Most purchases today happen through digital platforms using the internet, and therefore video marketing is one of the primary sales strategies for all SaaS businesses. According to Proposify’s research, SaaS companies that had a video in their proposals enjoyed a 41% higher close rate.
The launch or promotion of a new SaaS product without diligent and strategic video marketing makes no sense anymore.
Videos help in complexifying the UI, Creating awareness and generating more leads, explaining the product, pushing for more trials, and increasing the conversion rate. Incorporating engaging videos in the content marketing and digital marketing strategy of a company can prove to be revolutionary.
About the Video Type: A SaaS product launch video is a strategic effort by the marketing team to introduce the new product in a way that generates buzz, carves a niche, and stays in the memory of the potential customers.
Product launch videos are generally used for outreach, to build awareness, and to drive leads. It is an essential medium to quickly communicate the benefits and potential of a new SaaS product or service.
Company: Adobe Marketing Cloud
Why it works: One of the most effective videos in its space, Adobe Marketing Cloud does a stellar job of creating a supremely engaging storyline of an Astronaut’s launch mission that immediately connects with the viewer, with the nail-biting pressure of the action in the control room.
We see that the task of the control officer gets interrupted, again and again, the viewer begging to empathize with the frustration that the officer feels when the team runs out of budget for more changes. After that -with no particular explanation of what the product will actually offer – we see the logo and branding of the company appear on the screen, claiming that it can help the potential user with marketing strategies.
The video is brilliant as it engages the user, promising a deliverable output, despite revealing nothing and yet generating enough recall value.
About the Video Type: These videos are used to encourage leads to try or buy a new SaaS product or service. The intent of a promotional video is to grab the viewer’s attention and keep them engaged to take desired action. Such videos can also offer time-bound discounts and exclusive deals that push the customer to convert.
Company: TripCase
Why it works: The video starts by targeting the audience for whom this app would be most useful – working corporate professionals who want to travel, but don’t have time to plan everything out.
We take a journey with an engaging female protagonist as she outlines the problems she faces with traveling clearly and how TripCase provides great benefits for the same.
The video shifts between live-action footage of the women on an airport, being pushed around by co-passengers and going through Security Check, and of her operating the UI on her mobile phone (which also gets projected on the wall behind the to give more clarity to the viewers) to easily book flights, get weather updates, book cabs, check hotels, etc. for her trip.
The logo animation, in the end, highlights how the SaaS can manage and organize trips for passengers and aid in putting an end to travel complications.
About the Video Type: FAQ-Type videos help in providing the necessary clarity for a newly launched SaaS product. Such videos are usually based on problem-solving, and address the most popular questions asked frequently about the brand or the product. Such videos not only help in generating trust but aid in improving customer onboarding in the future.
Company: JotForm
Why it works: The video begins with addressing one of the most frequently-asked-questions by JotForm customers. This FAQ video is short and crisp with the branding, logo, and color scheme being heavily present in every frame.
The video directly addresses the doubt of whether or not a subscriber needs to have prior coding experience to create a form. Two experts in the field explain how easy it is to use JotForm’s UI to create a form with zero coding experience in seconds. The video ends with a logo animation and information about the website.
About the Video Type: These videos help in highlighting the authenticity of a SaaS product and marking its value and benefits for potential leads. Case study videos also explain key features of the product’s UI, the time and cost benefits of the SaaS, and emphasize illustrating customer success.
Company: Square
Why it works: This video is an excellent example of showcasing how a product or service has directly benefited the user. We see Danny Davis of ‘Dean Leather’ and the workings of his business before and after using Square with the help of creative Doodle icons appearing next to Danny as he engages with his story.
We understand his journey from facing issues while using bulky credit card machines to switching over to a wireless platform that took care of all his records. The video ends with him giving a definitive statement that he would stick to using the SaaS is encouraging for any viewer to see.
About the Video Type: A product introduction video generally teases an upcoming product and gives a peek into how it would solve a problem for its potential customers. This type of video is essential in targeting the right market from the beginning, and they help in creating curiosity and hype around the upcoming solution.
The focus is not on the working of the UI but on understanding the benefits and the workflow of the product. A well-made product introduction video can help immediately skyrocket the sales of a new SaaS.
