The following blog post was written by Yotam Benami, Chief Marketing Officer at Idomoo.
It’s rude to call people lazy. Especially your customers.
But those same customers will be the first to admit they fit right into that category…because they simply don’t read. It’s not their fault – it’s a cultural evolution we’re seeing before our very eyes, and believe it or not, smart marketers are taking advantage.
Customers of every type enjoy, expect and even demand to receive their information through images and videos. Think about home page explainer videos, now a mandatory website building block.
And all this is with good reason: biologically and evolutionarily, our brains are wired to process and retain audio-visual data much more readily than writing – a relatively recent tool for communication in the history of mankind. So you can’t really blame people for being lazy – blame their brains. Here’s what we mean:
Humans are visual creatures
Reading and analyzing text is relatively “hard” work that requires additional brain engagement. But our brains prefer not to work hard – hence the “lazy” designation – and would much rather engage with the world around us on the more instinctive side of our brains (System 1).
When it comes to communicating with customers – both potential and existing – the goal is to get them to react from an emotional place, because feelings drive action. The key to customer engagement, then, is to tap into System 1. And the best way to do that is via audiovisual stimuli, which speak specifically to emotions.
None of this is a secret. So why do most companies still tend to rely solely on written communications to reach their customers? These customers often ignore such communications.
As in most situations, easier may translate to cheaper and faster, but it definitely doesn’t mean better.
Research shows that video is an effective method to drive customer engagement and action.
Some examples:
Yet not all videos are created equal. The types of mass-broadcast marketing videos we are used to seeing from companies certainly are compelling, but must remain generic enough to cover a wide viewing population – they lack the customization that makes them truly effective. Luckily, advancements in video rendering technology have brought video into the realm of real-time, dynamic communications. Personalized video combines the advantages of written communication for scalability and customization with the engagement impact of video, for outstanding results that are unmatched by any other form of media.
Personalized video opens up transactional or interactive online experiences to a medium that sparks emotions, stops people in their tracks, and drives short-term action. Examples include onboarding new customers, renewals, statements and “year in review” compilations, celebrating special occasions such as anniversaries or birthdays, or even acquiring new customers. Spanning industries and customer journeys, they have one thing in common: They occur around key moments in the customer lifecycle.
Idomoo’s personalized video platform harnesses the power of big data to create attention-grabbing, action-driving customer campaigns that engage around such key moments. A recent example is an anniversary campaign for Unibet, an online gambling site.
This campaign turned what would have been a “normal” anniversary email into an unexpected, dynamic, engaging experience for customers. As you can see, each customized video includes the customer’s name, how long they have been playing, the name of the first game they played, their favorite game, and other “we’re talking to you!” details.
We are excited to be partnering with Movable Ink on future campaigns across a host of other clients. Idomoo adds a personalized video capability to Movable Ink’s data-driven customized images platform, extending the ability of brands to create individualized visual experiences for their clients. Moreover, our collaboration allows Idomoo and Movable Ink to become even more integrated into our customers’ marketing technology stacks.
When it comes to driving business results, companies who want to ensure they are communicating effectively need to think twice about relying on text, and instead consider utilizing personalized video to engage their customers on an emotional level that will spur them to take action. The partnership between Idomoo and Movable Ink promises to make doing so significantly easier.