Using Video Content Marketing can Double Brand Engagement, Website Conversions Rates and ROI
Videos are becoming more widespread across the web. Lately, you may have even noticed more videos popping up on your facebook feed from your friends. Instagram introduced the ability to save videos, and businesses are incorporating videos on their websites more as a way to deliver content that is either informational, entertaining, educational, or an expert to their customers and fans.
“Our brains process visual information 60,000 times faster than text” – 3m Corporation
Video content should be used on your landing pages and other pages whenever it makes sense. Video provides a passive engagement medium where people can experience your message with very little effort. And it can hook them in to stay on your website longer. Here are some of the reasons using video can lift the conversion of your landing pages from PPC ads or organic content:
- Video can keep people on the page longer, which can give your brand message a better chance of getting through or sinking in.
- Humans are sometimes lazy and prefer to watch versus read content and information.
- If you feature yourself or company employees in the video, the trust factor is raised significantly
- People have been glued to television screens since the 1950’s, and video on the internet has a similar dramatic impact on the way content is being consumed, hence the reason that YouTube is the 2nd most popular search engine, which ranked higher than Yahoo or Bing
- A recent study conducted by eye view digital, a personalized video solutions provider shows that using video on landing pages can increase conversions by over 65%. Another recent case study was conducted by the research group Aberdeen, which polled over 1000 digital marketing companies worldwide. The data show that marketers using video see an average of a 4.8% conversion rate with video– which is almost double what the average is for websites that do not use video content (2.9% conversion.) You can check and download a copy of the Aberdeen Video ROI report here. Some of the questions that are asked and addressed are :
| How exactly does video and content marketing enhance website conversions? |
| Does using video in your content marketing strategy reduce your cost per lead? |
| What are the top digital marketing agencies doing with content marketing to drive better sales and results? |
When is using the content format of video better than a blog post with just images and text a good idea? When the message or story you are trying to convey would be best delivered on camera; in action, in real time, and/or to entertain. A perfect example is the iPhone in a blender video from Blendtec. If this company Blendtec had decided to write a simple blog post and some images to try and demonstrate how well this blender works, it would have been really boring. Blendtec decided that making an entertaining video was the best solution.
Zappos Uses Product demo videos to increase conversions and less returns.
Zappos, the online mega retailer considers video to be a crucial part of its marketing efforts, They have made over 250,00 product videos this year. Having a simple product demo video on every one of their product pages has increased their conversions rates and sales of theses products pages by 8 to 30 %. Using video on a page can help people see the product or service you are offering in multiple dimensions, they can see it being used or worn by a person and this can demonstrate how it works or point out it’s key features. Another benefit to retailers using video is that if the person is buying a shoe? using video can let them view it in a 3-dimensional way which different than images or thumbnails, can give them better feel for the product and decrease the chances them being unhappy and ultimately returning it.
The Return on Investment (ROI) of Video Marketing for your Brand
Add video content to your marketing plan in 2014
Consumers love visual content and especially video — and so should your brand. 3M corporation ran a study which stipulates that our brains process visual information 60,000 times faster than text, so instead of always using long-winded product descriptions, try adding dynamic video content that visitors can engage with on your website. Forty-four percent of people buy more products on sites that provide informational videos — and these numbers are only rising.
Customers also tend to stay longer on sites with videos,
and even better — they are more likely to return.
Engaging product videos, customer testimonials and even
tours of your work space can also help to increase conversions.
On the note of ROI, how can we measure the impact of video in the content marketing mix? One important metric for content marketing is website conversion, the alchemy of converting interest via content into a transaction. Here we see significant differences, as illustrated above, with an average website conversion of 4.8% for video content users, compared with 2.9% for non-using firms. In the world of digital marketing, these conversion rate differences may be significant, we’ll expand on this idea below.