Company: Headspace
Why it works: The primary goal of the video is to mark the pain points being faced in the mental health area and introduce a SaaS that will aim to solve them. We see multiple characters depicting distress, anxiety, frustration, and other mental health problems that we all feel in our day-to-day life.
The video also specifies a wide range of customers – from teachers and dancers to professional chefs and artists- can all benefit from guided meditation. Without getting into the details of the UI, the video attempts to introduce the concept of how exercise advised by the app can help with self-esteem issues, understanding patience, and happiness, focusing on the sleep cycle, managing stress, etc.
The branding and colors are consistent and help in increasing the recall value. The video ends with a logo animation and powerful CTA to get started with the app.
About the Video Type: As the word demo suggests, a product demo video is basically a quick demonstration of a new SaaS product or service to potential customers. These videos can make or break the perception of a new product.
A good demo video, not just intrigues and promotes the product, it educates the customers on how to use the complex UI and introduces them to the benefits the SaaS will hopefully provide.
Company: Book Like A Boss
Why it works: The video starts with establishing the brand using a logo animation, and straight-away addresses the main pain-point of optimizing booking pages, which this SaaS proposes to aid with.
The man giving the demo has a reassuring voice and confidently explains the basics about landing pages, sales, leads, and conversions while icons and kinetic typography related to the pitch appear next to him on screen.
The video demonstrates how Book Like A Boss can help in setting up employment, coaching sessions, hosting video calls, group meetings, booking conference rooms, online classes, multiple-day events, webinars, etc.- all using the UI of the product. The man successfully highlights all the benefits of the SaaS and in the end, uses a strong call to action to start a free trial.
About the Video Type: Company videos are all about building the brand image, establishing trust, and creating credibility for any new product by giving insight into the workings of the company, their motive with the benefits the SaaS promises and their goal about their upcoming product or service.
Company: Room & Board (Salesforce)
Why it works: The video begins with positive music playing in the background as the viewer gets a first-hand stand experience of what the company looks like. The viewers watch as the Director of the Customer Experience, Kimberly, talks about retail and connecting the digital world with physical for the user.
Kinetic typography is used to highlight the goals of the company with the scene shifting to real-life footage. John, the Retail Business Intelligence Manager, explains how they aim to address the need of every single customer coming to the website as they would have done in a one-on-one store.
The video goes on to show satisfied customers that were being attended to in an offline store. The video then explains how Salesforce marketing cloud has helped in establishing the connection between Room & Board’s real store and their web presence.
This not only depicts the functioning of the retail company but also how Salesforce works to enable their presence in an automated fashion with high benefits. The video ends with the Salesforce branding colors and logo, as they call out for more services to try out their customer success platform.
About the Video Type: A how-to video focuses on quickly explaining a small section or feature of the UI. For a newly launched product, these videos are kept really short as the product is still in its awareness and trial stages. How-to videos help in targeting and highlighting the best features of the product, one at a time to maximize engagement.
Company: CrazyEgg
Why it works: The video starts with stating how hard it is for a new company to understand where they are losing traffic and why the leads are not converting. The use of an animated character in the video tries to infuse an element of humor in depicting his frustration of understanding where he is losing potential clients.
The video then goes on to explain how CrazyEgg is better than Google Analytics. With the help of screengrabs, pop-ups, and motion graphic elements we see how CrazyEgg allows you to engage with the heat map tool, scroll map tool, overlay report, confetti tool, etc.
The video has strong branding elements and ends with a powerful CTA, calling the user to start a trial for free.
About the Video Type: Testimonial videos provide the social proof that any newly launched product requires, in its initial stages, to generate faith in potential customers and help them in signing up for trials.
It is a means of persuading new leads, adding the human touch to the pitch, and showcasing real-life experiences and benefits of the SaaS product or service. These videos can work like magic if the clients are high profile, well-established businesses and the testimonials are from thought leaders of the field.
Company: Zoom
Why it works: The video says it all as we see a powerful company like Firefox declaring that they could not function without Zoom. We see Doug, SVP Collaboration Services, 20th Century Fox talk about how unique and fun the features of Zoom are, and how they’ve helped with conducting meetings with clients from all over the world in the best possible way.
