How to Make Great Thank You Videos and Follow-Ups

If you want to learn how to make thank you videos or improve your follow-ups, all you need is the right software and a couple tricks to get started. Showcasing your personality is the easy part! Follow-up and thank you videos can increase customer engagement and future business opportunities. It’s also a great way to collect testimonials, improve reviews, and request referrals.

Why video is the best option for thank yous and follow-ups

No matter where you are in the sales journey, you can use video for stronger connections! Here are three reasons to use video in your communications:

1. Easily personalize

Video is often the best way to express gratitude and appreciation online. Video can help you humanize your communication, especially with a potential client.

If you can think of some creative ways to say thank you or follow-up in a video that fully showcases your personality and your brand’s image, people are more likely to respond to you and remember your message. People like to know that they’re communicating with another person, not a computer. By sending a thank you video after a meeting, or even at the end of an email exchange, you can remind the person you’re talking to that you genuinely value their time and needs.

2. Improve response rates

Not only do thank you video clips help your clients and prospects remember who you are, they also encourage people to respond to your messages more frequently. Adding a video to an email is shown to increase open and response rates. Even a quick video message can encourage people to keep a communication pathway open.

3. Stand out against other emails

Because our inboxes are incredibly cluttered, it’s essential to do everything we can to stand out in an inbox. By attaching a thank you video to your email communication, you’re putting a face to a name and already differentiating yourself from other potential competitors. Sending a quick video lets your client or prospect know that you care and are there to communicate with them. Putting in that extra time to send a thank you video helps your brand stay top of mind for anyone receiving your video messages.

Thank you video ideas

Saying “thank you” is often not just polite—it’s profitable!

If you are searching for a universal approach to express gratitude, video is by the far the best format to do so. For example, if you want to send a short message to someone for funding or a donation, video lets your donor know their efforts made a difference. If you sell a vehicle, you can express gratitude to a customer while introducing your service department and asking for referrals to family or friends.

There are so many use cases for sending short thank you videos to your customers and clients. Check out some of the most common examples below:

• Taking time to talk on a meeting

• Doing business with you

• Completing your training

• Signing up for free trial or promotion

• Being a client for a specific period (1 year, 5 years, 10 years, etc.)

• Offering a recommendation

• Providing a referral

• Purchasing your service or product

• Thanking donors for their time, goods, money, etc.

• Hosting an event you attended

5 strategies for sending a thank you message

Not quite sure how to make a thank you video? If you're new to video messaging or hesitant to get started, sending a thank you message is one of the best places to start. These videos have some of the highest view rates – everyone likes to be appreciated!

Keep these tips in mind when crafting your thank you video. Most importantly, your video should be genuine and sincere. Tell your customer how much you enjoyed working with them and that you're here to serve them in the future.

Now, let's dive into 5 specific strategies to keep in mind when recording your video.

1. Personalization first

The more you personalize your video, the more effective and impactful it will be. So, always point out specifics in a thank you video: mention the recipient's name, bring up what they purchased, cover points you discussed. A thank you video may be the extra push that turns your buyer into a lifelong customer.

2. Don't focus on perfection

Don't spend too much time getting the "perfect take" for your thank you message. Yes, you can make professionally produced videos to say thank you, but a hyper-personalized thank you recorded on your computer or phone often yields better results. A simple selfie-cam recording with you casually saying “thanks” will do its magic.

3. Keep thank you videos short and sweet

Sending a thank you video message doesn’t take much time. Keep your video short; we recommend under 1 minute to maximize engagement. With this time frame in mind, you should be able to record and send several videos in just a few minutes!

4. Be yourself

The style of your video depends entirely on you; you are free to make it professional, sweet, humorous, or casual. This medium allows you to share your message how you would in person, so go ahead and add your own personal touch. Don't be afraid to go "off script" from what you had outlined—you might even get bonus points for authenticity. Just make sure that the recipient gets the picture right away!

5. Send thank you messages often

Our Covideo crew tends to send thank you video messages often. The most common case for this type of video is after a sale has closed. We send a personalized video email thanking customers for their business and taking the opportunity to ask for reviews and/or referrals.

A thank you message also serves as a “reminder,” letting customers know that we’re here for them, available and at their service, providing help whenever they might need it.

Thank you video example template

If you’ve never recorded a thank you video before or you’re not sure where to begin, check out this example that we’ve used ourselves!

