If you have read articles on conversion rate optimization, you understand that video increases sales. In fact, Zappos reports that video on product pages have increased conversions by 6-30%. And more importantly, since incorporating video, they have also managed to reduce returns on their products. Another study done by Vidyard reported a 100% increase in email sign-ups when incorporating video. And Crazy Egg reports an additional $21,000 in monthly revenue after adding an animated explainer video to their homepage. Steve Young of Smartshoot achieved an 11% increase in sign ups with videos on landing page with a client of his so we invited him to share tips on how he did it.
While these studies are impressive and surely highlight the power of video on conversions, we felt like there was a fundamental problem with these tests. The studies only tested two pages that were vastly different from each other. To us, it feels too easy to show that video increases sales.
An analogy would be if you tested two pages – one with logos of your customers and one without. Of course, the one with the logos would win – it shows social proof. A better test would be if logos of bigger brands increased conversions over logos of smaller brands.
So we sought out to test something a little different. We wanted to see if having a video on two identical looking pages would help increase sales.
A Different Kind of Test
We worked with Method Yoga, a yoga studio based in Oakland, CA, to drive traffic to a landing page that gave away free yoga passes in exchange for an email address. We then set up two identical looking landing pages with the only difference being one page actually had a video embedded on it. The key to this test was that our landing page with the video used the same photo as its thumbnail as the landing page without the video.
Here’s the landing with just a photo:
Here’s the landing page with the video:
We thought that having two pages that looked very similar to each other would make for a more powerful case study. We then bought ads on Google to drive traffic to both landing pages giving a 50/50 split on what the user would see.
The Results
We found that the landing page with video increased sign-ups by 11%.
To put that in perspective, for every 50 sign-ups that the non-video landing page received, there were 55 sign-ups for the landing page with video. With pay-per-click ads costs rising as high as $20 a click, that’s a huge savings for any business working on a strict marketing budget.
3 Video Marketing Tips to Increase Your Sales
We hope that case study above shows how powerful video can be as a marketing weapon. While we understand that video is somewhat a mystery to most businesses, here are 3 simple tips to help you incorporate it into your marketing campaigns.
Keep Video Close to Call-to-Action
Remember, video helps increase sales, so don’t make keep it too far from your desired call to action button.
The objective of your video is to highlight benefits, overcome objections, and provide a sense of security for the customer. Once you’ve convinced your customer that your product or service is the solution for them, don’t make it too difficult for them to take the next step.
I’d recommend putting your call-to-action at the bottom of the video or to the side of it.
Referencing where the button is in your video also helps increase conversions.
Keep it Short
A report by VINDICO shows that 80% of online video ads are abandoned within the first half of the ad. Internally, we’ve seen that most viewers drop off after the one minute mark. While you can make your videos as long as you can keep your audience engaged, we’d recommend sticking with 1-2 minute videos. If you must go longer, then consider doing multiple short videos at roughly 5 minutes each.
Simple Framework for Your Script
If you are stumped on what to say in your video, then try this simple framework:
- Start with a Hook: What will get your customer’s attention? Start with something that makes you different from the rest of the competition. If you’re not sure about your key differentiator, then ask your customers what they like most about your business.
- Highlight Customer Benefits: Talk about the customer and what he or she will get out of your product or service. Start sentences with “you” instead of “I” or “we”.
- End with Call-to-Action: Always end your videos with a call-to-action and tell your customers what you’d like them to do next. Whether it is making a purchase, signing up for your newsletter, or downloading your latest product, make sure you explicitly tell them what to do next.
Conclusion
While there are numerous studies that showed that video increases sales, we thought that the tests made it too easy to highlight the power of video. So we decided to run a case study to compare the difference video makes when two pages look identical to each other.
Our results showed that a landing page with video increases conversions by 11%. Other studies including one done by Zappos shows similar results – 6-30% conversions.
If you’re on the fence about using video, we hope that this case study shows you the impact that video can have on your marketing campaign. Make sure you start off simple, try creating a video using your webcam or smart phone. Then work your way up to a more professionally produced video.
What’s holding you back from using video? If you are using video, how are you using it to increase sales? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
More information on Steve:
Steve P. Young is the Director of Product Marketing for SmartShoot where marketers go to get stunning photos and video from the best local photographers and filmmakers. Check out SmartShoot’s amazing video and photo marketing resources.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/stevepyoung
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/stevepyoung
Website: http://www.smartshoot.com
