expertSEM

My final session of the day and the conference was “Online Video for Conversions, Engagement and Reach.” When I got to the room about ten minutes early it was already packed, and continued to fill up as the speakers got started. This is obviously a hot topic! The panel was made up of Michael Behrens, VP eMarketing of WebMetro, and two of his clients, Jim Buffington, president of Career Networks Institute (a vocational college) and Philip Krim, founder of Merrick Group (an online retailer offering high-end mattresses through AngelBeds).

Michael started off the presentation with some fast facts about online videos:

• 63% of Americans have broadband
• 158 million U.S. users watched video in July 2009
• 21.4 billion videos viewed
• 62% watch video on video sharing sites
• 25% of Google searches in U.S. return video results

He then prefaced his section with this statement: “We’re not going to talk about getting on YouTube.” Essentially, to be successful, videos don’t need super high production value or be summer blockbusters. He said that the session would look at videos from the point of view of a direct marketer (good thing, considering the show we’re at!) and show how to attendees might improve quality of customer engagement, lower cost of acquiring a customer, increase onsite conversions, improve overall ROI and capture visitors with a brand personality.

Michael explained why videos are so powerful: enable rich, non-linear, interactive storytelling; boost perceived value; enhance credibility; increase site’s stickiness; communicate value proposition more quickly; and, of course, generate leads/sales. He also claimed that fewer than one-third of online retailers offer video, so the opportunities are huge, especially right now.

To explain the AngelBeds video program, Michael and Philip tag-teamed through the slides. Michael explained how they start each program with analytics, then focus on three elements: site paths, fallout and page value (the most valuable/profitable page are deepest in the funnel). The following are the key elements of an eCommerce buy funnel:

1. establish site credibility
2. establish company credibility
3. establish product value
4. establish service/support value
5. establish guarantee/warranty value
6. establish transactional trust

[this was for AngelBeds, but you these elements can be tweaked to fit any initiatives]

The video focused on establishing credibility, highlighting low price and providing tangible benefits (especially important when selling bed online, where customers are not able to actually touch and lay on them before purchasing). They used pleasing images and customer testimonials. Due to this simple yet effective online commercial, AngelBeds increased conversion rates 11% in first month alone.

Michael then moved on to the video program for Jim and Career Networks Institute (CNI). The main challenge they wanted to address was the drop in ranking due to some aggregators–CNI became lost in a list of other schools on these aggregator sites. They just became a logo with no mention of what make CNI unique. Other challenges included numerous competitors, geo-targeting (the school is based in Orange County), quickly communicating benefits and giving the school a real personality.

CNI has seven different school programs, so they decided to segment the campaign and create seven different videos. They created a sort of virtual campus tour and placed it in the headers of their site. Results for the video were: conversion rate increased 28%; phone leads increased 145%; students were brought closer to enrollment; and CNI was given a competitive edge.

This was one of the better sessions, but I still felt like I didn’t receive a good deal of actionable advice. Initially, the topic sounded like it could be extremely enlightening and beneficial, but none of the info was groundbreaking. I understand that everyone enjoys case studies, and I definitely need examples every now and then to truly understand some concepts, but I feel there were way too many case studies throughout all of the sessions. I was hoping for some insider tips and tricks to bring home, share with the team and leverage for our clients. But I did not feel that I learned much that we don’t already know.