A year-end recap video highlights the value you brought a customer throughout the year: what they earned, what they achieved, and what they can do next. This guide covers what to include in your year-end recap video, the best practices for making one, and how enterprise teams can make personalized videos across thousands of customers with SundaySky.
By mid-December, your customers’ inboxes are full of “thanks for a great year” messages, and most of them look interchangeable. The message a customer engages with understands their situation: the 18,000 points they earned, the savings goal they hit, or the three features their team adopted in March.
The job of a year-end recap video is to show value in a resonant, clear way to customers—especially before renewals, rewards deadlines, and next year’s planning.
One national wealth-management firm sent personalized year-in-review videos using SundaySky and saw click-through reach 6% against a baseline under 1%, a 6x lift in engagement.
Key takeaways
- The strongest year-end recap videos reflect a customer’s recent data. Edelman Financial Engines saw a 6x engagement lift (6% click-through vs. under 1%) from personalized year-end review videos.
- Keep recaps to 60 to 90 seconds, with one call to action tied to next year: redeem, renew, enroll, book a review, or something else.
- Choose data that makes every customer look good, and give lighter users a “what’s waiting for you” version.
- One branded video plus a connected data source can produce a unique recap for every customer. SundaySky Create runs campaign-scale recaps, and SundaySky Amplify lets customer success managers send account recaps in minutes.
What is a year-end recap video?
A year-end recap video is a short video that looks back on the past 12 months and, ideally, offers guidance for the next 12. It typically takes one of two forms, and the choice shapes the data you need and the results you can expect.
| Company highlight reel | Personalized recap | |
| Who sees what | Everyone sees the same video | Each customer sees a video personalized to their situation |
| What it shows | Company milestones, team moments, events | The customer’s rewards, usage, milestones, and next steps |
| Best for | Brand, culture, social channels | Retention, renewals, rewards redemption, relationship deepening |
| How it’s made | A video editor | One video plus customer data, rendered individually for each user |
Video is how many customers prefer to take in information. In Wyzowl’s 2026 video marketing research, 63% of people said they’d most like to learn about a product or service by watching a short video. Spotify Wrapped proved the personalized recap format with consumers; banks, insurers, health plans, and software companies can bring the same idea to a customer relationship using data they already hold.
What should be included in a year-end recap video?
A strong year-end recap video includes the viewer’s name, numbers and highlights from the biggest numbers of their year, a thank-you, and a single next step. In practice:
- A personal open: their name and how long they’ve been with you.
- Their numbers: rewards earned, money saved, claims handled, hours saved, or features adopted.
- A highlight: a tier upgrade, an anniversary, or a goal reached.
- A thank-you in your brand’s voice.
- What’s next and one call to action: unused benefits, an upcoming deadline, or a new feature, with a single button.
Every data point should make the viewer feel good about the relationship. Build two paths into the video: active customers see their stats, and less frequent users see what’s in store for them next year. This matters especially in banking and health insurance, where balances and claims are sensitive. Our customer recap video guide has more examples.
Year-end recap video ideas for customers
1. Rewards recap video
A rewards recap shows customers what their loyalty earned them: points, cash back, perks used, and anything about to expire. An expiration date gives the call to action urgency. Video also helps customers understand programs they tend to underuse. A Bank of America Preferred Rewards executive has shared that clients said video helped them understand the program much better, and as a result, they engaged more deeply and brought in more assets. In the same program, 80% of customers felt highly valued after viewing their personalized Preferred Rewards account summary videos.
Try this: “Maria, this year you earned 18,450 points and saved $312 on travel. You have 4,000 points expiring January 31. Here’s the fastest way to use them.”
2. Milestone Achievement Video
Milestone achievement videos create an emotional connection with your customers. These videos focus on recognizing and celebrating individual achievements, such as their anniversary with the brand, significant product usage, or a milestone they’ve reached using your solution. Acknowledging these moments strengthens your relationship and makes customers feel appreciated.
Highlight specific accomplishments like how long they’ve been a customer or the number of purchases they’ve made this year. Visual elements such as animations, badges, or celebratory graphics can enhance the video’s impact, making it feel fun and unique. Close the video by expressing your gratitude and your excitement for the year ahead.
Try This: “Congratulations, [Customer Name]! This year, you hit some incredible milestones with us: [#] projects completed and [#] years of partnership. We’re so grateful to be part of your journey. We’re looking forward to another great year!”
3. Personalized Thank You Video
Sometimes, a sincere thank you is all it takes to leave a lasting impression. A personalized end-of-year thank-you video is especially effective for enterprises that want to highlight the human side of the business. This approach is perfect for brands that want to show authenticity and build trust, especially if those teams are lighter on data.
