Many eCommerce businesses undervalue the effects of engaging with customers beyond a purchase. They fail to see the importance of following up with shoppers or thanking them.
This is unfortunate as positive engagement leads to shoppers returning to ‘friendly’ stores. It’s even more regrettable when you consider that there’s an easy and fast way of creating engagement:
Customer service response videos.
Sharing short videos with your customers is an effective way of building a strong rapport. Among other reasons, it shows that you care and it makes it easy for shoppers to remember you.
But these aren’t just any regular videos, they’re personal and unique. They take less than 20 seconds to record and share, and through them, you can easily increase retention. And it’s crucial to retain customers because getting new ones can cost between 5 to 25 times more.
Take the video below as a brilliant example of a personal post-purchase video done right. It’s friendly, directed specifically to the customer by name, and inviting them to engage. The customer is sure to return and purchase more from this store.
The customers that I don’t get to meet face to face have given fantastic feedback saying that they feel really connected, and as a result they have stayed a customer with us. It’s easy to get lost in that flood of emails coming to the customer, so Bonjoro is a great way to stand out from the crowd, and get your business noticed.” – Jane from Gathered Green on using Bonjoro
Here, you’ll learn about why and how you should create such videos to increase your conversions.
The Benefits of Post-Purchase Videos
If you want a higher conversion rate, engaging your buying customers is crucial. Engaging them through videos is smart. Here’s why:
- Why You Should Engage Your Customers
- Why You Should Do It Through Videos
- How to Create Your Personal Videos
- Post-Purchase Videos Feedback
- Improve Your Brand With Personal Videoshttps://ecommercefuel.wistia.com/medias/f4fk9rplgz?embedType=async&videoWidth=400
Thank you for purchase
https://ecommercefuel.wistia.com/medias/250l1sosa6?embedType=async&videoWidth=400 Delivery follow-up
https://ecommercefuel.wistia.com/medias/iqibatffpe?embedType=async&videoWidth=400 Post-delivery testimonial request
https://ecommercefuel.wistia.com/medias/zkp1k660zs?embedType=async&videoWidth=400 Final follow-up with an upselling offer
retain information better. According to a study by Doxee, “The average user retains 95% of the messages in a video; when it comes to text, this percentage drops to 10%.”
Short videos are more captivating, easily understandable, more personal, and more entertaining. If you record post-purchase videos, shoppers:
- See that you’re talking directly to them. This personal link creates a greater sense of loyalty between them and you.“We are loving it and so do our customers! Thank you for making it so we can build a relationship right off the bat!” – Kelsie Rios from Rylapack on using Bonjoro
- Get to know you and your brand better thus creating the trust they seek from businesses.“Absolute best way to increase your visibility with your audience (short of visiting them at home!)” – Angi B. on using BombBomb
There aren’t many brands that share personal videos with their customers. This means that you’re more likely to stand out from other businesses if you use them. Online shoppers get bombarded with text-based messages from eCommerce stores every day. However, they’ll pay attention to the ones that grab their attention and dare to be innovative.
Engagement and recording personal videos are keys to eCommerce success. But they’re not the only ones. There’s a lot more you can learn about eCommerce and implement in your own business. Joining a community of like-minded eCommerce professionals helps you discover more.
eCommerce Fuel is that community. As a member, you get to learn new frameworks, tactics, and ideas on a regular basis.
Join eCommerce Fuel today and take advantage of the vast amounts of knowledge shared by your peers.Bonjoro: An easy way to send a personalized video message to your customer’s email inbox. Bonjoro allows you to customize your short videos by including your own brand and CTA. It can also integrate with your existing business tools like Mailchimp, Google, Patreon, and more.
- Acquire: This allows you to connect directly with customers through live video chat. You can also interact with your customers in real-time with video or audio calls. This allows you to not only thank them but also assist them with issues and hold sales demos.
- BombBomb: This allows you to create videos through its Chrome extension or mobile app. You can then add them to your emails for greater engagement. BombBomb also offers custom action plans and analytics to ensure you get the best out of it. You can integrate it with platforms like LinkedIn, Salesforce, Gmail, and more.
