Marketing

Step Up Your Retargeting Campaign Using Video Content

Posted January 19, 2021
Written by Ricky Wang

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Are you running paid ads and wondering how to make your retargeting efforts produce more leads and sales? You’re most likely already showing ad copy or images when remarketing. It’s now time to up your game by using video content with your campaigns. 

Video helps present an enhanced experience that engages your audience more deeply than images or the written word can. 

Does that mean you should abandon other forms of content in your retargeting? Of course not. All three content types have their place.

Let’s discuss how to start using video to supercharge conversions inside your existing retargeting strategy. 

What Are The Benefits Of Retargeting? 

If you’re here because you’ve struggled to get your retargeting campaigns to convert well, then let’s revisit the overall benefits of utilizing the technique. 

When you consider that less than 3% of all website visitors convert on their first visit, it’s no wonder that nearly half of search engine marketers think that remarketing should be used more often. 

Here are five important reasons to continue to use retargeting:

  • Generate engaged leads: It’s difficult to close cold leads. It’s like trying to hard-close a random prospect out of a phone book as opposed to a discussion with a sales qualified lead that sent you a call first. Retargeting results in a flow of leads who have already warmed up to your messaging and are further down the sales funnel. 

  • Make more sales: The bottom line is that any form of advertising must result in increased revenue and therefore make more money. Using a retargeting strategy adds more revenue because it attracts leads that are already familiar with your brand and typically convert more than cold prospects. In fact, studies show that retargeting improves conversion rates by up to 150%.

  • Improve ROI: Familiarity breeds trust. You should notice an increase in overall ROI when comparing retargeting campaigns against your other marketing strategies. 

  • Improve brand awareness: Have you heard of the decades-old marketing adage that says customers must see your marketing messages at least seven times before trusting your company? Remarketing campaigns help shorten the amount of time it takes for prospects to become familiar with your brand and reach buying decisions. 

  • Quality analytics: You’ll gain important insight into where your best remarketing conversions happen the longer you stick with the strategy. Use analytic reports as a strategic roadmap that guides you into more effective decisions. The more targeted the business roadmap, the better the product will convert.

So, What Is Video Retargeting?

Remarketing - Step Up Your Retargeting Campaign Using Video Content - Clipchamp Blog

A tracking pixel is used during retargeting pay-per-click advertising campaigns to collect prospects who have already been exposed to your brand in the form of:

  • Watching a video

  • Visiting your blog

  • Reading online content

  • Listening to an episode of your podcast

  • Seeing an infographic from the web 

Video retargeting means you’re now specifically using video content as you continue serving ads to that list of prospects. 

Facebook offers excellent remarketing options and two types of video retargeting exist there. The first type is called a Video Watcher Ad (VWA). 

This form of video remarketing presents new ads to people who have already watched one of your videos. These ads have the ability to measure video play rates and other specific actions. 

This means you can create ads aimed at visitors who watched a certain percentage of a video or finished the video entirely. 

The second type of ad is called a Video Content Ad (VCA). 

These ads feature videos as ad content, require video-supported platforms such as YouTube and Facebook, and get served based on actions taken by your website visitors. 

When Should You Use VWAs and VCAs? 

VWAs (Video Watcher Ads) are most effective when used later in your sales funnel. It’s best to target them toward users who have identified themselves via specific buyer-readiness actions. 

For instance, let’s assume that you know that product sales go up each time a prospect watches 100% of your sales video. 

You would use a VWA to bring visitors back if they’ve watched 40% or less of that video. 

You’ll typically use VCAs (Video Content Ads) more often because they’re the more versatile option when compared to VWAs. 

This type of video retargeting allows you to target ads to users who have completed certain actions. Use the following ideas for types of ads that work well when retargeting:

  • YouTube banners

  • Video blog that offers helpful content

  • A video that introduces a helpful lead magnet

  • Testimonial video

Types Of Videos To Use With Your Retargeting Campaigns

Let’s explore the types of ads to use with your campaigns in more detail. 

Your decision for choosing each kind of video is based on the overall objective of each retargeting campaign. 

1. Explainer videos

These are usually short in length because their purpose is to educate your audience about a specific industry concept or your product or service. 

An explainer video isn’t any more involved than putting together a few presentation slides and taking your customer on a journey that presents and then solves their problem. 

