How To Use An Animated Video In The Sales Funnel to Boost Conversions
An animated explainer video is an excellent solution for businesses that want to deploy the power of video marketing in their strategies. Using a video at different stages of a sales funnel, you can increase conversions and generate quality leads. However, you must know which types of video content will work the best for different phases of a customer journey.
It means that you should also know how to reach customers at the right moment, with the answers to the right questions, and what kind of people you should target. In this article, we will consider how a visually stunning animated video can boost your business at no time and how to use it in a sales funnel correctly.
Top of the Funnel: Awareness Stage
The top of the funnel marks an awareness stage of a customer journey. At this phase, potential customers identify their problems and investigate solutions suggested by different companies in the market.
That is why your animated video-content should be focused solely on the customer’s needs and problem solutions. At this stage, it is better to take an educational approach. It is not the time for “salesy” and “promotional” videos. It is time to engage the audience, make people interested in what you offer, and turn them into potential buyers. Your primary objective is to deliver people relevant information to contribute to their research.
To get a clearer understanding of what kind of content you should offer to your customers, ask yourself the following questions:
- How do potential buyers describe the problems they face?
- How do they educate themselves about these problems?
- What will be the possible negative consequences if they do not find a solution to that problem?
With answers to these questions, you are more likely to succeed in delivering a video to customers at the top of a sales funnel. Animated educational videos perform the best at this step.
Branded videos also work great to grow your brand awareness, and it is actually one of the most critical goals during your awareness stage.
Middle of the Funnel: The Consideration Stage
In the middle of the funnel, there is the consideration stage. Now, your customers clearly understand their problems and still are looking for the best solutions.
It is the right moment to help them and share how they can tackle their challenges using your product or service. At this stage, you should assist potential buyers in addressing their issues by unobtrusively introducing them to solutions delivered by your company.
At this step, your audience will be considering several options suggested by different brands and thinking of what’s the best for his/her specific case. So, you should create an animated explainer video that evokes a vivid interest in your brand, promises the best solution for a customer, and convinces people to opt for your brand.
It should be the moment of your biggest creativity and innovation in a product presentation since all the competitors will start an even tougher struggle at this step. Show people that your company understands their pain points and works hard to provide solutions that will give them pain relief.
To create an animated video that meets the right goals, ask yourself the next questions:
- What categories of solutions do buyers investigate?
- How do potential customers decide which solution is the best for them?
- How do they weigh the advantages and disadvantages of these solutions?
At this step, there are two most effective types of an animated video: explainer videos and product videos.
Animated explainer videos can convey complicated concepts in an easy-to-digest form and creatively. Using colorful animations and great storytelling techniques, you can make this video amazingly engaging. It can make people interested in the brand that stands behind this fun video. A great example is an animated explainer video created by Explain Ninja for Pipedrive.
Product videos are the ones that show a product, service, or software in action. Watching this kind of video, people can experience the “try before you buy” effect. Animated marketing videos promote your brand and entertain people at the same time so that they can become more loyal to your company.
Bottom of the Funnel: Decision-Making Stage (Time to Close Deals!)
At the decision-aking stage, people weigh all the pros and cons of the chosen solution one more time. It is a phase of doubts and considerations. To trigger a purchase decision, a brand should showcase all the product or service advantages and reasons why this company is the best option for a potential customer, including awards, testimonials, company rankings, and more.
It is your last chance to convince a person to make a purchase. That is why content is uber-important here.
To shape a better vision of your future animated video for a decision-making stage, consider the following questions:
- How are your prospects evaluating their final options?
- What does set your brand apart from competitors?
- What does make your product or services unique?
- What is your brand’s specific approach to the customer’s problem?
Answering these questions, you will be able to create a viable informational and visual structure of your animated marketing video.
The main aim of video-content at the decision-making stage is to make people trust your brand and opt for it. Using various techniques that show social proof of your company, a brand will multiply chances to become a choice of plenty of customers around the globe.
Use previous customer feedback in your videos to let prospects see that your product or service is loved by many other people who have already got a positive customer experience with your brand. It is a powerful incentive for your prospects to make the final decision.
Conclusion
Animation is an excellent tool for creative storytelling that can bring plenty of benefits to your marketing strategy. Applying animated videos at different stages of a sales funnel, you can engage prospects to continue interacting with your brand and move to the next phase of a customer journey.
Hopefully, this article will help you get a better understanding of how to use an animated video in your marketing strategy to extract the most benefits for your company and add even more value to your business in the customer’s eyes.