Does video increase conversion rates?
The “pivot to video” trend is far from over. More people in more industries are using video marketing in creative and innovative ways, especially on their websites. And for webmasters, eCommerce store owners, and digital marketing professionals, there’s one question on everyone’s mind:
Does video increase conversion rates?
We all know online video has tons of different content marketing applications, from Facebook ads to cold email pitches, but today we want to take a look at websites specifically. If you own or manage a website now, you’re likely looking for ways to increase conversions on your website—there just aren’t that many brochure-style websites (a.k.a. websites with static pages that don’t change or provide user interaction) these days. Most people have embraced the direct-response power provided by tools like email, marketing automation, call tracking, and other modern digital marketing assets.
Sure, we want more traffic and we want that traffic to hang around our site longer, but ultimately, we are looking for some sort of conversion—an online purchase, a form submission, etc. And that’s where video can help.
In this blog post, we’ll examine whether or not video can increase the conversion rate of your website, provide examples of the types of videos you can use, and suggest some tips and strategies for getting started with online videos.
Let’s roll!
Does video increase the conversion rate of your website?
Before we investigate this, how do you calculate a conversion rate? This is just the percentage of people who responded to your CTA or took the action you wanted them to. To calculate conversion rates, simply take the number of conversions and divide that by the number of visitors, then multiply by 100. Obviously, the higher your answer, the better.
So what’s a good conversion rate? To be in the top 25% of landing pages that convert, you need your conversion rate to be approximately 5%. A bit over 2% is average, and over 11% is considered high.
Now let’s get into how video is effecting this.
Video has completed the trifecta of marketing campaigns—traffic, engagement, conversion. What this means is that marketers are now using video to enhance every stage of the marketing funnel.
Video ads receive 20% more clicks than images, thus driving more traffic by virtue of a higher clickthrough rate (CTR). And once that traffic arrives on a website, viewers are spending 5X longer looking at videos than static images. Finally, to complete the trifecta, adding videos to landing pages increase conversions by 86%.
In short, yes, videos do increase the conversion rate on websites, and so much more.
When consumers shop online, more than half are expecting to see a video that helps them understand the product. 62% of consumers watch product review videos before making a purchase (Mediakix). This means that if you’re not creating product videos and posting them on your site, you’re missing out on a huge section of people who won’t buy until they can see your product in action.
But videos aren’t just for eCommerce websites, either. Lead-generating landing pages can benefit from using video as well. According to Klientboost, adding an explainer video to a financial services landing page increased conversions by 60% when measured through A/B testing.
If you’re looking for more conversions on your website, whether in purchases or form submissions, you should definitely feature videos on your product and landing pages. You might be thinking, what type of videos? Read on to see which type of video content works in various situations.
Types of website videos
Now that you understand the rationale behind using video on your website to increase conversions, let’s take a closer look at the type of video you should be using for your unique situation. After all, it’s not like you can just put up a funny cat video and increase engagement on your site,right?
Product videos
For our online store owners, this one’s for you! As consumers are bombarded with more products and more choice than ever before, the concept of ‘show, don’t tell’ has never been more important.
People need to learn about your product before they buy it, and 72% of people would rather use video to learn about a product or service than text (Wyzowl). This sets up the perfect opportunity to showcase your products with video, and the great news is that you have plenty of choices.
If you’re on a tight budget, a product demonstration might be the right way to go. At the low end, you can record high-definition clips of your product in action, add a voiceover or some music, and edit some transitions, text, and an end card with a call-to-action. If you’re looking for inspiration on these types of videos, check out this example from the popular eCommerce retailer, The Grommet.
Note: If you happened to follow the link above to The Grommet, you’ll notice that it’s not just a few of the products that use video—ALL of the products on their site use video to help engage, explain, and sell potential customers. Not a coincidence!
Alternatively, if your product has something unique about its construction, you might want to show off how it’s made with an animated video showcasing the materials like this one. This technique works great if the product’s unique value proposition lies in its quality or innovation.
Or, make both! You can cover all aspects of your product and repurpose the shorter videos into ads and social posts.
Explainer videos
Have a product that’s a little complex to explain? Use video to define the problem it solves and showcase relevant features, making sure to hit common pain points of your potential customers.
Explainer videos are really common in the software space because oftentimes, software solves a problem that people don’t realize they have, or the solution is too hard to visualize.
One of the most famous explainer videos of all time is from Dropbox. Back in 2007, very few people knew what ‘the cloud’ was, and even fewer understood the potential of a service that provided ‘cloud syncing’ had. In order to explain a very technical concept, Dropbox put together this classic explainer video:
OK, so in 2019 this might seem a bit outdated, but this video solved all of their problems around user acquisition back in 2009. Dropbox acquired 10 million new customers with the video above, bringing in $48,000,000 in revenue because the video increased their conversion rates by 10%.
