyalty.
In this article, we’ll look at the best ways to use video production to increase your loyal customer base.
1. Streamed video events
Streamed content is a live or pre-recorded video that is played to a virtual audience in real-time. This can include webinars or live Q&A sessions or virtual summit. Live video production should be a key element in your video marketing strategy.
Research shows that over half of all marketers believe that webinars are crucial to company promotion, and they increase the probability of potential consumers converting into loyal customers by 60%.
Webinars allow you to directly communicate with your current and future audience in a personal, informative, and – if done correctly – engaging manner. They also help to reinforce the reason why a customer chose you. This is because webinars and live video events cement your company as a leader in its industry.
For example, let’s say you’re a company that provides cloud-based communication solutions. Creating various and frequent webinars with titles such as “What is VoIP and how can it help you?” and “How to fax from a computer” positions your company as an expert, gives your business credibility, and helps build trust with your customers.
The importance of a live Q&A for customer loyalty
The Q&A portion of the live event is often underrated. This is the time for you to directly interact with customers who have attended your event and watched to the end. Ensure you address them by name, prove yourself an expert by answering any queries, and follow up with them after the event.
2. Video testimonials
The best way to build customer loyalty is by gaining their trust. But nowadays, the average consumer is savvy to the false promises many companies make. This is why over 90% of customers rely on a friend’s recommendation, making word-of-mouth the most common type of marketing. This is where video testimonials come into play.
Almost 90% of marketers agree that video testimonials are one of the most effective digital marketing strategies for small businesses and even well-established corporations.
Customers trust the opinions of other customers more than the claims of companies. 90% of consumers claim that their decisions to purchase were affected by testimonials. This is why video testimonials are invaluable for building up your network of loyal customers.
The best thing is, video testimonials are a positive feedback loop. The more you create, the more loyal customers you’ll attain, increasing your number of positive video testimonials, and so on.
Here are a few video testimonial tips you can use:
– Create a sense of relatability between the customer creating the video and the customer watching. Add specific information like who they are and what they do.
– Ask the customer to describe the reason they sought out your company. For example, “I wanted to introduce automation and a digital worker into my company to complete mundane tasks and reduce human error.”
– Suggest to the customer that they provide answers to questions like what made your company stand out and what the results were. If possible, ask them to quantify their outcomes.
3. Introductory videos
Companies that convert a casual customer to a loyal consumer go above and beyond. There’s nothing worse than a company that made you feel like the most important person and then dropped off their level of service after they received your business.
Statistics show that over 85% of customers believe that well-produced intro and onboarding videos can increase their chance of becoming loyal consumers. 80% and over 50% of customers respectively have either deleted an app or returned a product due to a lack of onboarding.
Introductory videos shouldn’t be a chore
Introductory videos allow you to reaffirm your commitment to the customer and their satisfaction. Not only that, they give you the chance to welcome new customers to your company correctly.
This doesn’t mean creating cringe-worthy “welcome to the *insert company nickname here* family” videos. Rather, it means letting them know about your goals, mission, and general company culture.
For example, if there are any charities you work with and whether you’re using green marketing could be valuable information that creates loyal customers and brand advocates.
The main aim behind onboarding and welcome videos is to humanize your company. This will differentiate you from the competition, boost customer retention, and ensure your customers keep picking you.
4. Video interviews or podcasts
Building a loyal customer base is all about creating a community that believes in your product or service. Video podcasts or interviews are an excellent technique you can use to give your audience that sense of community.
Video podcasting is long-form, intimate content that allows you to share stories with your consumers—the better the podcast, the more listeners, and the greater potential for lifetime customers. The use of podcast is now a popular form of marketing. Your stream should be flawless and for that, you need a good podcast host.
As we mentioned above, many brands struggle to humanize and create a face for their brand. This makes it difficult for customers to relate and stay loyal to them. Almost 1 in 3 US citizens listen to podcasts regularly to be informed and learn new things, and 50% will purchase a product or service after listening to a podcast.
