You’ve probably heard us talk about Switch Merge before – our video personalization platform for B2B marketers. In case you don’t quite remember what Switch Merge is, let me refresh your memory. Switch Merge is a video personalization platform that helps marketers deliver personalized, targeted messaging through video. Switch Merge integrates with Salesforce, Pardot, Marketo, and Eloqua; leveraging what marketers know about their prospects to elevate lead nurture programs and measure the effectiveness of their campaigns.
We already know the impact video content has for B2B marketers (and if you don’t, check out this infographic filled with video facts you need to know). One stat that jumps to mind comes from Forrester. They found that when marketers included a marketing or explainer video in an email, the click-through rate increased by 200% to 300%. We wanted to see if we could beat that by testing a regular video vs. a personalized video.
Does Personalized Video Increase Engagement in an Email Nurturing Campaign?
We decided to put Switch Merge to the test – an A/B test of course. One email would include a personalized video (Email A) and the other would include a video that was not personalized (Email B).
Email A had the subject line mention “[Switch Video] – A personalized video just for you!” and email B’s subject line was “[Switch Video] – Use personalized video in email to increase conversions.” Email A and email B had the same copy, both talking about video personalization. The difference was email A had extra text explaining to the readers that a personalized video and splash screen was included in the email. Click on the images below to see the actually emails that we sent.
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[/column_half] [/column_wrap] When the recipient of Email A clicked the splash screen, they were taken to their personalized landing page to watch their personalized video. The recipient of Email B, on the other hand, only had a generic Switch Merge video.
This is the landing page that our lead Robyn would have see when she clicked through. Click on the image and you can see the landing page and watch the video. If you had gotten Email B you would have seen the same video but it would not have included your name.
The Results
Open Rate:
As a reminder the subject line for Email A was “[Switch Video] – A personalized video just for you!” and email B’s subject line was “[Switch Video] – Use personalized video in email to increase conversions.” We were very surprised to see the open rates between these two campaigns.
Email A Open Rate – 22.3%
Email B Open Rate – 13.9%
The open rate for Email A was 60.4% higher than Email B.
Click Through Rate:
The next thing was tracked was the click through rate for the personalized video vs. the non-personalized video.
Email A CTR – 6.7%
Email B CTR – 1.8%
The CTR for Email A was 272% higher than Email B.
Why Does Personalization Work?
Personalization helps companies establish a relationship with their customers and expand their reach. With average open rates across all industries hovering between 17 and 30%, according to MailChimp, it’s become vitally important for businesses to find ways to get across this barrier and communicate with their customers. Otherwise, they risk losing contact with more than half of their leads.
People respond to information that is relevant to their interests, whether this means being addressed by first name, geographical location, or place of business. When customers are addressed specifically using a video, they are far more likely to remember what they’ve seen and engage further with the sender.
So why not take the existing data about a lead or prospect, that is already in your CRM or MAP, even further? With Switch Merge, you can customize a variety of input fields such as their name, certain images, personalized graphs, and even voiceovers.
The best way to understand it all is to watch this video overview of Switch Merge. It is personalized for one of our advisors, Jill Rowley.
The importance of personalization is widely recognized. A survey from Adobe called “Digital Roadblock: Marketers struggle to reinvent themselves” found that not only do marketers feel the need to reinvent themselves in the face of digital technology, they also reported that personalization was the highest priority for their companies to achieve future marketing success.
Email remains the focus of marketers when it comes to personalization, and as more marketers begin to implement personalization strategies, it will become increasingly difficult for marketers to separate themselves from the pack. This is where personalized video messaging comes in. By creating a video that is targeted to the recipient, companies can dramatically increase engagement with their messages and ensure the future success of their marketing campaigns.
Still not convinced about video in general? Check out our video expert corner. Video experts from companies like YouTube and SalesForce talks to us about how and why video is changing today’s marketing industry.
