Here’s how personalized sales videos can transform cold outreach

Incorporating personalized sales videos can help your outbound efforts

We can all agree that almost every business out there is doing some type of cold outreach. But some do it very poorly while others know how to build rapport and they do it from the very first line. 

In my experience, there are two types of cold emails that work:

• The very short ones
• The very innovative ones

The short ones have something I like to call condensed value. They almost tie in an offer you cannot refuse because they are packed with stats, real data, and big brand names, and they respect your time. The sender here has done their homework: they researched your company, they are certain their services can help you out, and they are not spamming you with unnecessary details. Now, this type of email is so hard to write because you only have 3-4 lines to say everything you want to say.

And then we have the very innovative ones. That’s an email people haven’t seen before. That’s the one they are impressed by so much they might even screenshot it, post it on LinkedIn, and give a shout-out to the person who sent it to them to praise their creativity. Best of all? It’s likely to result in some new business.

This is where personalized sales videos come in. You are creating an impression that the video was made especially for the recipient and you have their attention. Once you earn their attention, you’re halfway there to closing the deal. But more on that later.

Did you know that 82% of marketers rely on some type of marketing personalization? Check out our original research to discover mind-blowing video marketing statistics. 

So, I’ve mentioned some of the main problems with cold outreach and the biggest one can be summed in three words: “send to all”. This doesn’t mean that you should disregard this tactic entirely. But the way you do it probably needs some tweaks. Do it right and you can:

• Get instant results
• Increase response rates (it’s a numbers game, but it does work)
• Save money (personalized outreach is cheaper than most customer acquisition channels)

Before I dive deeper into how personalized videos for sales can help you out, I want to give you a few tips on what makes a good cold email.

Example of an email that relies on personalized prospecting

In my opinion, you should always, and I mean ALWAYS know who you are reaching out to. Sending massive emails with a generic copy is a waste of time. You need to go to your prospect’s website, see what the company’s been up to, and map out potential gaps where your services can help. It takes a bit of time, but it also increases the chances of getting that call booked.

Here’s an example of a good cold email that I picked from the 12 different examples Close gathered:

So, why is this a good example of a personalized outbound email?

• You are sharing the excitement for the prospect’s success
• You are showing empathy that things might be hectic inside the company at the moment
• You are not being aggressive but trying to be helpful and unimposing 

To summarize, good prospecting and targeting are crucial.  

Why personalized sales videos work in cold outreach

Now let’s get back to personalized sales videos and why they are effective. Personalized video marketing is something that’s gaining momentum because you can see a clear return on investment from it and build relationships with your audience like never before.

So, a video that is tailored to each viewer is called a personalized video. The user data you have already collected can be automatically drawn and inserted into pre-created templates by a variety of available tools, including Plainly.

Why does it work? Well, because you acknowledge your prospect’s individuality and directly address them in video format. Plus, the bar is so low when it comes to cold outreach, so doing something extremely unique will definitely catch their attention.

Humans are drawn to moving pictures ever since the first movie was released in the 19th century. Make that movie about them and you’ll have them glued to the screen. That’s why personalized sales videos work. 

Just think about it: not only are you competing with the best email copywriters out there but you're competing with thousands of other companies that are trying to get the attention of your target prospect. You need to stand out in your prospect’s inbox.

How to create personalized sales videos manually

There are different ways you can create personalized sales videos, but it all comes down to:

• Doing it manually
• Doing it automatically

There are pros and cons to both approaches. If you’re going to do it manually, it essentially means creating a hyper-personalized video for each individual prospect using a tool like Loom. You show your face, it’s async, but it mimics a one-on-one conversation.

 It means preparing a pitch, doing in-depth research, and then sending it out to your target company. The benefit of doing so is obvious: if your evaluation of the company’s needs was accurate and they could use some external help, you are likely to hit the jackpot and book that call.

The downside? Too time-consuming. It may make sense when you’re after big accounts but that pulls another set of complications since enterprise companies have a lot of clearing processes and are not likely to jump on a call because of a single email. 

Doing it automatically is a whole different story.

How to create personalized sales videos on autopilot

If you want to create personalized sales videos on autopilot, the first thing you need to do is choose the right personalized video software for your business.

The best solutions allow you to pull the data from any type of source, be it your CRM, a 3rd party API, or even spreadsheets. Additionally, the data can be collected via your site analytics, surveys, or submitted website forms.

I’ll show you how to do it with Plainly.

So, what can be included in a personalized sales video?

• The name of your prospect
• The name of the company
• Their job title
• Their LinkedIn profile
• Their website
  

… and more.

I've recreated a video that our clients use in most cases:

Why does this work?

• Target prospects are carefully picked and are a good match for the services that our clients
• They only have to record this pitch once and then automatically switch the LinkedIn profiles scrolling through via Plainly
• It’s a “set it and forget it” type of work: Plainly will automatically switch the video background and so the client can reach 1000s of prospects in minimum time

So while what the client is saying doesn’t change, it’s still relevant enough for each prospect. Combined with their LinkedIn profile in the background, it really has a unique personal touch to it. Now, that’s personalization at scale.

Here’s another example of a video I was personally doing for a while:

https://youtu.be/eBiK6TXNHHI

Why did this work?

• It showed appreciation for the prospect
• It helped me build a stronger relationship with the prospect
• It made me stand out from other pitches in the prospect’s inbox

So HOW do you actually do it?

You pick a video template from Plainly’s library or create your own in After Effects. Then you connect your leads database and Plainly will automatically create videos for each lead you can then send in emails. It’s honestly so easy and you can send 1000s of videos per day because the tool does all the heavy lifting for you.

Did you know? We have an entire resource on personalized videos in emails, so make sure to go and check it out!

Personalized sales videos can be used throughout the entire funnel

In the end, I would like to point out that personalized sales videos can be used throughout the entire funnel, not just for cold outreach. Let’s say that the main phases of your funnel include outreach-demo-trial-paid. There are a lot of opportunities to incorporate video as a format in some of the phases. For example, low-touch onboarding in SaaS doesn’t have to be impersonal with videos. You can also personalize the entire user experience with the power of video. 

I myself am discovering new use cases for automated video creation every day and I honestly believe that the potential is huge, especially with AI tech advancing. You can work smarter, not harder, and book twice as many calls by personalizing your approach.

Want to see Plainly in action? Curious about other use cases? Book a 15-min demo with me and forget about the outdated ways of prospecting.