How businesses can personalize the customer experience with video email

In 2010, business marketing expert Susan Baroncini-Moe wrote: "Your relationships with customers and clients matter because people do business with people, not businesses. If potential clients and customers know you, like you and trust you, they'll want to do business with you. How do you show them that they can trust you? Build a relationship with them and let them get to know you."

This idea comes to most of us intuitively, but putting it into practice is easier said than done. With time at a premium, many business professionals bypass potentially time-consuming phone conversations with new prospects, opting for the less personal, yet time-saving text email as their introductory message. So, in today's fast-paced world, how do businesses build relationships with consumers under increasing time restraints? One particularly powerful method is the use of Web video.

Web video views have literally exploded over the past five years averaging 34 percent growth annually. Every day more than 3 billion videos are viewed on YouTube. The White House maintains its own channel on Vimeo. Even Facebook, known more for its photo uploads, has more than 20 million videos uploaded each month.

Businesses looking for a more personal application of Web video are turning to video email. Covideo, an innovative video mail service provider since 2004, crafted its product to meet the needs of business clients. This video email system allows businesses to personalize the initial greeting to prospects, demonstrate products and keep customers updated on the latest news - all by recording a quick video from a computer (or phone) and emailing it to one or all of its contacts. The best part is the sender of the video has real-time access to who viewed the video, how much of it they viewed and how many times - valuable for effective follow-up.

"The majority of our customers are small businesses looking to gain an edge over their competitors," says Jason Cooper, IT director for Covideo. "Video email gives them that edge. Other than direct contact, there's no better way to develop a rapport with prospects than by sending a personal video."

Some of Covideo's advantages over YouTube and Facebook are the specific nature of who receives a video, the ability to brand the video email experience from start to finish and the detailed viewer reports. Cooper explains, "YouTube and Facebook lack key features needed by the business community. When businesses use video to promote their products, they want as controlled an environment as possible; no rival ads, no other videos vying for attention."

Digitally-savvy businesses that know the value of good relationships, but want to manage their time should investigate using Covideo to optimize their communications.