Unlike conventional marketing, well-developed podcasts allow companies and brands to speak to customers for at least 30 minutes a week directly. Due to their unfiltered nature, they can help a brand find an authentic and natural voice that customers can buy into.
Video interview and podcast tips
– Be consistent. You can’t expect customers to commit to you when you can’t commit to one episode a week.
– This isn’t an overnight thing. Be prepared to see this project out for a while. Podcasts don’t blow up after a single episode. Luckily, they’re far cheaper to produce than TV campaigns.
– Tell them what you want. Many brand podcasts forget a call to action (CTA). Your aim is to entertain and inform, but you also want results. A CTA can be anything from asking listeners to visit your website to leaving you a review.
– Be specific. Pick a voice, bring on experts, and stick to the plan. Let’s say you’re a company that creates organization apps. If you make an episode with the title “The 8 best file sharing apps for keeping a business organized”, it shouldn’t discuss productivity apps or the current political climate.
5. Customer-specific videos
Personalization is one of the most critical aspects of creating customer loyalty. Statistics show that 90% of customers enjoy personalized marketing, and it increases customer loyalty by almost 50%.
Personalized videos are content that uses customer data and information to create a specific video with the help of artificial intelligence. The personalization element can include the addition of their name, a detail, or a message.
Personalization is so effective because it shows that you value your customers enough to spend the time and effort creating a video specifically for them. More importantly, it helps to create an emotional connection with your audience.
6. Explainer videos
Everyone hates reading the manual, and explainer videos capitalize on this. Almost two-thirds of all consumers are visual learners, so it’s no surprise that 80% of marketers use visual learning techniques such as information and explainer videos.
These types of videos allow you to not only put forward and explain your product or service, but they also enable you to show the audience the exact way it can solve their problem.
Consider this scenario. Let’s say you’re a company that provides call center solutions. Sending a video to your customers titled “What is ACD?”, which explains the benefits of your new automatic call distribution software, increases the probability of them purchasing it.
Explainer videos can also build loyalty. They don’t just have to explain products. They can provide new and early insights into future product releases or developments. This exclusivity and a behind-the-scenes look into your company make customers feel special. This level of customer appreciation is key to attaining loyal consumers.
7. Social media video marketing
Social media is headed into a video-dominated era. New platforms such as Instagram Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts are making it easier for brands to create high-quality, easily digestible pieces of content that attract viewers.
40% of all customers now belong to Gen Z. This is a generation that grew up with social media and doesn’t respond to traditional marketing methods. So, if you want to attain a loyal customer base for the future, social media video marketing is essential.
Brands that excel in this field and are building a loyal fan base realize the importance of:
1. Creating a story that the audience can buy into.
2. Following trends but also ensuring they stay true to their voice.
3. Engaging with their audience by directly replying to comments and responses.
4. Remaining transparent and honest with their customers on social media.
5. Producing mobile-friendly content.
6. Tailoring their content to the platform by understanding the demographics and trends for each type of social media.
To sum up
Video marketing is the present and, most definitely, the future. With 5G rolling in, it’s becoming easier to view high-quality videos at a fast rate. But videos aren’t just for marketing and acquiring a new audience. They can convert current consumers into loyal customers too. You can also opt for a good customer loyalty program to give a boost to your efforts.
Businesses should be looking to exploit live videos, testimonials, welcome videos, podcasts, personalized messages, explainer videos, and social media video marketing moving forward to ensure that they continue to grow and thrive.
Bio:
John Allen – RingCentral US
John Allen is the “Billion Dollar SEO,” known for effectively scaling enterprise SEO teams. With over 14 years of experience and an extensive background in building and optimizing digital marketing programs, he currently directs all SEO activity for RingCentral, a global UCaaS, VoIP, and contact center software provider. He has written for websites such as Network Computing and BigCommerce. Here is his LinkedIn.
