Your Beginner’s Guide to Creating Engaging, Data-Driven Videos That Convert
Video marketing is crucial for brand and audience engagement, but to stand out from generic content, personalization is key.
Imagine a personalized video addressing a customer by name, with tailored product recommendations and exclusive discounts.
For instance, an insurance company could present a clear overview of policy highlights based on customer personas to boost renewals.
Customers expect personalization
Personalized content is not just effective; 52% of buyers expect personalization. In fact, our data shows that personalization in video drives higher engagement (116%-300%).
For more than a decade, I have assisted companies like Accenture, Reed in Partnership, and Zumba with video marketing powered by personalized content.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through 10 simple steps to build a winning video marketing strategy with personalization—even if you’ve never done it before.
Introduction: Why Personalized Video Marketing is Worth Your Time
If you’re reading this, you’ve probably heard about personalized video marketing—and you’re curious if it’s right for your business.
Here’s the good news: Personalized video isn’t just for big brands with huge budgets. With the right strategy, it’s a game-changer for businesses of all sizes.
By the Numbers:
- Personalized videos drive 3x higher engagement than generic ones (Pirsonal).
- 52% of buyers expect personalized offers (CX Network).
- Brands using personalized video see 16x higher click-to-open rates and 4.5x more unique click-throughs (Wyzowl).
What is Personalized Video Marketing?
Personalized video marketing is all about creating video content or experiences that resonate with every individual contact.
Instead of sending generic content to everyone, you leverage data such as their name, location, or specific challenges to craft videos that are highly relevant and engaging.
If you are looking for how to create great videos for media, this approach is especially powerful. It allows you to connect with your audience on a deeper level by addressing their unique needs and preferences.
By incorporating personalization, you can boost viewer engagement and ensure your videos stand out in the crowded media landscape.
So, whether you’re promoting a product, service, or brand, consider how you can use personalized video content to drive more meaningful connections with your audience.
Example:
- Generic Video: “How to pay your insurance renewal.”
- Personalized Video: “Hi [First Name], your first amount due is [amount]; this amount is due on September 15th.”
Watch this personalized video to see it in action:
Why It Works:
- Attention Grabber: Research shows that hearing your name triggers an automatic response in your brain, enhancing focus and engagement.
- Relevance: Location-based offers boost conversions by 50% (Google).
- Emotional Connection: Story-driven videos improve recall by 22x (Stanford).
Isn’t this what we all seek in marketing and communications?
10 Steps to Build a Winning Video Marketing Strategy with Personalized Content
Step 1: Define Your SMART Goals
Why It Matters:
Before you start, ask yourself: What do I want to achieve? I’m talking about the business goals or objectives behind your personalized videos.
Examples:
- Increase email click-through rates by 15%.
- Reduce customer support requests by 20%.
- Increase employee engagement by 25%.
Step 2: Understand Your Audience
Why It Matters:
Not all viewers are the same. Most videos target one audience, which limits effectiveness.
But guess what?
Most businesses still focus on just one audience profile when personalizing videos.
After analyzing thousands of data-driven videos, our research shows that organizations have three audience profiles, but many focus on just one in video content.
It’s better to structure videos for all three profiles unless you’re sure of what every contact needs.
The Three Audience Profiles:
Pirsonal’s Personalized Video Content Framework
- Mr. Informed (20%): Only watches the intro.
- Hook: “Hi [First Name], your [City]-exclusive deal is here.”
- Mr. Tell Me How (70%): Engages with the main content.
- Value: “As a [Job Role], this tool saves 10 hours/week.”
- Mr. Explorer (35%): Watches to the end.
- Urgency: “Only 2 left in stock—reserve yours now!”
To master this strategy, watch this video. In the video, I share my framework for video personalization, drawing from our experience with brands like yours.
In the video, I explain my framework for video personalization, based on our experience helping brands like yours.
Step 3: Choose the Right Data for Personalization
What Data Should You Use?
- Basic: Name, location, job title.
- Advanced: Purchase history, objections, challenges, solutions.
- Predictive: Likely interests and emotional drivers (Pro Tip: this can be AI-driven).
Example:
“Hello [First Name], your choice for clean energy has made a big impact. You saved 25% more than traditional energy costs.”
To see this in action, watch this year-in-review personalized video:
BTW, emotional drivers are the emotions that influence our decisions. They are often used in advertising campaigns.
The infographic below summarizes the top 10 emotional drivers. Understanding them and knowing your audience can help you create targeted sections in your videos.
