4 Reasons Why Website Videos Add More Value Than Online Ads

When Airbnb wanted to showcase testimonials and client stories to build trust with potential clients, the company decided to tell the stories through video clips on its website. When Verizon Wireless wanted to complement its FAQ pages and help visitors solve their own issues, it started using video as a form of customer support.

OK, so you’re not as big as Verizon, and video isn’t cheap to produce. But website videos can be economical, as well as effective and engaging.

There are all kinds of ways in which explainer videos can benefit your business: They engage your visitors, keep viewers around for a longer period of time, answer questions, and help avoid confusion. In fact, TechCrunch credits a 15 to 75 percent increase in conversion rates to those websites that use explainer videos. That’s a lot of traffic.

A recent Invodo study found that half of all online consumers are more confident about purchase decisions after viewing a product video. The research also indicates that quality images and video can increase cart size by an impressive 174 percent.

If you’re looking to promote products or services online, here are four key reasons why videos pay off:

They educate and inspire viewers. Videos invite viewers to an experience. They don’t just educate the audience on a subject; they can also drive the tone, emotional reaction, and desirability of a product or service. From movie trailers to music videos, there’s something about the combination of moving images and audio that establishes a real connection with viewers.
They contribute to your brand story. An explainer video is an elevator pitch on steroids. Explainer videos can give you space to include more information and allow you to create a relatable and likable narrative around your product. Make that emotional connection with your audience, and you can drive up brand loyalty and sales.
They increase your audience’s understanding. Studies by psychologists Richard Mayer and Richard Anderson have found that presenting information in a way that stimulates both the auditory and visual senses increases understanding and application of the material by an average of 75 percent. Your audience will take in more of your message and get a better sense of what you’re trying to say.
They’re great for SEO and search. IOptimizing videos for search isn’t difficult, but the results can be spectacular. Video results are 50 percent more likely to appear on the first page of Google search results than written content. All it takes is some tweaking of the title, description, and tags. Include two or three natural keywords and upload a transcript to further boost the SEO effectiveness of your clips.

Once your videos are in place, you can use them elsewhere: in email campaigns, on social media, at events, in presentations, in your online advertising, and so on. These clips can help qualify your leads, increase conversions, and provide great assets for your marketing campaigns.

Many companies decide that video isn’t worth the time and resource costs and opt to develop more online ads instead. While online ads have their place, a 2013 study found that 90 percent of respondents believed online video ads had equal or greater impact than display ads.

You can also use video as a sales tool to communicate the benefits of your service as Google, UPS, and many others have done. Dollar Shave Club launched itself on the strength of a viral video; the humor and speed with which the video delivered the company’s message soon made it — and its razors — the talk of the Internet, earning 2 million views in 48 hours.

Not only is video engaging, shareable, and immediate, but it’s versatile, too. What’s the most memorable company video you’ve viewed?

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Published: January 23, 2014
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Andrew Angus

Andrew Angus is an author, speaker, and founder/CEO of Switch Video, a video animation company that produces simple videos that "explain what you do" in an engaging and compelling format. Andrew is a thought leader in the online video industry, writing and speaking about the brain science behind making your company's story stick. He welcomes people to reach out to him on Twitter or Google+ and can be booked to speak on Speakerfile.