How to Use Video Funnels to Increase Close Rates?

It seems like nowadays, everyone is always on the lookout for the brightest and newest shiny object that will completely transform their sales process and dramatically boost their conversion rates. However, sometimes, all it takes to see big results is a little bit of creativity and redesigning new models with tried and true elements in order to get the job done. If you're looking to get an added boost when it comes to your sales process, then we're here to tell you that video funnels can help you do just that. This article will detail just exactly what video funnels are, their benefits, and the various steps you can take to create killer video funnels to hack the sales process and increase close rates.

Sales funnels 101

In order to get a holistic picture of what exactly a video funnel is and what it can do for you, it's essential to understand the basics of sales funnels in general. If you're in the business of running your own business or helping others with theirs, then chances are you're already familiar with sales funnels to some extent.

Sales funnels, also referred to as "purchase funnels" or "purchasing funnels", are essentially just models that are designed to guide a consumer through your sales process. They illustrate a theoretical consumer journey towards the purchase of a product or services and identify/define various stages along the way.

The great thing about sales funnels is that they provide businesses with a way to structure the sales process. When you have a predefined, mapped out process of the consumer journey where you are able to identify various touch points along the way, you create a process that is both consistent and measurable.

This means everything.

When your sales process is consistent and measurable, you are able to effectively analyze it for deficiencies, inefficiencies and strong points in order to take steps to strategically improve upon your sales process and thus increase your conversion rates.

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The power of video

Okay, so now that we've done a quick recap of sales funnels and why they're beneficial, let's move on to the next topic: the power of video. There's no denying that video is one of the most popular tools you can use in order to increase brand awareness and boost close rates. This is primarily due to the fact that video content is simply just in high demand. Consumers love video. Not only does it make it easier for individuals to digest important information, but it provides a degree of entertainment that text simply just cannot compete with. In fact, recent research from Hubspot found that a whopping 54% of consumers surveyed cited they wanted to see more video content from brands and businesses which they support.

Simply put, when it comes to content, visual content is king -- just ask your marketing department. According to 2019 research from Wyzowl, an astounding 87% of marketing professional use video as a marketing tool. Furthermore, recent research from Optinmonster found that businesses who incorporate video in their marketing processes get a whopping 66% more qualified leads per year than those who don't.

Part of a marketing department's job is to help funnel leads to sales. If they already see the value in video and reap the resultant rewards, then why can't your sales department?

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Video funnels

Video funnels, also referred to as "video sales funnels"  are essentially just sales funnels that are structured around video content. Rather than leveraging traditional tactics of pitching, wouldn't it be better if you could just get someone to watch a quick, entertaining 1-3 minute video to guide them into the sales funnel?

What is great about video funnels is that they don't necessarily have to be these independent models that run on their own. In fact, many of them can be and are meant to be designed in order to be integrated with your pre-existing funnels and customer touchpoints.

Types of video funnels

You'll no doubt find a variety of models for structuring out your video funnels. However, for this particular article, we will go over what we believe to be the most simplified and straightforward process for structuring out and categorizing your video funnels.

1. Conversion funnels

First and foremost your conversion funnels are focused on getting more of your prospects to respond to your marketing/sales efforts. As a result, they are most suited for sales and marketing. Your conversion funnels ensure that your efforts to hook in new customers are effective and causing them to respond favorably. These help get your potential customers in front of your product and/or services, thus exposing them to your brand and offer.

These funnels are great for engaging prospects, nurturing inbound leads, following up on proposals, warming up cold leads and following up after various events such as sales meetings, webinars or trade events.

2. Activation funnels

This is essentially phase two in your video sales process. Activation funnels are first and foremost designed in order to increase customer engagement. As a result, they are best suited for customer success and marketing. This set of funnels is specifically crafted in order to convert potential customers into active customers who are using your products and/or services. These funnels also help to increase both retention rates and customer lifetime values.

Activation funnels are best used for scenarios such as onboarding new customers, thanking your newly activated customers, responding to customer issues, rewarding your most loyal customers, upselling or reactivating churning customers.

3. Growth funnels

The third set of funnels are your growth funnels and as their name implies, are designed in order to increase growth in all aspects. As a result, they are best suited for everything from customer success to account management and marketing. These funnels are going to be focused on things such as getting more upsells and increasing the number of customer reviews and referrals from your most loyal brand advocates.

So, if you were interested in getting case studies from customers who have had positive experiences with your brand, growth funnels would be a great option. Growth funnels can also be used to help get reviews, survey responses, referrals and to help re-activate previous customers who have gone MIA.

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Creating successful video funnels

When it comes to creating successful video funnels, you're going to want to focus on video content for the three following stages:

• Top of the funnel
• Middle of the funnel
• Bottom of the funnel

Video funnels work great on a number of channels but perhaps one of the most popular to leverage is social media. After all, it's no secret that video content dominates most social media platforms. In fact, according to recent research from Animoto, consumers cited video as the favorite form of content to see from a brand on social media.

When it comes to budgeting, it is suggested that you allocate approximately 20% to 40% of your budget behind your top of the funnel video content and then balance the remaining part of the budget behind your middle and bottom funnel content.

Top of the funnel video content

When it comes to creating your top of the funnel video content, you want to focus on establishing brand awareness. Focus on a length of 1min-5min, but generally speaking, shorter tends to be the recommended choice by social media professionals. When it comes to the type of video content to create, many times spokesperson videos tend to work best simply because as consumers, we naturally respond well to human faces.

Middle of the funnel video content

Your middle of the funnel video content generally should be much shorter than your top of the funnel content. We're talking like, less than 1 minute unless you happen to be using something such as a testimonial video. Make sure that you're using landscape video for platforms such as Youtube and square video for platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. It's always a good idea to subtitle your videos as well. Keep in mind that you want your pitch to be more aggressive than it would be for top of the funnel content, but not as aggressive as bottom of the funnel content. It's also a good idea to look into any historical data that you may have to identify any common FAQs, causes for returns/dissatisfaction or customer pain points. You'll also want to make sure that you include important information relating to concerns over pricing, quality, trust and shipping.

Bottom of the funnel video content

This is where it's time to really step it up a notch and kick it into gear. Content in the bottom of the funnel tends to be much more aggressive, short and to-the-point and also reminder-based. You're still trying to win over your customer, but at the same time, you're also trying to create an efficient process. This is also the perfect opportunity to provide your prospects with additional discounts or offers. This helps persuade those who aren't quite ready to make a potentially significant investment into your product/services to purchase at a reduced price. It also helps build trust and win over those middle of the road prospects.

Conclusion

Video funnels are a great way to help invigorate the sales process and increase conversion rates and customer lifetime values. If you're interested in incorporating video funnels into your sales strategy, use this article as a nifty guide to help you get started off on the right foot. We're certain you'll be happy with the results.

‍If you're interested in learning more about how VisioneerIT can help you improve your processes and boost sales, visit us as www.visioneerit.com today.

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Sources:

• https://prismic-io.s3.amazonaws.com/bonjoro/0e54ce13-4d9e-454c-b415-5e0c36993337_VideoFunnelPlaybook-Final+2020.pdf
• https://www.oberlo.com/blog/video-marketing-statistics
• https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-create-video-ad-funnels-travis-chambers/
• https://www.cincopa.com/blog/how-to-build-a-successful-video-marketing-funnel/

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