Businesses of all sizes and industries can benefit from the use of video. According to a study conducted by Animoto, eight out of 10 millennials are influenced by video when making purchases. Other studies have shown that adding video to a landing page can increase conversions by as much as 800%.
With that said, video is only effective if you actually optimize it. And in order to optimize your video, you need to analyze certain key performance indicators (KPIs). Even if your video marketing campaign is yielding a positive return and helping you achieve your business’s goals, there’s always room for improvement. So, consider analyzing the following metrics to enhance and improve your video marketing campaigns.
Total Views
One of the most obvious and well-known video marketing metrics is views. Conventional wisdom should tell you that the more views your video receives, the better. Without views, there’s no one to see your video, in which case it’s not going to prove useful as a marketing and business branding tool. Therefore, you should monitor the total views your video receives, looking for trends such as an sudden increase or decrease. If your video receives a substantial number of views in a short period of time, it could be a sign of a large publication sharing it. On the other hand, if your video’s total views drop in a short period of time, perhaps other sources are no longer sharing or linking to it.
YouTube Subscribers
If you use YouTube to promote your videos (hint: you should), it’s also recommended that you analyze the number of subscribers your channel has. This occurs when someone “follows” your account, allowing them to receive updates when you post new videos. If your videos hit the mark and are relevant to your target audience, you’ll probably receive a fair amount of subscribers. On the other hand, if your videos are poorly made, irrelevant or otherwise fail to connect with your audience, you’ll probably have few-to-no subscribers.
Click-Through Rate
Assuming your video contains a link — either in the video itself or somewhere on the page — you should analyze the click-through rate (CTR) for that link. It’s not uncommon for businesses to publish videos with the goal of driving traffic to a product page. The user watches a video about the product, after which he or she clicks the link to buy the product. Measuring your CTR allows you to see exactly how many people click this link.
Video marketing CTR is measured by taking the total amount of views for your video and dividing it by the number of people who clicked the respective link. If 1,000 people viewed your video and 100 clicked the link, your CTR is 10%.
Conversion Rate
While CTR is important, perhaps even more important is the conversion rate of your video. Not everyone who clicks your link will proceed to buy your product or service. Therefore, CTR alone doesn’t provide a clear picture of the effectiveness of your video marketing campaigns. You need to measure the conversion rate of your video links. Using the same example mentioned above, if 100 users click your link and 10 buy your product, your conversion rate is also 10%.
Keep in mind, however, that not all conversions are necessarily triggered by a sale. A conversion can be any action taken on behalf of the user, such as entering his or her personal information, signing up for an email newsletter. Keep a close eye on the conversion rate of your video, optimizing your campaigns to generate a stronger response by the viewer.
Drop-Off Point
What is the drop-off point and why does it matter? Drop-off point is a video marketing metric that indicates when viewers stop watching the video. This metric is expressed as a graph, revealing the total views of the video as well as the point when viewers stop watching and click away. Video drop-off points typically dip down towards the latter stages of the video, which is where some viewers stop watching. It’s nearly impossible to achieve a 100% rating for this metric, though you should still try to keep it high.
Like-to-Dislike Ratio
Another YouTube metric to analyze is the like-to-dislike ratio for your videos. Assuming you allow viewers to rate your video, you should keep an eye on the number of viewers who like it versus those who dislike it. Ideally, you should maintain at least a 3:1 like-to-dislike ratio, meaning for every three likes your video receives, it should only have a single dislike.
Comments
Finally, keep an eye on the number of comments your video receives. Whether it’s published on YouTube, Facebook or your business’s official website, comments signal engagement — and engagement signals an effective marketing video.
You can even go one step further by responding to viewer comments, as this shows viewers that you care about their opinions.