Step 4: Pick the Best Distribution Channels
| Channel | Best for | Avg. CTR | Audience fit |
| Lead nurturing | 8-12% | B2B, B2C | |
| SMS/WhatsApp | Time-sensitive offers | 25-30% | B2C |
| B2B demos | 5-8% | B2B | |
| Retargeting Ads | Cart abandonment | 3-5% | B2B, B2C |
Also, many teams overlook an important aspect of video marketing: personalized content should be used more than once to effectively engage the majority of contacts.
Most only send videos to contacts once or do some remarketing.
A small number strategically place videos on their websites for re-engagement. Pirsonal’s interactive video player can help by embedding data-driven videos on your site, ensuring visitors find engaging content right away.
Step 5: Craft a Compelling Story
The AIDA framework is excellent for creating video scripts and fits well with my earlier framework.
What’s the AIDA Framework?
AIDA stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, Action. It’s a simple way to structure your video script:
- Attention (0-10s): Hook the viewer (e.g., “Hi [Name], your retirement is a destination worth preparing for”). Audience profile: Mr. Informed.
- Interest (10-45s): Provide value (e.g., “Last year, you paid over [amount]. But where did that money go?”). Audience profile: Mr. Tell Me How.
- Desire (45-60s): Create urgency (e.g., “Paying a little bit more will help you get to your destination safer”). Audience profile: Mr. Tell Me How, Mr. Explorer
- Action (60s+): Drive clicks (e.g., “Read your statement now to find out more”). Audience profile: Mr. Tell Me How, Mr. Explorer.
Step 6: Design Your Video Template
What’s a Video Template?
A template is the base design of your video, with placeholders for dynamic data (e.g., name, location).
Video personalization tools, such as Pirsonal, enable you to leverage data-driven text, audio, video, images, and properties on a large scale.
How to Create One:
Use tools like Canva, Adobe After Effects (AE) or Premier to design your template.
Upload the media assets to Pirsonal Editor.
Add dynamic fields (e.g., {{First Name}}, {{City}}).
Watch this video to understand how dynamic video templates work:
Step 7: Automate Video Creation
How Does Automation Work?
Bulk Upload: Upload a CSV file to generate thousands of videos at once.
API/Triggers: Automatically create videos when a user submits a form or updates their CRM profile.
Example:
A travel agency used Pirsonal’s API to deliver personalized itinerary videos, resulting in a significant boost in sales.
Watch how it works:
Step 8: Test and Optimize
What Should You Test?
- Intros: “Hi [Name]” vs. “Your [City] offer expires soon.”
- CTAs: “Buy Now” vs. “Get My Discount.”
- Length: 30s vs. 60s.
Pro Tip: Based on our consulting sessions with clients, I’ve noticed that most of them should prioritize optimizing distribution channels (like email) and in-video call-to-action CTR. Therefore, open rates and click-through rates are crucial. Video content optimization should often be addressed last.
Step 9: Measure Success
Key Metrics to Track:
- Engagement: Views, watch time, interaction rates.
- Conversion: Click-through rates, lead generation, sales.
- ROI: Revenue per video vs. production cost.
To see this in action,
Dive deeper into analytics for personalized video marketing by watching this insightful on-demand webinar.
Step 10: Scale and Improve
What’s Next?
Once you’ve validated your approach, expand to:
- New customer segments (e.g., loyalty program members).
- Additional use cases (e.g., employee training, event invites).
How Pirsonal Makes Personalized Video Marketing Easy
Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned marketer, Pirsonal is here to help:
- SaaS Video Tools: Make personalized videos at scale quickly and easily.
- CRM and Data Integrations: Automate personalization using your existing data.
- Professional Services: Our team can handle everything from scripting to distribution.
- Scalable Workflows: Start small and grow with confidence.
- Security and Compliance: Pirsonal is an ISO 27001-certified personalized video vendor.
Ready to Get Started?
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Conclusion: Your Personalized Video Marketing Journey Starts Here
Personalized video marketing isn’t just for big brands with huge budgets. With the right video marketing strategies and tools, anyone can create engaging, data-driven videos that convert.
Your Next Steps:
- Setting goals for video marketing: It’s key to creating great videos for media that maximize engagement and impact through personalized content.
- Explore Pirsonal: See how our platform can simplify the process with our self-service tools and full assistance.
- Start Small: Launch a pilot campaign and measure the results. Here you’ll find some tips.
Need Help?
Our dedicated team is ready to support you at every stage. Reach out to us today to embark on your marketing video journey with personalized content designed to enhance engagement!
