Attracting visitors to your website is essential for the growth and longevity of any business big or small. We’ve already shown (at length) why landing page videos are such a great tool for increasing your SEO and search ranking for keywords that drive more people to your site, but that’s only half the battle. How do you convert these visitors from passive voyeurs into active leads (and then ultimately into customers)? Again, one of the most effective conversion tools is an explainer video.
B2B buyers and everyday consumers are increasingly turning to online resources, especially ones with video, to make purchasing decisions. If you want to increase conversions, you have to meet buyers where they’re making purchasing decisions with an explainer video that not only raises awareness of your product and your brand, but actually has the power to convert on the spot.
According to the landing page gurus at Unbounce, “embedding videos on a landing page can increase conversions by 80%.” That’s insane ROI for your video. However, it’s not all that surprising once you realize how perfect video is for increasing conversions. Here are 7 reasons why animated explainer videos are so well poised to increase conversion rates:
Landing Page Videos: An Elevator Pitch for the Digital Age
Technology may have changed, but you better have your elevator pitch, locked and loaded. In fact, consumers are as impatient as ever, so it’s important for businesses to convey the vital information for a product or brand in as short amount of time as possible. In particular, it’s vital that you convey at least the following:
- Who You Are
- What You Do
- Why What You Do Is Different/Better Than Your Competitors
- How All of This Will Benefit the Potential Customer
Although you’ll likely agree that the four points above are important, what you may not immediately realize is not just what you communicate, but how you sequence the information on the path to purchase.
Landing Page Videos: Curate the User Experience
Hopefully every website explains who they are, what they do, and provides answers to many of a visitor’s lingering questions. That’s website building 101. If you’re good, your site might even manage to impart this information in something other than a long-winded About Me page. If you’re good. The problem is that when you don’t use an explainer video, it gets tough to curate the sequence how potential clients get this information.
For example, when a customer sees a large block of text, they can skim part your value proposition and cut straight to the price of your product or service. That’s what a lot of people are looking for. So even though you did all the right marketing legwork, you fumbled the conversion at the last minute because you couldn’t curate the conversation and delay pricing until after they were convinced of the value proposition of your company.
Obviously pricing isn’t information you should actively hide, but it’s information that you’d prefer to provide through the context of your choosing (i.e. here’s what you get for the cost, here are some options, etc.). Without something like an explainer video to present your value and hold their attention, you’re unable to choreograph the buyer’s journey, and conversion rates dip.
Consider the following: When you open a book, you know exactly where to start (Chapter 1) and what to do (read left to right). Websites don’t always work that way, especially for older users, mobile users, and B2B customers with different needs than “typical” consumers.
Explainer Video: Control the Conversion Funnel
Everyone works their way through landing pages differently. Some like to start at the header and work their way down. Others like to scroll around until something (usually an image or video) catches their eye. Still others prefer to click around on words and links that jump out to them, frantically swinging from link to link like Tarzan on Wikipedia. You know you’ve done it. After just a few minutes (if you’re lucky), you’ll have lost a lot of potential leads.
The point is that everyone interacts with websites differently, especially when you look at the staggering rise of mobile users. 2017 was the first year where mobile users finally outpaced desktops, and that trend is only going to continue. If you can’t capture and funnel users into your conversion chain, there’s really not a lot of point in pouring any more money into your (failing) marketing strategies. But ambiguity is just a problem for your site—it’s a problem for your customers.
Landing Page Videos Gives Customer What They Want
People want solutions to their problems, and they want them quickly. Information, explanation, product features and reviews, whatever it is, buyers demand value from the sites they visit, and they demand that value in seconds. If you can answer a prospect’s questions or allay their concerns in the first moments of visiting your site, you’ll not only create incredible authority, you’ll lubricate the path to conversion for this and future interactions. Value = brand loyalty, plain and simple.
Remember these two key factors central to the modern consumer’s buying journey when you’re creating your landing page explainer video:
Landing Page Videos: Efficiency
The internet is full of information. Buyers and decision makers are practically drowning in data, and they want you to make the this information make sense so they can expedite the buying process. Whether this means using an aggregation service like Kayak (instead of, say, individually comparing airline prices) or relying on customer reviews (instead of, say, trying the product firsthand), people want shortcuts to value.
