When it comes to boosting traffic to your website, there are countless strategies to choose from. Many of them are quite effective at attracting qualified visitors to your landing pages and, at that point, you might think that the most difficult part is out of the way. Except that it takes a lot more than a beautiful, interesting website, or even an excellent product to convert visitors into customers. This is where video can be a true asset, as a video’s conversion rate often supersedes that of any other format. Here’s everything you need to know about how video content can increase your conversion rate.
If CRO video strategies are effective, it is mainly because despite how comfortable we have all become with online shopping – the pandemic having persuaded even those last few physical shopping diehards to give it a try – nothing can quite beat a human touch when it comes to building trust.
While convincing Internet users that your website is worth a visit is as “simple” as piquing their interest (through a PPC campaign, for example), conversion, on the other hand, is a much more personal matter. Video content is great at creating engagement because it allows consumers to put a face and a personality onto your company. This format not only leverages the fact that humans naturally respond well to motion and sound, but it also instils that intimate quality that can’t be found in images, let alone in text.
This is why social media, where the video format increasingly seems to prevail, is one of the best ways to generate engagement. There, your content becomes a true means of communication, in the original sense of the term. It allows you to talk to your audience and to build the connection that is at the very heart of video conversion.
Videos also happen to have SEO benefits if you publish them on your website as they tend to improve dwell time. Elsewhere, they are an opportunity to build high-quality links. And let’s not forget that showcasing a product is done much more easily through video!
By creating video content with conversion in mind, you can increase your conversion rate significantly. If they are impactful, even video ads can offer a better CTR than the average digital ad as they excel at grabbing your audience’s attention. With that said, ads remain a relatively passive form of content for the viewer, who may not feel as engaged unless you include a powerful enough call to action designed to boost your video conversion rate.
Another approach would be to adhere to the principles of content marketing by creating more consumer-oriented videos, such as tutorials, demos, or webinars. The benefit is that you can provide viewers with information they are actively seeking. And if they like your response to their problems, your stance on certain issues, or even just the personality of your brand or its success story, they are much more likely to want to make a purchase.
Livestream shopping and shoppable videos sit right at the crossroads between video advertising and content marketing, offering the best of both worlds. Sales-oriented yet interactive, playful, and helpful, all at the same time, these formats have the potential to transform your customer acquisition strategy. Livestream shopping makes shopping shows trendy again and allows you to increase your video conversion rates by as much as 25 times! Shoppable videos, on the other hand, can be posted just about anywhere and showcase your products all while promoting impulse buying.
Video conversion rate doesn’t just boil down to selecting the appropriate format. Here are a few elements to keep in mind.
Viewers have a short attention span. Which is why you’ll have to be strategic about how long you make your video if you want to optimize your video conversion rate. Of course, this depends on the type of content, as a livestream shopping event will always be longer than an ad. But bear in mind that from the moment they decide to click on your video, your audience’s focus will start to go down as little as two minutes in. In other words, if you subscribe to the “best for last” mentality, you’ll want to keep your videos very short indeed. Otherwise, your viewers will simply leave before they even get a chance to find out about your product.
Publishing your videos exclusively on your website may be a sound strategy if you are trying to keep your visitors right where they are the most likely to convert. However, your content’s shareability is not at its best there. Posting your videos on platforms designed to promote engagement and content sharing could increase their visibility significantly, especially if they are not overtly promotional or exceedingly “businessy”. Don’t forget that YouTube is the second most visited website out there!
If your videos don’t attract qualified viewers, your video conversion rates will never soar. Just as you would for any other content, you need to optimize your videos, so they get not only the highest, but also the most accurate ranking possible. Title, description, tags, thumbnails, links… no detail should be overlooked.
Don’t forget to optimize your videos for mobile viewing as well. They should be responsive to various screen sizes and relevant even when the sound is turned off!
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when shooting for optimal video conversion rates. Allow yourself to get inspired by those who dared to try it, such as the Dollar Shave Club, who probably count as the epitome of video conversion rate success. While people are able to tell how much care you put into your content, remember that the production value doesn’t have to be on par with what multinational corporations can do. Stay true to your own ideals and give your customers something they’re going to love.