- Loom: Another video software that you access through your browser extension. Loom allows you to record screencasts. This is ideal if you need to show customers how to resolve an issue through step-by-step guides. It’s fast and simple to use and makes it easier for recipients to understand what you’re explaining.
Gain Customers’ Trust
Using videos can create the sense that you don’t have anything to hide and you run a professional operation. To gain customers’ trust, you should:
- Be genuine. Your customers want to be able to relate to you so authenticity is important. Your videos don’t have to be incredibly sophisticated as long as the customer feels like they know you.
- Pull back the curtain. Show your customers parts of your business that they don’t get to see on product pages. This can be achieved by showing different operations going on in the background.
- Talk naturally. Use a conversational tone like you would when talking to a friend. Customers don’t want something that sounds rehearsed or scripted. You can use an outline of points you want to cover in your video and then address them naturally.
Grab Their Attention Instantly
Because we’re constantly bombarded with content, customers have short attention spans. Your video has to captivate them immediately and keep them watching. You can achieve this by keeping your introductions brief.
People start losing concentration after 8 seconds. You have to include your most important information within that timeframe. Then you can elaborate on it further as you have their attention. But don’t make your elaboration last too long either.
Include Video CTAs
There has to be a point to your videos that convinces customers to take a specific action. Give your customers the next step they’ll want to take after watching your video. Your call-to-action could be to:
- Sign up for a newsletter or webinar.
- Provide feedback on the customer’s experience.
- Join your community.
- Start a free trial for a feature customers would find interesting.
- Take advantage of a special offer like a discount on your online store.
Produce Quality Videos
Yes, your videos don’t have to be incredibly sophisticated, but they still have to be of a certain quality. No one wants to watch sloppy or grainy videos, and low-quality videos can hurt your brand. Avoid poor quality by:
- Ensuring that your video is clear. It should flow well from beginning to end without lags or interruptions. Watch it before you send it to your customer.
- Optimizing your video for mobile users. Whether you share the video through email or a page on your site, ensure that it fits on mobile devices. You should also make sure that any action you want customers to take is clearly visible.
Use Captivating Thumbnails
A video’s thumbnail is what your customers will notice first. You want it to appeal to your customers so that they click ‘Play’. Otherwise, your customers won’t bother watching and will carry on with their days. Great thumbnails include:
- Friendly faces that show customers they’ll be receiving a message from an actual human.
- Branded elements like a logo or other imagery that create recognition.
- Contrasting colors that make the thumbnail stand out.
Measure Your Efforts
To know whether your customer service videos are effective, measure key metrics:
- Watch Rate: How long your customers watch your video. If the watch rate is low, your content might not be captivating or relevant to your customers. Remember to keep it short.
- View Count: How many people view your video. Most platforms count a view after someone watches for the first few seconds. This tells you whether your introduction is engaging enough.
- Click-Throughs: How many people act on your CTA. This allows you to gauge how effective your call-to-action is.
- Conversions: This is what you really want to know. The higher your conversion rate, the more sales your store is making.Emu Joy, a body-care brand providing products that are:
- Naturally anti-inflammatory
- Highly moisturizing
- Hypoallergenic
- 100% natural
Here’s what she has to say about using the Bonjoro app for sending personalized videos:
Carole Rains Personal Post-purchase
Hi Katrina, its Carol. Thank you so much for asking me to participate in the development of this blog post.
I am quickly becoming a major fangirl of Bonjoro. My results have just been wonderful so far and in fact, it’s really reenergized me on my business because I developed such a better rapport with my customers.
And getting this constant, daily feedback from them is just wonderful and makes me, you know, really think about the ‘why’ of why I did my business. It brings it all really home and makes it real to get these replies from my customers.
So, what I’ve been doing is I have it hooked into my Shopify account, and when an order is placed, Bonjoro just sends me a little email saying, “Here are your Bonjoro’s to do.”
I just have to click on into the website and record a quick video. I can see what they ordered; whether they ordered before; and I can tailor my little video specifically to them. And you know welcome them to the website or thank them if they’re coming back as a repeat customer and offer some tips on how to use the products.