To make these videos impactful, keep them under 45 seconds and start with a message that expresses gratitude for your customers’ loyalty or specific interactions, such as purchases or referrals. If possible, call out something unique about their journey, such as their first order or a positive review they left for your team. The tone of the video should feel warm and conversational. Keeping it short and genuine ensures your message resonates without overwhelming your audience.
Try This: “Thank you, [Customer Name], for an amazing year! Your feedback on [specific product] helped us make improvements, and your continued support inspires us every day. We’re looking forward to serving you in 2025!”
4. Customized year-in-review video
A year-in-review video lets you tell the story of your customer’s journey with you. This type of video celebrates accomplishments, but also highlights how your business has supported them. It’s a perfect way to remind them of the value they’ve gained from being a customer with you.
In its personalized video program, a leading 401(k) recordkeeper saw a 550% increase in savings contributions among video viewers vs. non-viewers; viewers were 2x more likely to change their deferral rates, and average view duration was about 83%. Enterprise companies like AARP use personalized year-in-review videos to drive auto-renewal, with a 14% lift in renewal retention among first-time renewers and 22% among repeat renewers.
Start by summarizing their key interactions with your business, such as purchases, services used, or hours saved. Including visual elements like graphs, timelines, or snapshots of their journey makes the video more engaging. To end on an inspiring note, express excitement about continuing the partnership in the coming year. By showing customers the bigger picture of their progress, you reinforce the positive impact your business has had on their success.
Try This: “Here’s your 2024 in review, [Customer Name]: [#] purchases made, [#] hours saved using our platform, and [%] uptime achieved. It’s been an incredible year, and we can’t wait to see what next year has in store for you!”
5. What’s next video
Year-end videos can also set the stage for what’s ahead. An exclusive offer video combines a recap of the customer’s progress with an incentive to take the next step. This could be an upgrade, a special discount, or a tailored recommendation for the upcoming year.
For these videos, start by briefly highlighting the customer’s journey. For instance, you might mention a specific milestone or progress they’ve made with your business. Then, present an offer designed specifically for them, such as a limited-time discount or access to a new feature. Emphasizing the exclusivity of the deal creates a sense of urgency, encouraging the customer to act quickly. These videos are a great way to strengthen engagement while also driving future sales.
The personalized offer should fit your industry. For example, in financial services, frame it as relationship deepening, with a recommendation based on what the customer did this year. For health plans, recap the benefits a member used and what’s still covered before the plan year resets.
Try this: “Hi [Customer Name], it’s been an amazing year! You’ve achieved [specific milestone], and we want to help you take the next step. For a limited time, enjoy [%] off [specific product or service], just for our most loyal customers like you!”
6. Account recap and business review video (B2B)
For B2B companies, the year-end recap often doubles as an executive business review. An account recap video sums up what the partnership delivered this year, so stakeholders who couldn’t make the live meeting still see the value.
For these videos, start with the account’s biggest wins, such as usage growth, outcomes achieved, or goals reached. Then, look ahead to the renewal and the priorities you’ll tackle together next year. Keep it short and easy to forward, since your champion will often share it with their leadership. These videos are a great way to strengthen the relationship before renewal conversations begin, and with SundaySky Amplify, customer success managers can personalize one for each account in minutes.
Try This: “Hi [Customer Name], what a year for [Company Name]! Your team [specific achievement, e.g., launched 42 campaigns], and we’re proud to have been part of it. As we head into [next year], here’s what we’d love to focus on together: [priority]. Let’s set up time to plan your next big win!”
Year-end recap video examples by industry
| Industry | What the recap shows | End-goal |
| Banks and credit unions | Rewards earned, savings growth, digital tools used | Rewards redemption, digital adoption, relationship deepening |
| Insurance | Coverage in place, claims handled, renewal date | Renewal and early-life retention |
| Health plans | Benefits used, covered care still available | Greater benefit use, re-enrollment, fewer support calls |
| Wealth and retirement | Balance growth, contribution rate, projected income | Contribution increases, account consolidation |
| Software and SaaS | Usage, outcomes, features adopted, renewal timeline | Renewal and expansion |
| Retail and membership | Tier progress, member savings, perks | Repeat purchase and renewal |
Banks can go deeper with our guide to personalized video for banks.
How to make an end-of-year recap video
Making an end-of-year recap video that will truly engage customers includes the following key best practices to ensure positive outcomes for the campaign:
- Set one goal and one call to action: rewards redemption, renewal, enrollment, or a review meeting.
- Pick three to five secure data fields, and confirm you can pull them for every customer by a fixed date.
- Write a 60- to 90-second script: a personal open, their year, one highlight, what’s next, and the call to action. SundaySky’s prompt-to-video AI capability can help with this
- Create the video once with your logo, colors, and fonts locked, so every personalized version stays on-brand.
