• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, July 25, 2023

Tired of sending text emails that bore your audience? Try video.

Video is a top prospecting tool, especially in the financial services and high tech markets, judging by Video in Business Benchmark Report, a study by Vidyard.   

In fact, financial services has overtaken high tech as the No. 1 sector, the first time this has happened. And this is part of an apparent larger shift: In 2021, the leaders were High Tech, Media/Entertainment/Publishing and Communications.

The study is based on an analysis of over 1,778,000 videos that were created or uploaded to Vidyard in 2022, a 29% increase over the prior year. 

Of these, 72%, were user-generated, using Vidyard’s tools. The remainder were created elsewhere and uploaded. 

But keep this in mind: Since these numbers reflect only Vidyard’s clients, it is likely that the boost in video use in some sectors is due to a dedicated sales efforts in those areas.

Either way, the study shows the number of videos deployed per company in 2022:

• Financial services — 934
• High Tech — 917
• Education and Public Services — 635
• Retail and Consumer Goods — 534
• Professional Services — 526
• Media, Entertainment and Publishing — 500
• Real Estate — 359
• Manufacturing and Distribution — 307
• Healthcare — 252
• Food and Leisure — 145
• Not-for-Profit — 124
• Communications — 103

How does your firm stack up against these numbers? 

Of those studied, 74% of BDRs and SDRs are creating outbound prospecting videos, along with 67% of account executives. Product demos are being used by 65% of customer service reps. 

In terms of length, 2- to-4-minute videos saw 53% growth. And 4-to-10-minute video usage grew by 25%. 

The study cites research from Salesloft found that including a video in an email increases reply rates by 26%. 

The study urges financial services companies to “stop being a faceless entity behind a text email, and start sending your own personal (and secure) videos. When a client sees your face and hears your voice, it establishes an instant sense of trust, and they feel personally cared for.” 

Vidyard advises firms that if “your company has a library of produced videos already on hand, host them with a built-for-business video platform that lets you analyze how they’re performing. If you need to connect with customers in a personal way, start recording your own one-to-one videos. Start by just turning on your webcam, recording a quick introduction, and sending it to a new prospect in lieu of that same old cold email.”