And then I also use it as an opportunity to get information from them and great Intel. I frequently ask them what specific conditions they’re going to be using the products for and also how they found out about Emu Joy. And that’s been really helpful to get that kind of information. So that has been a big positive impact for me. My results have been great and I will send you screenshots.
I’ve only been doing this for even a few weeks. My open rate is 71% and that is so much higher than the open rate for my traditional, you know “Thanks for your order,” email flow. So for some reason, people are, I don’t know, they’re just more intrigued.
And 67% have watched them, 28% have opened and replied, 13% have clicked over to the website because there’s a call to action on Bonjoro. So, you know they’re coming back to the site to take a look around, maybe place another order. Any kind of activity to the website is a bonus so I’m happy about that too.
And you know, once I had made a few of them, they became really easy. The first few I had to redo a couple and I was watching before I would let it go. Now I just record it, they’re between 30 seconds and one minute, no more than one minute. And I pick one of the thumbnails and I tend to pick a thumbnail that’s not necessarily all that flattering but it’s maybe a little bit quirkier, that shows that I’m, you know, in the middle of speaking. I want it to not look all that polished.
I wanted to show these people I’m real and, you know, so it doesn’t matter if, I, you know, don’t look glamorous – which I never do. But I think people like knowing that, you know, that the person they are hearing is not that different from them.
So I pick a thumbnail that, you know, just is kind of almost a little bit you know goofy looking sometimes, and the response has been so good. So, I will also send you a bunch of replies that I’ve gotten.
And it’s so heartwarming you know people are just so excited to get these little videos. They’re so appreciative. And it takes, you know, literally less than a minute of my time to do each one, and it makes the customers really happy. So, I know this is going to be you know paying off quite a lot in the long run, and just from the feedback that I’ve gotten from people.
Um yeah, so, another thing that I do is sometimes give them some suggestions on how best to use the products or tell them you know what other little goodies are going to be in the package so they can you know look forward to receiving it at some point.
I’ve only used it as a welcome and thank you for your order, I haven’t done it for any other campaigns or announcements or review requests or things like that. But I am meeting with the guy who created Bonjoro. I guess tonight we’ve got a meeting and I imagine he’ll be talking to me about a lot of the other ways that I can use it so I’ll probably be adding some of those as we go along.
Carole uses Bonjoro’s branding and call-to-action features brilliantly to effectively engage her customers:
You can clearly notice the Emu Joy logo and products in the background, while her CTA is displayed evidently next to her message.
We asked Carole what has surprised her the most about this new technology:
The ability to create a conversation with the customer. Barely anyone ever replies to standard ‘thanks for your order’ emails, but they are happy to reply to the videos and give you all kinds of information. Sometimes we go back and forth several times. Talk about establishing rapport!” – Carole Rains, Emu Joy
As you can see from her Bonjoro screenshot below, her results are impressive:
With a 71% opened rate and a 68% watched rate, personal post-purchase videos are effective in engaging customers. People truly appreciate these direct messages and it makes them happy.
Updated Data: August 2020
We asked Carole whether she was still having success with sending personalized videos, and whether she could share her latest figures with our readers.
As you’ll note she’s still sending more and more post-purchase videos and maintaining a high engagement and success rate.
What Did Emu Joy Customers Think?
Here’s feedback from Carole’s customers that illustrates customer excitement perfectly:
Thank you, Carole, for taking time to send me the message. I’m touched. – Anon.
What a treat to receive the personalized video. You are amazing and so is your company! Thank you. – Margaret
That was so kind of you to send the video! I actually have used your emu lip balm before and loved it! So much so much I had to order more. – Melissa
Thank you so much for your message it truly meant a lot. – Anon.
Thanks for your personal message to me. I love dealing with someone like you. Keep up the good work. – Sandy
Thank you Carole for your message. I feel very special receiving a message just for myself. – Aileen
Hi Carole, I really appreciate you reaching out to me. It made my day! – LarissaPexels from Kaboompics .com
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