- Connect your data. SundaySky works with Salesforce, HubSpot, Adobe Marketo Engage, Snowflake, Databricks, Google Sheets, file uploads, and has an API connector.
- Review and test with brand, legal, and compliance, using real records and edge cases like zero values and long names.
- Send and measure. Send the video landing page link by email, SMS, or in your app, then track views, completion, and clicks.
Thanks to AI-powered end-of-year video makers, creating polished, high-quality recap videos is easier than ever. Save time, reduce production costs, earn a high return on investment (ROI), and speed up production timelines with an AI video platform.
How to personalize recap videos for thousands of customers
To personalize recap videos for thousands of customers, use a data-driven video platform: you create the video once, connect your customer data, and the platform does the rest to produce a unique version for every viewer. Teams usually choose between three approaches:
- A personalized video platform renders each video the moment a viewer presses play, using live customer data, so there are no video files to store. Brand governance, approvals, clickable buttons, and viewer analytics sit in one place, which suits large customer programs in regulated industries.
- Motion-graphics batch rendering swaps customer data into a designer-built project and exports a finished file for each customer.
- Developer video APIs let engineering teams generate videos in code, often to embed in their own app.
Marketing and CX teams use SundaySky Create to send a personalized recap to every customer from a single video. Customer success and account managers use SundaySky Amplify to tailor an approved recap for one account and share it in minutes. Both share the same brand controls and SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR, and HITRUST compliance. Learn more about SundaySky’s video personalization platform.
Where enterprise teams get stuck with year-end recaps
Timing is the most common problem. Teams that start too late can run into busy compliance queues late in the year, causing the recap to get delayed. Teams that send on time must agree on data fields and check claims with legal before anyone writes a script.
The second issue is waiting for perfect data. Three reliable fields that can help the video ship quickly beat twelve that don’t. The third is treating the recap as a one-off: the same video can become an anniversary video, a mid-year check-in, or a pre-renewal recap with a different trigger.
If your end of year is already tight, try sending a new year recap in January, or time the recap to each customer’s anniversary or renewal date so it arrives conveniently at the moment they’re deciding whether to stay. Teams using SundaySky report production up to 7x faster, which leaves more of the calendar for data and review.
How to measure the success of a year-end recap video
You want to measure a recap on two levels: how people watched, and what they did next. Start with how many people opened the video from wherever you shared it, then completion, where viewers dropped off, and call-to-action clicks. Next, compare outcomes for viewers vs. non-viewers, such as rewards redeemed, renewals, or enrollment; a holdout group makes the comparison cleaner.
SundaySky’s analytics dashboard shows each video’s views, average view duration, the scenes where viewers dropped off, and click rates for every button. Raw data reports export the same data viewer by viewer, so you can match it to your CRM and compare viewers with non-viewers.
FAQ
What should be included in a year-end recap video?
A year recap video should include the viewer’s name, two or three numbers from their year, one highlight or milestone, a thank-you, and one clear next step. For customers, the strongest numbers show value received, for example, rewards earned, money saved, or outcomes achieved. Pick numbers that reflect well on each customer, and give customers with less activity a version focused on what’s ahead. Close with a single call to action, like redeeming points, renewing, or booking a review.
How long should a year-end recap video be?
Most year-end recap videos work best at 60 to 90 seconds: long enough to cover the customer’s year, a highlight, and a next step, but still short enough that most viewers finish it. A simple thank-you video can run under 45 seconds, and a B2B account recap that doubles as a business review can stretch to about two minutes. Be sure to put the most impactful, personal moment at the beginning of the video.
How do you make a personalized year-end recap video?
To make a personalized year-end recap video, choose one goal, pick three to five customer data fields, write a 60- to 90-second script with placeholders for those fields (SundaySky’s AI capabilities can help you script), and create one branded video. Connect your customer data to a personalized video platform, which produces a unique version for each customer. Preview a sample of real customer versions, get brand and compliance approval, and share the video through the channels your customers already use.
Can you create recap videos for thousands of customers at once?
Yes. A personalized year-end recap video is created once and filled with each customer’s data. Most of the work is three decisions: which three to five data points to feature, what customers with little activity see in place of their numbers, and the one action you want viewers to take. A personalized video platform then produces each customer’s version from your CRM or data warehouse, and you preview it with sample customer profiles before brand and compliance approval.
See what a year-end recap video could look like for your customers
Your customer data already holds a year’s worth of stories. SundaySky turns it into a personalized recap for every customer, on-brand, with built-in approval before a customer ever sees it. Book a demo to see a recap built from data like yours.
Not ready for a demo? Watch the on-demand webinar: 5 Ways to Wow Your Customers with Your End-of-Year Video.
