Designing an effective landing page requires a different approach than designing a typical website. The entire purpose of a landing page is to funnel visitors to a specific offer; therefore, less emphasis is placed on traditional website elements like navigation and content hierarchy. Instead, they should be designed and optimized to convert visitors into paying customers. While there are dozens of ways to design an effective landing page, adding video is arguably the single best method. To learn more about the benefits of using video in a landing page and how to use this strategy in your digital marketing efforts, keep reading.
Benefits of Video in Landing Pages
If you’re still skeptical of using a landing page with video, you should know that it can boost your conversions significantly. One study found that adding video to a landing page increases conversions by up to 86%. While this doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll experience the exact same results, video can certainly prove useful at increasing your conversion rate when done correctly.
Another reason to use video in landing pages is the simple fact that it keeps visitors on your site longer. Assuming your video is engaging and relevant to your target audience, it will “connect” with viewers while encouraging them to stay on your site. This is important because the longer visitors stay on your site, the greater the chance of them buying your product or service.
A third benefit of using video in landing pages is its ability to reveal how a product or service works. Sure, you may be able to explain this information in text, but video offers an experiential explanation that’s not available through other forms of media. Using video on your landing page, you can walk viewers through each stage of your product or service, showing them exactly how it works. Music, narration and sound effects help put the viewer into a receptive state of mind.
Finally, videos are often shared by viewers, especially when the video is interesting and engaging. If someone visits your landing page and likes your video, that person may share your video on social media. This, of course, draws even more attention and traffic to your landing page, resulting in more conversions.
Keep it Short
Don’t make the mistake of using an excessively long landing page video. According to StatisticsBrain, Internet users watch an average of 2.7 minutes per per video. Therefore, it’s a good idea to keep your landing page videos under the 3-minute mark. If they are too long, viewers may stop watching and leave your landing page without buying your advertised product or service.
Announce Your Goal
You need to be specific about what you are trying to accomplish in your video. If you’re selling a product, talk about how the product can benefit the viewer.
Take the Dollar Share Club video for example. As shown below, this video gets straight to the point by telling you to sign up for its shaving razor subscription club. With more than 24 million views and 119 likes, it’s the perfect example of how to make a great marketing video. And if you check the length, you’ll notice that it’s just over one-and-a-half minutes.
Technical Considerations
There are also technical considerations you’ll need to make when using video in a landing page. For instance, what size is the video and how does it to relate to your landing page’s template or design? If the width of your landing page’s main body is 700 px, using a 300 px-wide video isn’t the best idea. Sure, viewers can still access and watch your video, but it’s going to look small and awkward against the otherwise large body of your landing page. Ideally, the width of your video should stretch the entire width of your landing page’s main body, which in this example would be 700 px.
Split Test
Finally, be sure to split test multiple variations of your landing page video to see what works and what doesn’t. Some marketers assume that just because they are turning a profit on their current landing page means there’s no need to change or optimize it. Regardless of your current landing page’s current return on investment (ROI), however, there’s always room for improvement — but it’s up to you to make those improvements. By split testing two or more different videos, you’ll be able to see which one generates the most conversions. You can then keep this “winning” video while replacing the “losing” video with a new variation.
One way to split test landing page video is to try an autoplay and manual play variation. Depending on the nature of your landing page and offer, perhaps an autoplay video will work best. The only way you’ll know, however, is by split testing both types.
You may also want to split test different locations for your video. Normally, including a video at the top of your landing page yields the most conversions, but there are cases in which different locations work best. Again, this is why it’s important to always split test.
