Lets Settle This – Online Video Does Increase Conversions

John Cecil – Author - Online Video Revolution - Available on Amazon
Online video is the key to conversions, so if you use online video wisely on your web page, you can absolutely increase the chance of a website conversion. This falls into play based on the fact that online video allows you to demonstrate convincing features and benefits, enhance the customer’s ability to understand or relate to an offering, and engage with the customers on a more personal level that will create a richer user experience on your webpage. When thinking online video and conversions, bottom line, online video increases conversions. We have hundreds of case studies that prove that it does work across multiple verticals, and if you are interested in any specific vertical, definitely give me a call and I can share some of the data with you.
An interesting example is one of our clients Napster who has their conversions actually sign up for a free 15 day trial. They took two landing pages and had them AB tested. One of the landing pages had video and the other page did not have video. They took the Google traffic, split it up and sent half the traffic to the page with video and the half without. Your typical AB test, they saw an 18% increase in conversions with the landing page with the video, and this actually represented over six or seven months of data and testing on this landing page. They definitely saw a huge increase in conversions by adding a video to their landing page.
Other recent tests on companies who used our video spokesperson suggested that dramatic gains have been seen. Lets first take a look at ClosetWorld. They added embedded video to their landing page as well as a video spokesperson, which increased their conversion rates from 0.5% to 1.0% and 2.2% respectively. Tanberg is another company that increased the conversion on their lead generation page from 0.75% to 2.2% by adding a spokesperson. Countless big companies are also jumping onto the bandwagon, which I assure you will provide positive feedback in conversion rates. Other recent successes of ours include Service Magic, and Rhapsody.
We also are seeing a lot of manufacturers of products, actually producing video and delivering them for their clients. An example would be, lets say, a cordless phone and they actually have that cordless phone video on the checkout pages of their website, but their also taking those videos and offering it to their distributers, so distributers can take videos they have produced and offer them on their checkout pages. We believe that every video or every product will eventually have a video that will sort of explain it within the conversion process. In this process we have seen substantial increase in the buy rate when people go through that checkout process, if they actually watch and view the video. If people watch the video they are more likely to convert or buy a product. So if you’re a manufacturer of a product, produce your videos, offer them on your website, but also offer those videos to the distributers of your product to sell your product online.
When putting such videos on your webpage, be sure that you offer the choice of the video, but do not automatically play it. You want to allow your viewers this sense of control, and also try to keep your videos short and to the point, because if you don’t you may risk losing the viewers interest. You must also be sure that your video clearly supports the conversion goal and purpose of the webpage. Using a video merely for the idea of a cool website, just isn’t as cool as you may have anticipated.
Video online is great for promotions. We did this project for Capital Records, where Trace Adkins actually promoted his new album via promotion on radio station websites. We saw almost an 18% click through on this unit, on the home page of these station sites. We also saw people signing up for the promotion and entering their email address at a substantially higher rate than we normally see. So you can use it also for promotional activity and things along those lines.
Online videos are great in various areas. Not only are they capable of improving conversion rates, but they also help in SEO of the website. This is an Internet marketing tool that all marketers seriously need to consider, because as I said before and will gladly say again, online video increases conversions, and this is the bottom line. Surely our various case studies that were previously presented have proven our point, and if you need more data on any specific vertical, please give me a call and I will be more than happy to assist you.