"Hey Emma, it’s Katherine from Covideo, I wanted to reach out and thank you for taking my call this afternoon. I know you had a lot going on, so I appreciated you taking some time to chat about using video throughout your sales process. I look forward to connecting next week to go over the software and learn more about your current sales strategy. Thanks again and enjoy the rest of your week. Talk to you soon!”

Using video to follow up on previous outreach

Most people understand how it’s beneficial to use video in initial introductions and at the end of a sales interaction to say thank you. But what about all the times in between?

Follow-up emails are a staple for any successful sales professional. When writing a plain-text email, your message is more likely to get lost in a flooded inbox and overlooked, leading to an ineffective follow-up and maybe a lost deal. But when you incorporate a video into your sales follow-up emails, it will engage your prospect and drive action.

Whether you’re sending a follow up email after providing a service or sending a “just checking in” email to get your prospect’s attention, adding video helps diversify your process. Thoughtful and effective follow-ups are made easier with video!

Things to keep in mind for follow-ups

First off, your subject line is extremely important. According to Hubspot, 33% of prospects will open an email just based on the subject line. However, don’t give up if you don’t hear back after your first outreach. It typically takes 8-12 touchpoints before someone responds, according to Outreach.

A follow-up email with no response can be discouraging and frustrating. The best solution is to switch things up and start using video in sales emails. Sending a video email helps you stand out in the inbox and increase responses and engagement.

Typically, sales teams use video to replace cold emails with video prospecting. In addition, they send video email introductions, appointment reminders, sales follow-up emails, second follow-up emails after no responses, and vehicle walkarounds. The use cases are truly endless.

Using Covideo for follow-ups

Covideo is a video email platform that allows you to record, send, and track personalized videos. In addition, you can track who, when, and how many times someone opens your email or views your video. Learn how to send a follow-up email after no response by scheduling a demo with one of our industry experts.

Best practices for sending a follow-up email after no response

There are many things to consider when determining how to write a follow-up email after your contact does not respond. But don’t be overwhelmed! If you keep these best practices in mind, you’ll increase your chance of getting a response.

Length of your video

Keep your videos short to boost engagement. Try to stay around 30 seconds. According to Ad Age, 33% of viewers stop watching a video after 30 seconds. Keep it short and simple, especially if this is a second follow-up email after no response.

Boost video quality

For a high-quality video, consider the device you’re using and the lighting around you. Try to have as much natural lighting as possible. Face a window and be sure there isn’t too much light behind you or record outside in a quiet space. No one likes grainy, dark, poor-quality videos.

Personalization and CTAs

Personalization is key. At Covideo, we use a whiteboard and write the recipient's name on it so it’s the first thing to show in a video thumbnail. We also include the contact’s name in the email subject line. This adds a warm touch to your message and increases the chance they open, watch, and respond to your video email. In addition, always include a call-to-action in your video. With Covideo, you can include custom CTA buttons that guide your viewer’s next steps and improve response rates.

Subject lines and email body

In addition to adding the individual's name, include the word “video” in the subject line when sending a video email. Research suggests that the word “video” increases open rates by at least 19%. In addition, add some text to the body of the email, but not too much. You want your video to do most of the talking and the text to act as a supplement. For example, highlight a few key points or reaffirm the action you want the recipient to take.

Follow-up video example template

If you’re in need of an example script of what to say in a follow-up after receiving no response to earlier correspondence, we’ve got you covered. Here’s an example of a script for what to say when recording a video email follow-up after no response:

“Hi John, this is Katherine with Covideo. I’m following up on my previous email with a personalized video to put a face to the name. As I mentioned earlier, we work with teams just like yours and help them increase connections and overall sales through personalized videos. I’d love to show you how other teams are using this in their sales process today. Click the button below to schedule a time to chat, and I look forward to hearing from you soon! Thanks.”

As you can see in the example above, your message stays the same. Instead, it’s just being delivered in a different format. Video email puts a face to a name, builds trust, speeds up the sales cycles, and creates a connection. Use the key practices above and watch the responses flow into your inbox.

Improve your follow-ups and thank yous with personalized video

Whether you’re following up after not getting a response or saying thank you for a closed deal, video can make an impact at any point in your sales cycle. The best part is you don’t need to be a professional videographer to access these benefits!

Covideo is a trusted video messaging software used by dealerships and businesses everywhere. Talk to one of our experts to see how our tools can benefit your sales!