Quantifying the difference in the value of video may be measured by factoring the average cost per-marketing generated lead, which is $93 for companies using video compared with $115 for companies that do not. This can generate a big difference in the customer acquisition costs when you have to factor in the number of leads to be-able to actually make money and generate revenue, which is an average difference of almost $8,000 according to this report. The other caveat is the difference in website conversion rates translates into businesses incorporating video require 37 percent fewer unique website visits to generate either a marketing response or a raw unqualified lead (4,008 for video users vs. 6,405) based on a comparison of the sales funnel conversion metrics. This data comes from the Aberdeen Group Video ROI report which is linked in the 1st paragraph. While different types of customers/ buyers may respond differently to video content, this graph is meant to show and provide a model for considering the actual economic impact of increased conversion rates, higher sales, and increased click-thru-rate boosts through improved content marketing effectiveness of visual content such as video. In June 2014, Think With Google shared key takeaways from a recent case study that showed the video platform YouTube was a useful and effective medium on the buyers path to purchase for a number of categories like cars, smartphones and health beauty products.
Video Content Marketing Recommendations
In the age of the hidden sales cycle, your content is first, second, and often the third interface your business will have with a prospective client. With all else being equal, businesses that can out-inform or out-entertain the competition will be the winners in the digital environment. Today’s consumers come to expect a rich content experience as part of their decision making journey, passing on, or discounting companies that are not providing engaging content. If you are not already using media rich content platforms like video, the data show you should start now in an effort to stay ahead of the curve and keep people interested. If you are already using video optimization as part of your content marketing strategy, here some tips to help improve your execution.
Produce Original Videos– If content marketing is going to be used as a point of differentiation and competitive advantage, then you and your team must be able to story tell and deliver a unique voice. While the use or adoption of video content in general can be beneficial, the data shows that businesses that develop original content always outperform others that do not. It pays off to hire professional video production company The content should connect viewers with the broader theme of your content marketing efforts, where video becomes a key or a crucial step in the content path or sales funnel. Map out your content strategy. Just like you would with a regular text blog post. You may also test if short and long versions of video to better gauge customer preferences. Some products may need a detailed informational video while others will work better as a 30 second “commercial style” video.
Promote Conversion– Video is not always the first choice for content to increase leads, with just 25% of companies using it in this way, but that does not mean that video does not influence conversions; the data above prove conversions are likely when using video. We recommend using video as a type of the next action, such as previewing the contents of an ebook or summarizing a long worded blog post, or demonstrating in real time the functionality of an app or downloadable product. Crazy Egg, the heat mapping analytics software company hired Demo Ducks to produce them a high quality animation product demo video that breaks down the problems with other analytics software such as Google’s tools that are lacking the insightful data of why people leave your website without buying or signing up, and then explains how their product solves those problems to help see where people are clicking so that your web team can make adjustments to increase conversions and click thru-rates. According to Neil Patel the founder of Crazy Egg, “Demo Ducks explainer video helped me drive an extra $21,000 a month in new income”
Watch the viewers– The temporal nature of video adds an additional component to metrics that can be revealing. Youtube Analytics allow you to see if people watch the whole video or not. This data will let you know if people drop off at a certain point of watching. “Videos that are watched all the way through are clearly more compelling than those that are switched off.”-Trip Kucera CMO Aberdeen Group. This analytics display and measures the effectiveness of the story and content, and more importantly the interest of the viewer to serve as a factor in your company’s lead scoring.
Use Video Managements Solutions– Video management solutions support the ability to upload and manage video content across multiple channels, both private and public, additionally providing insightful analytics and reporting across all channels. The data show’s that marketers using video management solutions are 90% more likely compared with non users to effectively measure how specific content performs across various channels and platforms. (55% vs 29%)
Visual Storytelling and Video Content Marketing Conclusions
Successful companies are utilizing video as a means of driving website conversions by using video to start the conversation with a potential customer, or including a call-to-action about the product or service explainer video, or to push them down the sales funnel (buyers journey) from brand or product awareness to consideration which in the mid part of the sales funnel.