For the large part conversion funnels are traditionally thought of has having 4 distinct phases. These are:
- Awareness
- Interest
- Consideration
- Conversion
Skip after the break to see how video contributes to the performance of the metrics associated with each one of these steps
Video = Your Conversion Funnel Super Booster
Video as an “Awareness” booster
In the Awareness phase our goal is enter our target client’s consciousness. Before Awareness the client simply doesn’t know that we even exist. Metrics we’d normally track to monitor our performance at this phase are:
- Monthly Visits – as an indicator of how many visits we’re getting
- Visitors – as an indicator of how many actual people are coming to our site
Video can be very instrumental in boosting these stats. Here’s how:
- Syndication – Video content lends itself easily to syndication. The abundance of generic and niche video portals existing on the web represent multiple opportunities for exposure both to the general audience and to narrower well defined ones.
- Sharing – Video content is easy and fun to share. Giving visitors multiple easy opportunities to socially engage with rich-media content increases the chance that they become syndication agents for us, exposing us to their social network. Remember – every time a user clicks that Facebook “Like” button next to your video it’s immediately exposed to their entire network.
- SEO 1 – Pages with “High Engagement Content” like videos, sound clips, etc. are reportedly more likely to attain better search rankings as search algorithms are believed to consider them having better content due to the rich engagement they offer visitors.
- SEO 2 – Thanks to Google’s Universal Search Results display, where videos are guaranteed 1st page exposure, videos have become an opportunity to “cut to the head of the line” simply because less people are likely to have video content eligible for display there.
- SEO 3 – Youtube is now ranking in as the 2nd most popular search engine. Ignoring video content is ignoring the opportunity to get exposure there.
Video’s contribution to the “Interest” phase
The Interest phase is where our client is drawn in and educated as to our offering. Metrics associated with this phase are usually focused around making qualitative measurements of our traffic:
- How many pages does the average visitor to our site browse through?
- How long is an average visit?
Videos contributions to this phase due to its advantages for presenting content are probably obvious, however its worthwhile listing them just to be sure we’re making the most out of our video content’s potential:
- Multimedia Presentation – Video usually touches two senses simultaneously (vision and hearing), furthermore when bullet points are included in the video a further level of interaction is introduced as reading triggers different learning centers in the brain from hearing and seeing. The combined effect is a significant increase of the mental imprint made with our prospects, which translates directly into an increase in the “Average Time on Page” metric.
- Multiple Images – Video offers an opportunity to display multiple angles of the product both physically and experientially. We can show not only what the product looks like from both front and back, but also how the product generates benefits for users in particular scenarios. In fact instead of counting on a single snapshot to captivate our audience we now have the opportunity to tell them a story. Again this goes towards boosting our “Average Time on Page”.
- Video is easy to Absorb – The effort required to absorb video content is negligible compared to that of reading and browsing through images. Reduced fatigue coupled with more engaging experiences is likely to encourage visitors to dally longer on each page and visit more pages, thus driving up “Page Views Per Visit”.
Considering video? Consider this:
In this phase our prospects have already matured to a point where they’re interested enough in our product to consider making a purchase. A crucial metric at this is “Bounce Rate”, as every bounce represents a lost prospect.
Videos effect on the Consideration phase is similar to the effect it has at the Interest phase, with one important difference: at the consideration phase a prospect is already considered to be at the point where they’re making their purchasing decisions. Ensuring your videos contain exactly the right messaging required to close the deal is an important and profitable enterprise that can only be executed via a process of continuous improvement based on constantly A/B testing different video versions.
Interestingly the mere availability of video content on a product page has been found to boost conversions regardless of whether site visitors bothered to watch the video or not. The reason for this is thought to be grounded on the fact that the presence of video content on the page reflects positively on the vendor, increasing visitor’s trust in the site and encouraging them to do business with it.
The Money Time – VIDEOS IMPACT ON CONVERSIONS
For marketers and salespeople the Conversion is where the beef is. This is where the all the effort invested in the site hopefully finally pays off. Metrics associated with this phase are very directly related to the quality of the sale:
- Conversion Rate (CVR) – How many visitors/visits were we able to convert into sales?
- Average Cart Value – How much money are we making on average from every deal closed?
Video can be instrumental in improving Conversion Rates, and indeed insofar as Treepodia’s platform is concerned there’s a wealth of testimonials for this spanning multiple ecommerce niches. Insofar as the Average Cart Value is concerned videos’ chronological nature lends itself to presenting product specific up-sale opportunities for each and every product.
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Image Credit: Je.T.
