Using Video to Drive Conversions

Drive conversions, build trust and raise exposure with targeted video content.

There are scads of different approaches and theories when it comes to digital marketing, but there is one conclusion nearly all marketers can agree on: using a variety of media across your website and other digital channels increases engagement and conversion. Of course, we know that videos content, picture galleries and other elements of multimedia content looks great, but are they really helping you to get any closer to your business goals?

The answer to this is YES — but only if the videos are deployed correctly. Take a look at how, when applied skillfully, great video content can be used to effectively drive conversion rates.

Human Conditioning

What user experience would you prefer to have: trawling through page after page of text, or having that same information condensed and presented to you in the form of a piece of video content?

In today’s busy world, it seems most of us would vote for the latter. But simply giving an audience what it wants is not the same as driving conversions. Your primary aim is not to provide free entertainment for site visitors (thought this should be a secondary goal), but rather to increase the revenue you receive through your online presence. Video can be the means to that end.

Let’s take the Advance Auto Parts site as an example. This car parts retailer began hosting a series of instructional videos which helped viewers carry out repair and installation work on their motor vehicles, and soon discovered that users who had viewed the video stayed on the site for up to twice as long as users who had not.

This not only reduces the bounce rate of the page, thereby strengthening its SEO credentials, but it also means more exposure to branding and message, and more overall potential for conversion.

Virality of Video

When you think of virality, you may automatically imagine cute kitten videos, mega-memes that circulate the Internet in a day, and YouTube stars who have turned their online presence into big bucks. This is not the form of virality you should realistically be aiming for.

Instead, you need linkbacks, shares, and social media exposure. Search engines have now broadened their algorithmic scope; they recognize the importance of social media. If they discover that your content is garnering repeated shares and associations with other key elements in your field, then this is going to have a positive impact on your SEO performance.

To achieve this, you need to examine what your users are responding to create something of your own that carries a high degree of value to viewers; instructional value, entertainment value, or even better, both! Put time and effort into the content you create. Do it right once and you can secure yourself hundreds or even thousands of shares.

Getting Users Onboard

The viral video approach mentioned above only works if you release the content from the corral of your website into the big, wild world of social media. This is not necessarily the best tack, however, and sometimes your conversion efforts may be better served by hosting the video content solely on your site.

When hosting video content — on product pages or landing pages in particular — it needs to form a part of your acquisitions funnel. This means that, before blundering into the fun stuff like content production and filming, your team needs to sit down and discuss the merits and failures of your current customer acquisitions protocols.

Where is the funnel performing its best? Where is it failing? What can be done to reverse that failure? How can video content integrate with this process? Answer these questions and ensure that video content production forms part of a concerted effort to gain more customers and onboard new users.

The use of subtly repeated hints reminding users of the actions you want them to take (after viewing the video and directing them to different portions of the acquisition funnel), is an effective way to keep conversions flowing.

Building Trust

As humans, we like to be able to trust the individuals and organizations we are dealing with. Unfortunately, thanks largely to the anonymity of the Internet and the relative speed and haste at which a company can be built online, this trust element has been greatly diminished.

We can see evidence of this when we consider word-of-mouth referrals in marketing; the vast majority of us are unwilling to trust an organization until we have received a personal recommendation for it. 74 percent of consumers said that a word-of-mouth endorsement was a key influence on whether they converted or not.

So how can you build consumer trust in your organization? Video is a powerful way to achieve this.

Often, developing trust simply requires the nurturing of a brand identity and the presentation of a human face to the world. Giving consumers a chance to get to know you and the passions that drive your business makes you accountable. It makes you relatable and it makes you a real human being in the eyes of the consumer. This is something which should not be overlooked as you aim to drive conversions.

Re-ignite the Passion

Down in the darkest depths of the acquisition funnel is where you will find churn. This is the proportion of your customers who got away, who disconnected themselves from your sales processes for one reason or another.

How are you going to reintroduce these former customers to the fold? Well, you could send them a well-worded and beautifully composed email newsletter explaining the benefits to returning customers, crossing your fingers in hopes that users will open it, or you can send a quick, well-produced video.

Not only are videos proven to be more persuasive from a marketing and remarketing point of view, but emails with the word “video” in the subject line are 19 percent more likely to get opened than those without.

Still not convinced you should be using video? Other compelling statistics include the following (via HubSpot):

Social video generates 1200 percent more shares that text and video combined.

Companies using video enjoy 41 percent more web traffic from search than non-users.

Videos on landing pages can increase conversions by 80 percent or more.

Businesses using video grow company revenue 49 percent faster year-over-year than organizations without video.

Adopt a considered approach to video, take the time to plan, develop, and deploy your content, and then reap the benefits in terms of conversions. It takes a degree of effort and commitment on your part, but it is worth it in the long haul.