If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a million times: it’s easier (and more cost-effective) to retain a current customer than it is to find a new one.

Here’s something else to think about: a five percent increase in customer retention correlates with at least a 25% increase in profit.

With all this in mind, it’s easy to see that you should devote the proper resources to customer retention. How you do so depends on a variety of factors, including the manner in which you typically engage with customers, their current level of satisfaction, and the capabilities of your team.

Video is one of the best ways to increase your customer retention rate. Not only does it allow you to speak directly to your customers, but you’re able to do so in a more creative and engaging manner.

Also, some customers are “visual” learners, meaning they’ll respond better to a personalized video than a wall of text.

While it makes sense to experiment with every type of video, some are more likely to generate results than others.

Here are three types of videos that can increase your customer retention rate:

1. Emotional Videos

   Emotionally driven videos have a good chance of engaging your audience and captivating their mind for a short period of time.

   You can target a variety of emotions, ranging from fear to humor. Just make sure you identify this upfront, as to keep your approach consistent throughout the video.

   For example, a humorous video will keep your audience engaged, which gives you time to deliver your message.

   Some of the most common examples of emotionally charged videos include:

   • Documentaries outlining the wins and/or losses of real people
   • Branded videos
   • Comedic sketches

   With video, you naturally have the opportunity to personally connect with your audience. And when you create and distribute emotionally-driven videos, you have an even greater chance of making a strong connection.

   Tip: no two customers are the same, so you may target a different emotion for each one. This is where personalization comes into play (more on this below).

2. Personalized Videos

   This doesn’t mean you have to create every video from scratch. Instead, you can work from a template to create a personalized video for every customer. This helps to speed up the process, all without missing out on the ability to personalize your approach.

   Answer these questions before beginning your journey of creating personalized videos:

   • Have you identified the key demographics associated with each customer?
   • What type of content has the customer engaged with the most in the past?
   • What are the traits that make the customer unique?
   • What type of message do you want to get across?
   • What is the personality of the person who’s most likely to view the video? (your main point of contact)

   These aren’t the only questions to answer, but they’ll help you formulate your approach and create a personalized video that hits home.

3. Email Videos

   Even if you understand the power of email marketing, it’s easy to overlook the use of video.

   Gone are the days when email marketing was “nothing but words.” In today’s day and age, it’s critical to share visual content, with video at the top of the list.

   Here’s a statistic that should get you excited: including video in an email can result in a 200 to 300 percent increase in click-through rate. With that, you have the opportunity to engage your audience on your website.

   The biggest challenge of including video in email marketing messages is simply getting started. If you haven’t done this in the past, you may find it hard to believe that it’ll work in the future.

   Once you’re ready to take action, these video tips will help:

   • Format your video for viewing on every imaginable email client, device, and browser.
   • Test your video before sending it.
   • Don’t embed a video in every email (you don’t want your audience to become blind to them).
   • Play on the customer’s emotions (see above)

   When you do these things, you’ll find it easier to create videos and distribute them via email in a way that moves the needle.

( Also Read: What is Email Marketing? )

Are You Ready?

Every business wants to increase its customer retention rate, but some are unwilling to take the steps necessary to do so.

If you’ve ignored the use of videos in the past or haven’t achieved the desired results, now’s the time for a change.

Above, we outlined three types of videos designed to increase your customer retention rate. Experiment with these, among others, for an idea of what resonates best with your audience. From there, go all-in with video, track the results, and continue to tweak your strategy.

Do you have any experience using video to increase your customer retention rate? Which type of video has generated the best response?