Email might be the first method of contact for many a channel representative, but if your clickthrough rates are barely hovering above three per cent and you think you can make a better pitch on camera, Kitchener, Ont.-based Vidyard would like to help you out.
On Tuesday the company launched ViewedIt Enterprise, a business-facing version of its free video recording tool aimed at sales teams looking for a more personal touch.
In a Jan. 10 blog post, Vidyard CEO and co-founder Michael Litt explained ViewedIt as his company’s attempt to combine the best qualities of phone calls, emails, and video chat – a personal touch, convenience, and visual impact, respectively – with none of their drawbacks (the phone’s tendency to interrupt, the time-consuming nature of video calls, the sheer volume of emails that leave many business users ignoring more than 90 per cent of their inbox).
“With ViewedIt, it’s literally one click to start recording on your webcam, and one click to send the result,” he wrote. “It’s even easier than composing and typing out an email. You don’t need to worry about grammar or spelling — you just talk.”
To let recipients know they’re receiving a video message, dropping a ViewedIt recording into an e-mail composer brings up a video thumbnail, into which senders can smile, wave, or write a personal message to display on-screen.
“The payoff of personalization can be extraordinary,” Litt wrote. “We’ve seen that when people customize video messages, conversion rates increase by 450 percent, open-response rates improve by 800 percent and viewers engage 80-percent longer.”
The original ViewedIt was a Chrome browser extension that, by default, recorded both the user’s face and their screen, placing the former in a corner, commentator-style – perfect for tutorials, but not speeches, pitches, or demonstrations, and hardly a replacement for email. ViewedIt Enterprise, which retains the original’s commentator option, can also be integrated with Chrome, or the user’s email platform. It also includes the original’s audience tracking features, making it ideal for sales teams as well.
Thus far, ViewedIt has been installed nearly 30,000 times, according to the company, with users in more than 175 countries recording more than 57,000 videos. Its core video platform is used by such well-known international names as Honeywell International Inc., Lenovo Group Ltd., LinkedIn Corp., and Sharp Electronics Corp.
Vidyard has made it clear that with ViewedIt Enterprise, it aims to redefine sales across the board, including:
- Inside Sales: Record and send prospecting videos using full-screen webcam mode, or create attention-grabbing product walk-through videos.
- Field Sales: Send curated follow-up materials such as testimonial videos, demos, or campaign videos after your call, along with a personalized introduction.
- Solutions Consultants: Build and send custom product demos using screen recordings or on-demand product videos.
- Customer Success: Share on-boarding videos, custom instructional content, or guides to getting started with your customers.
- Support: Create custom, personalized support videos that include step-by-step instructions.
- Product Management: Record demos of new products and features.
As for the program’s tracking features, senders can look forward to not only receiving information such as viewing time and click-through rates, but prioritize leads based on viewing history, which the ViewedIt Enterprise platform will automatically push into your company’s existing CRM system.
“Ultimately, the applications for ViewedIt are as limitless as for email itself,” Litt wrote. “Imagery and video are quickly becoming the preferred means of communication today – businesses clinging to ‘text tunnel-vision’ risk finding themselves left behind.”
For more information, check out the introductory video that Litt himself recorded below, or click here to download a demo.