Explainer Video: Enjoyment
Buyers also expect to get this info in a convenient and, (ideally) enjoyable way. It’s the digital equivalent of “service with a smile.” If you can set your website apart with an intelligent, entertaining explainer video you’ll outshine the competition. Even though people want to expedite the process, never forget the power of connection, entertainment, and brand recognition. Just look at what an explainer video did for Dollar Shave Club, if you don’t believe me.
When you create buyer personas that address issues like these, explainer video becomes even more valuable. Video a quick, efficient, and entertaining way to deliver your message. In fact, just putting a video centerstage on your site announces that you value your prospects’ time. In essence your landing page video says, “Here’s what we’re all about, let us know if we can help you with whatever brought you to our site today. Thanks!” That candor is what increases conversion.
Explainer Video Always Beats Images and Text
As much as I appreciate a pithy product description or a nice photo/chart/infographic, it just can’t match the value of video.
According to Statistic Brain Research Institute, the national average attention span is 8.25 seconds. That means that, on average, you have less than ten seconds to capture a visitor’s attention before they are distracted by something else. In short: if you don’t hook prospects right away then you may end up losing them forever. But video functions on a deeper level than just preference:
- People are over 27 times more likely to click on an online video ad than a static banner ad.
- Videos get 1,200% more shares than text and images combined
- The average user spends 88% more time on a website with video
- Visitors who view videos stay on web sites an average of 2 minutes longer than those who do not. They are also 64% more likely to make a purchase
- 70% of marketing professionals believe that video converts better than any other medium
Those stats are impressive, but keep in mind that they refer to “video” in general. Don’t forget that not all videos are created (or convert) equally. Explainer videos are better than the rest of online video—especially for conversion—because they always end with a killer CTA.
Explainer Video: All About The Call to Action
Have you ever wished you could grab prospects by the hand and lead them to your conversion page? If so, you’re in luck because that’s exactly what the right call-to-action (CTA) at the end of an explainer video does.
Your explainer video is the perfect opportunity to explicitly convert prospects into clients, because if a lead has made it to the end of your video, they’re obviously interested. Plus, you’ve got nothing left to lose by straight up asking them to “Fill out our form!” “Sign up for our mailing list!” “Take advantage of this incredible deal today!” The exclamation points might be a little much, but you get the idea.
A clear CTA that announces the next step is the definition of conversion, so why wouldn’t you use explainer video on your site when it’s one of the best ways to get prospects to act?
Online Video Is Your Brand’s Ambassador
Although it may seem like your explainer video ends with a specific, CTA and either a conversion or not, that video is just the beginning of your relationship with your new client or lead. Unlike text or images, an explainer video does more than just outline details; it tells a story. It tells your story. And by watching your video, the viewer is now a part of your brand’s story.
Even if they don’t end up converting on this visit, that curated experience, value proposition, and CTA will stick with them. Not only does this make them more ripe for conversion down the line but, in a way, it’s like they have a little brand ambassador for your business walking around inside their head. All of which harkens back to the power of narrative.
In addition to its inherent entertainment value, a narrative provide things that static facts and figures simply doesn’t. The intangibles. Those abstract things that no words or image can solely capture. Things like:
- Corporate culture
- Brand Identity
- Customer Relations
Your video is on their mind, and if you redirect them with the right custom audience or re-marketing, you’ll get another shot down the road.
Animated Explainer Video is Timeless
The last reasons explainer video converts so well has to do with its inherent, evergreen value. Explainer video, especially animated explainer video, doesn’t go out of style as quickly as live action. Trends don’t change in animation the way they do with other video, which means you might be able to use your animated explainer video for years. Dropbox launched a cloud storage empire with their animated explainer video back in 2007, and while it might not look as hot today, it’s still on their site ten years later, explaining the platform and driving conversions.
As powerful as live-action video is, it simply doesn’t age as well as animated content. Animation has a timeless quality, which means your animated video will feel fresher for a lot longer.
In the supermarket of content, animation is that magical item with no expiration date. And in a teach tech-accelerated world where everybody seems to be looking for the “next big thing,” that’s no small thing.
Video explains your business in seconds, engages prospects on their terms, communicates effectively and efficiently, builds rapport and brand identity, curates the buyer’s journey, and just plain increases conversions with tools like explicit CTAs. Customers expect explainer video. Get started with landing page video today and see what video can do for your conversion rates.
If you want to learn even more about how to get started with explainer video, download our free eBook to learn the ins and outs of explainer video for your business.
