Use personalised videos to boost your Black Friday sales

As the holiday season approaches, retailers are gearing up for one of the year's biggest and busiest sale events and preparing for fierce competition during Black Friday.

Customers are constantly bombarded by brands with deals and discounts, so standing out is always a huge challenge. Add the high costs of digital advertising during this time to the equation, and it’s not looking great for businesses that don’t have a lot of time and resources.

However, the ability for businesses to be creative with their marketing strategies is key to selling more this season. And the good news? We just have the right tool to help retailers shine: personalised videos.

Benefits of video personalisation

We already know that videos perform better than any type of content, producing higher engagement and conversion rates. But personalising videos can even result in longer watch times, improved click-through rates and more sales.

Videos tailored to your customer’s interests and preferences are a surefire way to grab their attention during key sale events such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas. When customers see their name and relevant products in a video, they’re more likely to watch the full video and engage with the brand.

Personalised videos also nurture a sense of connection and loyalty with customers. By adding a personal touch to videos, brands show they care about their customers while customers feel seen and understood.

Finally, tailored videos have a higher chance of going viral. When customers receive a video that speaks directly to them, they are more likely to share it with their friends and family, leading to potential new customers. The annual Spotify Wrapped videos are a good example, which always go viral at the end of the year.

Myths about personalised videos

• Personalised videos are expensive to make FALSE. The reality is that video production does not need to be expensive. You don’t even need to film new content. You can repurpose old video clips and use images you already have to create brand-new video content. You can use transitions and animations to make the video exciting and engaging.

• Personalised videos are time-consuming FALSE. With video automation, you can generate thousands of personalised videos in minutes, not days or weeks. All you really need is one video template and a data source where your data points for personalisation, such as name and location, are saved.

• Personalised videos are only for brands with few customers FALSE. Whether you have 10, 1000 or 100,000 customers, you can create personalised videos for everyone without any manual work, helping you save time and money.

• Personalised videos are not for the retail industry FALSE. Due to being a competitive industry, retail benefits a lot from video personalisation. Retailers need it to cut through the noise and set themselves apart from the competition.

Examples of personalised videos in e-commerce

If you’re wondering how retailers can use personalised videos as part of their marketing strategy, here are a few ideas:

• Thank you videos: Send out personalised thank you messages to your customers after they’ve purchased.
• Abandoned cart videos: Turn your boring automated abandoned cart emails into personalised videos to wow your customers.
• Repurchase videos: Is it time for a replenishment? Remind your customers to repurchase with a custom video that speaks directly to them.
• Win-back campaigns: Haven’t heard from a customer for a while? Launch a win-back campaign and use personalised videos to capture their attention and keep them engaged. You can even offer a personalised discount code to encourage them to shop.
• Upsell and cross-sell campaigns: Use video to recommend similar products to what they have previously purchased. Talk through the features and benefits and tips on how to use these products.
• Back-in-Stock alerts: Excite your customers with a personalised video that lets them know that their favourite products have been restocked. You can direct them to your website or the nearest store.

How to create personalised videos for Black Friday

Personalised videos in retail are a powerful way to connect with your customers and increase your Black Friday sales. Here’s how:

• Identify your videos’ objectives: Is it a post-purchase thank you video or a repurchase reminder video? Your objectives will help you determine the data you need and plan your video content.
• Segment your audience: Not all customers are the same. Segment your audience based on buying habits, preferences, location, etc. and create videos tailored to each segment.
• Use customer data wisely: Use the data you have on your customers to personalise the video content. This could be their name, past purchases, or products they've shown interest in.
• Create dynamic video templates: Instead of making a video from scratch for every customer, create dynamic video templates. These templates should have merge fields that can be customised for each customer.
• Share your personalised videos: Send them to your customers’ emails and track their performance.

Conclusion

Personalised videos can improve customer attention, interest, trust, loyalty, conversion, and revenue during busy sales seasons.

But not sure where or how to start? Well, you’re in the right place. Shotstack is a video editing API that lets you generate thousands of bespoke and dynamic videos in minutes. So whether you’re looking to win back customers who haven’t shopped in a while, recover abandoned carts or reward loyal customers with a custom code, we can help.

With Shotstack, your developers can save on development time and marketers can automate video editing from start to finish. Sign up for your free account today to get started.