How Infusionsoft Uses Video to Delight Their Leads

With great automation, comes great responsibility (and opportunity).

As our campaigns and workflows multiply, our customers receive increasingly tailored treatment (great). Relevant content sails in at opportune times, and assuming companies set it up correctly, the whole system is scalable (even better).

That’s all well and good, but as humans and content creators on the other end of this automated system, we have a responsibility — an opportunity — to shine.

Now that marketers are spending less time thinking about delivery and segmentation, we’ve got more energy and resources available to take our content to the next level. We’ve got more time to make our communications more captivating, more personable, and more human, than ever. To offset these efficient systems, we’ve got to double down on those personal touches.

At Infusionsoft, a software company that offers a CRM and marketing automation platform geared toward small businesses, their lead development team relies heavily on video and email to make their email campaigns more “human.”

Infusionsoft’s automation architecture

With over 30 different email campaigns customized for specific user behaviors, Infusionsoft’s lead development team is able to cater to different people’s demonstrated interests and use cases.

Jared Kimball, Demand Generation Strategist at Infusionsoft, explained, “Our lead scores are made up of two parts — one is based on demographic information, the other is related to their engagement level on our site and email activities.” If lead scoring — the process of prioritizing and ranking your sales leads — is new to you, check out this blog post on lead scoring and video to learn more.

When prospective customers perform certain actions on Infusionsoft’s website (like watching product videos or entering their email addresses to engage with content), they accumulate scores. When their scores reach a certain threshold, they appear on the lead development team’s radar.

Based on this information, members of the lead development team will call prospective customers and gather more details.

Video for every behavior

Phones can be tricky. In an ideal world, your prospective customer picks up the phone, you have a friendly chat, and you connect them with your sales team (if the chat goes well). Sounds easy enough.

But what if they don’t pick up? What if they entered the wrong number? What if you start a game of phone tag? Woof. No one likes phone tag. These one-to-one communications quickly become complicated and time-consuming.

Enter video. Combining video and email can go a long way when you’re trying to reach your customers and leave a lasting first impression.

Instead of sending a generic email saying, “Sorry we missed you. Call us back at your convenience,” why not take the opportunity to delight someone with a video that speaks to their experience with your company?

“Wrong Number” campaign

When a member of Infusionsoft’s lead development team attempts to call a prospect and realizes they have a wrong number, they send an email that includes a link to this video:

In only 30 seconds, this video conveys personality and elicits empathy from the viewer. Obviously, this scene exaggerates the experience on Infusionsoft’s end, but it also reminds the potential customer that there is an actual, friendly human (with a sense of humor) who is eager to help them.

With 91 plays to date and an average engagement rate of 88%, this video has delighted leads and encouraged future action, all with a relatively small amount of effort up front.

“MIA” campaign

When a lead doesn’t answer a call, they qualify for the “MIA campaign” and receive an email with a link to this video:

You’ll notice that the production for this video was pretty much identical to the previous one — a smart strategy for creating videos at scale.

There’s no need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to making several small, low-pressure videos. For important pages on your website, it’s worth the extra time and effort to make your videos unique. On the flip side, for one-to-one communication meant to deliver a simple message, there’s no need to spend hours on concepting and production. Knowing when and why to crank up your production value is important for a comprehensive video strategy.

With 226 plays so far and 86% engagement, this video has been a success for the lead development team. While 226 may not seem like a large number, that’s 226 people that Infusionsoft’s team didn’t have to keep calling. More importantly, it’s 226 people who developed some familiarity with their brand and the people behind their product.

“Phone Tag” campaign

Often, Infusionsoft’s team finds themselves caught up in games of phone tag with leads who’ve demonstrated considerable interest. It’s frustrating to try to call back and not receive an answer, so why not preemptively defuse the situation with an absurd video depicting a literal game of phone tag?

You’ll notice this video’s production required more time and effort than the previous example (and a team-wide cardio workout), which makes sense, given that the prospect is already well-qualified.

Making online business more human

Think about the last dinner party you threw. How did you welcome people at your door? Was your greeting the same for each guest, no matter who they were?

Chances are, it wasn’t. I’m guessing you didn’t give a 10-second bear hug to a friend of a friend whom you’ve never met.

That would be weird.

When creating email campaigns to welcome your prospective customers, think about that dinner party. Are you treating people differently based on their behaviors, preferences, or familiarity with your brand? Are you taking the time to create a personable first impression? If you’re not, you might want to start thinking about it.

With marketing automation gathering data and qualifying leads, we’re perfectly positioned to offer dynamite, tailored experiences to our customers. So instead of following up with sterile, automated interactions, stand out from your competitors with memorable, personal touches. It’s all within your reach with video!