If you’re in a hurry and need an answer to this question now, then yes, video can help increase your conversions, but you have to do it right or you will waste a LOT of money on your campaigns. A lot of marketers are trying to figure out the best way to increase conversion rates for their advertisements and landing pages. The goal is to have as many quality visitors, convert into paying customers, or at least give you their emails, as possible.
First, lets look at using video in advertising like Facebook Ads.
Videos in Facebook Ads
We do a lot of Facebook advertising here and have found that videos (when done well and are very focused on a topic) outperform banners almost 2 to 1. Natural videos (such as a person talking to you) tend to do better than a sales script or TV type commercial unless its just outright funny.
By default, videos will autoplay on Facebook unless someone has changed their settings, so be sure to use the first few seconds to capture the viewers attention because they are swiping through their posts quickly. Make sure the video is relevant to the title of your ad as well. Titles with “How to [do something]” will usually capture attention over other headings.
Since you are recording video, you should have a good bit of extra content that you have recorded. Test different versions of the video with different interest groups to find what converts best. Testing variations with different audiences will help you find the conversions you’re looking for.
Finally (and I can’t stress this enough), make sure your ad ties in with your landing page or you’re going to lose your audience and waste your money.
So lets look at how you should use video on landing pages (where you send your ad traffic).
There are three basic types of landing pages to get the best conversion.
- You can write compelling content to motivate people to fill out a form.
- You can create visually creative content with great text to get visitors fill out that form.
- You can use a video with or without graphics and great text to drive people to fill out a form.
Each of these options will give you some conversion, but which is going to offer the most conversion?
Putting Together a Landing Page with Video
A landing page needs to engage a viewer within seconds. Connecting with the visitor and their need as fast as possible will have the greatest chance of success. If you have a great headline that can immediately connect with the visitor’s need, text alone can be the right method, but it can be hard to come up with a really compelling headline that will catch their attention almost immediately just by itself.
Using relevant images on a landing page increases the likelihood of making the connection because it tells a story faster than words and can elicit a desired emotional response. Using video on landing pages, whether it was from a paid campaign or through search traffic, has been found to have a mixed result, but when done well, has a higher conversion rate than just photography alone.
Video on a landing pages is not a new concept. Initially, it was put at the top of a few landing pages as an experiment to get people to pay attention, and it was a quick success for most companies, so long as they did it right. However, getting it right is the difficult part. Not only did the video need to be engaging and start immediately, but it also needs to be just the right length and tell a compelling story. The longer the videos get, the less they pay attention, and the more people left the pages instead of converting into buyers. Video provider Wistia did some analysis on their viewers and found length really does matter.
According to most research, including Wistia, that has been conducted on videos for conversions, the longest a video should be under 60 seconds, at least for conversions. Anything over that and you risk turning that viewer away, even for the best content. Videos designed to create conversions are not the same as what you will find shared in social media or other places. These are specifically focused on identifying with the customer’s need to get them to fill out a form, buy a product or sign up for your service.
Want some more stats about using video for conversions, watch our quick 1 minute video.
Videos Alone Won’t Convert Viewers Into Buyers
With over 80% of website owners saying that having a video on their landing page has improved their bottom line, it is no wonder that people want to have them, but you cannot solely rely on them to make people buy what you are selling. You need to have more and you need to inspire some type of emotion in your viewers quickly that you either “feel their pain” or you have the solution to “get rid of their pain”.
The best way to boost form conversions and drive sales is to find a way to incorporate the right headline, content and graphics with well placed video on the landing page. This will give people a hook from the beginning, and enough to keep them scrolling down the page until they reach the call to action. It needs to be the right balance of each type of content. Getting to the right balance consists of using heatmaps and a/b testing to see what converts the best.
Using the Right Videos in the Right Places for Conversion Success
The hardest part of using videos properly on landing pages is knowing what type of video to use (product demo, webinar on demand, ad, emotional trigger) and where to put it. You want to show off what it is you have to offer, but you also want to inspire trust, which is undoubtedly difficult in under 60 seconds if the visitor has never heard of your brand.
You need to figure out ways of balancing out proper video placement along with knowing why your audience is going to watch it. If they want to see what your product does from the top of your page, then show how your product works. However, it has been found, most sites will not be able to convert many viewers with this tactic.
Most of the time, a landing page is going to be set up with a video up near the top that introduces people to what your brand is by creating a story that people can connect with. You want a video that is a simple introduction to how you solve a problem while eliciting an emotional response when possible. Lower down on the page, you can place a quick snippet video showing what it is that your product can do that no other product is able to accomplish. Additionally, in these videos, if it can show an actual customer giving a testimonial, this will help to instill confidence in many viewers while still allowing them to feel connected to your company and mission. You need to just make sure that you are putting the right kind of videos with the right type of message in the most logical spots in order to get the biggest benefits out of each video.
The Benefits of Using Video on Your Landing Page
Aside from the ability to boost your conversion, videos on landing pages also have other benefits that you should consider. A viewer that has gone through and watched your video is going to remember what it is that they saw and what it is that you were offering far beyond the end of the video. This means that if you are going to show a 30-60 second video, you need to make sure the video has the appropriate amount of information for them to know what to do next. You may not get the visitor to buy the first time they visit your website, but if you follow these rules, you will likely end up with their sale eventually.
1. It Gets The Message Across Faster
Viewers that have the option of watching a video or reading a page of text with the exact same words are nearly always going to choose to watch the video. This can be due to ease, or time constraints. You want engaging headlines and bits of content, but you do not want to bore your viewers. You want to inspire them to take an action, and videos are a simple way of making that happen.
2. Appeal to a Wide Audience
Ideally, you are also going to want to make sure that the videos you pick are going to be friendly to your entire audience, not just one snippet of it. You want your audience to see your video, feel inspired to find out more, and share that video on social media. When you can inspire positive emotions in your viewers, they are more likely share it, become buying customers, and tell the people they know to do the same. One conversion from a properly-placed video can turn into multiple sales. This can also boost how many people are following what you have to say on social media, which can also boost the total number of sales.
3. Videos Increase Users Engagement
Videos can also help to boost your conversion rate in a way that can be difficult to match using text or images. Once a viewer has started watching your video, you can decide where the climax of the video is, and request a person opt-into your email campaign to finish out the video. This shows engagement, interest, and gives you more information that you can use to convert viewers into buyers down the line. While you can have the same type of form pop up over text, it can be a lot harder to try and determine the right amount of time to wait before that form should appear. Each person reads at a different rate, but each person that watches the video can have the form pop up at a specific part of the video itself, giving you the bonus email out of the process.
4. Increased Campaign Conversion Rates
At the end of the day, you need to know your customers really well before deciding that a video is going to be the key to converting your viewers into buyers. While videos do tend to give a higher conversion rate, knowing your audience and telling an great story is going to give you the best chances of a high conversion rate. Know what they are going to come to you looking for, know how they are going to visit your landing page based on devices, and know how to show them that you can solve their problems. If you can do all of that with a video, then you are going to be able to have the best chances of seeing your bottom line rise.
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