How To Use Videos To Increase Customer Conversion?

If you still aren’t leveraging videos to increase conversions, now is the best time to start.

Initially, videos were just used to spike up engagements and prospects. But now, more and more brands have discovered it can do so much to increase conversions too.

Psychology Today reveals in their article on online behavior that humans like watching videos because our brains can process a video 60,000 times quicker than written text.

While we’re at it, here are some more statistics on why you should use videos now as part of your marketing and sales strategies to increase customer conversion.

• Siteefy notes that ⅓ of all activities done online is one watching videos.
• Renderforest’s survey reveals 78% of brands had more traffic flow to their website after leveraging videos.
• Elite Content Marketer says that 66% of users choose to watch a video about a product or service to learn about it.
• Animoto notes that the topmost way a potential customer moves from discovering a brand to buying its product or service is through video ads.
• Unbounce reveals embedding a video on your landing page increases the conversion rate by up to 80%.

But there’s a right way and a wrong way to use videos to increase conversions. If they get to watch the video that fits where they are in the buyer’s journey, you’ll get more positive results.

Here’s what I mean…

Remember The Funnel

According to Eugene Schwartz, there are five levels of awareness a potential customer goes through. These are:

• Unaware: The customer is not aware that they have a problem.
• Problem Aware: The customer knows about the problem, but has no idea how to fix it.
• Solution Aware: The customer knows there is a solution but doesn’t know how to get to it.
• Product Aware: The customer knows about products that solve the problem but still aren’t sure which one to go for.
• Most Aware: The customer is convinced about a certain product to be the solution and buys it.

At each of these stages, there’s a fitting video to watch. For example, a video ad can be used in the unaware stage or the problem aware stage.

A how-to video can be used for the product aware stage. Or a testimonial video can get customers a little push to get to the most aware stage.

Now let’s dive deeper into those different kinds of videos to where they are best used.

Types Of Videos That Increase Customer Conversion

Digital Ads

As touched on earlier, digital ads are best used in getting unaware customers to realize a problem they didn’t know they had.  

It can be a post-production studio looking for ways to share videos with clients.

Or it can be that an entrepreneur thinks his business is booming but it actually didn't reach its maximum potential. A problem you can surface for a growth hacking service.

These are just some of the problems a good digital ad can bring into its target audience.

According to Facebook, video ads have the highest click-through rate compared to all other digital ad formats.

It tends to grab more attention when set side by side with static images. Especially for mobile users who only spend an average of 1.7 seconds in content.

A compelling video ad, one that has an attention-grabbing thumbnail will stretch the time a user spends consuming your content.

Now after running a digital ad on a specific audience, you can eventually target them to see problem aware ads so you can start highlighting your product as the solution they should be looking for.

Landing Pages

The landing pages of old tended to bury important selling points in a ton of words visitors are not willing to read.

Out with the old and in with the new.

Add a video component to hold visitors’ attention and showcase what your product can do for them.

For example, as you're building your eCommerce website, try to dictate the design in a way that's appealing to the visitor's eye and also can give you space for adding videos.

If you remember earlier, I mentioned that human brains can process videos 60,000 times faster than text. It’s the best way for visitors to see the product in action.

With videos, you can highlight the features and benefits of your products and services getting visitors to move from the solution aware to the product aware stage of the conversion funnel in an engaging way.

This is great for landing pages of a SaaS like Flamingo or a service-based brand like a real estate website.

This doesn’t mean though that you have to stop writing copy for your landing page. Some visitors prefer written text too while others appreciate a written summary of the video.

The point is to leverage videos in a way that compliments written copy.

Here’s how we do it on our pages

Product Pages

While some brands use product pages as their landing page, others have separate ones.

This is the page on your website where you can talk deeper about your product for visitors who want to know more about it.

Here, you can also show the product in action which is great for unfamiliar products like a predictive dialer.

It moves visitors from the product stage to the most aware stage.

But there’s something you should always consider…

Videos can decrease the load speed of your product page. So you have to make it as short as possible including just the most important selling points of your product.

You can also turn to GIFs. They still count as videos, but the file size will be smaller than regular videos.

Using GIFs can increase conversion by 6%, revenue by 12%, and free trial downloads for apps and other digital products by 5%.

Or you can embed streaming videos through a video platform like ours. These are streamed effectively and don’t slow up load times for your page.

Webinars And Demos

GoToWebinar reveals that an average webinar attendee spends 61 minutes watching a video.

Imagine how much gold that is when you think about some types of videos like ads where people are only willing to watch it for a second.

Of course, that’s for a different awareness stage.

Webinars and demos imply you’ve somehow established yourself as a credible brand, trustworthy of providing information.

This means these types of videos are best for the solution and product aware stages.

Webinars are best for filtering hot leads. You get tons of information about your potential customer while engaging with them. You can later use the data collected at the webinar for lead analytics.

With it, you can identify those who are still exploring solutions and those who are ready to buy but just need a bit more information.

