I’m going to make a bold statement: You — yes YOU — can start using video to increase conversion rates right now.
Video is all the rage. It seems that just about every content marketing guru, ninja, expert, or wizard has declared that if you’re not using video in your marketing, you’re not engaging your customers. To be clear, I agree. But beyond engagement, video can actually increase conversion rates by helping customers better understand your products and services, and building trust at important stages throughout the funnel.
But what types of videos should you create? What types of videos work best at which stages of the marketing funnel? Throughout this post I’ll share some examples of how TechSmith has successfully used videos in several ways to increase conversion rates.
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Get started for freeFor this discussion, I’ll reference “the funnel” quite a few times. Just so we’re clear, at TechSmith, we use Eugene Schwartz’s five levels of awareness. These are:
- Unaware: The customer is not even aware they have a problem.
- Problem aware: The customer is aware of the problem, but doesn’t know how to fix it.
- Solution aware: The customer understands there is a solution, but doesn’t know how to do it.
- Product aware: The customer knows the product or products available to solve the problem, but hasn’t yet chosen one.
- Most aware: The customer has purchased the product.
Each stage of the funnel requires a different type of communication or marketing content. In other words, you don’t want to target a customer with content about a solution before they become fully aware of the problem. Instead, meet them with content that is relevant to their point in the funnel.
The attention problem
Fact: We are inundated with information. While the internet has brought with it benefits that seemed unimaginable just a few decades ago, it also brought a serious case of information overload.
In the workplace alone, it can feel overwhelming. Each day 128.8 billion business emails are sent. A recent study estimates that we spend one-third of our time at work just reading emails.
And in our personal lives it gets even worse with the 24-hour news cycle, social media, smart phones, infotainment systems in cars … well, you get the picture.
All that adds up to a major challenge for marketers: A constant battle for consumers’ attention.
Why Video?
A lot of people will tell you that video is the future.
I disagree.
Video is right now.
More people than ever have access to broadband internet connections and they are watching videos at an astounding rate. On YouTube alone, people watch a billion hours of video every day. That’s the equivalent of more than 114,000 years of video EVERY SINGLE DAY.
And with 5G wireless connections about to stomp the gas pedal on streaming and data transfer speeds video will become even more important.
But it’s not just about what people are doing, it’s about what they react to best. And if we’re talking about grabbing and keeping attention, video is the best way to do it.
Need more convincing? Here are seven statistics to help you see the light:
- A recent study by TechSmith found that 48% of people find video the most engaging form of communication (vs. just 15% who favor plain text).
- By 2021, video traffic will be 82% of all internet traffic.
- 96% of consumers watch explainer videos to learn more about products and services.
- 94% of businesses say that explainer videos have helped increase user understanding of their products.
- 87% of consumers want to see more videos from brands in 2019.
- Including a video on a landing page can increase conversion by 80%.
- 79% of consumers say a brand’s video convinced them to buy an app or piece of software.
So how can YOU use video to improve your conversion rates?
1. Digital Ads
If you’re in marketing, you likely already do some digital advertising. It’s a great way to present targeted messaging across several phases of the funnel.
Want to let someone know there’s a better way to do something? Give the unaware customers a look at a problem they didn’t even know they had.
Want to remind someone who’s already been looking at solutions to a problem? Target them with an ad highlighting features that set your product apart!
But, what if there was a way to make digital ads even more effective?
Video to the rescue!
According to Facebook, ads with video have an average click-through rate (CTR) of 1.84%, the highest CTR of all digital ad formats. They also tend to grab attention more effectively than static images. When you consider that mobile customers spend an average of just 1.7 seconds with a piece of content, grabbing and keeping their attention becomes downright essential.
In this video, we highlight a key feature of Camtasia, reminding those who are already aware of Camtasia that device frames offer a great way to showcase their software or app.
2. Recorded webinars and demos
According to insidesales.com, 73% of marketing and sales leaders say webinars are one of the best ways to generate quality leads. Why?
