10 Creative Ways to Improve Prospecting and Sales Emails with Video

Optimizing prospecting and sales emails is something you could probably dedicate the rest of your life to. You might even argue that that’s a good part of what you’ve been doing to this point. Because, if your sales team can’t stand out in the inbox, grab attention, and ignite a response from their prospects or accounts, how are they going to close a deal?

They’re probably not. Or, they’ll at least struggle a lot.

Which is why it’s exciting when a new tactic is uncovered that will improve things like open, click-through, or response rates … significantly.

We’ve seen that happen with video.

Reps that use video in prospecting, relationship-building, and sales emails see 5x higher open rates and 8x higher open-to-reply rates. And they’re just getting started.

As sales leaders learn that video is the next generation of sales communication, they’re starting to ask not “why should I be using video?”, but “how should I be using video?”. What should reps actually do with video? There are probably hundreds of ways to use video in email prospecting, relationship-building, and selling. But let’s start with 10 for now.

 

10 Ways to Improve Prospecting, Relationship-Building, and Selling Emails with Video

Different types of videos can be used for different email communications depending on whether you’re prospecting a new lead, keeping in touch with warm leads, or closing the sale. Take a look at the 10 different opportunities in the diagram below.

Using Video in Prospecting Emails

When you’re freshly reaching out to a new lead, it’s so important that you stand out and get noticed. Prospecting emails have to stick out in crowded inboxes. For BDR and SDR teams, the best opportunities to spice up those prospecting emails with video are:

 

1. Cold Prospecting
2. Follow-Up
3. Account-Based Sales Approach

 

The biggest things to keep in mind here are similar in nature to any other form of prospecting: you’re trying to capture attention with an audience that doesn’t really know you yet. You’ll want to focus your videos on:

• Capture attention – use “video” in email subject lines and include the thumbnail in the email body
• Establish credibility – reps should give their prospects a reason to engage with them other than to pull out their checkbook right away
• Make it personal – top reps spend time learning about an individual and their business and then use this info to connect with leads individually

 

 

Learn more about these video types in Lesson 2 of the Video Selling Institute, Video #1: Opportunities for Video in Prospecting.

 

 

Using Video in Relationship-Building Emails

Sometimes, you already know your leads. You don’t need to introduce yourself and establish your position in the market: your leads already know this. But you do need to keep front and center in their minds in an effort to keep building relationships and be there when it comes time for them to make a decision. The videos that are used to do this are:

 

1. Share Marketing Content
2. Use Content from the Web
3. Simply Say Hello

 

In this case, the biggest things to keep in mind are:

• Make sure the content is hyper-relevant – encourage your reps to keep their own, detailed notes on various leads and consume content in areas they’re familiar with!
• Be approachable and encourage dialogue – reps need to give leads reason to respond so you can have a conversation and not a one-way broadcast
• Think about how your reps can help them – to guide their communications in a helpful, educational manner and build an ally-style relationship

 

 

Learn more about these video types in Lesson 2 of the Video Selling Institute, Video #2: Opportunities for Video in Building Relationships.

 

 

Using Video in Selling Emails

When leads are getting closer to the bottom of that funnel and they’ve been passed off to an AE, your team still needs video. The best way to use video in the final stages of selling are:

 

1. Micro-Demos
2. Follow-Up
3. Low-Cost Customer Touches
4. Revive Cold Accounts

 

In selling emails that are getting closer to the close, it’s most important to:

• Tie your company’s value prop to them and their needs – just like any sales pitch, they need your reps to do the heavy lifting for them: why do they need your product and how can you help them
• Be confident, but not pushy – leads want to know that your team knows their stuff, but no one wants to be strong-handed into a deal
• Make it personal and connect one-to-one – people do deals with people. If your AEs can build camaraderie with their accounts (which is much easier to do face-to-face with video), they’ll have the upperhand

 

 

Learn more about these video types in Lesson 2 of the Video Selling Institute, Video #3: Opportunities for Video in Selling.

 

 

Now Add Those Videos to Email with These Templates

If your team is going to the effort of creating new videos (simple getting started tips here!), you’ll want to make sure they get watched. Creating a great video is only about ¾ of the battle. The rest of the battle is nailing the copy that supports the video in your email.

Check out these 3 top email templates for different video-based emails for prospecting, relationship-building, and selling!

 

The post 10 Creative Ways to Improve Prospecting and Sales Emails with Video appeared first on Vidyard.

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