The video then shows Jeff Dow, confessing that he could not do his job without using Zoom because he has to distribute content to 195 countries with 40000 employees involved. Whether it was filming and production units or managing the FIFA football tournament, Zoom mobile cases were created to ensure the seamless flow of information and cyber security.
Without showing the branding, logo, or the UI of the app, the video successfully establishes Zoom’s credibility and authority in the field and concludes by assuring that there is no replacement for Zoom as sworn by all the industry giants in the video.
About the Video Type: The primary purpose of educational videos is to train customers. They can range from tutorials and webinars to real-life coverage of promotional events and scheduled online classes. These videos help in creating excitement about the product, educating customers on different sections of the SaaS UI and improving customer adoption.
Company: Microsoft
Why it works: The video takes the viewer to Microsoft’s Premier Developer Conference. The video follows the ongoings of the event, as the speakers Collen and Sonia talk about what the highlights were for them for the Microsoft Build event, including presenting a demo during Satya Nadella’s keynote.
As the viewer starts to establish a connection with Sonia, she takes you on a fact journey of Microsoft Build and discusses the importance of trust for Microsoft. The hosts then get into a detailed example of how Starbucks is using their tech to improve customer experiences, all while the viewer attends the main event happening in Seattle with them.
Collen and Sonia connect with the CyberCode Twins, America, and Penelope, to learn how they are helping build coding communities in Puerto Rico, Mexico and India. The video takes the viewer through the entire experience of Microsoft Build through this weekly YouTube series from Microsoft, that focuses on customer education by looking at Microsoft’s latest technology, and the people and stories behind the tech.
1. Develop an efficient video marketing strategy that addresses issues like the goals, type of videos, aim of the campaign, budget, various stages of content production, and measurement of success.
2. Understand the demographics, financial background, logistics, gender, educational background, etc. to precisely target your audience.
3. Research to understand which social media platform – Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Tik Tok, Vimeo, etc.- attracts the largest number of your targeted audience.
4. Analyze the different stages of the marketing funnel and segregate data that needs to be converted into content to optimize video marketing strategy at every stage.
5. Consistency of branding and content in the videos is extremely important in clearly marking a place for the product.
6. Keep the content of the video simple and crisp to uncomplicate things and effectively educate the potential user.
7. Optimize the video by paying attention to keywords, adding descriptions, creating tags and hashtags, using SEO correctly, creating transcripts, targeting multi-platform promotions, and working on audience retention.
The truth is that SaaS products are hard to understand and therefore it becomes tough for companies to convert even high-quality leads. According to a survey by Oberlo, 87 percent of marketing professionals use video as a marketing tool and video marketers get 66 percent more qualified leads per year.
Video marketing is no longer a trend but a necessity, and any business that is serious about putting their SaaS on the map needs to get on board with it.
The highlight needs to not just be on the product but also on the brand, so that new users can react positively to the proposition. Apart from talking about the benefits the product will provide, it is essential to highlight the goal and future road map of the company. The video length should not be too long and the ending CTA should be powerful enough to nudge the viewer into action.
Most B2B SaaS companies prepare a video marketing strategy to exhaustively promote the product. Some videos that are popularly used for the promotion of a product are Launch Video, Promotional Video, Case Study, FAQ-Type Videos, Product Introduction/ Teaser Video, Product Demos, Company Videos, How-to/Explainer Video, High-profile Client Testimonials and Educational Videos.
Promotional videos are meant to focus on building awareness about the product. Technical knowledge about the UI or onboarding tips are generally avoided. The video needs to be creative and engaging so that it can stay in the mind of the user for a long time. A good promotional video provides further information on the website details, landing page, and social media pages.
A wide variety of videos are used by B2B SaaS companies ranging from promotional and teaser videos to demo and case study videos. The key is to keep the product visible throughout without getting into the working of the software itself, to make the first few seconds count, to keep the instruction to the website and landing pages clear, include engaging graphics, and keep a strong CTA at the end.
Khyati is a seasoned writer and a hands-on marketing professional. She specializes in inbound and growth marketing, content marketing, lead generation, public relations, brand amplification, B2B communications and partnerships, and social media marketing.
Khyati is a seasoned writer and a hands-on marketing professional. She specializes in inbound and growth marketing, content marketing, lead generation, public relations, brand amplification, B2B communications and partnerships, and social media marketing.