They’re highly engaging. According to GoToWebinar, the average time an attendee spends viewing a webinar attendee is 61 minutes. If we’re all constantly competing for attention, then having a customer’s attention for over an hour is absolute gold.
Webinars work across the entire customer journey. From discussion panels to product demos, webinars are a dynamic and effective way to engage your customers.
Webinars generate high-quality leads. They come with a ton of information about your prospects. Information that you can use to identify who is ready to buy or who may need some more help to get to the point of purchase. With each webinar registrant, you can collect lead and engagement data your sales team can use to initiate personalized outreach.
If you choose to conduct a webinar, make sure to record it. Then you can offer it as gated content and collect leads, or even make a YouTube video out of it. This extends the life of the content and gives customers who were unable to attend a chance to come back and learn more about you and your products.
3. Landing pages
Landing pages are typically best for those in the product aware phase of the funnel, but can also be used for things like webinar sign-ups, ebook or white paper downloads and more.
We did a really cool test of using video on a landing page highlighting Snagit’s features and came up with some pretty amazing results.
The image above is our original landing page. It was static, listing each feature with a graphic representation. The landing page performed well, but we were curious about what would happen if we added video.
This video shows the landing page with video added. The video highlights the Favorites feature, which allows customers to add tools they use frequently to the Favorites palette.
Overall, the variant with video saw a 12% increase in conversions and an 8% increase in revenue.
People like to see a product in action, and adding video allows you to show them in the best, most engaging way!
4. Product pages
Much like landing pages, your website’s product pages offer a great opportunity to showcase your product’s best features. But with video, you can show even more!
After our success with adding video to landing pages, we wanted to see if we could duplicate that success with our product pages.
Our original Snagit product page included a static image with a “Buy Now” call to action. We did an A-B test with that original banner image vs. a page with an animated gif.
And yes, an animated gif does count as a video. While there’s no sound, an animated gif incorporates motion, highlights key features, and shows off your user interface in an engaging way.
Once again, we were pleased with the results. The product page with the animated gif outperformed the static image page by a large margin. We saw a 6% increase in conversion, a 12% increase in revenue, and a 5% increase in free trial downloads!
5. Post-purchase onboarding
Once a customer has purchased, you obviously want to keep them coming back. This is the time when you can help customers feel more connected to your brand. Once again, video can be an essential part of nurturing that relationship by onboarding them in an efficient and delightful way.
We use short tutorial videos to help our customers understand the ins and outs of Camtasia. We cover key features to help customers work through making their first videos one topic at a time. This lets them master key features without having to watch a super-long video that tries to cover everything.
While we knew our tutorial videos were successful, we wondered if we could create a better way to deliver them. So we ran a layout test of our Camtasia trial email series, which helps onboard new trial users to the product. The series links to tutorial videos and other resources on our website.
Content in the control and test layouts was the same, but the test version put imagery at the top in a prominent position. It was usually a video thumbnail with a play button linking to the online tutorial video.
At the same time, we also ran a subject line test, so the results were affected by that, as well.
Overall, the test version had a 13% higher number of transactions per opened email, even though it had a 13% lower click-to-open rate (influenced by the by the subject line test). This indicates that those who took action and clicked through in the test emails were more likely to complete a purchase.
BONUS: Customer testimonials
Customer testimonials offer another great way to engage customers with video. They showcase a real customer to whom they can relate, present a specific problem that your product can solve better than anyone else, back up promises with evidence, and demonstrate key benefits in action.
This is a quick customer testimonial we did with Integrity Data, one of our Camtasia customers. It’s short and to-the-point, highlighting quickly how they use Camtasia to provide more value to their customers.
Try it for yourself!
Now that I’ve shared a few ways you can use video to increase conversions, it’s your turn! While some types of videos may require a more professional touch, there are a number of ways you can start creating videos right now. Even a quick interview with one of your customers on your smartphone or a screen recording of your software product in action can help move the needle toward a purchase.
Record professional videos with Camtasia
Camtasia’s features make video recording and editing super easy
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