Pandadoc does this well:

Jeremy Moser, Co-founder at Responsely (a user-feedback SaaS), told me: 

“Explainer videos perform at 10x your typical retargeting. Directing folks back to your site is great, but it rarely leads to a conversion. They didn’t convert the first time because they didn’t perceive the value. In other words, your on-site copy didn’t convince them. Don’t just redirect them back to the same experience. Utilize an explainer video focused on showing why they need your product/service and how it impacts their bottom line.”

2. Customer testimonial videos

This is an excellent way to retarget prospects who have already been exposed to your brand because a customer testimonial isn’t relevant yet to a cold lead. 

Ask happy customers to document their story on camera and share any challenges they faced prior to working with you and how your company helped them experience the solution. 

Notice how these customers sell Omada Health for the company:

3. How-to videos

This is one of the most effective kinds of videos to use with a video retargeting campaign because customers enjoy learning via step-by-step processes.

Imagine the result you should experience when visitors who are already familiar with your company consume helpful how-to content. 

Asana does an excellent job with a quick how-to video that comes in under two minutes:

4. Demo videos

This might be in the form of showing a test of your product, an unboxing review, using a simple screen recording tool to help users navigate your web interface, or a walkthrough about how your product works. 

Use demo videos to systematically expose your audience to your most important product details. 

Consider that 66% of people would rather learn about your product via video than any other medium. The following SurveyMonkey video quickly shows prospects how easily they can send a survey. 

How The Customer Journey Affects Your Video Retargeting Campaigns

Think through the journey your prospects must go through in order to make an ultimate buying decision. 

Here are customer journey stages of your sales funnel to consider, as well as the types of videos to use at each step inside your sales funnel. 

Awareness: This is the stage of the funnel where you need to educate each prospect about who you are and why you’re the best solution to their problem. 

Your prospect might start with a Google or YouTube search and find your website or video. This is the stage where they know they have a problem but don’t have any idea about who has the most effective solution. 

Use these types of videos to retarget these prospects as you continue the education process:

  • How-to videos

  • Explainer videos

  • Fun videos that lead to a lead magnet opt-in

Consideration: This is the stage where prospects start comparing you against other options they’ve found as they started searching during the Awareness step. 

They continue searching on Google or YouTube, talk to friends, go to forums or Facebook groups, etc. 

Your analytics show you that they’ve been on your website, they’ve watched 50% or more of your Facebook video or that they’ve joined your email list

Now, it’s time to use the following types of videos to engage them further:

  • Product demos

  • Testimonial and/or case study videos

  • Webinar recordings

Decision: Your prospect is close to making their buying decision. They have engaged with your testimonial video or product demo, for example, and you need to help them see your product as the ultimate solution. 

Retarget them with another how-to video, FAQ video or explainer video and include a direct call-to-action into making the purchase.

Wesley Cherisien, a marketing expert says: “education is the most powerful sales tool. Oftentimes, visitors don’t convert because they don’t fully understand how the product or service works, or they misunderstand how it adds value to their lives. Regathering campaigns that focus on educating and empowering the consumer outperforms the sales approach in our campaigns.”

You never know how far a simple informative session can go. Whether it’s through a video or webinar demo, the results are pretty clear.

Advocacy: Happy customers are the best source of generating new sales that you have. Getting positive word-of-mouth advertising is just as important as getting your marketing and retargeting campaigns working well. 

Retarget your customers with the following videos in order to create Ambassadors who refer you out:

  • Interviews

  • Troubleshooting videos

  • Product update videos

How To Begin Your Video Retargeting Campaign

It’s now time to get started. However, you’ll achieve more success if you take time to plan out your strategy. Figure out what the primary goal is for the campaign. 

Are you trying to increase the number of free trial conversions, improve overall engagement, create more leads or increase brand awareness? 

Think through where prospects are inside the customer journey that we explained above and which video type to use as you set up your retargeting plan. 

Don’t begin filming new video or repurposing existing video content until after your goals and objectives are laid out. 

Go into your pay-per-click platform and add video to the mix of your current retargeting campaign. 

Measure the results, pivot when needed, and continue testing new ideas. You should see an increase in leads and sales the more your video retargeting plan becomes refined over time. 

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