Wipster Content Team
Wipster's Position on your Data and Content Rights
A lot has been made recently about Adobe's far-reaching Terms of Service, which grant them the right to access all their customers' content through...
Stage 3 of the video sales funnel: retention
Congratulations, your consideration stage videos hit the mark and you got your target audience across the line. But this is no time to rest on your laurels – your next job is to turn those newly signed-up customers into highly engaged, incredibly loyal, long-term brand advocates. Treat them like family, and they’ll stick around for the long-haul.
A recap of where your customer is at:
Your customer has decided that yours is the product for them, and they have now signed up. But unless you work hard to get them completely entrenched with both the product and the company behind it, there’s every chance they’ll jump ship for one of your competitors. Your MO is to build rock-solid brand loyalty.
The job of the retention stage videos is to:
- Welcome the customer to your company. A welcome video delivered to your customer upon sign-up (a time when they’re already feeling positive about your brand) makes them feel valued and increases their engagement with you.
- Help your customer get to know your product like the back of their hand. This means videos that show how to use certain key features (so that customers can really get the most out of the product), or explain how to do mundane-but-crucial things like change their profile picture or update their address (these things seem minor, but if your customer experiences any irritation – especially when they’re only just starting out – their eyes may start wandering). This is the time to get detailed about the solution your product provides.
- Keep them excited about your company. Distribute videos that show your upcoming product features, reveal big company announcements, or showcase events your company has been part of. These all help to strengthen the connection between you and your customer.
- Build a meaningful and rewarding community – somewhere your customers can connect with like-minded peers, get support, and upskill. This means creating videos and other resources that go beyond just your product and how to use it, and provide real value in the wider ecosystem that your product operates in.
Define your goals
As we’ve said before, developing SMART goals are as important for videos as for any business decision. The overall objective of your retention stage videos is customer loyalty, which could be measured by a reduction in abandonment, or an increase in sign-ups from referrals, an indication that your existing customers are now fully-fledged brand advocates. You may have objectives such as a reduction in phone or email inquiries to your help center, as a success measure of your how-to videos. And we know we’re a broken record on this, but remember to include how many, and by when.
Who is your audience?
Of course, you’re now talking to your existing customers, though expect to continue to segment them depending on the message. Some videos will be aimed at the superfans, your strongest brand advocates, others may be about re-engaging your less-frequent or lapsed customers.
Where will the videos go?
These videos will almost exclusively be housed on your own site (more likely buried a bit deeper than on the homepage; perhaps within your learning center, or in a client-only section) or on other social channels or direct comms used for your existing customers.
Budget
While you might have a whole raft of videos at this stage, we figure you only need about 10% of your total video budget to produce them. Why? One big reason is the reduced distribution costs – you have a captive market now, so all your videos will be disseminated via your internal channels. There’s also room for a lot of templating and formulas with these clips – there’s no reason for each how-to video you make to have an entirely new concept and execution. And while we’re not one to promote the lowering of standards, it’s fair to say that these videos are more functional than previous ones, and you’re less likely to be spending money to wow your audience with big-name actors and high production values.
Retention stage videos that work
Product update
Spotify: iPad app
Spotify uses an interesting combination of live video and motion graphics to introduce their new iPad app. Using a point of view style, the music changes on the journey, allowing viewers to identify with how they might use the new version of Spotify.
Product release
Apple: Introducing iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus
We’d be remiss if we didn’t include Apple - the ultimate brand advocate fosterer! The release of each product is anticipated for months and they’ve maintained a similar style with each release - so we know what to expect. Jony Ive’s dulcet voice is well known to all smartphone users. Crystal clear shots on a white background makes even the most mundane features (dual domain pixels) interesting. With 1.5 million views in less than 24 hours (and even Ikea developing a Apple iPhone 6 parody), Apple is the undisputed master of the brand advocacy video.
Learning centre video
Wistia: Choosing music for your video
Wistia have a thorough learning centre for their users (and prospective customers) and it’s clear from the number of comments on each video that they foster and value interaction from their community. Wistia listen to their customers and deliver tons of value above and beyond product information.
Some parting thoughts on creating retention-stage videos
- Stay on-brand – whether your company is about innovation or adventure, prestige or sustainability, your customers chose you because they identified with your brand. Maintain that feeling in your subsequent videos, and they’ll love you forever.
- Don’t lose the humour – you may be giving a blow-by-blow account of your sales and online invoicing feature, but that’s no reason to be dull as dishwater.
- Involve your customers! By now you’ve developed a real relationship with your audience, so use their feedback to make your videos more relevant.
Congratulations! You completed the Mighty Video Sales Funnel Series.