Video sales letters
If you’re not selling a product, but instead selling yourself as a service provider, you might want to consider a video sales letter. Text-based sales letters are some of the oldest forms of marketing, and converting them to video is a must for 2019 and beyond.
In general, a video sales letter takes the audience through these steps:
- Grab attention
- Present the problem/opportunity
- Connect with the audience
- Introduce the solution
- Provide proof
- Call to action
Here’s a great example of a video sales letter in action:
There are tons of ways to execute these types of videos, but none are easier to produce than the ‘talking head’ style of video that follows the script above. Add a video sales letter to your landing pages and boost the conversion rate of your lead generation landing pages.
Customer testimonials
One of the most compelling things a prospective buyer can hear is how great your product is… from somebody else. Yes, your explainer videos and sales letters can do a great job showing off the features and explaining the solution, but testimonials from happy customers can one-up those claims by talking about their experience with your product.
As we mentioned earlier, proof or trust is a huge factor in conversion rate—it’s very hard to close the deal without it—and customer testimonials provide both.
And you can get creative with customer testimonials! Watch how NaturallyCurly combines a product video with a customer testimonial:
Great energy and execution across the board, and the perfect length for the type of product it’s selling.
Ready to get started making videos for your own website to increase conversions? Start by reading this next section!
Tips and strategies for getting started with online videos
So you’re ready to take the plunge and start creating videos for your website—great! We couldn’t be more supportive, but we’ll try. Follow these website video best practices to engage, educate, and close your website visitors into leads and online purchases.
1. Grab attention early
You may be thinking that you’ve already earned some name recognition because the person is already on your site. You may also be tempted into thinking the beginning of your video is a good time to introduce yourself, but this is false, and a waste of precious time. You’ve earned their website visit, now keep their attention by starting your video off with an attention-grabbing hook.
The first three seconds of your video are crucial—within just a few moments, the viewer will decide that the video is worth their time, or that the back button is more entertaining than your content. The hook is simply a bridge to get them to watch your core content. Try one of these tactics:
- Ask a provocative question
- Make a bold statement
- Identify a common problem
And while you’re at it, use videography to play on the psychological principles of attention span. You see, humans are drawn to faces, body language, and movement, so include those in your opening shot if you can.
2. Be helpful
Some people can visualize how your product will help them, others need you to spell it out more clearly. Using video to show how to use certain features of your product to solve common use cases is a great way to increase the conversion rate on your eCommerce site.
Or, if you’re trying to generate new leads for a service offering, consider creating videos that answer some of your most frequently asked questions. Creating content that satisfies these types of inquiries is not only helpful, it’s great for building trust and proving yourself as an authority figure with your target audiences. And if you do it right, it can give you a boost with SEO, too.
3. Tell a story
Humans are hard-wired to pay attention to stories, so if you can grab attention with your hook, the following core content is a great place to tell a story. Keep in mind, your product or service isn’t the hero in this story; your viewer is. Your brand is simply the mentor or tool that helps them achieve what they set out to do.
One powerful storytelling technique is the before and after—what was this person like before they use your product or service, and what are they like after?
4. Build trust
Since you have their attention and you’ve delivered your message, now is the time to prove that you can back up the claims that you’ve made. As mentioned above, customer testimonials are a great way to do this, but you can also build trust in the form of industry accolades and service awards for excellence. For service-based business, showing a roster of well-known brand logos you’ve worked with can signal trust as well—you can slide these in as animations or add them to a graphic end card.
5. Use a call-to-action
Lastly, do not forget to finish strong by clearly explaining the next steps to your viewer. The hard work is done—you’ve grabbed attention with the hook and even persuaded the viewer to spend a few precious minutes with you. Capitalize on that momentum by telling them exactly what to do next. Your CTA depends on both the content of the video and what stage of the buyer’s journey your viewer is in, so keep that in mind when designing your call-to-action.
Hopefully, this article has shown you the many ways online videos can help with conversion optimization on your website, and also give you some ideas to get started with your own videos.
We know it can be tough to get started with video production. You need equipment, video editing skills, and great footage so you can look professional. At Promo.com, we sought to democratize video production by providing everything small business owners and digital marketers need to get started making their own videos. We provide access to more than 15 million high-quality video clips in our ever-growing library, music to go with them, and an easy-to-use video editor that allows you to add text, animations, and call-to-action screens to your video.
In minutes, not weeks, you can produce stunning marketing videos for your website to help engage and convert your visitors. We have video clips for virtually every niche, so just head over to our video templates library and search by keyword to find the perfect clip for your company. And did we mention you can get started for free?