You can also set up registration systems for these types of videos like this one we created here. This means you can collect more leads the sales team can nurture with personalized outreach efforts.

Webinars are also great as gated content, another way to capture leads.

Read More | Top Webcasting Software

Blog Posts

Including video elements in your blogs can make them more engaging and easier to consume.

Imagine seeing a wall of text? Won’t that be too exhausting to look at?

Using videos breaks up the text and keeps the reader's interest, adding more mileage to your content.

Blogs cater to various awareness levels so you can use them for any awareness stage.

Specifically, videos can be great for blogs explaining certain processes like what GroveHR can do with their recruitment process blog.

And here’s a cool thing about blogs…

You can create a video version of the very same content for those who prefer watching videos to reading text. You just have to promote one blog type to the other so visitors will know their options in consuming your content.

By uploading it on video platforms like YouTube or VIDIZMO, you’ll be leveraging another platform where you can engage with a whole new set of leads you can nurture later on.

Here’s a blog that we converted into a video as well

Testimonial

Need a little nudge to move leads from product aware to most aware? Video testimonials might just do the trick.

You see, social proof is a surefire way to build rapport with your leads. Especially when you’re trying to establish that you’re the best for a certain skill set like claiming to have the best campaign copies businesses can use.

They’ve already heard the good things you had to say about your product, now they want to hear it from others too to verify if your product will be able to deliver the promise made.

According to BigCommerce, online reviews are trusted by 88% of consumers and view them as personal recommendations. 72% of those share that any positive testimonial or review will make them trust a brand better.

Showcase a real customer, the genuine expressions they have for your product will come through especially when users see their eyes and gestures.

Testimonials can showcase what problem a customer had and how your product helped them solve it. It can also showcase the long-term benefits it had for them.

Tips for Creating Videos That Convert

Have a Strategy to Bring Viewers to Watch Content

The first and foremost thing to do is to source people to where your video is hosted. If your video is on a topic that people actively seek information about, then your video can rank on search engines and you can drive traffic from there.

Alternatively, you can implement SMS marketing, social media marketing and email marketing to direct potential customers to these videos and drive more leads.

Insert A Lead Capture

Within the first 10-20% of your video, insert a lead capture. This will help you get to the leads while they’re still pumped about the product.

This implies that the first few seconds of your video have to be compelling enough to move viewers to action early on in the video.

If you’re offering a very specific kind of service like a quiz maker, inserting a lead capture on your videos will give you more leads to nurture.

Use A Custom Thumbnail With A Person’s Smiling Face

Humans navigate towards an image of a human face rather than a clucky text. Best if it’s smiling because it immediately conveys satisfaction about the product.

According to Wishpond, a smile is an international symbol of openness and friendliness. So don't shy away from using it.

Plus it makes the product more attractive and affects your sales positively.

Make It Short And Entertaining

Not everyone is willing to watch other types of video as long as they would with a webinar.

The fact is, viewers will lose interest over time.

Of course, the length of the video depends on the content presented and on what stage of the awareness funnel they are in.

Ideally, for those at the top of the funnel, 1-minute or less video will retain their attention. For video ads, a ballpark range is at 35-45 seconds.

Further down the funnel, leads will be more willing to watch longer videos.

The key is to keep the videos engaging, include just the most important points, and avoid unnecessary fillers just like what Spores did in a video on their homepage.

Instill A Sense Of Trust Quickly

You’re basically a stranger to your viewer. Right off the bat show them why they can trust you and what you have to say by mentioning your credentials.

This will be great for videos showcasing certain expertise like what a company like Twine will do for their graphic designers.

You can highlight your years of experience or the brands and people you were able to help.

Add Clickable Links

Adding clickable links will improve your lead’s experience. If by any point in the video they get convinced about your product, they should be able to visit the product page in just one click. 

Tell A Story

People love stories. This will help you build a connection with them and increase video retention. This technique is best for About Us pages, testimonials, or success story blogs.

End With A Strong Call To Action

If you’ve managed to make people consume your whole video, the next thing on their minds is: “Now what?”

Make it easy for viewers to know what’s next by giving them a clear CTA. Tell them exactly what they need to do next.

Eliminate the guessing game that will make them bounce off. Tell them if you want them to subscribe, download a checklist, read your blog, or visit the product page.

Conclusion

A video is a powerful way to interact with leads engagingly. With it, you can convey selling points faster and show your product in action.

Use the right kinds of videos for each awareness stage and see how the difference can make it increase customer conversion.

If your organization is looking for a complete video platform, one where you can store private confidential videos and at the same time use it to stream content for marketing. Eliminating the need to manage multiple systems. Then do check out our platform EnterpriseTube.

This article was submitted as a guest post by Burkhard Berger, who is the founder of Novum™. You can follow him on his journey from 0 to 100,000 monthly visitors on novumhq.com. His articles include some of the best growth hacking strategies and digital scaling tactics that he has learned from his own successes and failures.