5 Video Marketing Examples to Convert Throughout the Customer Lifecycle

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, or somewhere without the internet, you probably already know that video has become a game changer for modern marketers. Video content helps companies to connect with their audience in an engaging and human way. According to MarketingSherpa, “Video attracts two to three times as many monthly visitors, doubles time spent on site, and has a 157% increase in organic traffic from search engines.” In this post, I’ll dive into five killer video marketing examples that cover five different stages of the customer lifecycle:

Awareness: Attract new viewers to the top of your marketing funnel by creating shareable videos.
Consideration: Woo new leads with video content that differentiates your company from competitors and tells compelling customer stories.
Demo: Let’s see some product! Give your prospects a full look under the hood.
Onboarding: Help customers succeed in the first 30-60 days of using your product with helpful onboarding videos.
Retention: Keep the lines of communication open by sending educational content, new ideas, and customer thank you’s.

1. Generate brand awareness with an entertaining video

In this first video, Slack provides a one-two punch by entertaining and showing how its product helps users.

Slack turned what could have been a boring office commercial into an alternate universe where animals are the stars. The video had fun playing to the different types of teammates you can find in an office setting, and cleverly ran with the exaggerations (I’m looking at you, Mr. Sloth!). To date, it’s been viewed nearly 14 million times. This is huge for Slack’s brand awareness. Takeaways: Your goal with top of funnel videos is to entertain and leave a lasting impression on your audience. Keep it light, avoid technical jargon, and refrain from showing product details. Before making a huge investment, test the waters with content like influencer interviews or a straightforward education series.

2. Nudge prospects through the consideration phase with video testimonials

Unbounce, a “code-free zone” landing page tool, made this video testimonial by interviewing one of its customers, a growth marketer from Kissmetrics.

Authenticity makes this testimonial shine. Nemo, who heads up customer acquisition, speaks from the heart and doesn’t give off the reading-off-cards vibe. This builds trust and credibility with viewers. You can tell the team made some great production decisions – things like shooting with a shallow depth of field, using different angles, incorporating B-roll footage, and lighting the interviewee well. The office environment also complements the story and gives a glimpse into the customer’s day-to-day workspace. Takeaways: Video testimonials are marketing gold. Aim to create at least three different videos that speak to your target personas, and always be building a queue of potential customer stories. This way you’re not scrambling and can choose from the best stories that come your way.

3. Show your product in action with a demo video

HireVue, on-demand recruiting software, showcases how to use its product in this demo video.

The video tells a story around the pains hiring managers face, pitches HireVue as the solution, and shows plenty of product screenshots. It’s educational, and keeps the story moving with background music and motion graphics. HireVue’s demo video follows this formula: 1. Addresses the problem. “Finding the right candidates can be challenging amongst a sea of applicants.” 2. Includes the value proposition. “Your competitors are hiring another way, meet HireVue.” 3. Shows how the product works by showcasing different parts of the tool and giving a glimpse of what users will experience in the product. 4. Ends with a call to action. “Find out more about HireVue, an awesome digital interview platform for hiring awesome candidates.” Takeaways: Liven up your demo with background music, ear tickling narration, and smooth transitions. Your goal is to create desire in users that compels them to try the product themselves, so make sure address your customer’s pain points in the video and how your product is the solution.

4. Help new customers get started quickly with onboarding videos

Salesforce’s nails this onboarding tips video for the Chatter app. It clearly outlines the action items companies need to take to get up and running, and includes how to get other teammates to adopt the tool. The video also shows ways to get buy-in from big-wig folks, which makes the product more sticky.

The video lays out a clear plan for new users. The story’s cadence goes like this:

Start with a plan
Get the right people involved
How to start
Set the stage
Give incentives
Start small and have goals

What’s impressive is that the company covered all of this in under 3 minutes, leading to higher engagement rates than say, a 10-minute video. Takeaways: Onboarding video content is a great opportunity to continue the conversation with a new customer after the sale. If your organization has a community forum or Facebook group, this is a great place to add a call to action to join.

5. Increase retention by saying thank you…on video

Birchbox, a subscription beauty box club, made a stellar customer appreciation video. The company took the time to say thank you and share their favorite customer interactions from the past year.

The company shows actual employees speaking from the heart about their favorite customer memories. Since the brand has already laid the groundwork of being “human” with their ongoing tutorials and sneak peek videos, this took it to a whole new level. The video gets away with being longer because they’ve captured genuine emotion and customer memories, helping people to feel connected with and cared for by the brand. Takeaways: Do your best to keep customers once you have them. It’s way easier than acquiring new customers and scores you more revenue in the long-run. To learn more, check out these four ways to use video for retention.

The Bottom Line

There really is no wrong place to start when diving into video content. Thinking beyond creation, there have been significant developments in the tech available for growth marketers to track the engagement and success of video content. These insights are rocket fuel for lead generation, helpful for learning how your audience is digesting video, and can even help you understand who’s ready to buy. Let us know what video your company starts with. We’re excited to see your results.